Hope You Come Hungry

I've been meaning to post this for a while now, but everytime I get ready to, something else gets checked off our wedding list and I end up posting about that.

Let's talk about our reception dinner menu. Since we are getting married around dinner time, Justin and I decided that it would only be right to feed people dinner after our ceremony. And because everyone has different tastes we figured a buffet would be the easiest way to please everyone.

Cocktail Hour

We're going to serve a "signature" drink and a non-alcoholic version. We'll have our passed hors d'oeuvres that we have yet to select. And there will be a cold station with fruit & veggies, dips, cheeses & crackers and Catering by Jill's seafood mousse with pita crisps. YUMM! The seafood mousse is delicious.

Dinner

We decided to do stations for the dinner part, and Jack (the owner of Catering by Jill) gave us an extra station at no extra charge. Our 4 stations will be:
*Carved Bourbon Glazed Flank Steak & Smoked Roast Turkey served on petite croissants and soft rolls with horseradish cream, cranberry relish and honey mustard
*Chicken Fajita & Three Pepper Giant Wok chicken and fresh peppers stir fried with island spices rolled in flour tortillas and served with salsa, sour cream and shredded cheese
*Mashed Potato Bar garlic mashed potatoes served in saucer champagne glasses with toppings: wild mushroom demi glace, sour cream, shredded blended cheeses, chopped tomatoes, bacon bits and salsa
*Caesar Salad Station fresh caesar salad tossed with large garlic roasted croutons with choice of grilled chicken, baby shrimp and grilled steak and toppings: cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, crasins, honey almonds, red onion, sliced mushrooms and sunflower seeds

Dessert

Our cake is being made by Bakes by Sue, but Catering by Jill is providing fresh strawberries dipped in white and dark chocolate. And we will have our champagne toast.

We'll have a full bar to help wash all that food down. Another plus with buffet is that the food will be out the whole night so people can eat how much and whenever they want.

If your mouth isnt watering by now, something is most definitely wrong with you. Just kidding. But I do hope you come hungry to our wedding.

What's Up DOC?!?!

It's been a back and forth "battle", but we finally decided to hire a Wedding Coordinator to be there for the rehearsal and day of.

When we first got engaged, I knew how great having a Day of Coordinator would be. Think of it as your own personal wedding bodyguard. They fend off anyone that might worry you on the day of your wedding. Lucky for me, I already had someone in mind... Windy Jennings of Weddings by Windy.

Windy and I have a little bit of history. A few years ago, I worked for White House Black Market in Short Pump Town Center. I met Windy when she came in one afternoon to do some shopping. Part of the WHBM process is to ask your customer what they are shopping for. Windy happened to be shopping for some outfits for a wedding that she was working that coming weekend. I've always wanted to be an event planner, so it's no surprise that Windy became my idol after she told me that she was a Wedding Coordinator. I even googled her name, found her website and looked to see if maybe she was hiring. Unfortunately she works solo most of the time. Oh well. Anyways, we clicked on some level that day and she even came back to work with me a few other times before I left for another job.

So I tucked her name away in the back of my head until earlier this year. I contacted her to inquire about her rehearsal and day of package. She emailed back that she would love to work with us and that she was available the weekend we were getting married.

The hard part was getting Justin on board. When I first brought up Windy/hiring a DOC we were still early on in the planning stages and his argument was that it was an extra expense he didnt think was justified. Fast Forward to a few months ago. We've added a few extra things to our wedding and with a little more thought on the idea, Justin agreed that maybe it would be a good idea to look into it. I immediately emailed Windy to make sure she hadn't been booked yet and wanted to work with us still. My stomach was in knots just waiting for her email. The next day she replied and said she was still available and would love to work with us. Said she completely understood our (read Justin's) hesitation. So we spent a few emails trying to work out a day and time to meet.

Finally after a few weeks, we nailed down a day and time that worked for all of our schedules. Thursday night was our meeting and all I have to say is... what a relief! Windy went over her package, explained what she would do on both days and asked if we had any questions. We told her we were ready to hire her right then, so we proceeded to go over the day of stuff. She pulled out a few forms, started asking questions and filled in all the blanks on her sheets. She's only worked our venue one time and it was for a reception only a few years ago. I was incredibly surprised when she started talking about the layout of the garden and offered suggestions/advice for certain things. She really has her stuff together and that eases my fears/nightmares/sleepless nights. Our meeting lasted 45 minutes and it was such a shock to see our whole wedding on those sheets of paper.

Windy's final question was: Is your wedding going to be as chill as you 2 are right now?!?! What can I say, she put us in a tranquil state of mind. And I cant wait to work with her (again).

Double Digits

Today we are 99 days from our wedding! I can't believe how fast time has flown by. We've got a lot of things going on, too:

*We're in the process of working with a company to print our invitations
*We've picked our ceremony musicians and are in the process of a contract
*We have a meeting this coming week with the Wedding Coordinator we want to be our DOC
*We've contracted another block of rooms at a 5 star hotel for any guests who might want to
stay at the same hotel we will be at -- mainly family and wedding party
*I've picked out my gifts for the boys

Surprisingly this week, I've been very productive on the wedding front. Yay!

I'm still waiting for our e-pics from Shelly, but they should be in soon. So stay tuned...

Cloudy with a chance of...

Engagement Pictures!!! yay!

I was so relieved this morning when I woke up and it was overcast, but not raining or storming. I checked the weather and it said storms likely after 11am. Perfect. Our date with Shelly was at 10 and if we only got an hour of pictures that would be fine with me.

We got up, showered and headed to Panera for breakfast. After breakfast we made our way to Williamsburg to meet up with Shelly. My original plan was to take some pictures in Merchant's Square, but Shelly had gotten there early and texted me that there was a car show going on so we would have a slight change of plans. No problem. She had already scoped out some spots for pictures and so we began.

Shelly found a cute little courtyard in between a few buildings so we started there. After we got some good shots in the courtyard we just started walking around and Shelly stopped us whenever she saw a good spot.

After a few random shots, we headed to Colonial Williamsburg. There's a lot of great photo ops in the colonial area. We took pictures against the old buildings, wooden fences, Shelly spotted a very interesting looking tree, then we walked over to the spot where Justin proposed and took some there. On our way back, we took some standing in the lawn in front of the Governor's mansion. And because the weather wasnt too bad, we took Maddie with us and got some pictures with her as well.

Shelly's goal was to take 300 pictures this morning, and in an hour and a half we took about 250. We probably would have taken more, but it was getting hot and humid, crowded and Maddie really needed to get out of the heat. So we called it a day, but Shelly said we had a lot of good shots. :) And she said she might have them done by the end of this week. Yay!! I cant wait to see them.

Rain, Rain... Go Away.

Tomorrow we are supposed to be taking our engagement pictures. Yes, I know we've put them off til pretty close to the last minute. Anyways, I've been stalking the weather for the past week. At the beginning of the week the forecast was sunny and in the 90s for Sunday. I was hopeful that it would change. I'm getting what I wished for, just not how I had hoped.

Sunday - Wednesday of this past week were beautiful, 70 degree days. PERFECT weather for taking pictures! Thursday went up to 90 and Friday was in the low 80s, but still very nice. Today is a scorcher. It's hot as h-e-doublehockeysticks. And oh wait, what's the weather supposed to be for tomorrow...

and in the high 90s. UGH. It's June 12th. Summer doesnt officially start for another week, why does it feel like August outside.

And the thing is, I was just coming to terms with having to do our photos in hot, sticky, icky weather, but I cant do rainy/stormy weather. Plus we want Maddie -- our furbaby -- in some pictures and if its raining we will have to leave her behind. Which would make me very very sad. :(

I'm crossing my fingers for rain/storms tonight, clearing in the AM with cooler temps for Sunday. Additional support would be greatly appreciated.

Clear for Travel

Today when I checked the mail, this is what was waiting for me:

Our passports. Yay! Justin and I both had to renew our passports this year and its good to have this one thing checked off the list.

St. Lucia here we come....... in September!!! :)