First, I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've updated! Our move was a success and I'm officially back in school. The last month has been quite crazy but we've been working towards the wedding. We've made a list of things to accomplish and are slowly, but surely, getting stuff done.
This week's to-do list:
1) Finish addressing the invitations and mail them off
2) Call around to local hotels and try to block a section of rooms
3) Find THE fabric and THE pattern for THE dress
4) Figure out flowers that we want to have (suggestions are completely welcome!)
5) Start thinking about decorations
6) Schedule a cake tasting (or two or three or twelve!)
If anyone is interested, I have a Pinterest board set up where I add ideas. Here's the link: http://pinterest.com/msmortis/wedding/
I'm going to be updating our website this week with the new info. If you need a link here it is:
http://lanceandalison.ourwedding.com
Stay tuned for updates!
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Do All The Things
Hi folks! We have been busy beavers with life and our upcoming move but we also have been finding time to keep checking off boxes for wedding planning. This week we went to a tasting with our chosen caterer (Saffron Fine Foods) and it was AMAZING. The menu is really coming together and we are very excited to share it with you.
We have also gotten in all of our stationary and have started sending out Save the Dates (STDs). Please don't be upset but we're sending them out in waves. As soon as we get an address, I try to send of the STD as soon as possible :-)
In other news we did some gift registry stuff, which was more stressful than I thought it would be, and I've updated our wedding website. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should. Let me know what you think! (http://lanceandalison.ourwedding.com/)
We are also in search of music ideas for our wedding. We will be DJing the whole thing ourselves and my music tastes don't line up with traditional music very much. If you have any suggestions please let us know! We are looking for some mellow pre-ceremony music and cocktail hour and reception music. There are no limitations here.
I'm also in touch with the Asheville Convention & Visitors Board (CVB) for hotel room accommodations. If you aren't aware, the CVB is WONDERFUL when it comes to finding resources for your wedding. They will get your info and then let area hotels know what you're looking for. The hotels with then contact you with their availability and pricing. The CVB also provides maps and brochures for your guests if you choose to get them. Another great reason to get married in Asheville.
We are getting really excited about our wedding date. Next assignment: Cake!
We have also gotten in all of our stationary and have started sending out Save the Dates (STDs). Please don't be upset but we're sending them out in waves. As soon as we get an address, I try to send of the STD as soon as possible :-)
In other news we did some gift registry stuff, which was more stressful than I thought it would be, and I've updated our wedding website. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should. Let me know what you think! (http://lanceandalison.ourwedding.com/)
We are also in search of music ideas for our wedding. We will be DJing the whole thing ourselves and my music tastes don't line up with traditional music very much. If you have any suggestions please let us know! We are looking for some mellow pre-ceremony music and cocktail hour and reception music. There are no limitations here.
I'm also in touch with the Asheville Convention & Visitors Board (CVB) for hotel room accommodations. If you aren't aware, the CVB is WONDERFUL when it comes to finding resources for your wedding. They will get your info and then let area hotels know what you're looking for. The hotels with then contact you with their availability and pricing. The CVB also provides maps and brochures for your guests if you choose to get them. Another great reason to get married in Asheville.
We are getting really excited about our wedding date. Next assignment: Cake!
Friday, March 30, 2012
Oh God... We're getting married in 6 Months.
We forgot.
We forgot that we were getting married in October.
I know, that sounds silly but we truly forgot.
Yesterday, when I woke up, I realized that we are getting married in six months. Wowza. We are excited and stressing out (or at least I am!).
Here are the things that have got me a little wound up:
1. Our Caterer. We were really excited to be using SFF as a caterer. When she sent us the sample menu, Lance and I ran to the couch and started looking through it. The menu wasn't what we expected at all. We tried to prepare for the possibility that we might have to continue our catering search. To be fair, as soon as we emailed SFF they responded and said they would meet with us as soon as possible. Unfortunately, with Lance being out of town so much and the holiday season being upon us, it took a while for us to sit down and discuss the menu. During the meeting, SFF seemed to be listening to what we were saying and I suppose we'll see when she sends us the updated menu. Also, we had scheduled a tasting for this Saturday which she called to reschedule. Something about chefs with previous appointments. However, Lance's schedule is starting to pick back up so we aren't sure when the next viable date will be.
2. Oh right, everything else haha! Lighting, music, cost, etc. etc. etc. You name it, it's starting to freak me out a bit. Oi Vey.
How do we get to City Hall from here? ;-)
*ETA: I know that we are a little more than 6 months away. But next Friday will be 6 months, I'm rounding up. :-P*
We forgot that we were getting married in October.
I know, that sounds silly but we truly forgot.
Yesterday, when I woke up, I realized that we are getting married in six months. Wowza. We are excited and stressing out (or at least I am!).
Here are the things that have got me a little wound up:
1. Our Caterer. We were really excited to be using SFF as a caterer. When she sent us the sample menu, Lance and I ran to the couch and started looking through it. The menu wasn't what we expected at all. We tried to prepare for the possibility that we might have to continue our catering search. To be fair, as soon as we emailed SFF they responded and said they would meet with us as soon as possible. Unfortunately, with Lance being out of town so much and the holiday season being upon us, it took a while for us to sit down and discuss the menu. During the meeting, SFF seemed to be listening to what we were saying and I suppose we'll see when she sends us the updated menu. Also, we had scheduled a tasting for this Saturday which she called to reschedule. Something about chefs with previous appointments. However, Lance's schedule is starting to pick back up so we aren't sure when the next viable date will be.
2. Oh right, everything else haha! Lighting, music, cost, etc. etc. etc. You name it, it's starting to freak me out a bit. Oi Vey.
How do we get to City Hall from here? ;-)
*ETA: I know that we are a little more than 6 months away. But next Friday will be 6 months, I'm rounding up. :-P*
Friday, December 23, 2011
We Did It!
Last night I went to David's Bridal (a place I never intended to step foot in again) with Katy, Lynda and my mom. After hours of searching we finally found a wedding dress. I'm not a big shopping person and I loathe trying on clothes so, while I wish I could sound more excited about it, I'm still worn out from the process. The dress is gorgeous and is really flattering to my figure. When I showed Dad the pictures of me in the dress he thought that it was on a mannequin!
Lance and I drove down from Asheville to Raleigh to spend the holidays with my family. Katy wanted to go wedding dress shopping with me since she missed the first trip. She was really great. Katy schedule the appointment, confirmed the appointment and forced me to go (I did mention that I hate shopping, right?). My bridal consultant was a ton of fun and we had a lot of great laughs through the dozens of dresses we tried on. She really helped me keep going when I was totally ready to call it quits.
Dress after dress after dress.... after a while all I could see was white and my brain was a little fuzzy. When I tried on THE dress, for the first time in my life, I truly felt like a bride. I could see myself wearing that dress, getting married in that dress and enjoying the reception in that dress. While there weren't any sparks and I didn't glow or cry, the reality of knowing that I am a bride and this is THE dress really threw me for a loop. I'm not sure if that makes sense to anyone else but that's okay too. Even Dad thought the dress was really pretty and it's not his usual style at all.
Ultimately, we found a dress and had a good time doing it. So yay for another thing checked off the list!
Lance and I drove down from Asheville to Raleigh to spend the holidays with my family. Katy wanted to go wedding dress shopping with me since she missed the first trip. She was really great. Katy schedule the appointment, confirmed the appointment and forced me to go (I did mention that I hate shopping, right?). My bridal consultant was a ton of fun and we had a lot of great laughs through the dozens of dresses we tried on. She really helped me keep going when I was totally ready to call it quits.
Dress after dress after dress.... after a while all I could see was white and my brain was a little fuzzy. When I tried on THE dress, for the first time in my life, I truly felt like a bride. I could see myself wearing that dress, getting married in that dress and enjoying the reception in that dress. While there weren't any sparks and I didn't glow or cry, the reality of knowing that I am a bride and this is THE dress really threw me for a loop. I'm not sure if that makes sense to anyone else but that's okay too. Even Dad thought the dress was really pretty and it's not his usual style at all.
Ultimately, we found a dress and had a good time doing it. So yay for another thing checked off the list!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Catering and an Apology
Hi folks! I know, it's been a while since I've updated the blog. Thankfully we have got plenty of time to plan out our wedding. Unfortunately for you guys that means less blog posts now. I'm sure things will pick up as we get closer to THE date. Now for the real post....
We sent in our deposit for our venue (Black Mountain Sanctuary, see previous post for more info.) at the end of October. Even with the deposit paid we still needed to select a caterer before we could sign our venue contract. BMS allows an abundance of personalization options for your special event. One of those options is to add-on a full kitchen. This means that the caterer would have access to the stove/oven, dishwasher, refrigerator, etc. Before we could say yes or no to this add-on, we needed to choose a caterer and ask them.
As November began to turn into December we started to get a little anxious about selecting a caterer. In order to lock in our prices, we had to pick someone soon. Lance was away on business for a majority of October and November. It really fell on me to get the ball rolling. I started looking at all of the various caterers in the area and made a master list. We went through it and selected our top five. I contacted all of them within the next week. Most of them didn't answer their phones, so I left messages. Two caterers called me back and I scheduled appointments.
If you're still following me, I mentioned that I was doing all this at the beginning of December. Can you guess what one of the busiest times of the year is for caterers? That's right, December (you know-- holiday parties and all that). Luckily the two caterers we were in touch with were able to meet with us. Our first appointment was with Saffron Fine Foods (SFF).
SFF is a wonderful local catering company affiliated with HomeGrown, a local restaurant in town. They specialize in local, sustainable AMAZING food. If I had to describe their "food philosophy" I would say that it is Southern comfort food with a twist. When we met with SFF, they were exceptionally receptive to our budget and our desires to keep our wedding as environmentally friendly as possible. Some of the awesome things that were discussed:
1) All left-over food that is still able to be eaten is donated to various local shelters/food banks.
2) All food that is disposed of will be composted by them at no additional cost.
3) They will help us with securing compostable (but pretty!) dishware.
We had a great meeting and felt really good about our chances of finding a caterer.
A few days later we had lunch at HomeGrown (since SFF and HomeGrown are owned/operated by the same group they use the same facilities and food philosophies). Oh My Goodness! The food was DELICIOUS! Some of our favorites included:
1) Mac 'n' Cheese bites-- Similar to mozzerella sticks but with homemade mac cheese inside with fresh marinara sauce.
2) Jalapeno cole slaw-- I'm not a slaw girl but this stuff was awesome. There was just enough spice to give the slaw a nice smokey quality to it.
3) Buttermilk fried chicken-- Lance and I agree that it was the best fried chicken we had ever tasted. The outside was exactly what you want from a fried food without being too greasy and the inside was super moist.
After that lunch we had decided that, if it's possible, we want SFF to cater our wedding. SFF said they would be sending us some menu options but it might take a while due to the holidays. We are really looking forward to working with this wonderful group of people.
After discussing the add-on option for our venue contract with SFF we decided that it wasn't necessary. We were able to sign and send in our contract.
On Thursday we are heading down to Raleigh for the holidays. I'm also going wedding dress shopping with my mother and Katy (and possibly Katy's mother who is like my adopted-mom) on Thursday. I'm hoping that we can have as much success with the dress as we did with the caterer!
We sent in our deposit for our venue (Black Mountain Sanctuary, see previous post for more info.) at the end of October. Even with the deposit paid we still needed to select a caterer before we could sign our venue contract. BMS allows an abundance of personalization options for your special event. One of those options is to add-on a full kitchen. This means that the caterer would have access to the stove/oven, dishwasher, refrigerator, etc. Before we could say yes or no to this add-on, we needed to choose a caterer and ask them.
As November began to turn into December we started to get a little anxious about selecting a caterer. In order to lock in our prices, we had to pick someone soon. Lance was away on business for a majority of October and November. It really fell on me to get the ball rolling. I started looking at all of the various caterers in the area and made a master list. We went through it and selected our top five. I contacted all of them within the next week. Most of them didn't answer their phones, so I left messages. Two caterers called me back and I scheduled appointments.
If you're still following me, I mentioned that I was doing all this at the beginning of December. Can you guess what one of the busiest times of the year is for caterers? That's right, December (you know-- holiday parties and all that). Luckily the two caterers we were in touch with were able to meet with us. Our first appointment was with Saffron Fine Foods (SFF).
SFF is a wonderful local catering company affiliated with HomeGrown, a local restaurant in town. They specialize in local, sustainable AMAZING food. If I had to describe their "food philosophy" I would say that it is Southern comfort food with a twist. When we met with SFF, they were exceptionally receptive to our budget and our desires to keep our wedding as environmentally friendly as possible. Some of the awesome things that were discussed:
1) All left-over food that is still able to be eaten is donated to various local shelters/food banks.
2) All food that is disposed of will be composted by them at no additional cost.
3) They will help us with securing compostable (but pretty!) dishware.
We had a great meeting and felt really good about our chances of finding a caterer.
A few days later we had lunch at HomeGrown (since SFF and HomeGrown are owned/operated by the same group they use the same facilities and food philosophies). Oh My Goodness! The food was DELICIOUS! Some of our favorites included:
1) Mac 'n' Cheese bites-- Similar to mozzerella sticks but with homemade mac cheese inside with fresh marinara sauce.
2) Jalapeno cole slaw-- I'm not a slaw girl but this stuff was awesome. There was just enough spice to give the slaw a nice smokey quality to it.
3) Buttermilk fried chicken-- Lance and I agree that it was the best fried chicken we had ever tasted. The outside was exactly what you want from a fried food without being too greasy and the inside was super moist.
After that lunch we had decided that, if it's possible, we want SFF to cater our wedding. SFF said they would be sending us some menu options but it might take a while due to the holidays. We are really looking forward to working with this wonderful group of people.
After discussing the add-on option for our venue contract with SFF we decided that it wasn't necessary. We were able to sign and send in our contract.
On Thursday we are heading down to Raleigh for the holidays. I'm also going wedding dress shopping with my mother and Katy (and possibly Katy's mother who is like my adopted-mom) on Thursday. I'm hoping that we can have as much success with the dress as we did with the caterer!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Totally unrelated
Lance and I have been super busy so we haven't gotten any wedding stuff done. We need to settle on the caterer next.
On a totally unrelated note... My favorite holiday is quickly approaching. With 9 days until Halloween, I'm getting a seriously late start on decorating/scary the mess out of myself. To make up for lost time I've slated a horror movie to watch for each day leading up to Halloween. I'm super excited. Today I'm cleaning and decorating the house (yay!) while watching scary movies. Here is the list I've compiled so far:
- Paranormal Activity
- Paranormal Activity 2
- Vampyr (1932)*
- Nightmare on Elm Street
- The Exorcist
- Psycho
- Rosemary's Baby*
- Suspiria*
- The Omen (1976)
- Hellraiser*
- The Devil's Backbone*
There will probably be more additions soon. If you can count (and I sure hope you all can) this amount is greater than 9. That's okay, if you know me then you'll know that I have magic movie watching abilities. I can watch four movies in a row and not be phased. Also, you have probably noticed that none of these flicks are zombie-oriented. I have a separate list that follows for zombie movies that I may or may not watch. Most of them I've seen.
- 28 Days Later
- The Evil Dead
- Night of the Living Dead (1968)
- Dawn of the Dead (1978)
- Day of the Dead (1985)
- DeadAlive*
- Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Just a few to say the very least. I LOVE this time of the year. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know! (PS: * means I haven't seen it yet)
On a totally unrelated note... My favorite holiday is quickly approaching. With 9 days until Halloween, I'm getting a seriously late start on decorating/scary the mess out of myself. To make up for lost time I've slated a horror movie to watch for each day leading up to Halloween. I'm super excited. Today I'm cleaning and decorating the house (yay!) while watching scary movies. Here is the list I've compiled so far:
- Paranormal Activity
- Paranormal Activity 2
- Vampyr (1932)*
- Nightmare on Elm Street
- The Exorcist
- Psycho
- Rosemary's Baby*
- Suspiria*
- The Omen (1976)
- Hellraiser*
- The Devil's Backbone*
There will probably be more additions soon. If you can count (and I sure hope you all can) this amount is greater than 9. That's okay, if you know me then you'll know that I have magic movie watching abilities. I can watch four movies in a row and not be phased. Also, you have probably noticed that none of these flicks are zombie-oriented. I have a separate list that follows for zombie movies that I may or may not watch. Most of them I've seen.
- 28 Days Later
- The Evil Dead
- Night of the Living Dead (1968)
- Dawn of the Dead (1978)
- Day of the Dead (1985)
- DeadAlive*
- Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Just a few to say the very least. I LOVE this time of the year. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know! (PS: * means I haven't seen it yet)
Monday, October 3, 2011
Wedding Prep Weekend #1
With my school work and Lance's business we have had limited time to do wedding planning. The major downside is that we are getting married during our town's busiest tourist season and our town thrives on tourism. Last weekend we attempted to do some wedding planning... after learning that we needed several appointments to accomplish anything we decided that settling on a honeymoon (France!) was victorious enough. We also set up three appointments for this past weekend.
The first appointment was with Paula at Jewels that Dance. Jewels That Dance is a local business that has jewelry in stock and that will work with you to design custom jewelry. Paula, the designer, was warm and friendly and really understood where we were coming from. She is awesome at helping us stay on track budget-wise while still delivering the engagement ring that we desire. She spent 30 minutes with us helping us decide what it was that we really wanted in a ring. I'm really looking forward to working with her throughout this process (and yes, it will be a long process).
On Saturday we went to a B&B that, online at least, look idyllic for our wedding. It was a gorgeous B&B but it was a little small for what we needed. We were a little astonished when the owner told us that our date (Oct. 6, 2012) was the most requested date for next year. I'm really glad that we were able to get started on this now! We also talked to several other places that either couldn't accommodate our party size or were already booked. Feeling slightly discouraged we left and held out hopes for the next venue we would check out.
Before we went to the B&B on Saturday, I spent a little while searching online for the "perfect" place. We found an amazing location and immediately called the owner to see if we could take a look on Sunday. On Sunday morning we headed out the door to go to the "perfect" venue in Black Mountain. On the way, I was stressing out about the possibility that our date was booked already. After calling my parents, Lance and I decided that if we loved the location and it was already booked we would try to change the date. Also, while talking to my parents, it was brought to my attention that Dad actually knew the owner of the house we were going to and had been there before. He had sent me the website link for it but for some reason it had been vetoed months ago. I think it's because we originally wanted to rent an entire house and have our families stay there.
When we got to Black Mountain we were in awe of the site. You could really tell that John (the owner) had put a lot of time and effort into making it a wonderful place. John took us on a tour of the property and the house. We fell in love with it. The best part of the story is that our date wasn't booked yet! The venue and date are ours if we send in the deposit this week. So, friends and family, where is this amazing location? The venue is called Black Mountain Sanctuary and it certainly is. (If you click on BMS it should take you to the website for the venue.)
We are very excited, and relieved, to have this first big wedding planning item checked off our list! Now on to the caterer....
The first appointment was with Paula at Jewels that Dance. Jewels That Dance is a local business that has jewelry in stock and that will work with you to design custom jewelry. Paula, the designer, was warm and friendly and really understood where we were coming from. She is awesome at helping us stay on track budget-wise while still delivering the engagement ring that we desire. She spent 30 minutes with us helping us decide what it was that we really wanted in a ring. I'm really looking forward to working with her throughout this process (and yes, it will be a long process).
On Saturday we went to a B&B that, online at least, look idyllic for our wedding. It was a gorgeous B&B but it was a little small for what we needed. We were a little astonished when the owner told us that our date (Oct. 6, 2012) was the most requested date for next year. I'm really glad that we were able to get started on this now! We also talked to several other places that either couldn't accommodate our party size or were already booked. Feeling slightly discouraged we left and held out hopes for the next venue we would check out.
Before we went to the B&B on Saturday, I spent a little while searching online for the "perfect" place. We found an amazing location and immediately called the owner to see if we could take a look on Sunday. On Sunday morning we headed out the door to go to the "perfect" venue in Black Mountain. On the way, I was stressing out about the possibility that our date was booked already. After calling my parents, Lance and I decided that if we loved the location and it was already booked we would try to change the date. Also, while talking to my parents, it was brought to my attention that Dad actually knew the owner of the house we were going to and had been there before. He had sent me the website link for it but for some reason it had been vetoed months ago. I think it's because we originally wanted to rent an entire house and have our families stay there.
When we got to Black Mountain we were in awe of the site. You could really tell that John (the owner) had put a lot of time and effort into making it a wonderful place. John took us on a tour of the property and the house. We fell in love with it. The best part of the story is that our date wasn't booked yet! The venue and date are ours if we send in the deposit this week. So, friends and family, where is this amazing location? The venue is called Black Mountain Sanctuary and it certainly is. (If you click on BMS it should take you to the website for the venue.)
We are very excited, and relieved, to have this first big wedding planning item checked off our list! Now on to the caterer....
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