Dream Venue.

So after winning the dream wedding, it was a little hard for me to fathom our ceremony being inside. I have always imagined having a beautiful outside fall wedding on a farm. I love fall and I love being outdoors, so needless to say this has been my dream for years.

Tonight me, Matthew, my mom, and Emmitt all went to the Carnegie Hotel in Johnson City to see our "dream venue." I have been inside the Carnegie only one time, and it was to use the restroom during a concert at ETSU lol, so it was definitely an experience! Annette Marshall, the events coordinator, met us downstairs in the lobby. Me being the type A personality that I am, I just HAD to see the outside courtyard first, since an outside wedding is what I had my heart set on. The courtyard at the Carnegie was very pretty, but nothing like what I had pictured for our wedding.

Annette then showed us the Grand Soldier's Ballroom (the only other choice for our ceremony, and our only option for the reception.) I was blown away by how beautiful the ballroom was without any decorations. The ceiling is hand-painted with beautiful antiques displayed throughout. There is a gorgeous wooden fireplace right behind where Matthew and I would stand as we are saying our vows. And on both sides of the fireplace were 2 large antique mirrors. The whole theme of the hotel is right up this antique-lover's alley! After looking in awe at all of the ballroom's beauty, it became our most obvious choice for the ceremony and reception. Just when I think I have completely made up my mind about something involving our wedding, it's like God directs us down a new path and shows us a much better, and more simple way. I love how He works to humble me. It is so refreshing.

After answering all my questions, Annette took us to see our presidential suite that we will stay in the night of our wedding. Of course it was magnificent, too! It was also filled with antique furniture, and was very romantic. I just love the atmosphere of the entire place! We definitely left feeling so comfortable about our venue that was chosen for us! Not to mention Wellington's (the restaurant attached to the Carnegie), is catering our reception, we get a free night's stay in the presidential suite, and they are basically going to let me decorate however I want. Hello! I can definitely get used to the Dream Wedding thing.

My advice for brides choosing a venue (even though mine was already chosen for me): EXPLORE YOUR OPTIONS. You may think you want one thing, but don't settle until you have checked out every place, or in my case, every option possible. It needs to fit both your personality and the groom's personality. If you aren't going to feel comfortable where you are going to say "I do" at, then most likely you don't need to get married there! Now I need to focus on centerpieces, decorations, etc. and I'll be set.

Our next big planning event after the venue was choosing a save the date card. This was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. So many websites. So many designs. So overwhelming! Plus not to mention, Matthew is a lot more picky than I thought :) But, luckily this worked out for us just like everything else has so far. My good friend Kayla had hooked me up with a coupon from minted.com a few weeks ago. This is where she had all of her stationary items printed for her wedding. So, not only am I getting a discount, but I have seen Minted's work in person. This was extremely important to me because sometimes stuff looks awesome on a website, but grainy in person. We knew we wanted a "photo postcard" save the date, so after looking through almost EVERY.SINGLE.DESIGN. we finally chose this one:

And, here are some pictures of us at the Carnegie today with the lovely Annette!