Busy Bride

Well besides work, I have actually been busy planning our wedding :)
I have set aside some time lately to focus on different wedding things, and I'm pretty proud of that! I told my mom the other day that my plan was to just buckle down and pick something I liked and stick with it, no matter what. So that's what I'm doing!

I wrote in my last blog post about ordering our save the date cards. Sad thing is, I picked out "post card" save the dates, so the back was literally a postcard where you wrote the address and placed the stamp. I didn't think that would be very pretty, so we chose another save the date, which I love MUCH more. My sister-in-law helped me choose this one. Sorry for the crappy picture from my phone. But these have arrived, so I just need to address some envelopes and send these babies!

We have that checked off the list :) We also made a decision about where we are honeymooning! Our plan is to stay at Sandals either in Jamaica or St. Lucia. We want somewhere that's all-inclusive and tropical, so I think we won't be disappointed! I am hopefully going to make time to talk with a travel agent about that tomorrow errr or sometime this week when I'm not working lol. I also made a decision about the style/color for my bridesmaid dresses too, but that isn't set in stone, so I don't want to give it away just yet ;)

Another thing I have been thinking about a lot is decor for the reception. Ok, I have been thinking about that since the day we got engaged......but I have so many Pinterest wedding projects pinned that I need to eliminate a few haha. One of the things I definitely want to do is a memory ladder like this one:

It's still my style of rustic, and a great way to show pictures of our loved ones that we have lost. It's much prettier than just a table. I also started collecting some awesome antique frames of different sizes for the pictures.

Our next two vendor meetings are in February for our photography and for our flowers, so I am sort of waiting to make any decisions regarding those two, but of course I've been pinning things like CRAZY!!

Oh, and also our second article was published today! :)

Other than that, you haven't missed much :)

I hope this has inspired all of you brides!
happy planning xoxo

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!

Dream Dress.

With everything going on in my life, I have definitely neglected my blog like whoah. But, my business is officially CLOSED, which is a huge stress relief for me and for Matthew. I still have most of my stuff available for sale at 2 different booth spaces still on Broad Street. Also, I love my other job, so that is a blessing! But I've been oh so busy.

In between my busy schedule, I somehow found time to meet with my first vendor for the Dream Wedding. I have known Patricia from Tricia's By Design for a few years now (and so has Matthew!) She actually made my sister-in-law's wedding dress and tons of other dresses for different brides that I know. So when we won the Dream Wedding, the dress was probably the #1 thing I was most excited about, but don't tell Matthew I said that ;)

On a Thursday night a few weeks ago, my mom, sister, and sister-in-law drove to Tricia's so I could try on some wedding dresses. She had a gorgeous selection of course, and I tried on several, but none of them were exactly what I was looking for. We both agreed that her making my dress would benefit both of us. So I will be getting a custom made dress from Tricia's By Design! I cannot wait! We talked a lot about what I wanted in a dream wedding gown and Patricia practically read my mind. She is so knowledgeable of fabrics and styles that look the best. It's insane. After my meeting with her, I wouldn't trust anyone else with a project like this. I'm going back sometime this month for my first measurements so the wedding diet has started!

In case you haven't been following my wedding board on Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/laurabegley/marry-me/), here are some of the wedding gowns that I absolutely LOVE! And a couple of pictures of me with Patricia, too! I think it's obvious that I'm obsessed with all lace. Our next meeting is with the Carnegie Hotel in a couple of days, so watch out for my blog post about that, some of my crafty projects, and our save the dates! Happy wedding planning :)