10 more months! Oh, no!

So, I haven't blogged in a while, because Jason and I are working a lot towards getting this house... and I haven't really had time to do any fun wedding stuff either! But I wanted to post because I realized that I only have 10 more months until I get married! For all of those that said, "it'll go fast" once I got engaged... well... it did, and it has, and now I need to get stuff done!

Who will help me???

More Wedding Dress shopping fun

Yesterday, my mom, Lori, and Bella and I all headed to the wedding dress store that my little sister, Natalie got her wedding dress at about two and a half years ago.

I think I tried on about 10 or 12 dresses at this place and had the lady write down my top five for me, so I could look them up online.

My favorite one, the Allure W242 in Ivory was so beautiful and simple and didn't have all the glittery shiny stuff on it. It really stood out from the rest and I loved it! But it's strapless and I really like the look of something to break up the areas between my arms and neck.

There were a few other dresses that I liked a few things about, but not the entire thing.

I'll have to keep trying them on to see what looks good, as I continue to lose weight!

Wedding dress pictures - Jason, you better not be peaking!

This dress was the last dress I tried on today and my favorite one too!

As you can tell... this boutique also sells lingerie! You would think they would move it away from the mirror where people just might be taking pictures of themselves in wedding dresses to remember forever! LOL

I'M A BRIDE!

I had so much fun today! Once I got off work, I headed over to pick up my mom and we headed to the closest wedding dress shop around. We were a little hesitant because a co-worker of mine told me that when she went there to try on dresses for her wedding, they made her cry! The reason was because they had asked her what her budget was, and after finding a dress that she absolutely loved, the lady told her that it was too expensive and would have cost too much for her to get altered, going over her budget... then she took the dress away! YES! She took the dress away and grabbed a few other dresses that my friend had picked out, and took them away too because they wouldn't have been in her budget!

I told my mom the story and she couldn't' wait to go there and see what they did! My mom is so fearless, she wouldn't have let them do that to me! But we had a POA: go in there and tell them we didn't' know what we liked, wanted, or what our budget was, so that we could look at whatever we wanted! And it worked!

We had such a fun time! I was able to wear one of their corsets for trying on dresses, which worked perfectly!

I tried on five different dresses there and I loved it! There were three that I really loved and I will post pictures as soon as my mom gets back from taking Katya to gymnastics and gets me the cord to attach the camera to the computer (I left my camera at Lori's house and tried to have my mom get it this morning, but she forgot). Anyways, the dresses I loved the most were not white.

The first one I tried on, I loved. It's a Mori Lee #2182 and this is the description from the Internet: "Crystal beaded lace overlays the sculptured strapless bodice to the empire with asymmetrical draping over the midriff. Full A-line skirt with soft draping and a border of lace surrounding the hemline. Chapel length train." This is what I thought of it: It was ivory and sleeveless and had a beautiful sideways wrap around the middle (pictures would be nice right now). But it really was beautiful! And everyone I talked to said that it was the first dress they tried on that they loved! I thought it was a little funny, but it was true! I just loved it!

The second dress was white with capped sleeves. It had a see-through type fabric over the main dress and parted in the middle, under the belly button, and I didn't like that at all! The only think I did like about it was the sleeves and even then, it felt like they were going to fall off my shoulders.

The third dress was white and had the bumpy draping on the bottom of it, but the top part was too busy, and I wasn't liking it.

The fourth dress was the Casablanca #PR1795 and was my and my mom's favorite dress at this boutique. The Internet description: "Strapless gown with lace trimmed empire bodice. Lace trimmed pleating falls from the empire waist down into the softly draped and tucked skirt. The back is fitted with lace up ties and billowing semi-cathedral train." This looked very slimming on me too!

The fifth dress was the Bonny #853. The Internet description: "Strapless gown with lace trimmed empire bodice. Lace trimmed pleating falls from the empire waist down into the softly draped and tucked skirt. The back is fitted with lace up ties and billowing semi-cathedral train." This dress wasn't my favorite, but I really loved how it wrapped and draped around. It looked good on me too!

Needless to say, we had a really great time there and they were so helpful! I had so much fun and all the dresses looked absolutely beautiful on me! I couldn't believe it! I was glad I took the time to curl my hair and do my makeup and shave my legs and paint my toes so I could look and feel like a beautiful bride!

We tried to see what other local places there were, but weren't able to find anything else too close so we headed to a town about 20 minutes away for another small boutique and there wasn't much there at all! She kept pulling out stuff that looked old to me, like from the 90's or the 80's even! Like the dresses with the long sleeves and lace... um... no! She pulled out about three dresses for me to try on and the first one was just horrible. It was white and a little plain and had a beaded design on the front, oh and the main top part did that ugly little pointing down thing and I will not be wearing something like that! The second one was so big, a size 30! She had to pull it really tight and pin it in the back so that I could get somewhat of an idea of it could possibly look like and she said it looked slimming on me, but even though she had it pinned, it made me feel like I was swimming in it. Yuck.

The third and final one that I tried on was so awesome! This one we will call the "Cryer" because it made my mom cry! It was ivory, sleeveless, had a beautiful beaded design and then had a veil of some in the back that wrapped around the waist like a thin belt (but went perfectly with the dress) and then it was a train in the back. Then she put this adorable veil on my head and I just looked like a princess! It fit me so perfectly and it wasn't very expensive either! If I didn't have more weight to lose, I'm positive I would've gotten that dress!

I'm really looking forward for tomorrow's wedding dress adventures! I'll keep you posted!

More posts to come, but for now...

Tomorrow! I finally will be trying on a wedding dress or 100! Yay!

And for all you who said "oh, time will fly by!" IT HAS! I've only got 11 months, today, until the day I'm married and I have so much to do! I need to really get stuff put together!

But for now, I'm focused on trying on dresses... probably will wait to purchase one until I'm down more in weight (over 50 pounds now that I've lost, by the way!) but I'm still really excited to try on those dresses! OF COURSE! I'll try and post pictures later!

Wedding Dress shopping! Yay!

My mom is coming into town and I have off work for a day and a half next week. We are going Wedding Dress Shopping! Yay! I haven't looked in a store, or tried on anything yet, and I'm very eager to get out there and start feeling like a princess! If anyone has any tips on where to go, or not go, or what I need to do to prepare, LET ME KNOW!

We're taking our time

Didn't mean to not update you all, they came back with a counter offer, but then we felt we should wait and take a little more time and maybe buy in the spring. Which means, I can start making more wedding plans! Yay!

And we're waiting...

Jason and I signed the paperwork on an offer for a house yesterday and we're waiting for an answer... so far, we don't have any news, so to us, it's probably not good, but we're okay with it, either way.
Keep you posted.

Well... we're going to keep looking.

We're going to keep looking for house options. After another view of the house with critical eyes and sisters, I realized that there is actually a lot of work that would need to be done with the Blue house inside... so we're going to keep looking for options.

It's the blue one!

Yes, we're going to put an offer on the blue house tomorrow and see what happens! I think the realization of being a home-owner has hit and I'm really excited! (And nervous!) Lori is going to look at it one more time with me tonight, and Rachael too, if she's not delivering a baby tonight.
Jason and I both got pre-approved for the loan!

So far, I am planning on living in the house first, which is great, so I don't throw away $500.00 every month on rent! We'll have to make updates slowly, but I'm really looking forward to it!

It makes me a little nervous, because I'm used to coming into work at what I call "on-time" which is really 15 to 20 minutes before I actually have to work, just to make sure I get settled, have my computer on and ready to go, and have my coffee fixed with creamer. Once I move into the house, I won't be 2 miles away from work anymore, and obstacles aren't as easy to predict! I'm sure it'll work out just fine, because there probably aren't too many people that live two miles away from their place of work anyways, and I still get up really early in the morning, so that won't be a problem either. But it still makes me a little nervous!

Jason's going to meet with the realtor tomorrow to draw up an offer. We don't want to lose this house, since we've both agreed we love it!

I'll keep you all posted on that!

Also, only 22 more days until my mom comes into town! You know what that means? I can FINALLY try on wedding dresses! Yes! I think I will try and get a day off so we can go! Are you ready, mom? You better be!!!

Adventures of House Hunting

Jason and I have looked at 10 houses so far. Each one has its own personality and each one has a distinctive memory ingrained in my head.
The first two we looked at were promising, because we really wanted to live close to my sister Lori and her family.
They didn't work for us.

The White Picket Fence House:
The first one with the cute white picket fence and the nice yard, wasn't very nice on the inside. Looked as though he renovated the upstairs all by himself and did it really cheap too! Probably three or more different levels of flooring upstairs! Very weird.

The Block House by the trailer park:
The second house we looked at was pretty big and although not in a great location, we thought it would work out and Jason even put an offer on it, but things happen for a reason and the house went into foreclosure the day after we put an offer on it, and apparently before they were even able to see what our offer was. Oh, well.

The Blue House on the Corner:
This house is awesome! Has woods and a creek from the side of the house to the backyard, four rooms inside (enough for us to have at least 3 kids!), two bathrooms, two car garage attached to the house, another garage out back and a huge shed, just perfect for a playhouse for the kids! Downfall? It's on a corner of two roads, and although the front yard is pretty big, the back yard is cute short because of the creek. But I really love it!

The Manufactured House on the nice land:
On our way to this house, Jason and I were really excited because we really thought this one was "the" house! And to our benefit, we didn't know it was a manufactured house, until we were inside it, because they didn't disclose that information to us! We were really bummed! This house had great land and a huge wooden back patio, great for entertaining! Also had a gazebo and a large shed, the size of a small house!

The Nice Clean Small Expensive House:
This house was awesome. While only 1500 square feet or so, this house still had 3 bedrooms and the owner really kept it nice and clean and tidy. He was a meticulous man, and had all the information available to us, when we entered the house, he had a spreadsheet of the electric bill and pictures of the house, since he's lived there! That was pretty impressive! And the yard was just beautiful! He really took care of that place and it showed! However, it was pretty expensive!

The Dirty, Stinky, large house, with the people still inside the house, when we looked at it:
Yes, the owner lady was in the house when we went to look at it. That's just weird! It was really messy inside too! Food all over the kitchen, smelled like nasty meat mixed with dog smell (they had two inside dogs). Oh, and we couldn't' even look at one of the bedrooms because someone was sleeping in the room! So... there were four bedrooms and full basement (with three holes in the floor for the sump-pump). Definitely a NO!

The Apple-Orchard House:
This house was so cute! It was right next to an apple orchard, had a fireplace, a two car garage and could have been three car, if there was a door for the very end of it. Had a cute red brick on the outside and nice big oak trees in front with beautiful fall leaves! However, we were a little early (because the previous house was a quick in and out) so the tenants were still there. They gathered their dogs and people and left so we could take a look. The first thing that I noticed, when walking into the house was that it smelled like smoke, really bad too! Yuck! That would mean new paint everywhere and new carpet and whatever else! But it was an option, other than that!

The Empty-old-dated House:
This house really had potential! It was empty so we didn't' need to worry about the owner being there when we looked at it, but it was really dated! The living room had bright, and I mean, super bright pink carpet! I have no idea why! All the receptacles had just the two holes in them. And worse of all? The light switches were so old, it was actually two buttons and one pushed for "on" and the other one pushed for "off". Really weird! It would've needed a LOT of work! That's for sure!

And that's it!

So, I think we might look into the "Blue house on the corner" and see about putting an offer on it! I'm really excited because I really like that house! I love the idea of a lot of rooms to grow in, and all the space and storage, and the woods and the creek! I'm really excited! And I'll try to keep you all posted!

Jason's 10-year high school reunion

This last weekend was Jason's 10-year high school reunion. Lucky for him, he went to school close to where we live, so we could attend. As most of you know, I went to high school across the country in Washington state and wasn't able to fly out there for the weekend reunion this last spring. But I was really excited about coming to his reunion! I actually am friends with a few people we went to school with, so it made for a really fun night!
Not too many people came to the reunion. Apparently there were around 100 people that they graduated with, but only 20 or so came to it, but it was a larger crowd because they all brought someone with them.
It was pretty funny when we pulled up to the restaurant, because you could almost tell there was a reunion going on inside because everyone brought their best vehicle with them! Hummers, BMW's, or family cars... you know what I mean?
Oh, and I have to tell you too that Jason was so cute! Apparently, he was telling everyone about us getting married and I'd have random people coming up to me asking me about my wedding and wanting to look at the ring! It was really funny, and cute!

Wedding updates: caterer and photographer

There aren't many updates to the wedding, but I did want to keep tabs on what's going on.

Caterer:

So far, we only have the ceremony and reception location confirmed. Jason and I went to the best Italian restaurant to find out what we need to do to get them to cater our reception, but as they know my sister Lori's in-laws, all they said was "no problem" although it was a little comical because the sister-in-law of the owner of the restaurant has a very strong Italian restaurant and a little on the older side, and kept giving me a hard time because the wedding was over a year away and "not even the same year!" Ha-ha [but not really] because I want to figure this stuff out before someone else does and takes all the people we want for our wedding! The owner, Bruno, is really funny and kept talking to us, while we ate the best lunch ever, and when we were done eating, the lady told us that she put our name down for 10.10.10 and then said, "that was in November, right?" and I must have had a funny look on my face, because she was just teasing me and started laughing at me, but told me that she had it down and that we didn't need to worry! But we did leave without knowing any pricing or anything, so I'm not sure how we're supposed to not worry, when we don't know how to budget without knowing how much it will cost! Oh, well, I'm sure they'll give us a good deal. We'll just have to go there when the man in charge of the charging part is there so we can find out more information on how much it will cost. Also, I think we'll have them make homemade bread for all the tables and then have mostaccioli spinach stuffed ravioli, and a chicken Parmesan or mostaccioli with meatballs. Again, it's all up in the air still until we get more details on cost.

Photographer:

I've only met with one photographer and I really like them! Two people, somewhat local and very comfortable to talk to and tell them what I want and what I don't want. Unfortunately, they are on the pricey side, but I think they're still reasonable. $2,000 for 8 hours and $2,400 for all day long, unlimited. The only thing is... that my friend Laura recommended them, she is getting married next June and is only paying $1,200! I don't know if she got a different plan, but that's quite the difference if you ask me!

There are other options I've looked into but they go around 3 and 4 or even up to 7 thousand! Oh, but I did ix-nay on one photographer... I checked out her online blog and found not one but TWO pictures of the bride with the maids bouquets laying on the bottom of her dress, somewhat as a frame! WHAT? I DON'T THINK SO! NO WAY!

There is so much to figure out! I need help!

That's all I got for now... so... who wants to help me???

Our Tree

Jason and I finally got a chance to go back to where he proposed and take some pictures.

Here's the tree he got me interested in, while I got the ring out...
I think this picture would've turned out a lot better if I had a nicer camera and focused on the actual ring and not the tree! But still looks kinda cool!

And here we are in front of our tree... we hope it'll be there for a long time!!! Apparently, someone owns the property it's on and we're only allowed to be in the water, technically... Either way, it was pretty cool to go back and take those pictures, since we didn't have a camera on us when it actually happened!

Our three year anniversary!

Jason brought over a huge mum plant for me, for our three year anniversary and it's so beautiful! We celebrated 3 years of official dating on August 31st! I just brought the plant to work today and it still looks brand new! I love it! Thanks, Jay!

Oh, and Jason pointed out to me today that we have one year, one month, and one day until our wedding!

An alternative to guest book

I love the traditions of weddings; however, I'm really interested in doing things differently for mine. Just not the same as other weddings and spice it up, but not too weird... you know? I want whimsical, unique, and original for my wedding. Since today is really slow at work, I've decided to do some online research on alternative ideas to the wedding traditions. Such as the post before this one. If we can pull off having our centerpieces look like cute pumpkin carriages, it would be adorable! Very different then having flowers or pumpkins! And yet, still super cute!
So, back to the guest book. I've been thinking of guest books, and wondering what I would do with mine, after the wedding! I mean, I don't remember ever looking at another person's guest book, or seeing theirs displayed anywhere in their house, which means to me that they probably have it in a box in the basement or up in the attic... I am in search of something different! If anyone has an idea, LET ME KNOW!I just found this website with a really neat idea for the guest book. Have all our guests write well-wishes for us, and put it in either a bird cage or large glass vase. It would be simple to DIY this project, cutting paper in just the right size and having multi-colored pens to make it colorful and then assemble them throughout a wedding scrapbook or something.

I also found an idea on etsy where they have a box, and paper inside where the guest can put their addresses and other contact information on it and also leave a little message for the Bride and Groom... which sounds pretty cool! Although we'd most likely already have their mailing address, if they were invited! But having all the other information and all together would be nice and make thank you cards go a little easier!Does anyone else have any other ideas?

A pumpkin Carriage! And other cute ideas!

I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, but I finally thought to google these pumpkin carriage ideas and look what I found! And I'm sure we could make it not so dark and creepy, but it's really cool!
I love the metal embellishments on the top of the large pumpkin, around the window/door areas and on the wheels! I think that looks so adorable! And If I use a white or orange pumpkin for the large one, it will look more wedding-like. Also add in some wire with curls in it, that will look so cute!
Here's another one I found online, though not as cute.
Here's another cute idea:
And here's another one:I think my sisters, friends, and family are going to be working really hard for my wedding!

Aww... Isn't he sweet?

This coming Monday is our three year anniversary! I'm not sure how we're going to celebrate, but I thought it was pretty cute when Jason suggested we celebrate our "pre-wedding-anniversary" this year on October 10!

Where did I find this guy!!!???!!!

Decoration ideas!

Natalie and I were at Hobby-Lobby last week and saw these cute things for ideas!

We could do something with letters and then put stuff around them...
Make clay leaves for give-a-ways???
Make something like this...
Or like this for the center pieces with real pumpkins!
Any ideas?

Email confirmation

I got the email confirmation from the reception place! What a relief! I love the date we're planning to get married on, but because it's so cool, we have to make sure we get everything lined up as early as we can!

I think we'll be looking at caterers and photographers soon. I sure hope I'm not forgetting something!

The Barn is official!

That's right! This ordinary blue box became the official place to send out the contract! I filled out all I could and then drove over to Jason's work and had him sign everything then we sealed it with a nice chunk of change inside and sent it out!
I would've taken more pictures of me putting it in the box, but I was by myself and Friday afternoons are pretty busy and of course, I didn't want to look a little retarded taking self-portraits of myself sending a letter! Ha-ha!
This will just have to do!

Three years! and other updates...

Last week marked three years since Jason and I met. Our two friends that made us tag along with them for their date haven't seen each other since... oh, well. I'm sure they are better off anyways!
Jason and I spent the evening watching movies and I made pasta for dinner to celebrate. I think we'll celebrate our three year anniversary in a couple of weeks a bit more, though. At least we better! Although, saving for a wedding really cuts deep in extra spending cash! I actually considered not going to the "Y" and/or not going to Weight Watchers anymore to save money, but my sister Natalie told me that it's worth it, so I am going to make sure I get my money's worth and work out at much as possible (which I already have been doing) and I'm going to eat better and lose as much weight as possible too (don't worry, anorexia is not even close! haha!) Although, I do have to honk my horn for a moment and let you all know that I've lost 31 pounds already and I am totally stoked! My short term goal, now, is to get to 50 pounds by end of October. Which really is beneficial in many ways, especially since Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner!
Lori is joining me tonight to go look at the "barn" again, and help me by asking as many questions as she can, that I just can't think of and/or feel too embarrassed to ask. I like doing that part, when it's not me in this position, and she's always been good at asking those hard questions!
I'll keep you all posted!
BTW: Don't worry, for all those who are wondering and aren't asking... I can grow my hair out before the wedding!

Flower ideas and colors

I was in JoAnn's the other day and noticed these flowers and how vibrant they were! So, I took a couple of pictures so I would have an idea of colors and styles that I liked for the wedding.I really just like the berries on this one... I'd like to incorporate leaves somehow for the reception, but I'm not sure how. Anyone have thoughts?

I think I found the place!

I found the spot for my wedding and reception yesterday! My friend Betsy and her daughter came with me to view it, and help me ask questions that I can't think of. It's so beautiful!To the left of this sign is the picture below where the ceremony will be held outside. There's seating on either side.Here you can see the building to the right, which is where the reception is held and then the ceremony on the left of the picture.This is the inside of the reception hall. The door on the left is the door I'll be walking out of for the ceremony.
The building is extended for the dance hall with a small bar area and stage for the band.Wouldn't this counter top be just perfect with huge glass jars of punch and lemonade???
And this is a perfect this area for s'mores!

At the fair

Jason and I decided to go to the local festival downtown last weekend and ended up meeting Rachael and Derrick and the kids and Todd, Tom and Tony too!
I guess that's what happens when you have a huge family, right?

(not my) MIL-zilla story

I am very grateful of my Mother-in-law-to-be [MIL]. Brenda is very kind and sweet and I know she won’t be a “MIL-zilla” at my wedding.

However, a co-worker of mine told me a story from one of her friends, whose son just got married.

In the words of Monk, “Here’s what happened”:

The bride’s mother was a pistol and tried to sabotage the wedding wherever she could.

1. She stood when the bridesmaids were entering instead of when the bride comes down the isle.

2. She shooed her ex-husband away when he came up to light the unity candle with her.

3. She put the flowers in the freezer instead of the cooler.

4. She only put meat in about 2/3 of the sandwiches. So the guests were getting empty buns.

5. She then told one of the guests to go to the kitchen to get meat for his sandwich!

6. Before the wedding, she was planning on selling the “extra” meat in baggies at the reception. (The bride put an end to that).

7. While the newlyweds were visiting with family, she had their table cleared of everything! And they weren't done eating! Basically, booting them out the door.

Can you imagine???

Ring nightmares

Right after Jason proposed, I had starting having nightmares about my ring! And I base the blame solely on one of my co-workers, Cherie.
About a few months ago, Cherie and I were chatting about rings and she showed me hers and asked me what kind of ring I wanted... She then proceeded to tell me that her diamond in her ring has fallen out three times! Yes! She lost the diamond in her ring, three times!
Can you imagine?

So, of course, after Jason gave me the ring, I started having nightmares that my diamond was missing, or fell out. It even haunted me during the day. If I was driving, I'd quickly look at my ring, just to make sure it didn't just fall out. Or when I washed the dishes, I would take the ring off and put it across the room on a hook, but every now and then I would look back just to make sure it hadn't fallen or that the diamond was still intact!

When I came back from my vacation, I told Cherie how she has traumatized me! She laughed at me and then told me it was only because she only had three prongs and that now she has 4 and it's fine! (I have four prongs on mine, so I'm in the clear!)

Oh! And another co-worker of mine told me this story about her ring:
She lost her ring about three years ago, and thought that her dog, a puppy at the time, had eaten it. So, yes, they had been looking in the backyard for quite some time and had never found it there, but she just knew it was there! After all this time, they never found it… in the backyard! Yes, just recently they found it! Want to know where? Well, apparently, when the dog was a puppy, it would hang its butt over the bed and poop! Gross. I know, but that’s a puppy for you. And would you believe it? They had just recently moved the bed, and found a ring in dried poop, on the metal bed frame! Can you imagine??? That would be just awful!

So, do any of you have any ring stories to share?

The Jar Idea

I found this picture on a blog this morning and wanted to post it, because it's almost exactly what I want for my table center pieces, minus that flower, plus a lot of red, orange, green, and yellow type fall flowers/wildflowers.

The Wedding Freak???

My loving little sister, Natalie, also known as my Matron of Honor is a brat! If you check out her blog, you'll notice on the right side bar, that there is a blog that she keeps track of that she has nick-named "The Wedding Freak". And that person would be me!
Here's my defense:
1. I am not a wedding freak.
2. I am only getting married once, so I want to enjoy and share this excited experience.
3. I thought a blog would be nice to have so that Jason and my family and friends can read about the latest planning updates.
4. I want to remember all the fun and interesting and sometimes bizarre experiences of actually planning a wedding!

And furthermore, it's my wedding and I can do whatever I want to! Hahaha!

So... There!!!

(This post is dedicated to my little sister, Nat the Brat.)

2 in 1 - Ceremony/Reception option

The Blue Dress Barn: Option # 1, 2, and 3

My sister Natalie had her wedding reception here, and Jason's friend got married and had their reception here too.

Of all the places I've looked so far (either on line or in person) and any other places I've heard of, this place is the place I imagine it all happening!
It has the texture, the ambiance, the colors, and just the right size and location for what I want!

It's a barn.
A barn that has been redone and is absolutely beautiful!
I can have my wildflowers in antique Mason jars as center pieces here. I can have my pumpkins and apples, and other fall-ish colorful type stuff here and it will be amazing!

I have plans to look at it this week, and I can't wait!

I wanted it from the beginning, but because of the amount of $ it is to have, I thought it wouldn't be an option.
When I spoke to Jason last night, I told him that it was my 1st, 2nd, and my 3rd choice of locations and that I loved it so much, so he told me to look more into it and see what we have to do to hold it!

I'll keep you all posted!

Ceremony and Reception location options

My friend Betsy has been helping me with my wedding plans by setting up appointments for venues for either the ceremony or the reception. This last Friday, we were able to look at two different Bed and Breakfasts. I've been wanting something a little different than the usual, so I thought B&B's would be a good place to look.
The first one we went to was absolutely beautiful! The scenery was perfect! Just what I wanted! Green. Trees. Nature. Beauty. Simple. Perfect!
Here's the gazebo where we could get married. We could even potentially have chairs around in a circle for something a bit different. I was also thinking maybe a tent, just in case it rained (or snowed, since Michigan is famous for such indecisiveness when it comes to weather!) Here's a quick picture I took of part of the house, and the inside was something out of a magazine!

Just behind the house, there's another smaller gazebo.

When Betsy and I arrived at the house, we were both very impressed! I took these pictures so that I could show Jason later and see if he wanted to come and look at it with me too! The couple that owned the place were very cordial. We discussed wedding plans and such in the kitchen (which was huge!) and I really wanted to go outside to see the grounds, since the house wasn't large enough for a wedding. When we stepped outside to view the grounds, we were suddenly hit with a wall of mosquitoes! It was horrible! I think I might have gotten one in my eye, and if I wasn't careful, I'm sure I could have swallowed a few, as well! It was awful! The place was absolutely beautiful, but I just couldn't think of anything other than those mosquitoes! As we walked behind the house to the smaller gazebo, I noticed this:

A beautiful little man-made pond full of over a thousand Japanese goldfish and lily pads (and most likely the root cause of why there were so many mosquitoes!)
I just knew this would not work for me. Especially not with this breeding pond behind the house, because they'd never go away! Then it started raining, so we all ran inside the house and sat down on the adorable comfy couches. She asked me if I had any other questions, and I didn't, because the only thing on my mind was: if I get married here, my wedding's going to smell like Citronella candles and I'll have to give "Off" away as favors! I DON'T THINK SO!

We left soon after for the second B & B which was just down the road. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, we knew right away that this would not work, but felt we should go in just in case. As we walked into the office, the owner (a younger version of Rodney Dangerfield type) greeted us at the door and before heading off to the "honeymoon suite" he showed us the room where they eat breakfast, which was somewhat of a smaller replica of a nursing home cafeteria. We then headed to one of the cabins to view one of two rooms that were available to view. As we walked in, we were hit with that smell. You all know that smell. An old cabin. A little mildew. Grandmother's attic. Linens kept in a cedar chest. Can you smell it? Add that with "antique"-ish type furniture and quilts that were old, not vintage and a tiny TV in the quaint little window seat with a nice set of bunny ears! Lucky for us, he got a phone call shortly after we walked in and Betsy "reminded" me of all the other places we had to view that day and how we may have "over-booked" ourselves, and probably should leave and then plan on coming back another time.
No.
And.
No.
Better luck next time, right?
And we drove away, still itching from all the mosquito bites!