'The public lands are a public stock, which ought to be disposed of to the best advantage for the nation.' – James Monroe

and dispose of them we shall (well kind of). I mean, its clearly to the best advantage of the nation that Javier and I get married right? maybe?-oh well, you get it I hope. That Javier and I will be wedding at good ole James Monroe's home of homes....



Ash Lawn-Highland!!!

Its not technically official, but we're planning to hand deliver the signed contract and deposit this Saturday when we head down to Cville. And just in case you didn't catch my hint in our Thanksgiving post - the date will October 13th, 2012 :) :) - so mark your calendars! (and seriously start praying there is no home football game that weekend)

http://www.ashlawnhighland.org/se--weddings.htm

Feel free to browse around, but I don't think the website gives a real good feel for the place. Its absolutely beautiful: lots of views of the mountains and 'yards' to host different parts of our day in. We're getting very excited and looking forward to walking around again on Saturday to really start some planning.

When it came down to it, I think we mostly decided that Venue #5 was just too far away. (Venue #5 was Delfosse vineyards by the way.) And Delfosse is absolutely gorgeous. If you are ever in Cville and have some time to kill it is definitely worth the trip out there. The winery is nestled in a small valley completely surrounded by mountains. But at the end of the day I knew that I would be really worried about the safety of our guests getting too and from (and in some cases around) the vineyard.

In a previous post I know I gave the *advice alert* to know your priorities. A big one for both of us is to really get to enjoy the day. I want to decide and plan now so that the day of is a stress less as possible. And I know myself well enough (as all of you do too, cause lets face it - only my closest of friends/family are reading this blog...) to know that I wouldn't be able to let go of the transportation stress that Delfosse was going to cause. I could see myself on the day of - walking around greeting guests and immeditately asking ' did you take the shuttle? Was if far? etc'

And as hard (and long) of a decision as it was to make, now that we have - I'm really excited! I'll help you start getting excited too by including some pictures from a wedding at Ash Lawn from this past September!

*sneak peak - the pictures were taken by one of the photographers we're considering :) Keep you updated as we meet with a few this weekend!

The Bermuda Triangle

Everyone who has planned a wedding has said that it is super fun. But what they forget to tell you is that at the beginning things are a bit frustrating. You feel slightly lost: there's a lot to be done, and so many directions to start in, so focusing your energy on one can be quite difficult. I'm calling it the Bermuda Triangle effect, and it really hinges on 3 factors: budget, venue, and date. Of course there are more factors than these three that affect everything else that goes into wedding planning, but those are really the big three. When you have your budget set, you know what size of wedding you could have. When you know the size, you know what venues will be large enough. And when you know what venue you want, then you can set your date. Or you can start with a date - perhaps it's one VERY important to you - then you can only work with venues that have that availability. And then you can pick guests - and set your budget - based on the venue size.

**ADVICE ALERT** Commit to one of those three factors and let it govern the rest of your decisions, having a good understanding of the other two.

Audrey and I aren't quite in the clear of the Bermuda Triangle yet. As you all know, we are close to deciding on a venue (come on, you didn't really think I would tell you now, did you??). We don't have a date exactly finalized, but we are pretty sure of when it will be (again, you really think I'd tell you here?!?). So for us, budget was the anchor of our triangle. Sure, there were some venues that were more expensive, and we may have been willing to go with them, but it would have meant cutting back on other parts of the wedding, likely guest list.

Some really great advice that Audrey and I got from a friend is to focus on vendors that can only do one wedding per day. So venue is a big one (unless you're a Vegas chapel), and so is photographer. After we finalize the when and where, we'll focus on the who (as in, who will take photos of us all day?). Stay tuned for more information on that later!

You'll Want to Elope

When I first told my office that Audrey and I got engaged, my office of course congratulated me and asked for the story and all of that, but my boss in particular had one thing to tell me. She said that throughout our planning process we would just scrap everything and just look at each other and say "let's just elope."

As you all know, Audrey and I started our journey for finding where we will get married this last weekend. We didn't want to be the only ones to see the potential space, though, so we invited along some "hunting companions" - her parents and sister, and my mother. The day started off with 5 venues to go look at, with the hopes of finding that perfect one that we loved.

We made the trek down to C'ville early in the AM, and everything started off very well. We got to Venue #1 and determined that it was gorgeous, but perhaps a little too small of a reception space. It likely didn't help that the events coordinator for the venue wasn't there, so we had to (try to) get answers from the security guard. The venue was certainly in the hunt, but it wasn't a clear winner.

We then made our way to Venue #2 and were actually there a bit early. Ahead of schedule! Who would have thought that with most of the rest of

our lives operating on Latino time?? The venue was nice, but I could tell from the get-go that it wasn't likely going to be the one that we went with. You know how there are just some things in life that you know you won't love, like pickled eggs, the Yankees, or the USSR? This was one of those things for me. Our entire hunting party left for Venue #3 knowing that this place could be A solution, but likely not THE solution.

The five of us then headed over to Venue #3, the pricey venue. Venue #3 knew they were pricey, too. They brought all of us into a side room and started to ask us about what we envisioned as our perfect idea of a wedding. Then they said they'd show us how they could do it and at the end talk about pricing to be up-front. That screams $$$. Show us everything so that we fall in love with it and say "it doesn't matter how much it costs, we want it!"?? Nice try, plan. (Though they totally had me on the hook). We left Venue #3 knowing that it would have made for a GORGEOUS event, but that sometimes things aren't quite worth the price of admission.

The day was half-over at this point, and we had 3 venues down, 2 more to go, and not much more of a clear picture. With our stomachs empty, we all stopped for lunch. It's at about this point that we had our first "let's just elope" feeling. There was little progress, and it seemed like perhaps the day was going to leave us more confused rather than providing clarity. We tabled the feeling and set off for the afternoon.

We went to Venue #4 and within about 5 minutes were able to leave. That "let's elope" feeling started to come back to me as we then headed to our fifth and final venue. We got to Venue #5 after many hours in Charlottesville, and those long hours were not setting us up for success. But then we got to see the view and the reception space and - even without it set up at all - we were able to see just how great this space could be! It really was a "save the best for last" type of feeling! We aren't 100% that Venue #5 will be the one we go with, but after a few days of weighing the options, it does seem to be separating from the pack.

I'm sure that there will be many feelings of wanting to elope in the coming year, but just like this, I know that Audrey and I will always find the silver lining and rise above the temporary stress. Stay tuned for which of our mystery venues ends up being the one that we sign with!

A hunting we will go...

...for a wedding venue that is! And I certainly do mean hunting.

Who would have thought that other brides & grooms might have considered Cville in the fall a more than picture perfect location for their nuptial bliss?

Javier and I had talked about getting married/the wedding prior to last week (I know...gasp) so we had already talked about cville being our first target for the big day. After some disappointing calls to some of the top (and by top I mean most well known) wedding venues, we're heading to cville this weekend with a new outlook and new plan. Veritas, King's Family, Pippin Hill (new vineyard), Castle Hill, Panorama and Barboursville (look em up if you don't know them, but don't bother sharing all the oohs and ahhs with me...I know they're gorgeous...that's why they were my first choices) are all booked for every Saturday in September and October of 2012. All. Booked.


:0

I know.


(hence the hunting)

Have no fear, my spectacular spectators. We took a day to mourn (and by we I mean me and by a day I mean about a day and a half) and have regrouped with a new plan. Unbelievably, there are other wedding venues in cville and they are not completely booked for next fall! So we embark on our crusade with open hearts and pens in hand (for signing that contract) this Sunday.

I'll keep you posted, but until then, may the scent of your prey be pungent and the feet of your hounds swift :)