Color Schemes

Let me just say, color schemes are a major pain in the ass! I had all these modern, trendy ideas for color schemes, and then Ben fell in love with the terracotta room at Turf Valley, and now our reception is going to be held in this peachy-golden ballroom that is just completely saturated in warm colors, warm lighting... it's absolutely STEEPED in warmth. Sounds cozy, and it is, but try decorating it! You can't do a nice clean, fresh color scheme like light green and white, because it isn't a fresh, clean setting. You need a blank canvas for that. You can't do bright colors, because the room itself is already so committed to its tone that anything that doesn't fall within the existing color family will look ridiculous. And pale or pastel colors would just wash right into the background - the lighting just doesn't leave room for them. Which basically leaves me with deep, rich colors that accent the existing palette. Like burgundy. Which is about the only thing I can think of that works, so here we are. As for an accent color, I'm stuck between yellow and green. For either color, it will be very muted (not bright) but not pale. I'm planning on yellow at the moment. It seems to blend into that room best. I'm hoping it doesn't end up with a McDonald's, ketchup and mustard look :) I'm just going to have to stick with true burgundy and not venture too far toward the red side!

And for those of you who will be receiving a save-the-date in the not-too-distant future, don't expect it to be burgundy or yellow. It isn't. We don't exactly subscribe to the whole matchy-stationery thing. No one has been to our wedding yet, so they don't know that the STDs don't match the color scheme (unless of course they read my blog... oops). I did want my stationery to give people a feel for the overall tone that we're going for - the whole elegant-casual thing - and I think they accomplish that perfectly. Which is why we love them :)

In essentially unrelated news, I'm taking Ben out for a surprise tonight for his birthday (which is on Labor Day). I can't risk him finding out early, so I won't reveal it now. I will say, however, that I'm more than a little irritated at the rain! I'm also throwing a party for him on Saturday evening which should be a good time :) Anyway, more about how all that goes in a later post. For now, I finally have a 20-minute break in this protocol so I can go eat some lunch!

How it's going, plus exciting news!

Oh my ! It's been 10 days! That's a little ridiculous - I apologize. Here's what's new. We've officially decided on Turf Valley. Despite anything negative I may have written about how I felt about the place, when we finally went back for one last look, I had a different perspective. There are some things that I have found are really important when you're planning a wedding, and peace of mind is one of them. Peace of mind about your budget, about how well your guests will be taken care of even when you're not around, about how easy or difficult it will be to work with your venue/caterers... I had no confidence in Kent Manor. I had a very negative experience with their catering sales manager who was my contact person. I never felt like she cared about us or was interested in selling us on Kent Manor. I always felt like one of many business propositions. And there were lots of concessions we'd have to make there (crappy hors d'oeuvres, beer and wine bar, no possibility for a longer reception, no shuttle for guests...), though we still would've been stretching our budget to make it work. It was going to be a very stressful way to go. I'm SO happy about our final decision. It's going to be beautiful, our guests are going to love it and be well taken care of and well fed, the hotel is on-site so no one has to drive anywhere afterward if they don't want to, we can have our full open bar, we may be able to swing an extra hour for the reception, and it's all within our budget (well, except for the extra hour, which Ben is working overtime for!). It's very exciting :)

I'm working on decorating ideas and finding cheaper ways to do things. We ordered our Save-the-Dates (or, as Em likes to say, our STDs) and also ordered a few little accessories like toasting flutes, our unity candle, etc. OH, and I decided on a bridesmaid dress, finally. I was also able to keep that within a reasonable budget for my girls, and I think it's going to be beautiful! Things are definitely progressing. I'm working on finding less expensive string performers for the ceremony, we're now in contact with the pastor who is going to perform it for us, our guest list is right where we want it... I'm going to get everything done and then be bored for the next 8 months! It's really only been a little over a month and things are already coming together so quickly.

Another piece of news, which I hope it's ok to publish in my blog :) One of my bridesmaids is now a bride too! Sam and Todd are tying the knot, so now we have double the work to do! Their wedding will be next fall, so I'll have time to recover from mine and start being a better bridesmaid for her before it's time for the big day. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to give her as much of my time and effort as I'd like to be able to, given that I'm doing my own planning and my own DIY projects and such, but since she's doing it later in the year, I think it's going to work out great :) I think we'll just end up doing a lot of projects together, a little for me and a little for her, as we go along. It's already so fun to have someone else who's in the same mind-set as I am (always wanting to talk weddings, which I already feel like I do too much of with other people who are probably getting annoyed with me!). I've never felt like a resource for wedding knowledge before, but there I was yesterday, sitting in her living room answering questions all afternoon - SO much fun! It's going to be great to go through it all together, and we'll always share the memory of planning our weddings together.

Well, I'm at work so I really should be doing science. OH, speaking of science (sort of), I got another interview at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City! I don't really want to end up in NYC, but Mt Sinai is one of the best schools that I applied to, so it gives me hope for some of the other great schools on my list (cough*HOPKINS*cough) :) Alright, for real now, see ya!

A Big Day...

Tomorrow, we have our official visit to Kent Manor to speak with the catering sales manager, do an official tour, and possibly sign a contract. After asking nicely, I got them to come down on the site fee and throw in the champagne toast for free, putting it within reach of our budget. It's down to Kent Manor and Turf Valley. All this week we've been set on Kent Manor, but now I'm starting to have lingering thoughts of Turf Valley and its pretty weeping willows and the outrageous cocktail hour. Kent Manor is on the water (not on the bay side of the island, on Thompson's Creek) and the Garden House where we'd have the reception is gorgeous. Columns, an elevated dance floor, gold chiavari chairs... BUT, the hotel won't hold everyone (and is probably way too pricey, being an historic manor house), it doesn't include our cake, we'll have to spend more money on hors d'oeuvres, dinner will be buffet-style rather than seated, it's farther away and across the bay bridge which makes visiting, booking other vendors (flowers, cake, etc.) more difficult... This is an extremely difficult decision, I have to say. It's not at all like I thought. I was hoping for a magic light bulb moment. So anyway, Saturday should be a big day. Hopefully we'll make a decision.

In other news, we've booked our DJ. He's THE GREATEST. If you don't know him yet, you'll love him. He did Em's wedding also, so we've already had a full-length demo, and we visited him on Monday and he hung around with us for over 2 hours discussing our music and doing demos of the cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing stuff. It's going to be an amazing party - I hope you all are ready! It got me so pumped for the reception! I've been so focused on the details, but sitting down with him was so much fun and it reminded me that this is really supposed to be a celebration where we all get together and have FUN (not just stand in awe of the scenery, admire the pretty centerpieces and food displays, and eat)!!!

In still other news, I got my first medical school interview offer at the University of Virginia (in Charlottesville). Not my top choice, but it's a start - at least I'm getting interviews! I'll be going down there September 3rd, just before we leave for vacation. Oh, by the way, Ben and I are going to Myrtle Beach with his mom and step-dad September 6th-13th. I'm SO excited to get away and relax! Starting work has been rough, after my slack-ass senior year of college and several weeks of sitting on my ass being sick, so I'm definitely ready for a break! I can't wait to go re-live senior week in my mind :)

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!

HE PROPOSED!!!

We spent the day yesterday (Saturday the 9th) making our last few site visits and seriously discussing our options for a venue. We went out to the swing in his backyard to relax for a bit and enjoy the beautiful spring-like weather, where I proceeded to bug him about how badly I wanted my ring for a while :) We joked about it, he laughed at me a lot, and he was being particularly affectionate, which was surprising given the topic of conversation (usually he gets ticked at me when I bring up the ring). That was my first clue, but I've learned to stop getting excited at the first sign of abnormal behavior lately. My mom is leaving for Disney World today and I'm the dogsitter, so I had to go over to her house to get the last-minute instructions for the dogs. Ben said he didn't feel too great and wanted to stay home and lay around while I went to my mom's. So I left, and he set his plan into motion.

I spent about a half an hour at my mom's, and then she decided that we should take all the Pampered Chef stuff that had come in (from our party last week) to Ben's house for his mom, aunt, sisters, etc. who ordered, and suggested that she come with me to pick up a suitcase from my house - she had run out while packing. So she followed me in her car, and I proceeded past Ben's road to go to my house first and grab the suitcase. She pulled over, called me, and said "You need to come back. We need to go to Ben's first." Another clue that I was being stalled. So I didn't ask questions. After unloading at Ben's (and noticing that he wasn't there!), my mom decided that we should go get ice cream. To which I responded "Mom, I'm on South Beach. I can't have ice cream!" So we went to Rita's, where they usually have a sugar-free flavor or two. She got a phone call from what she claimed was her mother-in-law, who was on her way over for their trip to Disney. Made sense, but after having sat around lazily eating our italian ice for about 10 minutes, it was suddenly time to go after that phone call. Hmm. As we pulled up to my Dad's, supposedly to pick up a suitcase, I noticed something pink on the door. My suspicions were confirmed :) So here's how it went from my perspective...

On the door were two pink post-its. One said "Follow the notes in numerical order" and the other said "Kitchen first". I opened the door to find a trail of red rose petals all over my house :) The first note in the kitched read "1. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me". The trail led me to the dining room, to find "2. You truly are a message from God". Next, up the stairs to the end of the hallway (where I expected to find him hiding in my room, but I was wrong) "3. I love you more than life itself" and "After reading this note head back downstairs and outside on the deck". On the slider to the deck was "4. I will love you forever and always!" and "Keep following the petals". I thought I'd find him on the deck, but I was wrong again. I found "5. You're my angel" and a trail down the stairs. There he sat, in what he knows is my favorite outfit, on the wooden swing beneath my deck, ring box in-hand :) Of course, I immediately started welling up and had to hug and kiss him a few times before I could sit down. He sat me down, told me there was no one else he could imagine loving for the rest of his life, and asked me to marry him. To which I replied "Absolutely!" And there was much crying, kissing, hugging, and general rejoicing :)

I'm so glad that he came up with a sweet, thoughtful plan and made it a special moment for us that we'll always remember. It was an incredible moment, actually being proposed to - it was about so much more than the ring. It felt so much more real than I ever could have imagined, and so profoundly important. Truly the most important moment of my life to date. There aren't many moments that truly change your life forever, but that was one of them. Not that we weren't getting married before that happened, but I really FELT it when that happened. It made this whole thing more real - it made me start putting myself in my visions of the wedding, rather than just picturing the scenery and the faceless figures standing up there. It's really happening, and I couldn't be more certain that he is the one and only man that it was ever supposed to be.

And now, the long-anticipated ring shots...

I could do some serious damage with that thing. It sits up very high on my finger! And remember, Mom Mom's diamond in the middle - how sweet is that? Couldn't be more perfect, if you ask me :) These pictures don't really do it justice, in terms of its "bling" factor - it's extremely sparkly - but you'll see it in person eventually, I'm sure!

I hate decisions

Decisions, decisions. We got an estimate from Kent Manor today, which is just a bit too high. It's a little nicer than Silver Swan, and its only about $400 more (since I found out about an extra service fee at Silver Swan that I didn't include in my original calculations - LAME), but right now it's just looking like we can't afford anything by the water. I never did post any Kent Manor pics, so here's a few...

At either place, we'd be stretching our budget to the max (plus breaking out the plastic, most likely), and though they each have great caterers, we wouldn't be getting their best stuff (next to nothing for the cocktail hour, chicken or steak for dinner, no cocktails, no champagne toast...) and we'd have to bring in our own cake. Kent Manor really is very nice, but I just don't think we can justify it. Particularly given our other options (eh hem, Turf Valley), which give us so much more for a fraction of the cost. I actually did a comparison today to see how much it would cost us if we got everything that Turf Valley includes at Silver Swan - it came out to over $19,500. Holy Crap. That was a bit of an awakening!

We still haven't seen Stone Manor yet, but it's going to be too pricey also. Again, just out of reach. The venue and catering alone fit within our budget, but we'd have to provide our own alcohol there, and the cost of that would put us way over. Plus a cake. Maybe I can get them to come down on the $4000 site fee since we're doing it on a Friday. I really like that they have an outdoor tent for the ceremony :) I don't think we're going to go look at Musket Ridge as I had originally planned. They don't have time to see us this weekend, and after pricing it out, it looks like it'll be too high anyway. And I really don't need to love another place. I scheduled an appointment with the DJ that we want on Monday, so that we're forced to pick a place and a date this weekend in order to book him.

And yeah, still nothing on the ring front. He's playing Rock Band at the moment. And we need to make a quick run to the store and then watch a few episodes of Six Feet Under and cuddle :) So, see ya!

Why there are 3 weeks worth of unwatched Hopkins episodes on the DVR

Whew. This is a lot of work! It's been a bit of a stressful week - I'm not gonna lie. I've been getting price quotes and site proposals and finding about hidden fees and negotiating bar costs and looking at new places and looking for bridesmaid dresses that normal people can afford... It's all very complicated and it's not as easy as it seems! Every time I think I've calculated it all out, I've missed something that puts us over-budget. Every time I find a gorgeous bridesmaid dress that I love, it's $280 or something ridiculous like that. Thank God for Em, who has probably tried on 30 dresses by now and just keeps telling me "It's your wedding, we'll wear what you want us to wear. Stop worrying about what it costs." I just can't. I have too many grad school, fresh out of college, living on their own for the first time bridesmaids who don't need to spend that kind of money. It's a tough job, not only taking budgets into account, but also trying to consider different body types and decide which dresses will cling in which places on different people and which colors will wash out which skin tones... I'm trying hard to find something universally flattering and pretty, but like I said, everytime I find one it's outrageously priced. Ugh. I'll just keep looking!

As for venues and dates and such, I think we're pretty settled on May 29th, with June 5th as an acceptable back-up if the venue we want is booked on the 29th. We're finding that doing it on a Friday is giving us lots more options, including dates. We've looked at The Brookeville Inn, Linganore Winecellars, Wakefield Valley Golf Club, Silver Swan Bayside, Kent Manor Inn, and Turf Valley Resort, and we still have Stone Manor Country Club and Musket Ridge Golf Club to go. So far, the front-runners seem to be Silver Swan and Turf Valley. Turf Valley is incredibly fancy and incredibly inexpensive, which is great, and it has a lovely outdoor gazebo in a grove of willow trees for the ceremony, within view of a big lake with a huge fountain (which lights up pretty colors at night) and can offer us a ballroom about 3x the size of the reception area at Silver Swan. It's the obvious choice, but I'm having a hard time reconciling my vision of the wedding with the feel of the place. We're going back on Saturday to check out the ballroom all set up for a wedding, since it was set for a conference when I saw it yesterday, and Ben wasn't able to make it so he hasn't seen it at all. Hopefully seeing it all done up will make me feel differently. It really would save us tons of money, and we'd actually get a much nicer reception than we can afford anywhere else (tons of yummy hors d'oeuvres, seated dinner, full open bar, dessert plus wedding cake, a free night's stay for us after the reception... the list goes on!). I just feel like it may be a little TOO fancy for the laid back, casual-elegant feel I'm going for. We'll see. Here's a pic of the ceremony site...

The gazebo at Turf Valley

The lake and fountain through the willow trees from the ceremony area

So, back to the title of my post... I've had NO time to sit down and watch TV lately, so I'm totally out of the loop on my new favorite show (Hopkins, a reality show about Hopkins doctors). Speaking of Hopkins, thank God I finished that application before all this started. I got my Duke secondary app last week and I haven't TOUCHED any of the 5 essays I need to write for that. I'm contemplating not doing it, only because I REALLY don't want to go to North Carolina. Particularly with the reality of getting married setting in... I don't want to leave our families. Nowadays, I often find myself forgetting that I'm even applying to medical school! It was all that was on my mind before, and now I seriously forget all about it from time to time. It's amazing.

One more piece of news and then I'll stop. I started South Beach. AAAAAAAAAAH!!! Em and Josh started it last Friday and inspired me, and I currently weigh more than I ever have (and more than I care to discuss), and I'm getting married, and I'm going to the beach in a month, so it seemed like a good idea. It sucks, BAD, but I'll make it. If I can survive the first two carb-less weeks (I'm on day three), I'll be fine. Now if I could just muster up the energy to go to the gym... not only am I paying for it monthly, but I really should be exercising if I expect to lose any weight and get anything out of all this dieting misery. If I want to make the carb-suffering worth it, I need to get my ass to the treadmill.

So that's all for now. Sorry for the length - it's been a few days since my last post! And as for that burning question that keeps you checking my blog... Nope. Not yet.

Looks Promising...

Today we visited two potential sites on the eastern shore, both waterfront :) We were very excited. First was the Silver Swan Bayside at the Queen Anne Marina on Kent Island. It was beautiful! Basically everything we want - waterfront ceremony, lovely indoor/outdoor reception area with a nice dining room (which is being re-painted, re-carpeted and re-decorated this month) and a soon-to-be-completed tented brick patio overlooking the water. It also has its own little private beach, which will be great for a photo shoot :) AND, drum roll, it's affordable! We may have to just do a beer and wine bar (sorry, Janelle), but we really don't have many guests who drink at all, and most who do drink like wine and/or beer, so I think that's ok.

The ceremony area :)

The dining room for the reception
The little private beach

Looking down the other direction from the ceremony spot toward the marina

So, we loved it. We put a hold on a date too - May 29th :) That's pretty exciting! We still have two other places to visit, so we're going to give them a fair shot too, but this is our front runner for now.

Our second visit was to Kent Manor Inn, also on Kent Island. We just walked around and looked - they didn't have an open appointment to talk with us but they're sending us some pricing info. I'm pretty sure it'll be too pricey. I'll post pics later - my fiancee is getting upset that I'm not snuggling with him :)