The results are in... almost

So we went to all the possible reception venues last weekend and two of them were quickly eliminated (the vineyards and Cathedral Oaks). Kindred Oaks was beautiful, but they would only let us have the venue for 5 hours including cleanup. We plan on having the wedding and the reception at the same place. So that would leave an hour for the ceremony, an hour for pictures, two and a half for the reception, and 30 minutes for cleanup. It also means we're paying them $1000 an hour. Sorry - no place is that awesome.

So that leaves Peaceable Kingdom. Peaceable Kingdom was incredible and everything we want and it was perfect - except. There's no spot to actually get married at. At least not my spot. My spot is a clearing in the woods under a hundred year old southern oak tree. But here's the deal - they are charging us the same price as the other venues, but letting us rent the entire camp from Thursday night through Monday morning AND they are about to undergo some major landscaping renovations. With a few minor tweeks, there could definitely be a the spot. I'm calling the director tomorrow to have a contract drawn up and then we'll decide for sure then. But it looks like the decision might be made.

I'm starting to get very excited. :)

More details about Peaceable Kingdom to follow!

First things first

So we figured out really quickly that the first thing you have to get nailed down (after a budget of course) is a venue. The venue determines the date, the number of people we can host, the decor, the catering... etc. Evan and I decided we want an outdoor wedding and reception, so that helped narrow down the search. From there we started thinking about the best way to host our guests. Nearly all of his and my family and our wedding parties are coming in from out of state. So we had to start thinking about airports and hotels and venues to host 200. (Yes. Two. Hundred.) Since we currently live in a pretty small town, an hour from the nearest major city, we had to get creative.

My parents, Evan, and I spent our Christmas break scouring the internet for some venues. The following is the pared-down list we came up with:

Kindred Oaks: www.kindredoaks.com

Cathedral Oaks: www.cathedral-oaks.com

The Vineyard at Florence: www.thevinyardatflorence.com

Peaceable Kingdom Retreat for Children: www.peaceablekingdomretreat.com

As you can tell, there's quite a variety of ideas on the table right now, from a vineyard to a children's camp.  Actually, Peaceable Kingdom is my favorite option right now. It would be able to house most of our out-of-town guests for the weekend and it would offer a family reunion/families uniting type feel - plus there's a high ropes course and horses to ride. Who doesn't love horses?

We're going to check out all the venues this weekend. I'll keep this updated with what we decide upon. 

*Sidenote: All the pictures of the locations were taken from the websites provided. I'm not 100% sure if that's legal - but here's hoping.

So... hi?

I suppose everyone has to go through the obligatory "hello world" post in order to get to the good stuff later on. Here's mine. I will confess (gasp! a confession this early in the story?!) that this is not my first blog. My first blog was a blog called Craft Your College. It maintained a steady following of about 20 readers. Then I graduated college. So here we are. While I have had quite a few big milestones since then, this, my engagement, is the first one I've felt blog-worthy. So sit back readers of the webiverse. Prepare to be amazed by the catastrophic awesomeness that is sure to my wedding planning as I attempt to DIY my way my fairytale.