Tuesday, January 27, 2009

pretty maids all in a row

I have not managed to actually purchase my gown, as of yet, but I have narrowed it down to one, I think, and I'm planning to go back to the store next weekend, try it on again, and decide for sure. Hope it's as pretty as I think it was!

But, we did manage to pick out some pretty snazzy bridesmaid dresses this past Saturday, which was grand. They are going to be cobalt with a platinum ribbon. I'm happy to see our color scheme coming together!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

three down, only 57 million to go!

On Monday I met with our newly hired wedding photographers, Jason and Megan Dittmer. They are a young couple who have only been doing weddings for about a year and a half, but their photos are spectacular! They will probably have a better idea of what all is actually going on at the wedding than I will, so I am really excited to see how everything will turn out when I finally get to see the results.

Andy's sister Joanna has also agreed to do our engagement photos about which (like all things wedding-related) I am thrilled. I am hoping she has some fun ideas for us, since my brain is a little scattered at the moment and Andy is completely clueless when it comes to photography. As a matter of fact, he didn't believe me when I said engagement photos were pretty standard these days, and had to call his friend Ryan for confirmation. Unfortunately for me, Ryan had never heard of engagement photos either, so I did lose a little ground on that discussion. (You'll note that I won overall, though. :) Finding something suitable to dress him in will be the next challenge.

Last week we also reserved our church, the St. Andrews Wedding Chapel, which I mentioned in my last post, and our reception hall, which will be the Liberty Theatre. Both places are absolutely gorgeous, which will make decorating a snap, thereby making me very very happy.

I have narrowed down my wedding gown choices to two, and I am hoping to decide between them this weekend. My bridesmaids will also all be going to pick out their dresses, so it should be a fun time, as long as there isn't any hair-pulling, biting or scratching, with all that estrogen in one place at the same time. Just kidding, of course, my friends, sisters, myself, and my mom get along like a charm...in public anyway.

Next up, Andy and I will be tackling a caterer. Hopefully this will turn out to be an effective negotiating technique. I'll let you know how it goes!

Monday, January 12, 2009

oh, the places you'll go...

Andy and I have settled on Fort Scott, KS as our happy medium location for the wedding, with the date being July 25, 2009. Now we are in the midst of trying to find suitable places for the ceremony, the reception, and the photos. This is not the easiest thing to do when you have to cram it all into one or two trips! Luckily, we easily found a beautiful place for the ceremony: St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. It is a lovely historic church with gorgeous stained glass windows and a pipe organ. (We would be happy to have referrals if you know someone who actually plays the pipe organ!)

We also liked the Old Congregational Church but it would have taken quite a bit more work to get into shape. Still, it had a wonderful tall steeple with a bell you can ring yourself, as well as really beautiful stained glass windows.

The reception location has been a little bit harder. I had high hopes for the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple, but it was a little disappointing, although still not out of the question. I don't know anything about the actual group, other than that they have 32 degrees. I don't know what that means. But, Andy and I were lucky enough to get to see their auditorium, which was substantially neater than their dining hall and has all the original backdrops they need to perform the 32 degrees. Whatever that means. All I know is, I saw columns and forests and animals and architecture, and it was pretty nifty.

We also went to the Liberty Theatre, located right across the street, which is one of our top picks. It's very nicely decorated inside, spacious, and flexible for our catering needs. Equally nice was the River Room, a newly renovated space on the third floor of an old manufacturing building. The bottom floors aren't done yet, but by the summer the building should also house a restaurant and retail shops. (Andy was disappointed that they weren't going to put in a bowling alley and skating rink that had been there years ago.) Although the price would probably be considered spectacular if it was in Johnson County, it was still rather beyond our budget.

The Fort Scott Country Club is closed for the winter, which means we can't get ahold of anyone to discuss renting it, which means it is not an option - but we did take the opportunity to peer through the windows, and it seemed suitable for what we need, if it comes to that. The Elks Lodge and the Fort Scott Inn both had rooms that were okay, but we really weren't impressed.

I adore the Lyons Twin Mansions, but due to the size and layout of the houses, we would have to do part of the reception outside, which makes me extremely nervous, considering the likelihood of our guests suffering heatstroke. So, our runner-up location of the moment is the Buck Run Community Center, which, although a bit sparse in the aesthetics department, is quite quite quite affordable, and therefore attractive.

Have no fear, we are planning on nailing down exactly what we want in the very near future.