followed by a productive monday

monday morning i met cheryl at the lodge to do a walk through with the rental coordinator. it was great to finally meet the rental coordinator, jessica, as she was on vacation when we booked the lodge. she was very nice and helpful. cheryl asked her if she had any experience with allison jansen, our photographer, and the second she heard allison's name, her face lit up. very good sign.

we walked through the entire lodge and mapped out where all the tables and things should go. jessica took her own notes, so that she will know how to setup everything the day of the wedding. we mapped out the tables for food, guest seating, head table, cake table, comfy chairs off the dance floor, and a sort of bar area where the wine and beer will be set up along with some extra tables and chairs where people can hang out. she assured me that fitting 100 guests outside for the ceremony is not a problem at all which made me feel a lot better (this was making me nervous), and the lodge has chairs we can use for the ceremony so no need to rent.

there's an event in the lodge the night before the wedding, so we're going to have to do an early rehearsal at 2 on friday. hopefully, everyone who needs to rehearse can make in time. cheryl thought i could suggest that people go hiking after the rehearsal before dinner (danny's parents would love that) but made me promise not to schedule anything for myself. i also found out the latest we can be in the lodge is 11, so i think an after party might have to be planned...

the lodge

i thought i'd share some pictures of our venue. we're getting married at the monte sano lodge at monte sano state park. it's a park located in huntsville on a "mountain." i say "mountain" b/c it's a mountain for alabama, so it's not a real mountain...more like a foothill. it's a pretty place and has a lot of great views of the surrounding area.

the lodge was renovated a few years ago, so it's really nice. the interior has a lot of personality and details that i love...lanterns, woodwork, stone walls, vaulted ceilings, open beams, two stone fireplaces. i love these little seating areas. i think i'm going to leave them set up in one room so people can relax, hang out and take a break from dancing.

it also has a full catering kitchen which tina is very excited about (which in turn helped our food budget). :)

and the wedding planning has begun

i can't believe we've already been engaged for 3 months now. even though time has passed, it still feels new, and in my mind i perpetually have a year before the wedding to plan...so it freaked me out a little when i got my email from theknot.com that told me i had 9 months to go...uh oh...

we have gotten a few major things off the list:

1. we have a date! september 13, 2008. that's pretty huge. we knew we wanted september...it was the month we started dating & the month we got engaged AND hopefully it will have started to cool off a bit and won't be 105 degrees in alabama. also, the 13th of june is danny's birthday, so i'm hoping that sharing the same number (13) will make it easy for him to remember.
2. we have a venue! monte sano lodge. it's in huntsville on top of the "mountain" where we go mountain biking. i think it really fits us. we're going to have both the ceremony and the reception there. the ceremony will be outside, and if it rains, there's space to have it inside. for the reception, i'm picturing it very open with people flowing inside and outside. the view from the bluff behind the lodge - which will be the backdrop for the ceremony - is gorgeous.
3. we have a photographer! allison jansen. i fell in love with her work long before we got engaged. i think she takes great pictures. she's a bit pricey, but i think she's worth it & after meeting with her, danny thought so too. her time at the wedding is unlimited, so she'll be with us all day. we're also going to do some engagement pictures with her at some point before the wedding.
4. we have maids & men! nat, yamini, amanda, scott, dave, & jimmy. danny and i each have 3 people standing with us, but what makes it really special is that they really cross both sides. the 3 men standing next to danny are just as much my best men & the ladies standing next to me are just as much danny's maids of honor. they are all 6 our best friends.
5. we have an officiant! mr. terry wayne. it was important to us that we have a relationship with whoever it was officiating over the wedding ceremony. i didn't want some random person that i had never met before playing such an important role in the wedding. wayne was really the obvious choice.

wow, that list made me feel some what accomplished. 5 things is pretty good, right? the next big thing on the list is finding a caterer.yamini and i are going to go to a bridal fair on saturday, so hopefully, we'll meet some potential candidates.