(Click an image to view the photo gallery.) Since my last post in November, we've celebrated Christmas, received our wedding invitations from Zazzle (we love that site, and their customer service), finished a couple of important DIY projects, addressed the invitation envelopes (thanks, Mom), stuffed the envelopes, and mailed the invitations (thanks, Dad!). I had my first bridal shower on March 1st, which would normally be (most likely) a sunny day. This year we had a February with lots of snow, sleet, freezing rain, school and business closures, etc. So the day of my shower it was rainy and cold, but not enough to prevent us from having a nice time! Thank you to Elyse, my matron of honor, and bridesmaids for hosting! The night before, there was an engagement party and couple's shower at the home of Elyse and Mark Phillips. Good (and generous) friends made it a memorable night and Mike and I appreciated everything from the decorations and food to gift cards. My parents and I went to a Catering Works (Raleigh) tasting event last week, and essentially ate dinner after sampling many of their dishes. Only one of the choices they had that night is on our own reception menu, but that was okay. We're confident with our with what we picked and we're impressed with their food and service. My wedding dress came in a few days ago, and it's now in my closet. I love it!!! Mike and his guys have their suits, my bridesmaids have their dresses, and in a little more than two short months, we'll all meet at the Merrimon-Wynne! That's it for now... HB p.s. In late January, we became uncle & aunt to Mike's sister's baby boy. Crisann and her husband Sam now have a cute little guy named Tripp, who will be at the wedding of course. | |
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October flew by! Mike and I did get a few things crossed off our list: Gift Registry, engagement photo session, and we ordered Save the Date cards. It may be too early, but we took advantage of some extra time and signed up for wedding gift registries at Target, Crate and Barrel, and Belk. (If you've never been to the south/southeast, Belk is a big department store chain.) In the middle of October we had engagement photos taken. We were in downtown Raleigh on a busy, beautiful, late Saturday afternoon with our photographer, Heba Salama from Chapel Hill, NC. If you view her website, take a look at her blog link to get a good representation of her wedding photos. My mom was in Raleigh that day, so she tagged along and snapped some shots (on this page). Finally, we ordered our Save the Date cards once the photos were back from the photographer. We'll get those out in the mail at the end of the week! HAPPY THANKSGIVING in advance to everyone... HB (Click the photos below to enlarge.) Highlights: Shopping for wedding dress, choosing place settings for the reception, and showing off the venue to friends from Montana! September has flown by. Mike, my parents, and I had a very productive meeting with Party Reflections in Raleigh, which is the place to go for place settings, table linens, table and chair rentals, etc. The planners there know what they are doing, including having the expertise to use an auto-CAD program to show us the layout of the Merrimon-Wynne house for the ceremony (lawn) and reception (inside & out). We were in and out in less than two hours. Shopping for a wedding dress took just three appointments and on the last appointment, I found my beautiful wedding dress. I had good friends, a couple of bridesmaids, and two aunts present on two of the appointments. With my mom taking pix and texting them to my dad, who was able to chime in on his choice(s), along with my future mom-in-law, sister-in-law, and matron of honor Elyse, we had a fun Friday afternoon and everyone was in agreement on the dress. No details to share, of course! September ended with good friends (Megan, Zach, Jamie) from Montana visiting, and I got to show them the venue so they'd get a preview of where the wedding and reception will be held. They also got to experience some perfect weather @ NC State Tailgating - I'm thinking that was a highlight of their trip! That's it for now... HB It's pretty amazing how far ahead you have to work to plan a wedding, but we're learning. So far we have our venue chosen, along with our photographer, and baker. We have other vendors in the works. Our contact at the Merrimon-Wynne House, Kaila, had us come to the house for our first walk-through last week, and that was helpful. We could all tell she knows what she's doing and she'll help us make sure our wedding and reception is everything we envision.
We're still making menu selections, and all that goes with eating at a wedding reception. That should be narrowed down over the next few weeks. Wedding dress shopping also needs to be done in the next couple of months. We have some DIY projects we're doing with my parents, especially my mom. We'll start in September when Mike's mom and sister are in town for a visit. I won't give away everything, but I may or may not have bought 900 flower petals... Questions about lodging? Look on the Accommodations page, call me, or send me an email. And don't forget to subscribe to this blog if you want updates. Bye... H [Note: If you are viewing this on your mobile device, click the menu pull-down on the top left corner, or scroll to the bottom and choose Web Version.] So, I take Mike on a trip to Montana, along with our good friends Elyse and Mark Phillips, to show them where I grew up, and give them a true Montana experience -- complete with horses, shooting, sunshine, wind, snow, and bison walking down the road. My NC friends got to meet my close MT friends, and that was really important to me. On the rimrocks of Billings, on the day before my birthday (and day before we left), Mike gave me my beautiful engagement ring. I was shocked, and this day became the happiest day of my life. Date of engagement: 6.11.2014 Date of wedding: 5.29.2015 (it's a Friday wedding, 6:30pm) |