We Set the Date!

Happy Friday! Sorry for the late hour of this post, but while I was taking photos for it, THIS happened:

Look how happy this dog is! Almost as happy as we are!!! :)

We got our kitchen back (in case you missed it, our neighbor’s apartment flooded on Saturday)! They are still finishing the drying process from the other side of the wall, but we are pretty much done with everything inside our unit. The apartment suddenly feels huge now that everything has been moved back to its original place (that’s another reason this post is late… I went on a put-our-house-back-together binge).

I digress. The happy news I planned on sharing with you all today was that we have officially set the date and picked the location for our wedding!!

As you can see by this adorable engagement gift from my two beautiful cousins (and bridesmaids), we have an official countdown going! I won’t make you do the math… we are getting married on June 14, 2014!

First of all, can you tell all of these photos were staged outside, since (at the time) the house was still in shambles? Secondly, the super cute embroidered quote was an engagement gift from Laura & Dave. We also received an amazingly thoughtful gift from my Aunt Kathy, who framed the lyrics to our engagement (and probably first dance) song and decorated the frame with our names, the vineyard name where we got engaged (and it’s lovely sunflowers!), and some pictures of our mugs.
It is so sweet… I cried when I opened it! Anyway, this wasn’t meant to be a gift parade, but these three thoughtful gifts deserved a little shout out!

Anyway, so the location where we are getting married was actually the one I posted a few weeks ago. This will be the view from both the ceremony and the reception:

Minus the porta potty and grape nets!

I probably won’t post many more pictures of the venue for two reasons. First, I want there to be a bit of a surprise for those who are attending! Secondly, rather than go with a big, fancy vineyard, we chose to go with a small, intimate private family vineyard property. We loved it because it is like working with a totally blank slate, and the beauty of the event will be the location/view (obviously) and the imagination we put into making it feel like a truly personal, one-of-a-kind celebration. I am certainly not saying that the pictures aren’t much to look at (Ummm… hello, look at that view! And it’s not the only one…); I am simply saying that it will be hard to show you “our” venue until we have injected our imaginations and personalities into it!

Hmmm… what else do we need to cover? We have decided on a photographer, a cupcake baker, and potentially the caterer. I have also decided on the exact dress style I want, and am waiting to receive fabric samples for the dress that I think could really be the one! In fact, for the observant folks in the bunch, the pretty lace in all of the pictures above may or may not be my stunning “something borrowed…” the gorgeous veil my mom wore in her wedding that I have always loved.And all of this wedding planning means only one thing… if you know me even a little bit, you KNOW that I have a spectacularly organized wedding binder. Thank you Martha Stewart Home Office!

Yes, there are three rows of tabs. So what? Want to know my favorite part of the whole binder?Have an amazing weekend, everyone! :)