Location

Today, my mother and I went over to Fountain Glenn to sign a contract and secure the wedding date. It’s really starting to sink in that I am getting married now that we’ve paid half of the amount down and it is non refundable. It is hard to believe I’ll be married in a little more than three months! We are supposed to have a “set-up” meeting at Fountain Glenn in mid October to discuss how we want the tables set up, our final decision on which caterer we want to go with, and to set up a cake-tasting meeting. I really look forward to the cake tasting. =) I am going to have to form some ideas on how I want the cake to be decorated. I know I want metallic silver details on it somewhere and edible silver glitter. The edible glitter looks cool.
I also went and ordered JT’s wedding ring today. I had to pay half down and will pay the rest when it comes in six weeks from now. I forgot to have them engrave something in it. I can probably find someone around town who can do that.
I really want my dog to be the ring bearer. I am considering asking Fountain Glenn if they will allow a dog in there. It would probably be too much trouble though. Galahad loves people and would be hyper and jumping on everyone all evening and he would have to stay inside the reception area with us, because no one would want to have to drive him an hour back to the house. I would love to have both of my dogs there since they are like my children, but Tristan is way too high-strung to be calm around so many people. Galahad is the one that might behave somewhat.
Now, I have to worry about finding a wedding photographer. The prices are phenomenal. I was going to ask my brother to be the wedding photographer, since he is a wonderful photographer (he’s had some of his work put in museums and galleries), but he only ever photographs nature, so he isn’t so sure about photographing a wedding. Added to the fact that he might end up being a groomsman. I have four bridesmaids, and JT has three groomsmen, and he wanted the number to match my bridesmaids, so he wants to ask my brother to be one. I don’t know if he will go along with that. My brother hasn’t worn a tuxedo since his high school prom some 15 years ago. He’s a rugged out-doors person so he only even wears slacks and a button down shirt when he absolutely has to. I was thinking about hiring a photography student, which I am still considering, but I kind of want someone that has experience photographing a wedding. Weddings seem to be something you need to know what you are going to photograph. Fountain Glenn recommended a husband and wife team that photographs weddings on the weekends who are reasonably priced. They do a taping of the ceremony too. I might go with them. It will still be a lot more than I want to pay though. =/

Bridesmaid Dresses

I have finally narrowed down the bridesmaid dresses to two different dresses. I plan on going into the store to look at them today. I finally decided to pick out dresses from David’s Bridal because it will be easier to get my bridesmaids together to go try them on and my maid of honor lives in Oklahoma, so it had to be a place she could go to up there. I can’t really tell a lot about the two dresses I picked out from the pictures online, so I will have to wait and see what I think when I see them in person. The colors might be different than they appear online too.

Wedding and Reception Locations

I have been looking at wedding locations online a lot. We went out and visited on yesterday afternoon, “Fountain Glenn” in Leander. The building was only a few years old, so everything was nice and clean looking. It also makes me happy that the chapel and reception hall are in the same building so the guests will not have to be driving all over town to get to the different places. We have many out of town guests coming, so I am really hoping to find a location where the wedding and reception locations are on the same property. I really wanted to have my wedding at the Falkenstein Castle: http://www.falkensteincastle.com/ but they only hold 40 wedding a year there and there are no dates open in late December or early January. I really wanted to have a medieval themed wedding, but unless I do find a location like that, it would be really hard to re-create anything medieval looking without spending a fortune on decorations.
Anyways, I really liked Fountain Glenn. The owner, who we spoke with was very friendly and helpful answering any questions we had. Since we are pressed for time we will probably end up going with them. They also take care of catering (we will of course get to pick out the food and everything) and a wedding cake which saves us a lot of time and trouble.
JT wants a dragon wedding ring, so I searched around online and couldn’t really find a dragon ring that looks like a wedding ring. He also wants rubies and diamonds set into the band (because my ring has my birth stone in it and he wants it to somewhat match my ring) so we thought it would be really difficult to find one. We went to “Clarksville Pottery” on North Lamar to look at their rings and we were just about to leave when the lady working there asked us if she could help us find anything and I said “you wouldn’t happen to have a dragon ring, would you?” and they did! It was exactly what we were looking for. It has to be special ordered from the artist in California though and is expensive, but I want him to have the ring he really wanted since he will be wearing it for the rest of his life.

Wedding Dress Shopping

My mother and I went dress shopping today. We went to a formal wear store in the mall and I tried several dresses on and then we went over to David’s Bridal. I actually found my dress there. I thought it would take weeks to find the right one, but it was the first dress I tried on there and I knew immediately that it was the dress I wanted. I already knew wedding dresses would be quite expensive, but whew, when you’re really there looking at the prices on some of the dresses, it is shocking. I didn’t want to spend a fortune on a dress that I would only be wearing for a few hours and probably never again, but I ended up spending a little more than I had planned on. David’s Bridal has some really good deals and the staff are all very friendly and helpful.
I also looked at bridesmaid dresses but couldn’t really find anything I particularly liked. I think I will try looking online in the coming weeks.