Adventures

How do you turn a barn previously used for storage of old junk and farm equipment into a barn used for a wedding reception?

With lots and lots of labor! :-)

Back in August, Dustin, my parents, and I decided that it would be better to have the wedding reception in the barn rather than renting a tent. After all, renting a tent to hold 135 people, plus food, the dance floor, and the DJ would cost over $1,600 just for the tent alone. So after a little bit of debate, we decided that it'd be better to have the reception in the barn. After all, the barn needed to be cleaned out anyway, so this was a good reason to spruce it up a bit, right?

Ha ha. Little did we know how labor-intensive that would really be. Beware, long post and many, many pictures ahead!

See, this is the barn before we started working on it:
( Barn Before Pictures behind the cut )

As you can tell, the barn needed A LOT of work in order for it to become a wedding reception venue. For the next 12 weeks, I worked on the barn every Saturday (usually alongside my dad), most Sundays (with Dustin and sometimes with Dad), and Dustin worked on most Mondays or Tuesdays (he has Sunday-Tuesday off work). My dad spent a lot of the initial time working on the barn to tag things that needed to either be saved or thrown away.

In those weeks, Dustin, Dad, and I, with the occasional help of Bradley, Heather, Mom, my grandmother, Ben, and my aunt Cheryl, transformed the storage barn into what my family now refers to as "The Party Barn."

( The Transformation in pictures )
( The End Result )

When Dustin proposed to me on November 2nd, 2005, it was an easy, immediate decision for us on where we would have our ceremony- at the waterfalls on the farm. Not only is this where he proposed to me, but it's also where my parents got married 32 years ago.
( Pictures of my parents from Way Back When )

It has always been a spiritual and significant part of my life, and as Dustin entered my life, it became an important part of his life, too.

As time got closer to the wedding, we had to decide where exactly at the waterfalls to have the wedding. We could have it on the rocks, where Dustin proposed, on the grassy knoll by the picnic shelter or in another grassy area over near the woods. After wandering around with my parents and Dustin, we ultimately decided to have our wedding ceremony on the grassy knoll by the picnic shelter, exactly where my parents had their ceremony. The grass provided a natural slope so the chairs could be set up in a stadium-like pattern and people (hopefully) wouldn't have trouble seeing us, and they would have the beautiful backdrop of the waterfalls behind us.

( Picture of the ceremony site )

By the time fall came, the leaves on the trees had turned a beautiful hue of red, gold, and green. Many leaves had sprinkled down onto the ground, making the waterfalls look even more magical. The waterfalls was transformed into something out of a movie, the colors so vibrant and the emotions so lively. :-)

( Wedding picture )

We're getting our names legally changed today! ahhhh! *insert excited, yet sort of freaking out feeling*

One last picture before we're married. *grin*



See the resemblence?

Dustin took my engagement ring to Shane Co. yesterday to get it cleaned and get re-rhodium plated (I had put a few scratches in the underside of the band) so it's all nice and sparkly for the wedding.

I told him I wanted them to do the normal servicing to my ring- clean it, check the prongs, etc. all that stuff that they do for free with the lifetime warrenty. Well, we're pretty lucky he took it in yesterday, because as it turns out my center diamond was coming loose and as the ring guy told Dustin, he could actually hold it up to his ear, shake my ring, and hear the diamond rattling against the prongs. :-( Not good.

So I spent two days with a naked left ring finger, but in celebration of getting my engagement ring back all shiny, scratch-free, and diamond-secure, here are some pretty pretty pictures of my engagement ring, my wedding ring, and Dustin's wedding ring... on the backdrop of our wedding invitation. :-)

Okay, without further ado, pretty pretty pictures...
( Behind the cut )

A more in-depth wedding post to follow with tons of pictures, once I have a chance to slow down. I still have thank you notes to write from the wedding shower a week and a half ago and I have to write the ceremony before we meet with the officiant and Andy on Friday night. And I have my bachelorette party on Saturday night. Oh, and Angie might be coming up to visit this weekend, too! Eeeee!

So a lot has gone on since I've made a wedding post. Namely, I've realized that this wedding isn't going to plan itself and time is ticking whether I want it to or not. Luckily, it really helps that I've changed jobs and I can use my lunch time (now that I have time to take one!) to make phone calls not surrounded by barking dogs or send e-mails throughout the day to people (especially my mom and Dustin) about vendor and planning stuff. I love my new job. :-)

Oh yeah, y'all should check out our wedding website at http://hartmanandragans.weddings.com :-)

I sent out save the date cards last week. I still need to get a few more addresses for some of Dustin's family, but other than that, they're all sent out to people who we know can come. I think I'll have a few left overs, which makes me happy. For those of you who didn't receive save the dates (most of you e-friends), this is what they look like:
( Pictures under here )

Last weekend, Dustin, my parents, and I went down to the waterfalls and talked about the logistics of the wedding. Dustin and I figured out that we really can't have the ceremony on the rocks itself- it's just too far away from the people sitting up on the grass in this area. So instead, we're going to be standing right in front of those trees (in between them, really) on the right hand side of that picture. Dad has already planted more grass seed in the area so hopefully there will be more grass there by the time the wedding rolls around. Dad also mowed the field for the first time of the season where we'll be parking the cars that day. We have to mow it several times before all the grass will be cut and look clean, and he's already scheduled it out so he knows when to do the next couple of mowings so it looks perfect and green for our wedding day!

We also decided that there really isn't enough room down near the waterfalls to have the reception and the barn is too small and too full of other stuff (it'd take a LOT of work to clean it out!) so we're going to have the reception up in a field that's really close to the waterfalls- about a 100 foot walk away. The field will be big enough for us to have enough tables and chairs for our 120ish guests underneath a tent we're going to rent, along with having a place to put the moonwalk/bounce house (not sure what kind we're getting specifically, but it'll be similar to that) for the kids to play in that's pretty close to where the adults will be.

Mom, Dustin and I met with a photographer, Shannon Wright last Sunday and we really loved her book of photographs, her professionallism, and her personality (she's so much fun!). So we've booked her as our photographer. :-) It's so nice to have that out of the way and secure. AND she gave us $200 off because I know some good friends of hers (they're wildlife rehabilitators). Score!

Yesterday, Dustin and I went to the tux store and got him measured for his tux and he picked out the style of tux for his best man, Kevin (who just got engaged this morning himself, CONGRATS KEVIN AND KRISTEN! EEEE!) and my dad. So yea for that.

Speaking of clothing, Christin and Sarah ordered their bridesmaids dresses and Ashley ordered her groomswoman dress a few weeks ago. Christin and Sarah's dresses have already arrived, and I imagine Ashley's dress will come in shortly, too. This makes me happy. They ordered different styles of dresses, but all the same color (David's Bridal apple red) and the dresses really compliment each other and I think will look beautiful on each girl:
( Cut to see picture of the dresses: )

This afternoon, Dustin and I went to Shane Company and looked at wedding rings. We decided that we've had such great experience with them for my engagement ring and we really like their guarantee for life, so we should buy our wedding rings from them, as well. Dustin picked out his wedding ring and I've narrowed it down to two for myself- both match my engagement ring by having channel set small princess cut diamonds in the band (like this ring), but one is a little bit wider than the other. We're going back within the next week or two to buy his and make the final decision on which one I want and buy it, as well.

We also ordered a sample of wedding cake from Publix, too. Hopefully we can get our cake from there- they have great birthday cakes, so I have no doubt their wedding cakes are just as good. And they're cheaper than most other bakeries, too! :-)

And tonight, after spending hours agonizing over fonts and rsvp dates and what my name is (Susan Elizabeth, or just Elizabeth?), I finally ordered our wedding invitations. Since we're getting married outside on a farm in the fall, things just seem to be falling (ha ha, punny) into place by being fall-themed. Hey, it works. We should have the invitiations within the next 10 days, which makes me happy since they need to be sent out shortly after that. So hopefully after they arrive, I can spend a Saturday at my parent's house and my mom and I will address the invitations.

On the wedding to-do list for this week:
1. Call and block hotel rooms for out-of-town guests.
2. Call caterers and get price quotes/make appointments for sampling.
3. Call different tent companies and get price quotes for tents, tables, chairs, table linens, etc.

Mom left me a note on the counter this morning saying that I need to call the wedding dress store, figure out when I need to give them the final payment and pickup the dress, and make an appointment for this weekend to go get the dress.

I have to make the final payment by Monday, May 22nd. That's next Monday. I'm glad I called today, then. So is Mom, who hassled me about it over the phone ("Elizabeth, what if I hadn't written that note for you? What if you waited until next week to call?").

Unfortunately, this weekend Dustin and I have to devoted to driving his truck and a UHaul trailor up to Tennessee, getting the last of his furniture, and hauling it back to Atlanta (as next weekend is Memorial day, which will be spent in Florida with his family, and his lease runs out next weekend anyhow).

That means no wedding dress appointment with my mom this weekend, unless she wants to meet me at the store on Friday afternoon, which would require her to take a few hours off of work. She has a meeting on Friday afternoon, so it looks like I'm going to pick up my wedding dress by myself, unless I can wrangle Christin into coming with me (scottique, where are you? I tried calling your cell phone but your voicemail message was automated) or someone else who wants to help me dress myself and point and laugh at me in a dress.

But this means that in a few short days, I'll have a wedding dress! And a groom! And a ceremony site! And nothing else planned for my wedding that's less than six months away! YES!

Just a quick note for my records:

I called Silver Lining today and my dress is scheduled to be delivered April 7th-14th. They'll call when it's delivered and I can make an appointment for the fitting. Need to find shoes before the fitting, if possible, so that the alterations to the length of the dress will match up with the height of the shoes.

I also told them that we've officially set a date- November 11, 2006, so they have that date written down instead of October, so they won't keep my dress if I don't pick it up in October!

Today Dustin and I got our first official engagement present! Mom's co-worker, Janine sent a present home with Mom for me. It's a wedding memory book! It's perfect- not too girly but very pretty.

In my thank you note to Janine, I told her that I was looking at my parent's wedding memory book a few days ago and I thought it was so sweet that my mom had recorded so much about their wedding and the months leading up to it. Now I get to do the same! I'll have to post some pictures of my parents' wedding, 'cause they're pretty and it's just neat to see them.

It's time to figure out the logistics of the wedding site, and I need your help and input! For reference, we'll have between 120-150 guests (rough estimate).

Underneath the cut are pictures of the waterfalls where Dustin and I will be getting married.

( There are a bunch of pictures, with descriptions! )