back and forth ... and back, and forth

Last Friday we went up to the area to show my dad the Shattuck, look around for an RD location, and check out the hotels. After all of the run around with the historical society we were also still in need of a site for our Rehearsal Dinner. We found a lovely restaurant to host our rehearsal dinner. About 20 minutes from Keene, and 10 minutes from our venue. Nice owners willing to work with us and accomodate. It wasn't perfect (we'd rather something closer to Keene), but they were definitely free, and nice.

On our way out of Keene we stopped at a "camp" (a large house on a lake) owned by the college. We'd checked it out once before but Tim wasn't impressed. This time it was a brighter day and we were able to see into the house more with our noses pressed against the windows in the doors. We loved it. About 5 minutes from the hotels, a picturesque setting, and we wouldn't have to worry about taking over half their business for the night (like we would with the other place) because it would just be us. To our good fortune, the place was free!

Now, we just need to find caterer. Unfortunately, because it's owned by the college we need to use a caterer who has an off-site liquor license if we'd like to have a bar. Not that we have to have a bar, but ... I'd like to offer beer & wine. It's a celebratory dinner, after all! Our top choice restaurant doesn't have one, but when we called them up they were a little sketchy anyways ... no, they don't have a menu, oh it's for a rehearsal dinner? What's your budget? Hmmmm ... we felt like we were going to get royally screwed.

So ... now we've got to call the one place that does have an off site license, and if they're not free/reasonable we've got to see if there are companies who are licensed to do bartending.

Do you know a place in South Western NH that offers anything like that?

Here it comes!

Wow! It's been more than a month since I've posted. All of a sudden we hit the ground running not long after my last post.

We booked a photographer, who is fabulous.

We built a website. We used Wedding Window and it was super easy and nice. You can even get a custom URL from them, but we had already spent a mere $1.99 on one from GoDaddy with the ".info" ending, which seems like a great way to go since people will be looking for info on our wedding when they visit!

We booked our honeymoon! We'll be in fabulous Tulum, Mexico for 6 nights. Aaah...

We've had some run-around with our rehearsal dinner. Keene, NH does not offer many choices for hosting one other than one large restaurant (which we can't use because of some problems they caused at another family rehearsal dinner), and several hotels. One fabulous restaurant has a room, but it's not big enough. We'd ideally like to use a restaurant or a hall and have it catered by some one over our choosing, instead of a ballroom at a hotel or the country club with the standard fare. Then, we found the Cheshire County Historical Society. Good space, reasonable rental rate, and the restaurant we wanted to cater had just catered there the week prior. Great news! Then we call to book and they need to find some one to work that night. Okay, that's reasonable, but it's 3 months away. Then, oh, they need to make sure they can rent the space while they have the new exhibit in there. We got the okay on that one and it was back to just needing someone to work it. Days later we get the call--it's a no-go because of the exhibit that will be in there. What kind of run around is that? And, why didn't they say from the beginning that it's available for rental pending the exhibit that will be in there at the time.

Sad.

Things not to do if you get business by word-of-mouth

We had our #1 choice for photographer all set to go. This was based on good photos, the right prices, and a recommendation from a friend. Great. Except the guy had all these problems about getting together to meet people. I don't think it's crazy to want to meet the guy who might shoot your wedding ... make sure he's friendly and not awkward and we feel comfortable with him. Well, we definitely didn't feel comfortable with the fact that we offered to meet him somewhere pretty out of our way, thinking it would be convenient for him, and then he said he now charges $50 to meet people. Are you kidding me? We are potentially giving you over $1,000 and you want us to pay you $50 for 20 minutes of your time, and somewhere totally inconvenient for us? Jerky, no thanks. Luckily this happened and so we hadn't met with him and hadn't given him our deposit or anything when he sent a jerky reply to a simple email request from a friend looking for a copy of a photo from a party.

Look at all the business he just lost ... next year when the event he shot at work comes around, he won't be hired. He lost the opportunity to shoot my wedding, and therefore lost the chance for me to recommend him to friends. Etc. etc.

Luckily the person we loved before he was recommended to us is still free. Hopefully we can meet her briefly next week and hopefully we love her as much as we love her photos and that will be another big checkmark on the list!

Mandarin Orange

We have about a thousand things checked off of our list since my last post. Well, that's totally over-exaggerating, but ....

We met with the coordinator at our site and confirmed our menu and our napkin color, and tasted 3 delicious cakes while delving through photos of cake designs. Our final choice was Mandarin Orange, which was the standout for sure. They were all great but that one ... WOW.

We confirmed our officiant, which is also great. He's a friend of Tim's mom & stepdad and seems great and we'll be meeting with him in the fall ... so at least we have a little time to think about what we actually would like.

It feels like it's all "really happening" :)

Stuck on the rehearsal dinner ... have any new & different ideas for a group of 30-40 in Keene, NH?

I've got something to wear!

I went dress shopping with Adrienne, Katie, and Marissa this weekend ... a great team, we all had a good laugh and it was a fun time. Most importantly, I found my dress! I'm going back Wednesdady to order it and get measured and all of that. I am SO thrilled. Not posting it because something's gotta be a surprise for Tim right?

We've also registered now at Bed Bath & Beyond and Crate & Barrel. Both places the people were great and helpful and offered us drinks. It was fun. I do not, however, recommend registering at Linens N Things. We waited around awhile to be helped by a grumpy lady who told us LNT is "playing down" the registry .... oooookay. So we scrapped that and went to BB&B where the people were great.

We've received a few invitation samples, it's definitely worth seeing them in person rather than just online. It's nice to feel them and see what people will actually get. I'm excited to get the next 2 batches of them and then really narrow it down

Cake tasting is this Friday!

Ooooh nice

The wonders of the internet mean super-cheap home projects ordered from the internet (http://www.save-on-crafts.com/memmakbrstam.html woohoo!) and finding out the place you were going doesn't have the dresses you wanted to try on (sad).

Going dress shopping this Saturday. I'm pretty excited. We've got to figure out what to do about our potential photographer who lives pretty far away from us and doesn't have a driver's license for a few more weeks ... hmmm. Hopefully nobody else books him until we can figure it out! Gotta send the cake lady our choices, too. I'm pumped for Lemon cake with seedless raspberry jam ... mmmmmm

Brainstormed about the rehearsal dinner over the weekend with dad and I think we came up with a good plan, which Tim is into. Now we just need to talk to his mom & step dad when they're home. Things are going.

Today, I leave you with a potential invite:

Check this out

We have a DJ! We booked a meeting to figure everything out for the day-of with our venue, and a cake tasting!

We're totally rolling.