Checking Off Wedding Tasks

If only to make myself feel better in all of this wedding craziness, I thought I'd make a list of everything we've accomplished thus far. Lists are wonderful, and crossing off taken-care-of items from said list is even more wonderful. Really. It is. It gives me a sense of peace. So, I thought I'd pour it all out here, and share a bit! Please excuse my need for order! It's part of my Myer's Briggs INFJ/ENFJ tendencies.


This is where we are:

• Budget: established!
  
• Wedding date: October, 3, 2009. Ceremony: 5:30 p.m. Cocktail Hour, Tours of Open Mansion: 6:00-6:45 PM. Dinner: 7 PM-9 PM. Cake, coffee, tea: 9 PM-10:30 PM.
  
• Location: Oatlands Historic House and Gardens. Ceremony: Italian Garden. Cocktails: Terraced Gardens and front foyer of historic mansion. Dinner: Carriage House. (Note: all outdoor events have restroom facilities in the garden dependencies building).
• Bride, Groom, and Wedding Party dressing facilities: In good weather, bride and party will get ready in the Mansion, and groom and party in the Bachelor's House. In rain, both bride and groom and respective parties will get ready in the Bachelor's House.
  
• Rain back-up plan: If drizzling, still hold ceremony in garden and supply guests with umbrellas, but hold cocktail hour and dinner in Carriage House. If raining outright, all activities will take place in the Carriage House. (Note: In the event of outright rain, guests will gather around, standing up, during wedding ceremony so that the space can then be used, right after ceremony, for cocktails.
  
• Oatlands Events Coordinator: Katherine Farley + team.
  
• Officiant Reverend Nicholas Lubelfeld of The Falls Church.
• Wedding Vows: Common Book of Prayer. Goal is to work with Nicholas to shorten ceremony to no more than 25 minutes). No communion will be held. Only one biblical reading. No hymns sung. Meeting with Nicholas on Sept. 30 to go over ceremony details.
• Wedding Party: Bert English (Best Man), Matthew McClinch (Groomsman), Jennifer Armistead (Matron of Honor), Patrick Armistead (Man of Honor), Matt Witting (Groomsman/Usher), Bill English (Groomsman/Usher), Brenden Petersburg (Groomsman/Usher).
  

Upcoming Appointments

• September 30: Phone meeting with Jennifer Chase, photographer.
  
• September 30, 7:30 PM: Meeting with Nicholas at The Falls Church to review vows and ceremony format.
• October 7: Danielle visit: Oatlands!
  

Next Steps

• Meet with additional photographers. Select and reserve photographer. Accomplish in the next few weeks before they all disappear!
• Reserve engagement photo shoot.
  
• Begin shopping for wedding gowns.
• Research caterers. Schedule tastings.
  
• Research musicians for ceremony, cocktail hour, reception.
• Research pastry chefs
• Research stationary.
• Finish content development of wedding website. Launch when Save the Date cards are issued, probably in February.
  

Fuzzy Ideas and Details

• We're going with a literary theme.
• We'd love to have a black, blue, and white color scheme, but need to scope out Carriage House reception space more closely.
• We're obsessed with luminaries. Hanging, standing, you name it.
  
• Jen is wearing black!
• I'm in love with deep blue hydrangea.
  
• We'd love to have a string quartet for the ceremony procession--and even for cocktail hour and the dinner/dancing.
• We'd love to have a bride-groom first dance, and at least the father-bride. Not sure if this crowd is composed of dancing fiends, but we'll have a great floor for it, nonetheless!
• We'd love to have our rehearsal dinner at Lightfoot restaurant, in historic downtown Leesburg.
  
• We'd love to have an engagement party in April or May of 2009. We'd love to have it at someone's house, low key, perhaps a cookout and casual. We'd like to have this later, rather than now, and to complete our premarital counseling/mentoring first.
  
• We're planning on reserving rooms at at least one B&B in historic Leesburg. Chris and I will stay here on our wedding night, and probably on Sunday night, before venturing to Dulles airport for our honeymoon plans. Possible B&B contender: Norris House.
  
• Thinking of having honeymoon in Zurich > train ride through Swiss Alps > Lake Como, Italy.

More to follow... Alice is checking things off left and right!