Going to the Chapel

Prepare yourself for exclamation points.
They are, at this time, a necessity.

The Culinary Trail will be launched at the end of October. October is next Thursday (!!) and Friday I will head to the Delta for some exploring and meet up with work folks a visit to Indianola and Club Ebony. Can't wait for that. I also really need to go to French Camp and cover the sorghum making demonstrations the next day, too.

Dallas is the official destination weekend after next for my bridal shower with QB's family/friends and then it's back in town for an engagement shoot; which also translates into mama needs a couple of new outfits.

When QB and I got engaged, I made a silent promise to myself - more like a mental note, actually - that the blog would not become a shrine to the almighty wedding. There are enough wedding blogs saturating the market already.

Well, maybe just this once...!! Martha Stewart tells me there are 63 days to go. Yipe!

I've been slammed lately working a few different jobs - the main one still being the Tourism job that is my absolute favorite ever, filling in for my old employer, doing some PA work on a commercial shoot and whatever odds and ends I can find. Needless to say, QB and I are taking turns freaking out, which works out quite well in the scheme of things. The fit is hitting the wedding shan, lemme tell you that. Not really but we're just feeling the time crunch and on more than one occasion a potential vendor heard these words, "Honestly, I am SO over wedding planning!" (where I want to r-u-n-n-o-f-t.)

Initially, we set the date for May 15, 2010. We both liked the idea of a spring wedding but I thought, A whole year?! As the summer wore on and my job changed (along with my finances), we realized that having a larger wedding in May would cost more as the ideas and guest list grew.

And, having the wedding in May also kept us waiting to make the commitment we want to make to each other. We both started getting impatient.

We planned on having our parents here to meet and celebrate Thanksgiving and it occurred to us, "Well, why don't we just go ahead and get married?!" So, there it was. The prospect of getting married six months before the date we decided...and in a matter of three months!

The planning process, which includes crunching as much as we can into as small a time frame as possible, hasn't been as stressful as we thought it might be (well, you know).

Technically, I feel like everything should have been taken care of yesterday, but other than the moments of feeling sheer panic and urgency, with everything working out like we need it to, it's calming me down a little. Perhaps it's because the date falls on a holiday weekend that it has been so free and clear on vendors' schedules.

Ceremony Location: check! Reception Location: Check!
DJ: Check! Rehearsal Dinner: Check!

Owl Motif: Check!

Colors: Think of peacock feathers and jewel tones of copper, deep teal and brown.

Bridesmaids Dresses: I don't care! Pick a color and wear whatever you want! My Dress: check! Ordered it Monday. Gotta buy my shoes and this below is the pair I have been drooling over for at least a month.

Favors...do we really need them? Eh, we'll get sumpthin, don't worry.

Our photographer, Erin Fults, is available!! That was one of our biggest concerns since we already paid the deposit in July. She takes incredible photographs and we can't wait for her to shoot our wedding photos. Both ceremony and reception location are going to be great places to get some cool shots. Our engagement session is going to be at the state fair! FUN!!

(Just today, Erin conducted a photography workshop that was absolutely incredible. It was a fun group of people. My know-how light bulb went from a pathetic flicker to a more dim glow. We're getting somewhere!)

We booked and will book as many local vendors as possible, such as our new friend Neola owns Viva La Cupcake. She will make our cupcakes for the reception. We had a tasting two weeks ago and they are delicious. We are going to serve both red velvet cupcakes and German Chocolate cake cupcakes. The cake of both flavors had a lovely texture, were soft and moist (isn't that a hated word?). Both of them weren't overwhelmingly sweet like some cupcakes can be which was a heavenly compliment to their icing/topping. YUM.

A good film festival friend has old letterpress machines and our invitations are underway. Despite my better judgment, perhaps, I'm going to do the calligraphy myself.

Now, as for catering, that's been our one hitch. The guy who we thought was going to do it is MIA so we're going to be meeting people this week. That's a little disappointing because we had our hearts set on him. I'm still working on the flowers/decoration part, too. Waiting on getting a couple of quotes back and then maybe doing a little ourselves. We shall see.

So, I will report more upon my visit to the Delta later this week with my new improved photog skills!

Speaking of new and improved, I created my very own banner via Scrapblog
thanks to the recommendation of my co-worker, Mary Straton. If only I'd known about this, oh, say SIX MONTHS AGO!!! But nevertheless, I am thankful for it. Though I will still keep my "SoulsvilleUSA" theme, Grits and Soul is the new domain and title, taken from a James Brown instrumental album. More on that later.