Holiday Baking Extravaganza

Happy Holidays Y'all!

It's been a busy time of year but after lots of preparation the holidays finally ended up being a very relaxing time. I went to my future in-laws' home a few days before everyone else to help get everything ready and to help with the holiday baking!

First off, we gathered supplies at about six different stores around the city. We managed to find some festive red chargers and I used them to set the dinner table.

Those hours of origami practice in third grade were finally good for something!

We stopped by an adorable local apple shop and picked up supplies for homemade apple cider. So quaint!

Back home finally, we started baking up a storm! I started with my fiance's favorite Christmas cookies, creme wafers:

They turned out deliciously with a very crumple-in-your-mouth delicate texture and a sweet hint of almond extract. I was pretty proud of them but found out later I have some more perfecting to do: the cookies are not supposed to be browned at all. Ahh well, something to aim for next year! I was able to make a few notes of my own on my future mother-in-law's recipe cards so I can get it just right for Ben in years to come...

Next were spritz cookies! Classic and pretty simple as it turns out! My portion-consistency needs some work, but not bad for my first time!

We also made spicy cheese coins...

Peanut butter blossoms...

Russian tea cookies...

And chocolate roll-ups, which I totally underestimated based on how simple they were, but they were definitely a crowd favorite!

For Christmas Eve dinner we had steak and some simple sides:

(yes that is the badass corn I made at Thanksgiving...with an addition of some jalepeno!)

And on Christmas morning, Ben and I made a delicious four-cheese bacon & biscuit egg bake!

After all of the preparation and hubbub was over, there was plenty of time to enjoy the scenery....

Get cozy...

And go for a romantic walk in the woods with my stellar guy...

Feeling very grateful and realizing how darn lucky I am to have him in my life. Happy holidays and happy new year!!

A Pre-Holiday Getaway

It's been a fun, relaxing, but somehow busy time this past week!

First off, the past few days have been full of organizing and researching wedding vendors to get a sense of how we should organize our budget. I've been really grateful to have some time to hash through all of the factors that'll go into our big day.

On the lettering / stationary front, I've been practicing a lot and managed to design and order a custom-return address stamp! I know it'll come in handy for all-things paper-related!

I also acquired another helpful resource: a book on wedding preparation and etiquette that has been passed down through several southern weddings here in Tennessee! My future mother-in-law gave it to me to look through and add my name to the list of brides!

For the last week or so, I got to spend time with my fiance's family in South Carolina. We stayed in a gorgeous hotel in downtown Greenville and it was fun to get to hang out with them before the upcoming Christmas craziness!

The lobby and downtown area were festive and it was a nice way to get into the holiday spirit!

We went out to eat, enjoyed each other's company, played games, and even got to rest a bit (quel suprise!).

It was a nice, quick getaway, and great to touch base and get to chat about wedding-related-excitement. Can't wait to celebrate the holidays!

4 Simple Steps to Wedding Organizations Success

First of all, congratulations on your engagement!

From the moment you get engaged, chances are you will bombarded with wedding information and recommendations from friends, family, and social media. An overwhelming onslaught of advice and excitement: it's hard to know where to begin! Here's my advice for how to go about getting organized and tackling the information with ease.

Step 1 - Consult the experts

Going into wedding planning, I was amazed at how much I didn't know I didn't know. It's such a complicated process with so many moving parts, it's easy to get overwhelmed. Luckily, since you are not the first bride-to-be, there are so many resources online who have been around the block a few times and can guide you on your way.

My choice was buying the Southern Weddings Planner. It's not only beautiful but extremely thorough and filled cover-to-cover with insider tips and inspiration. Their blog is also full of advice and insight. This binder also doubles as a file-organizer, which leads me to...

Step 2 - Get your paper in order

A binder, file bin, or accordion file organizer will go a long way in keeping info packets, important documents, inspiration clippings, and general wedding scraps in order. Determine how you'd like to categorize your papers and stay vigilant about keeping all the loose papers in place!

Step 3 - Get organized digitally

First, create a folder for your wedding and slap it on your desktop. Make sub-folders using the same categorization process that you used for your paper organization. I generally followed the SW Planner's categories when creating my digital folder.

Step 4 - Create a wedding-specific email account

This one is easy. Head over to gmail, or your other email provider of choice, and get a head start on having all of those important messages in one place. Can't think of a good email address? Try something simple like laurieandscottwedding@whatever.com or smithwedding@whatever.com.

Give your dapper fiancee the password too so you can both be diligent about checking the account daily. The first of many shared things. <3

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Get these things in place, and you're sure to have a running start on getting the basics of planning your big day in order! Happy planning!

Venue Tours - Round 1!

As promised I've got some photos from our first 3 wedding venue tours for you! To get the general rundown of the last week, check out my earlier post, "Venue hunting begins!"

Here we go!

Absolutely no decisions yet but we've got some pretty good lookin' spaces to consider! I'll keep you posted! <3

Venue hunting begins!

I know it's been a bit but I have been super busy the past week or so with dancing, teaching, and .... WEDDING VENUE HUNTING!

I have to say, after dreaming, imagining, and researching for about 18 months, it feels good to finally be able to actively be pursuing information and tours and such.

Spreadsheets

After compiling a list of about 20 Nashville venue options I made a giant spreadsheet with all of the venue info available online. From there, I narrowed it down to about 10 venues that would both fit the budget and aesthetic of our wedding. This was a much more manageable list to look through with Ben. We narrowed it down again to about eight venues and I reached out for more information.
We toured two venues yesterday and have another one planned for tomorrow morning!! I'll make another post soon with pictures and things from these tours!

Yesterday was so much fun, I've been sorting though pictures online and it was amazing to finally be able to walk around and see the spaces for myself. The two locations we looked at yesterday were both between Franklin and Murfreesboro. Well worth the drive, both were totally gorgeous! I came up with a worksheet the night before listing all of the questions that I had about the venue. Using the information packets the venues had sent me via email, I filled out as much as I could and then highlighted the sections where I had additional questions. I printed the info packets and brought them all along. I'll write a separate post with all of my spreadsheet layouts and other tips.

In addition to all of this tour excitement, a coworker of Ben's connected me to a local wedding dress designer. I never dreamed in a million years that there was any possibility of getting a custom-made wedding dress, but it sounds like it might not be such a far-fetched idea after all! I had a consultation with the designer today and I'm so amazed at how many options I have that sound like they will be affordable and beautiful!

I'm also coordinating with several people to have some engagement photos taken in early 2017. Exciting stuff in the works!

It's been a complex process so far but I'm so excited and relieved to finally be planning!

More soon!