As promised, I’m back and coming at you with all kinds of wedding updates. Today I’m going to go over all the fun stuff I planned in the first 10 months of wedding planning. Jake and I got engaged back in September, and the first thing I did was pick a venue. The only available spring date for said venue was almost two years away… so I sort of stumbled into a long engagement without really planning on it. It has turned out to be the best thing ever.
Not having to fit every single planning aspect into a year or less has made every aspect of wedding planning easier. Every. Single. One. I have never once felt stressed (OK, maybe once or twice), never once been panicked or crunched for time and never had trouble getting the vendor of my dreams. If you’re on the fence about a long engagement, I’m telling you, do it. It’s the best thing ever.
Now, 10 months into being engaged, I’ve booked the venue, made our wedding website (shout out to The Knot for being the easiest platform to use ever for wedding websites), caterer, DJ, florist, photographer, videographer, designed the save the dates, and ordered both of my dresses (yes, I am doing two dresses… I am just that indecisive).
Still up: finalizing the menu and floral arrangements, ordering save the dates (running a bit behind on that front), finalizing decorations, seating chart, bridesmaid dresses… etc.
All this is to say, I’ve been very on top of things (seriously, I am organized to a fault I think) and there are still a thousand things to do. I don’t know how people do this in less than a year. I really don’t. But I digress. If you’re interested in any of my venues, here they are below plus a little bit about why I chose each of them.
Venue: Farm at Eagle’s Ridge
For a brief period of time, I was obsessed with watching wedding videos (OK, I still kind of am). I would watch dozens of them, and had my favorite videographers, etc. When I saw this wedding video I absolutely fell in love with the Farm at Eagles Ridge. I immediately knew I wanted to get married there and spent many weeks searching for other videos featuring weddings at the venue. I then found this amazing video of the farm and knew that I had to work with the videographers. The Farm at Eagles Ridge is the only venue we looked at and we signed the contract on our first visit there. It’s beautiful, and I can’t wait to spend the whole wedding day there.
Videographers: Happy Camper Films
Turns out I have followed Allison for, like, years. So when I realized she was half of the husband-and-wife team which is Happy Camper Films, I couldn’t get over how small of a world it is. Anyway, if you haven’t checked out Allison and Tyler’s work on Instagram, please do now. They do magnificent things and I can’t wait to have them document our day. That is all.
Photographer: Stephanie Paula Photography
A photographer was also one of the first things I booked for the wedding. Stephanie randomly messaged me on Instagram about a year ago and asked to do a couples photoshoot of Jake and I for free. I said yes, though I was admittedly nervous about taking romantic photos with a complete stranger on a 99 degree day in New York. Stephanie made us feel totally at ease, though, and the photos are some of my favorite in the world. When we got engaged a few months later and it came time to choose who we wanted to photograph our wedding, we knew it had to be Stephanie. I can’t wait to have her take our photos but also just to have her at our wedding, because she’s freaking awesome and I’m glad to call her (and her husband, who is equally awesome!) a friend. Bonus for you all: She is based in Florida! And shoots in Atlanta! And NYC! Book her. Now!
Florist: Splints & Daisies
I regularly post about about my florist on Instagram because I am constantly amazed by her work. She does absolutely stunning things, and it’s safe to say the flowers and greenery are one of the things I’m most looking forward to seeing come together at the wedding.
Caterer: The Scarlet Runner
This caterer came highly recommended from a friend who got married in Lancaster, but I have to be honest and say it was the company’s photos of their giant, beautiful charcuterie boards that really got me.
DJ: 3West Productions
When I talked to Nissa, one of the owners of 3West Productions, on the phone about our wedding, one of the first things she said was that they weren’t the type of company who has DJs in silver suits pull your grandma onto the floor or make everyone do the chicken dance. That was all I wanted to hear, and I was sold. And to be clear: The chicken dance will not be played at our wedding. Or the Cha Cha slide. That is all.
Save The Dates & Invitations: Rebecca Lynn Illustration
Rebecca illustrated a portrait of Winnie a while back, so she has always had a soft spot in my heart. When it came time to choose our wedding stationery, I knew I wanted somerthing totally unique, so I commissioned Rebecca to design our save the dates and invites. We’ve only finalized the save the dates so far, but I couldn’t be more excited about them. Stay tuned!
Dress(es): IT’S A SURPRISE, DUH!
OK, obviously I’m not giving this one away. But there are two dresses. I will say that. And I am very excited about both.
I am almost positive I forgot something important, but these are the big parts of our day that we have planned so far. I’ll be sure to share more updates as I have them, and if anyone has any questions at all about any of the vendors (or wedding planning in general), you know where to find me.
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