I have a wedding date!!

[luvthemstrawberries]

Well, I've been MIA around here pretty recently, but there's a reason - it's FINALLY happened! J and I have been narrowing it down for months now. We got engaged this past September, but had a really hard time choosing a place to get married. It takes a lot of time too, when you only have weekends to go travel and look. We looked at many different venues and areas, wrestled with what kind of wedding and size we actually wanted, who we really wanted there, how much money we were really comfortable with spending... so we finally took a break from it all during the winter/spring and decided to let some things come to us. When summer started, for some reason we both randomly began looking into things again, and have now narrowed it right back down to the same dream place we originally discussed, and the same season we originally liked (just a year later, haha). We're in the process of finalizing the contract right now. And I've already done a lot of other research, so I've got a good dent put in all that.

So, I'll be getting married this winter - January 8, 2010 - at the Biltmore Estate (in North Carolina).

Haha, I'm finally able to start getting excited about this!! It will be a "destination wedding" of sorts. It's only about 3.5 hours driving time from here. But it will be small - with only our parents and grandparents, plus my brother. And we're finally good with that. I think it will be very nice, and so intimate and personal. And everything about the venue has been super so far - very accomodating, helpful, and such a nice surprise from what we were prepared to deal with.

I have pictures at home of the actual area, so I'll try to post them tonight. Just wanted to share my excitement, now that there's actually some to share - I finally get to post about my own wedding!!

 

[princessplease]

Yay!!!!!!!!!! Congrats on the selection of the date and venue!!!!!!!

 

[marlie]

Congrats!!

I''ve been to a wedding at the Biltmore in NC and it was BEAUTIFUL. Absolutely gorgeous. I think you made a fantastic choice.

 

[BeachRunner]

Congrats!

I can''t even begin to imagine a wedding at the Biltmore. Wowzers.

I just love Asheville!

Where do you live now, just out of curiosity?

 

[charbie]

That is going to be so beautiful! I love January as a wedding month! If ohio wasn''t so hazardous in the winter, I would have wanted a wintertime wedding. I can''t wait to follow along with your planning and share in the excitement! Congratulations!

 

[princesss]

I love the Biltmore (and Asheville in general)! Congratulations, you''ll have a stunning wedding!

 

[Amanda.Rx]

Congratulations- that''ll be lovely!

 

[Smurfysmiles]

that sounds wonderful! congrats on picking a date

 

[daught3rofEve]

That is so cute! How awesome! It''ll be great! Best Wishes to you dear!

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

Aw, thank you all SO much! It really means a lot.

princessplease, Amanda.Rx, smurfy - Thank you!!

marlie - All the wedding photos I''ve seen there are definitely so beautiful. Where on the grounds was the wedding you went to?

BeachRunner - I know, it''s so hard to imagine! It''s something I NEVER thought would be possible to do. Oh, and I''m in Raleigh. Takes us about 3.5 hours to get up there, but it''s not too bad of a drive. Will probably take a few planning weekend or day trips to get everything done.

charbie - Haha, it''s so funny, because January is what we originally wanted, LAST year! But we thought that 3 months would be too short of a time to do all the planning, haha! At least now, I''ve already done a lot of the research, so I know what needs to be done, instead of having to spend time learning all that in such a short time. I''ll definitley be here sharing! Can''t wait!

princesss - That''s right, you''re in Charlotte right? You''re not too far at all!

daughterofeve - Thank you so much!!

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

Well, I was going to try posting a few photos I took on our site visit, but I don''t have a good program on this computer to resize the huge pictures. I''ll try again tomorrow - thank you all again so much!!

 

[katamari]

Woohoo! Congrats, Strawberries!

I have been waiting to hear what you decided on for awhile! I can''t wait to see everything start to materialize for you.

 

[Dannielle]

I just looked up the estates venue.. and all I can say is

It is GORGEOUS!!!!

 

[Treasure43]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

 

[honey22]

Congratulations!!! Now you will start to imagine your wedding in your head and all the details will start to materialise!!! So exciting!

 

[gwendolyn]

Yay! Congrats on setting a date at a fabulous venue! And I love your date--it''s my mom''s 60th birthday.

 

[hawaiianorangetree]

Fantastic date!! that''s my birthday!!

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

katamari - I know, whoohoo!!! I can''t wait either. Thanks so much for the excitement! (By the way, I might have some wording questions, so keep an eye out for a page for you!

)

Dannielle - It is absolutely gorgeous. It''s so elegant and beautiful - not just the house (which of course is all those things), but the entire grounds are so beautiful.

Treasure43 - Thank you!

Honey22 - Haha all those details have been in my head for so long! Now it''s a matter of picking which ones to use and how to actually organize it all together into something cohesive that actually makes sense!!

gwen - Thanks! Wow what a fabulous birthday to have! I love January.

hawaiianorangetree - Wow, you too?!?!? How cool!!

 

[sparkly_stars]

I must see pictures!
Especially since we spent so much time trying to figure out which was best for you!
Congrats!
yay!

 

[rhbgirl24]

Very neat! Congrats!!!

 

[trillionaire]

Wow! A Biltmore wedding must be a dream come true!

Congrats!


(I''m in NC too! )

 

[Luckyeshe]

Congrats on finally having a date and a venue!! That''s awesome!!!

 

[MonkeyPants]

Yayyy!! Congrats! It feels more real when there''s a date and a place!

 

[cleokizzy]

congratulations!!