The First Hiccup

Well, it was a bit of a hectic week as far as planning goes.  On Sunday, we had our taste test with Beyond Details, which we truly are both excited about.  We planned every little detail of what the reception food should be like to a point where we were both extremely satisfied.  We got so much worked out along with an exact price for our catering, which I was relieved about because now I know what the budget should be looking like.  Also relieving was that we went ahead & signed a contract for that price.   

On Wednesday, I received an email from Jennifer at BD with our catering estimate (it gets into more specifics than the contract does).  Normally, I would just glance at something like this & reply back with a "thank you," but for some reason the thought crossed my mind when I got home that I should print it out & add it to our Wedding Planner book.  When I opened the file, I noticed something that was amiss.  Without getting too specific, we had discussed having 3 different appetizers passed around for our guests during picture-taking, but later decided that it would be too costly & decided to go a different route.  There were a couple of other small issues with the estimate's details also.  In total, this estimate was hundreds of dollars more than what we had agreed to just a few days prior. 

I emailed the woman immediately after I reviewed the estimate (Thursday) to attempt to correct the situation.  Basically, I told her everything that was incorrect & gave her the complete list of the way the estimate should have looked.  Without being rude, I was very specific & cordial about what Anthony & I wanted--which is how I think that situations like this should be handled.  There's no reason to get upset or rude over a mistake, but I don't want to be walked over either :)  Furthermore, I directed her to their copy of the contract that we signed on Sunday as well as the check that was written for proof of my claims. 

She got back to me first thing on Friday & was extremely apologetic, stating that she was new & our contact at the tasting, Todd, was out of the office.  I completely understood this, as even he admitted to not being able to read his own handwriting just a few days prior.  To help make up for things, she offered to remove the fee for one of the servers for the night, which was extremely generous. 

I realize that this won't be the first bump on the road to the altar, but I can only hope that they will all be this easy to handle & that the people will be as agreeable. I'm also hopeful that the stress won't get to me too much & I am able to keep my character in tact ;)

Up next on the to-do list is booking a bakery.  I'm really interested in Cecilia's in Athens.  They have amazing flavor & their designs have really impressed me (yes, I have already sketched out a design I have in mind!).  I called today & found out that they don't do tastings at their bakery, but you come in & get a card, take it to The Last Resort (which p.s. is my FAVORITE restaurant at UGA) & have a tasting there.  It makes sense because that means they don't have to make a several whole cakes for each potential client.  I'm excited to go & we're hoping to be able to do that the day that I move back to school.  That way, both of my parents, Anthony, me & maybe even Anthony's mom (since she is considering getting the groom's cake from the same bakery as mine) will be able to all go at once. & who knows, maybe we can even have lunch or dinner at TLR too... :)

Oh, we also went to Guven's today where Anthony got my ring to have it fixed.  There was a little piece on the inside that wasn't smoothed & they were able to fix it within 30 minutes while we ate lunch and browsed.  He also wanted to pick up some paperwork that went with the ring and look at wedding bands for himself.  One was already made to match my engagement ring, so today was all about what he wanted.  He found a couple of things he liked, so I have some ideas now. We're decided to shop around some more as the date gets closer! I can't wait to get him something awesome that he will wear for the rest of his life & something to say "thank you!" for his beautiful gift to me!

Food & Fun

A lot has happened since the last post...we've been particularly busy between my new job/teaching Sunday School & Anthony's job, summer courses & softball.  Combine all that with spending time with family, studying, prepping lesson plans, & sometimes we only get to see each other for a bit more than an hour a day.  Usually the time flies by, especially when we have to do things like cook/eat/clean up, do laundry, etc.  After almost two months of being engaged & little time to spend together, we needed a break!

Our relaxing time started on the weekend before the 4th, when we went to the family lake house at Oconee.  We went down with my mom on Saturday morning & left Monday afternoon.  Sometimes things were slightly more stressful than relaxing (cue dog growling/barking/hogging the bed all night), but overall it was a lot of fun & I know Anthony really enjoyed himself.  I know how much he needs to let off steam once in a while, so it was great to be able to see him on the jet ski, tubes & wakeboards having a good time.  Getting a tan wasn't all that bad on me either :) --I will say that it was a struggle getting him to put on sun screen, even after getting burned & blistered kayaking the previous Saturday.

We rested on Monday night & while Anthony was at work on Tuesday I got as much of my laundry done as possible.  Then, things started going downhill. I had woken up that morning feeling sick & things only got worse during the day.  I took a lot of medicine to get ready for the night's events, but that wound up backfiring on me because it made me exhausted during dinner.  Tuesday night was the first time that all four of our parents met & shared a meal together.  Most of them had seen each other in passing, but never spent a significant amount of time together.  We met at La Tavola at 7:30 pm.  The dinner went as well as could be expected, except for the fact that it took FOREVER to get our food.  This is not the kind of place you want to go to if you want to be home within an hour or two.  Things were a little awkward at first, just because it was four people meeting for the first time & stuck with each other for two hours & because Anthony & I were pretty unsure of what to do.  With that in mind, there were no major issues :)

On Wednesday, I packed my bags & headed over to my dad's old house in Roswell.  When Anthony was done with a test at school, we (dad, brother & I) picked him up at Georgia State & left for Destin.  By 9 pm & after a miserable car ride (still sick, even worse than the day before) we had arrived to our condo in Florida.  Besides the smell of cat pee (yeah, gross) everything was really nice.  We watched TV for a while & everyone went to bed.  The next day I didn't go outside at all (Anthony was sweet & stayed with me).  We made dinner in & enjoyed some relaxation.  On Friday, I was feeling better enough to go out for a couple of hours, then several on our last full day, Saturday.  It was so nice to have someone so amazing taking great care of me, sympathizing with me, & most of all staying right by my side.  I think my favorite part of the whole trip had to be sitting at the pool with our feet in it on Friday night.  Being able to spend some time just the two of us talking was just what we both needed. 

After getting back, it was another week of work & a big weekend full of sleeping in & as much fun crammed into two days as possible.

On Friday we went to dinner with some friends we hadn't seen in a while: Erica, Nick, Alyx & a couple of other people.  O'Charley's was good, but took forever again (I'm noticing a pattern...).  We rushed to the AMC in Lawrenceville to meet the Ewings, the Vazquezes & Ish to see Harry Potter & made it just in the nick of time.  On Saturday we were supposed to take engagement photographs with Mandie Sledge Photography, a friend who wanted us to model some pictures for her :) Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating & we got rained out.  That wound up working out because we slept a lot longer & got the rest we so desperately needed after a long week.  We were able to chill for the rest of the day (AKA watch Say Yes To The Dress Atlanta) until it was time to go to on our double date with Haley & Josh. SO FUN! We went to Osteria del Figo for dinner then went to Turner Field to watch the Braves play the Nationals.  The day after they got their 10,000th win...they lost :/ The highlight of the game had to be the guy in a wedding dress jumping onto the field, running around & getting tackled by 9 security guards.  He must have known I was coming! ;)  It was so great to have another couple to hang out with for a while...& to take some great pics with! Thank you both for bringing us to the game!!!

The main "wedding" point of this post is our first taste-test with Beyond Detailswas today! Both our moms went with us to meet with Todd at their Covington location at 3:30.  The food was amazing & Todd was more than willing to work with me to create a menu that I wanted.  Our appointment was only supposed to be for 30 minutes, but we wound up staying from 3:15 (arriving early) until 4:45.  We signed our catering contract today, so that's out of the way.  It was so refreshing that Anthony expressed his opinion so readily.  We took both of our tastes into account & designed a dinner buffet that will suit both of us.  I was so glad to have his input on what he did & didn't like, a nice change from what most of the planning has been!  Now I know that when it counts & something is really important to him, he'll let me know! We are so excited for our guests to enjoy this wedding meal with us :)

The next items up on the to-do list are finding a wedding photographer, searching for bridal/bridesmaid's/mom's/grandmother's dresses & booking a bakery...stay tuned!