Return from MIA status

I've been MIA for awhile... grad school is so much more hectic that undergrad, it is taking me a while to adjust.
Now for the good news:
We have a date and venue! We mailed the deposit this weekend!
We are getting married at T & S farm on May 22, 2010!

In other wedding news:
I bought some of the paper for our DIY invitations. I know it seems a little early, but I have been hunting and hunting for a pretty light purple textured paper. I finally found one, but of course it is being discontinued. So this means I had to go ahead and order it, but I also got a better price. This is the paper that I found at cardsandpockets.com, in the canvas texture, color is Thistle.

I have spent so many hours drooling over the invitations at East Six
These really are just some of the most detailed and beautiful invitations I have ever seen. Take a look at some of these gorgeous invitations and be sure to check out their website for some serious creative inspiration.

a venue and an inspiration board

I think we have found our place! After going to visit T&S Farms in Batesburg we are even more convinced that this is where we want to get married. We loved it! The inside was so cool! I wasn't sure that I was going to like the decor, but it is so fun and shabby chic. In celebration of this huge step down I've created an inspiration board... here goes

Venue search...

We finally have an appointment to visit T&S Farms on Monday Oct. 6th. I am so excited to finally go and visit. I am working on my list of questions to ask. I hope this location lives up to my expectations.

a farm wedding?

My newest find in the search for a venue is T & S Farm. It is owned by Shealy's Barbeque, which has awesome food. We were originally not going to have the wedding catered and were going to try and do it ourselves. But the rental fee is much less than the other places we looked at so we would have more money for food and this would be way easier than trying to do it ourselves. Here a couple of pictures:
Outside Inside


























Things I love about this location:

• I love the chandeliers, although I still think I will hang paper lanterns
• I really like the idea of having long tables instead of round ones
• They provide tables, chairs, and linens
• I feel like this location has a lot more personality than a banquet hall or ballroom.
• I totally want to get married with me and my FI standing on this little bridge
• We can keep a very casual feel to the whole event
  

Things that worry me about this location:

• The closest "decent" hotels are 15 miles away
• It is about 35 minutes from where we and all of our friends live. The only reason this bothers me is because of people having to drive home after our reception.

So far the pros outweigh the cons, but then I haven't even been to visit yet. Here's a look at some great barn weddings though:


Photo credits: (Top) Real Wedding on The Knot (Bottom) The Knot

begin here

There are a few things that we knew for sure when we started to plan our wedding:

• We are going invite all of our family and friends and not leave anyone out
• We will have an affordable wedding (Under $5,000)
• Our friend and musician, Jim LeBlanc, will play
• Our main color will be purple

Well that leaves a lot of things left to be determined. First is choosing a location. This is proving to be a difficult task. I have spent many hours scouring the internet for venues I did not know about in Columbia, SC. I have found lots of places that I have not known about, but most of them do not have websites (gasp) so I will be making appointments to visit most of these in the upcoming weeks. Since there is very little information about these venues online I will try to provide as much detailed information as possible.
Today, we went to go visit Gibson Commons in Lexington, SC. They actually do have a website that you can check out. It is an affordable venue at $1,500 rental rate for an entire Saturday and includes use of the outdoor patio and gazebo, the ballroom, tables and chairs, and catering kitchen. They also allow you to choose your own caterer. One thing that has impressed me is that the event coordinator responds to all of my emails very promptly. This is much more than I can say for the other venues that I have attempted to contact through email. The outdoor area is very nice, however I am not so sure if I like the setup for a ceremony there.

Now with all of that business stuff behind us, let's talk colors. I think we have decided on this color palette: