In May, the reception venue we had chosen back in November came under new ownership and was not allowing any event dates after the end of this year. Up until that point, I had not been stressed and was genuinely amazed at how easy all the planning had been so far. When I received the email that our date could no longer be honored, I went into full drama queen mode. I called my mom trying to hold back the tears, but she assured me that we would find something else (that's what mamas are for). Then my sister called me, and I sobbed uncontrollably for our entire conversation. I knew in my heart that we would find a place, but you couldn't tell me that this day. After about a week of stressing and worrying that we would never find a place big enough for our guest list, I let it go and said "God will make a way." A couple weeks went by, and I had stopped looking for new places at this point, when one night Al and I were driving down the highway and I saw a building. I have no clue what this building was, but it made me think of a place that Al's family used quite often. I texted his cousin to ask her how many people this place could hold, and when she texted me back and said 225, I let out a little squeal of joy. It would be perfect for our reception if everything worked out. After a few days of conversation back and forth with the event person of this place, we went and saw the inside and it just felt right. It was much smaller than the other space, but I liked the intimacy it offered. The other place was going to be very large, and even though our guest list is a little large, that space would have still felt empty. I truly believe this space is going to be perfect. We are so excited to go sign the contract on Monday and make it ours :)
Over the last several months, we have been cultivating this idea of what we want our wedding to look and feel like. At our first planning meeting in March, our planner Monika was asking me questions to get a feel for what I was thinking. After some digging, we discovered my genuine love for southern hospitality and charm, and the rest is history as they say. We are incorporating a lot of little southern traditions and emblems into our day - my favorite, and the most notable, being the pineapple. We cannot wait to see all the details come together to make our day as charming as the southern places that are so dear to us. I don't know if Al would say this, but for me, there is something so special about the roots we have planted here in our little southern part of the world, and no matter where we go this place will always be home. That is the vibe we are going for with our wedding - southern, homey, charming - and it is going to be so wonderful to see the dream as reality in seven-ish months!
The last time I wrote, I don't think we had quite decided on food yet, but now we have and we are so pumped. We found that going through an established restaurant was way cheaper (I'm talking thousands of dollars cheaper) than just using a catering business. We knew we wanted some kind of southern food to go with our theme, and what is more southern than BBQ and fried chicken? Smithfield's was able to offer us that and so much more, so we had a meeting with their operations manager (SO nice), and he got us taken care of. We're really pumped about that and even more excited that we saved so much money.
My cousin Chris is a graphic designer, and I was so excited when he said yes to designing all our paper things. Over the last few weeks, he has worked on our save the dates, and he completed those last week. I.AM.SWOONING. They are so perfect and exactly what we wanted. We aren't sending them out until early September, but I wanted to get them done while I have some free time on my hands to address them. We are so thankful for Chris and his talent, and we can't wait for everyone else to see his work!
Most recently, as in yesterday, we went and looked at wedding rings. We have a lot of spare time on our hands right now that we won't have when the time comes that we actually need to be getting this stuff done, so we figured we might as well use our time wisely. This was probably the most surreal experience second to finding my dress because having a second ring on my finger made it so real that we are actually getting married. We both found bands that we like, so when the time comes to order them, we know exactly what we want.
I think that about wraps up all the major things we have done. We are really into the little details now, which is certainly not my forte, but I am so thankful for my mama and Ms. Monika because this is their area of expertise. I am just offering my opinion and letting them spin it into gold. We are so excited to be getting closer every day to being husband and wife. We've been waiting a long time for this season of life, so we are just trying to enjoy every second... even on the days we wish it would go faster. Thank you all for reading about our journey to becoming The Risings! I will be taking a little break from writing about wedding plans to write about and celebrate all the other wonderful aspects of life that have been happening over the last few months. We have been faithful in saying, "If we put in the work, God will create a way," and He has been faithful to us in doing that. We are so excited for the plans He has for our life together, and we can't wait to see where He takes us. So please stay tuned if you want to read more about that :)
Until next time...
Xoxo,
Morgan
