Just popping in with a little WEDDING updating!!
A couple weeks ago, James and I took the pups up to Hood River for some venue hunting! You may remember back when I posted about my inspirations for our day, how I raved about Hood River and the winery I was especially excited about visiting?!
Yeah...
It was a total bust. No offense to the venue, but they were entirely unprepared, and most importantly, unprofessional. I am still in shock about the whole venue hunting experience, really. I sent out 10 emails the first day, all pretty much the same, outlining what we were looking for and noting that we wanted a dog friendly venue, for around 130 people. Out of those 10 emails, I got 5 responses.
Seriously now.
You'd think that people who I am prepared to write checks to for thousands of dollars would be a little better at follow up?!!!
Anyways, now that I've got that rant out of the way, on to the fun stuff.
We found our venue, and it is PERFECTION!!
It's called Vineyard View Bed and Breakfast, and is located about 3 miles from downtown Hood River. The owners, Dave and Soma, are extremely friendly, and most important, professional! They were actually the first people to respond to my email, if that says something! The cost of the venue is very reasonable, and includes much more than any other place we looked at. It has a peek-a-boo view of Mt. Hood, which was one of my major requirements in a venue.
When James and I walked up, Soma was working in their beautiful organic garden, with their 3 year old son! For some reason, that scene really resonated with me, and I instantly knew this would be the perfect place for us to get married. I am all about the family : )
Here is a link to their slideshow, which shows some examples of weddings they have hosted in the past. One thing that Dave, the owner said was, "We aren't a wedding mill." I LOVE that!
One of the other venues we visited totally was! It was interesting as we toured around that place, hearing the host TELL us how our wedding would be. Such a turn off, at least for James and I.
But we are feeling very confident and satisfied with our choice, and are looking forward to watching our dream come true!
In other wedding news, we also decided to hire a wedding planner! Donna Cole, of Pearl and Roses Wedding Planning, is a wonderful woman who I've known for over 10 years! James and I have a lot of contacts in the events industry, so a full-blown planner was not exactly what we wanted. However, Donna has proven herself for so many others, and I completely trust her judgement. We went with her Roses package, which is more of a two weeks before planner, and most importantly, day-of! I want absolutely no worries for me, James, or our families on the wedding day, and I know Donna will make sure that happens! We have our first meeting with her next weekend, and are really looking forward to it! Check out her FaceBook page for more pretties and tons of inspiration!
Finally, we have also decided what to do for favors! I know this sounds a bit early in the process, but our gift to our friends and family is going to be a labor of love, literally!!
Our dear friend, Paul Arney, started his own farmhouse style brewery here in Bend earlier this year. It is called the Ale Apothecary, and will be a very small venture, specializing in barrel aging. Paul has known James and I since the beginning of our relationship, and has seen us grow together. His family is amazing, and his wife and I actually share a birthday. Its meant to be.
So a few weeks ago I approached Paul with the idea of James and I brewing a beer, which will be conditioned for the next 9 months, and then packaged for a favor at our wedding! He was all about it! We are going to get a used oak barrel, which has previously housed whiskey or wine, just for our beer! When our beer is done and packaged, the barrel will be ours to keep! We are actually going to us it as our guest book, and have people sign the barrel, which we will then lacquer and keep at our home!
Confused?! Its going to be amazing, just let me assure you.
Its so nice to have little pieces coming together, now its finally feeling real!
And if you're interested in seeing what else I've been loving, check out my Pinterest Special Party board!
Sorry for the wordy post, I have a lot to say and not a lot to show in images. But stick around, its going to keep getting better!
Dave and Soma are personal friends and Vineyardview is one of my favorite venues to do a wedding at - have fun planning! I'll be doing weddings there in 2012 as well and looking forward to it.
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