A Place For Everything

We have finally chosen a venue for our wedding. After much turmoil and back-and-forth about which place was best it came down to two, one was just a little closer to our home and hearts... literally.

Mountain Branch Golf Club is in walking distance from where I spent my first 7 years of life and where my mother and her family spent most of their lives. I can remember when it was only woods and some houses close to the road.

Now there's a sprawling golf course and driving range just up the hill from my grandmother's house. We can see it from her yard and hear the music on thursdays in the summer when they have their special events.

They have a tent as we wanted and having the ceremony overlooking the golf course really reflected something both Mike and I would enjoy. We wanted to make sure it was close to us both and I think that's really been achieved choosing Mountain Branch.

I'm just glad that the venue choosing portion of this 7 month ordeal is over and we can start with more exciting things like a dress maybe ;)

Hooray For Choices!

Today is an exciting day! After a morning discussion we chose our planner and photographer. By the end of the day we'll have chosen a venue and we can finally send out the save-the-dates!!

Our Planner Choice:

Tameka Smallwood of Blush

Tameka was wonderful to meet with and it was clear that she really loves weddings. She was very organized and had some wonderful ideas for our wedding. When we met over tea at Starbucks she was understanding and it was very clear the amount of experience she has. She also let me know about her 2 hats, one to be wonderful as she was at the meeting, and one to take care of business. She really stood out to me as the right woman for the job.

Check out the Blush blog

Our photographer choice:

Andrea Jacobson of The Observatory.

Andrea's work really represented to me the kind of documentary art photography I would take if I were shooting a wedding. Nothing looked too posed or stereotypical. Also I didn't see a lot of repetitive shots for each wedding she did. Nothing seemed like "a normal picture" from her portfolio. They all looked very personal to that couple on their day. Her work also seemed to represent successful images of different skin tones, something that not all photographers can master.

Check out The Observatory Blog

Some of my favorites from Andrea's images: