SAVE THE DATE: Sept 29

I know what you're thinking - What?!  I thought you guys were getting married in April.  September 29 is only 3 months away!

Here's the deal:  In case you didn't already know, my department is being transferred to Vegas.  I always thought flights to and from Vegas were cheap - not so!  Having the wedding before the move would save everyone a TON of money, it would allow Shane to have Zappos benefits and maybe (fingers crossed) priority job placement if we stay with the company.  It just makes sense to move it up.  The benefits far outweigh the inconvenience of doing things in a rush.

Luckily my wedding dress should be in this August, Mountain Lodge and my photographer are available and Justus Orchard said we could use their farm, so all systems are a go.  The only problem is lodging.  There will be rooms for everyone, but not in the same place, so stay tuned for another blog posting with additional details VERY soon.

Consider this your "Save the Date Notice", because we're getting into official invitation time.  Which reminds me - send me your address if even has the smallest inkling that you might want to come, because my address book is disgustingly out of date!

Apple Orchard Wedding?

"Sonnet picking Shane's apple"-Photograph by Amanda Mera, Sunny Studios

It's funny- when I walked into the Zappos All Hands meeting last week, I had a the contract for Glassy Chapel sitting in my inbox waiting to be signed and sent back.  I guess I should thank my employer for making such a catastrophic announcement just in the nick of time.

Seeing as though our financial future is a bit shaky right now, we started to rethinking and we started planning again from scratch! Geesh!!! 

I had once thought about having the wedding in an apple orchard.  It definitely makes sense with our apple theme, but we decided against it due to the risk of rain and lack of a backup plan.  Now at the risk of financial ruin, we've decided that rain doesn't seem so bad :)   An apple orchard will save us about $2,000 over Glassy Chapel and that's money you can use for a honeymoon (or food)!

Here's my 2 new options:

1.  Altapass Orchard and Little Switzerland Inn

If you've driven on the Blue Ridge Parkway, you'll know these two locations.  They are both visible from the Parkway.

We would have the ceremony amongst the apple trees at Altapass Orchard.  The orchard is run by a really nice fellow who used to be a rocket scientist! He's going let use the orchard for $100 an hour.  Bargain!!!!  He says he has a couple open spots in the orchard surrounded by trees and have beautiful mountain views and he's even offered to drive guests to the ceremony location in his hay wagon.

I've contacted the Little Switzerland inn nearby for the reception and lodging.  It's also on the Blue Ridge Parkway and seems pretty affordable.  It's 25 minutes from Altapass and 1 hour north of Asheville and has many rooms with amazing mountain views.  They have weddings there too and their website mentions the fact that they have indoor space that could be used as a backup rain location.

2.  Mountain Lodge and Mystery orchard

Up until last week, we were planning on having our reception at Mountain Lodge.  It's affordable, the rooms are nice, the staff is insanely friendly, and there's even a waterfall in the yard for pre-wedding pictures.  Also, there's a wedding coordinator on staff and not only will they set up for us, they will wait the tables too!  All we have to do is decorate.  Plus, in case of rain, the lobby will serve as a perfectly acceptable backup location.

CON: It's right off the interstate and doesn't have a beautiful view. 

PRO: It's right in the heart of North Carolina apple country!!!!  That's what made me fall in love with the area. There are about 30 apple orchards within a 15 minute drive of the lodge! Most of these orchards are in the valley and have wonderful mountain views.  Oh, and the lodge is only 14 miles away from the Asheville airport.

Unfortunately, I contacted the most popular of these orchards and asked if I could have the ceremony there and they gave me a flat out "no".  Luckily there are still 29 more orchards to contact.  I've emailed all of them with websites and I'm waiting on a response.  Fingers crossed!!!!

Pretty Big Bombshell

This morning, I'm Googling images of wedding disasters.  Why?

Because we've been delivered a pretty huge bombshell for this early in the game.  I'm talking a MEGA HUGE, "WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO NOW" bombshell!

I just learned last night that my job is moving to Vegas.  I can either move to Vegas or apply for a job with Amazon (possibly in Cincinnati- IF there is one for me to apply for).  So I'm either out of a job at the end of the yearish (there's no timetable set) or Shane's has to find work in Vegas. Either way video jobs are hard to come by and this royally sucks!

I know what your thinking - what about the wedding?  I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE WEDDING!  I'M FLIPPING OUT!!!!!!!! On the inside, I feel like the woman on the left in the picture above. I could barely handle wedding planning as it was!  I'm having a hard time coping with the fact that one of us might be unemployed soon.  The only word I can find to describe what I'm feeling at the sudden combination of  occurrences is this: ARGHAHAHAHAHOUGRRRRFFFFFFFUDGERRRRRRRRHGHGHAHGHGHASHIT!

 

So in the midst of trying to figure out where we are going to work, where we are going to live, possibly downsizing our possessions to try to make ends meet, I have to plan a wedding!!!! WTF?!!!!!  

We haven't booked our venues yet, so we could postpone, but I don't want it to be one of those things we keep pushing off until it's convenient NOR do I want to get married in a Las Vegas "Chapel of Love"!  We could move it up, but that's not going to help my stress level AT ALL!!! 

Part of me want to just go ahead and book everything, so it's set in stone that we are going to get hitched on such and such day, no matter what, but that seems pretty irresponsible seeing as though we may only have one source of income.

Why do dreams and reality always seem to butt heads?

Speaking of dreams- we're in a Cutest Couples Contest and the other contestants keep giving Shane and I "1"s to get our rate to go down.   Those B*#$ chose to mess with the future Sonnet Apple.  Let's take those couples down!  http://www.cincinnatiweddingmagazine.com/CutestCouple/View.aspx?ID=311908

Thanks for listening and if you have any video job leads, let us know.  We're probably going to start applying for jobs anywhere we can find them.  If we have to uproot our lives, it could at least be for a pay raise or more creative and/or fulfilling work- oh yeah, and not in the frickin' desert.

DIY Photobooth

My friend Karra shared this with me via Pinterest and I love it!  

It reminded me of the good times I had at Alex & Amanda's wedding (which was epically awesome!)  They had a photobooth setup with props and it was so much fun!   Shane and I loved our pictures so much from the booth we had them framed by the end of the week!

Unfortunately, it costs $1,000 to rent a photobooth, so we're going to make our own!

Here's my plan for attack:

PROPS: I have a lot of fun stuff from old Halloween costumes and I'm sure I could gather up more stuff from friends, but to fill out the collection, feel free to buy me a sombrero for my birthday or Christmas.  I have a started a wishlist on Amazon.com of things that will come in handy for the wedding.  Click here if you are wondering what to buy me for my Birthday in July.

CAMERA:   Uh, can someone lend us a descent web camera?

PHOTOGRAPHER:  Not Necessary.  We can set up a laptop with Sparkbooth and let guests operate the photobooth themselves. Of course, there may be a friend or too looming around in case people look confused.

PRINTING:  We can bring our printer and set it up at the reception.  Guests can instantly print the pictures, write a note on them and hang them on the picture wall (which will be our wedding guest book).   Pictures will automatically upload to Facebook and can be emailed to them for printing at home. Which reminds me -  ink cartridges are also on my wishlist :D 

If you have any other suggestions to make this process easier just let me know.  I'd love to hear your ideas.
- Sonnet