1 year to go!

A year from today, there will be a dress and a suit, a first look, a walk down the aisle, two sets of vows, some (happy) tears, lots of kisses, yummy food, lovely words, funky dancing, lots of pictures, and of course, cake. A year from today, we'll be married!

It's crazy how quickly the last eight months of our engagement have gone by. I've been asked a few times why we decided to wait so long to get married. The main reason is that I'm in graduate school (while working full-time) so I didn't want to be stressed with wedding planning in the midst of my already packed schedule. So far, planning has been pretty stress-free (at least, once we figured out our venue) because I've had so much time to get things done. The other reason we decided on fall instead of the end of spring or summer of next year is because I really can't stand the heat! I mean, it's great to walk outside in a tank top and shorts and know you won't need a sweater, but I can't stand when I get too hot. All of my close friends know this about me because I tend to complain when I get to that point! I knew I'd be miserable if I was outside in my wedding dress feeling too hot and sweaty. And, fall is my favorite season so it was an obvious choice!*

To celebrate our one-year countdown, Steve and I visited our venue** with our mothers yesterday so we could see what it looks like during our wedding month. When we first saw it in February, all the landscaping was dead or covered in ice since it was still winter!

Weather permitting, we'll be married in this spot next year! (photo by Steve's Mom)

We started by taking a tour of the rooms where we'll have our reception, cocktail hour, and ceremony if it's raining. Then we went outside and saw the outdoor wedding space and the garden where we'll take pictures. I've been paying close attention to the weather this month and it seems like it's been mostly in the high 60s and low 70s. If it's sunny a year from today, we should totally be able to have an outdoor ceremony. If not, I'm happy with the indoor ceremony space because it gets a lot of light, so it'll feel like we're outside. Seeing the rooms again made me really excited about all of the planning we've done so far. This thing is happening, folks!

Up next, I'll talk about our meeting with the in-house florist, who was pretty awesome!

*I'm going to write two separate posts about why we chose to have a daytime wedding (yes, it was our first choice and NOT a fall-back) and I'll also talk more about choosing to get married on a holiday Monday, a decision I'm really glad we made!

**I have purposely chosen not to reveal the location of our wedding, for the sake of privacy. I've been open about our wedding date so I'll reveal more about the location after the wedding!