[lemonadelife_blog]

Ladies and gents, one year from today, I will be getting married to my best friend.

::Girly squeals of joy::

While I still have guest blog posts to go up because I am the ultimate FAIL when it comes to scheduling posts, I am sure you all want to hear about how our trip to Oregon went, don’t you? I certainly can’t let down my faithful readers.

After last week’s Roche, I hopped a plane early Wednesday morning westbound for Oregon. I arrived mid-afternoon after a brief layover in Dallas and was greeted at the airport by my lovely mother. Since the drive to my parent’s house passes the venue and because the weather was so lovely on Wednesday, we decided to make a quick stop to see the venue where we are getting married one year from today.

(!!!)

The weather was exactly what I hope it will be next year. The air smelled clean and fresh and the trees glowed with the sunlight. Our ceremony is taking place near a gazebo, and our reception under an enormous tent. There is a little patio with a bar and plenty of grassy areas for picture taken. Considering I had never seen it before and basically took a leap of faith that I would even like it, it was perfect.

Where the ceremony will take place

Erik arrived late on Wednesday night, but we were in full force with our wedding vendor appointments on Thursday and Friday. We met with two DJs, two photographers, a videographer, our wedding planner and the coordinator of our venue. On Saturday, we met with another photographer and on Monday morning, we met with another videographer.

Even with all those appointments, picking our vendors was very difficult, mostly because after meeting with the vendors and hearing more about the packages they offered, I was more disenchanted with what I was actually getting. It’s expensive to get married anywhere, and I was beginning to feel that I had made appointments with the most expensive vendors, even though they were highly recommended by everyone we talked with. On more than one occasion I was completely upset with my choices because it felt like I had made the appointments without really look at the prices! Although clearly there were more “affordable” options, at the end of the day, we also wanted to make sure we went with someone with an outstanding reputation and who would also work well and be familiar with our other vendors (namely our wedding planner, who would be in charge of all the vendors on the day of).

Our pick for a photographer is Paul Rich Studios. He was phenomenal during our meeting. Really spoke clearly and concisely about what he offered and how he would work with us, and he asked us a dozen questions about us and our plans for the day which made me feel like we were already his client. As someone who works in P.R. and deals with clients, this scores major bonus points! Plus, he’s just talented. Our videographer is Shields Films, owned by a guy named Travis, who was friendly and fun during our meeting. We felt he had the most natural style of filming and wouldn’t be too over the top or hokey. Perfect for capturing our day, which will hopefully not be over the top or hokey either!

We haven’t settled on a DJ yet, so stayed tuned on that front, but hopefully it will be settled soon.

All in all, a very productive trip. I’m not sure when I’ll be back to Oregon, so I’m glad we were able to get much of what we need to do done. Of course, this is a marathon, not a sprint, so there’s plenty still left to do!


Filed under: Oregon, Photos, Relationships, Wedding Stuff

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