At Last

We have our first signed contract! Jakob & I made a trip to Estes Park last week. We signed our contract for our fabulous venue, Marys Lake Lodge, and put down a deposit. I feel unbelievably relieved. If nothing else is accomplished, we have a place to get married!


This is the site of our outdoor ceremony:

Naturally, there will be chairs and an aisle and all that jazz. Hopefully there will even be a bit of snow!


And our reception site:

I love the fireplace with double mantle. On the lower mantle we'll have candles, and the upper one will be decorated with flowers. This is the basic setup. For our reception, we will have ivory chair covers, not white and chair sashes to coordinate with our colors. We may even have colored table covers. Unfortunately, Marys Lake Lodge only has white chair covers and no chair sashes, but gave me the name of a rental company they use. Add another item to my list of "things to research".

My question for you today is this: How did you get from "what it is" to "what it could be" with your ceremony and/or reception site? Did you visualize it spontaneously or need inspiration?

The Kiddie Room

While on vacation in Estes Park, Colorado, Jakob took me to dinner at Cascades Restaurant at the historic Stanley Hotel, made famous by the mini-series “The Shining,” based on a Stephen King novel. We were seated in an alcove with a wine rack/chiller. We joked about why we ended up in the kiddie room. Come to find out, he had contacted the people at Cascades and requested romantic, somewhat private table. I remember wishing we were seated nearer the fireplace - I love fireplaces. . . maybe because I was born & raised in south Louisiana and therefore have never had reason to have a fireplace.
The hostess was overly smiley when she seated us. I didn’t find out why until later that night. We were talking about my upcoming visit to my mother. He reminded me to pick up the kennel for the puppy I was getting when I got back home to Metairie.
“And you’re going to tell her you’re moving to Denver, right?” Distracted by my glass of Riesling, I responded that I was.
“And you’re going to tell her about this?” Confused, I looked at him, then down at the box he held in his hand, then back at him as he uttered four words I honestly didn’t expect to hear at any time in the near future, if ever. . . “Will you marry me?”
Of course I said yes. Then it all made sense - the kiddie room, the overly happy hostess, the waitress who alternately hovered and disappeared for obscene amounts of time, even his comment about how I had “no idea” how much this vacation cost. I should have realized something was going on - Jakob is a very practical person, not one to spend money on frivolous things like a cabin on the river with a hot tub and elk in the yard.
After the reality of it sank in, my first thought was, “I can’t wait to tell Athena.” Athena is my niece, eight years my junior. She’s one of my best friends, the mother of my gorgeous goddaughter, and now my maid of honor.
And so, without further ado, my engagement ring:

Sorry it's not the best photo in the world, but taking a picture of a ring is really hard!