wine time.

It's a difficult task, but someone's got to do it: venue location scouting at local wineries. I know! Pretty terrible, right? Sheesh.

Witt and I have been looking for a special place to get married — we really want it to be a little quirky, a lot not-so-traditional, and a ridiculous amount of fun for a family/friend weekend and not just one day. An experience. So we thought it was worth a trip to Dahlonega to scout out potential places. And it was. What a beautiful countryside — and who knew the wine would be so good?

My head is now spinning — partly from the wine, of course — but also from all the information we gathered. Does it feel like us? Could we see our families there? I read this today and I keep going back to our manifesto to make sure we keep sane too.

(It's not as easy as it sounds)

bliss.

photo by our labor of love

I have come down a little from Cloud 9 (oh, just a smidge, don't worry) to begin the first phase of engagement bliss: The Wedding Planning. Whoo. It's not so easy (see: overwhelming) but thankfully I have a gaggle of girlfriends that have done this before who can help me along the way. I bought my first wedding magazine today and Mom got me a wonderful planning guide. Since I already follow blogs like the incredibly inspiring Snippet & Ink, it's been easy to dream creatively. Also, my dear friend Dawn agreed to be designer/decorator extraodinaire for the festivities, so not only am I in capable hands, she's gonna plain come up with stuff so not-by-the-book I just can't wait to begin our creative discussions. And thankfully, I have Witt who not only wants to be involved, but feels that "if you don't enjoy the process it just ain't worth doing", so having fun along the way is just the way it's gonna be.

So, we're off. And to a very good start.

But did I mention that I'm actually way more excited about planning our move in together? Yeah, we're a shade old-fashioned, but I believe it makes us have even more to look forward to.