The Rings!

So Troy and I went last week to get our wedding rings. It felt like a big milestone in the wedding process. It also made me realize how close the big day really is. As my sister so happily pointed out---I am getting married next month!!!!

So, back to buying the rings. I had jewelry stores. I am the type of person that likes to go in, browse, and not be bothered by someone hovering over me trying to pressure me into buying something. I had found the ring that I wanted on-line for a really great price, but missed out on the sale and told Troy that he had to be the bad guy and barter the price down as close to the sale price as he could possibly get it.

I don't know what came over me when I walked in the store, but I took the whole ring buying/bartering job over. In the end I was really proud of myself and ended up getting us really good deals on our wedding rings.

Photos

This band perfectly accents the baguette diamonds that accent my engagement ring.


I was surprised when Troy picked out this ring. It wasn't exactly what I had pictured but I love it. It is made out of tungsten which doesn't scratch or anything. The only problem with tungsten (and titanium) is that it cannot be resized so we had to order the ring in his size and it will stay that size forever. We did find out however, that we can return the ring to the jewelry store and get the ring replaced if at any time it does not fit.

I am so excited to finally have this taken care of. Been fighting off the urge to wear it ever since.

My venue

I knew for sometime before it actually happened that I was going to get engaged. Troy told me to go ahead and start planning the wedding but I refused to for several reasons 1) I was sure that if I went ahead and started planning before I got the ring, that I might not actually get the ring 2) I didn't want to do anything without my mom.

So how do you start planning a wedding keeping it low key? The venue. I spent countless hours researching area venues on the internet. I started a spreadsheet that listed the venue, website, location, phone number, e-mail, capacity, price (if it was actually listed on the website), the distance it was from my home, and any other notes. I know it seems kind of crazy but this ended up being a lifesaver.

After we became engaged we put together a quick guest list (yes it has grown some since then) to get an idea of how many people we planned on entertaining for the evening. In addition to the number of people attending there also had to be a place for a ceremony, either on-site or nearby. My list was quickly narrowed down to 5 places.

Within days of my engagement my mom, sister (MOH) and I took a road trip to view all the final choices for location. The Lawton Heritage Community Center (LHCC) was the second place on my list. I fell in love and nothing else seemed to compare.
The view from the outside does this place no justice. Here is the Hall Director's description:

"Nestled in the heart of grape country is Michiganʼs oldest Winery, renovated to become one of the areas most unique places for your wedding and reception. The Lawton Community Center is built entirely of cobblestone both inside and out, accented with a variety of wine colors and decorations. Entertain your guests between the wedding and reception with a tour of our museum, highlighting the history of wine country. Our museum offers an ideal setting to offer your guests hors dʼ oeuvres and wine tasting as the introduction to the evenings fabulous festivities."

The LHCC offers two ceremony options. First is outside in the front lawn (shown on the picture above). Troy and I were planning on having an outdoor ceremony but I wasn't too thrilled about this location. There is an Amtrack route that runs along the facility and the director said that I can almost bet on a train inturrupting my ceremony. She assured that it would only last about 15 seconds though, if I decided to go that route. The other option is the great room. A two story cobblestone room. My entrance will be from a set of french doors in the reception room that opens to the second story of the great room and down a flight of stairs. When the lady was describing the grand entrance I was almost in tears. That's when I knew this was the place.

They recently installed a huge overhead door that you can open up to look over a wooded area. An inside ceremony that looks like it is outside, awesome. No need to worry about the weather.

The reception and bar areas are beautiful too. Not much decoration, if any is needed. And set up, clean up and the Hall Director are all included in the rental fee. It was too perfect and I was completely sold.

All pictures from http://www.lawtoncommunitycenter.com/index.html

I need to go back again, take some better pictures and get measurements of some things for other vendors. But I am so excited to have selected LHCC as my venue.

PS - My mom and I attended a girl scout event there when I was a little girl. At which time my mom declared that one of her daughters would get married there someday. Funny how that worked out isn't it.