The Officiant: Rev. Bill Roberts

As soon as Kyle and I picked a date, we starting thinking about who wanted to preside over our special day.  Originally, we had considered my Aunt Jack.  She's an ordained minister through the United Church of Christ, and my mother and I had been lucky enough to attend her ordination in 2006.  She was up for the task, but she told us that while she could conduct the service, she could not pronounce us husband and wife in NC.  So our search continued.

We wanted someone to officiate that we already knew and trusted.  Since I do not have a home church, I suggested to Kyle that we ask his pastor, Bill Roberts, from Triplett United Methodist Church in Mooresville, NC, to preside since that is the church that Kyle has attended for most of his life.  Kyle agreed that it was a good idea, and so we gave him a call.  "Preacher Bill", as everyone knows him, was delighted to officiate for our wedding!  We were very excited!

He required that we do several counseling sessions with him and take a test that would measure our strengths and weaknesses.  Over this past summer, we've had three meetings with him and they have all gone very well!  We've learned a lot about ourselves and we've come to find that we have a lot of wonderful strengths in our relationship!  We still have another session or two left where we finish going over our test results and then plan the actual ceremony.  He gave us a copy of the standard Methodist marriage ceremony, but told us that we could customize it to our wants and needs!  We're already trying to come up with something fun to add to the ceremony!

Kyle and I are really thankful to Preacher Bill for doing this for us and we can't wait to have him pronounce us man and wife next March!

I'll put a link in the sidebar to Triplett United Methodist Church for anyone who lives in the area who may want to check it out!

Vendor Updates Coming Soon!

Whew!  It has been a long summer full of meetings, deposits and contracts!  I am happy to announce that we officially have all of our vendors in place for the wedding!  Now we just have to pay the balances, finish buying decorations and accessories, and get invitations!  As I promised when I started the blog, I'll profile all of the vendors we've selected on here and give you the inside scoop on the planning!  Over the next couple of weeks I'll be updating with posts on the services we've chosen from the DJ to the photographer and so much more!

Stay tuned for updates, everyone!

Review: Southern Bridal Show & Expo

On April 17th, Kyle, my mother and I went to the Southern Bridal Show & Expo at the NC Fairgrounds in Raleigh.  I was extremely excited about going so that I could meet with vendors and sample their wares.  I was also excited because there were several door prizes including a gift card for two free tungsten wedding bands.  Needless to say, I had expected that the Bridal Show would be a lot of fun and that I would really enjoy myself.  I guess I'm not much of a typical bride because I was really disappointed with the Southern Bridal Show.

When we got there, we had already registered and bought tickets, so I was ushered into a line based on my registration.  Upon approaching the front of the line, I was asked if it was okay if they didn't give me the planner I had been promised because apparently they had not made enough of them for all of the brides.  I was slightly annoyed because I was one of the first people in the door and it wasn't my fault they hadn't made enough planners, but I told them that it was fine if they didn't give me my planner.

Once we made it inside, I was immediately overwhelmed by all there was to see and try.  We flitted from booth to booth taking in the giveaways, food samples, and displays.  However, I wasn't ready for the high pressure sales tactics that some booths employed.  While I didn't fall prey, I was angered when I got to the David's Bridal booth and saw a sales associate having a freak out at a bride who was trying to tell her that she couldn't give her a date for a consultation at that very moment because her schedule changed from week to week.  I didn't have as much trouble at the booth because I had time available to go, but I still can't get the face of that bride out of my head.  She looked so ashamed.

From there, we went up and down the aisles and talked with varying vendors.  Kyle was especially happy because he tried the food at every booth that offered a sample!  He was so happy that he asked if he could carry my bags and notebook so that I could be freer to enter booths!  We did have a bit of fun at the various photo booths that were there and have several pictures from the day and are now considering having a photo booth at the wedding if we can work it into the budget.  I was happy when I went by vendors that were offering champagne!  I tasted a divine pink champagne that I wish I had gotten the name of!

Unfortunately, I was again unsettled at a vendor's tactics when I started approaching videographers.  We had been talking to a videographer whose services started at $600 for a very basic, but good quality video.  At the next booth was another videographer, and as soon as we got near her she pulled us aside and threw a flyer in my face.  She was talking trash about the other videographer and saying how at almost $2000 her videos were better quality.  I took a look at her videos and his videos, and for a basic package they both looked the same minus the price points.  All I could think is how stupid does she think I am?

The rest of the show went fairly well, although I could see that some vendors no longer wanted to talk to me when I informed them of our small, but generous budget.  A vendor that seemed incredibly happy to chat with us prior to hearing our limits would suddenly get very distracted as soon as we put a number out there.  For a budget bride like myself, that was very disheartening.  We did find a few vendors who were happy to work with our budget and those are people that we are going to go with for various things such as the cake and the flowers.  They have been nothing but helpful and understanding and their whole business model hinges on being open and available for even the most budget of brides.

In the end, it was a semi-enjoyable experience, but I have to admit that I was glad to be out of there.  The real anger didn't come until after the show.  I had signed up for several giveaways, and imagine my surprise when we got a call about a vacation we had signed up for telling us that we had won!  We were ecstatic!  Just to be safe, I did a little research on the company, and what do you know!  I found out that they were known for their scams and had even had a 20/20 piece done on them.  We ended up not accepting the prize.  Then, I got a call from a second vendor that I had signed up with to receive a free cosmetic procedure of my choice.  When I got the call, they then explained that they would give me a $300 certificate and after some prying, I found out that their procedures cost between $600 and $6000.  So, not free like advertised.  Lastly, I received a phone call from a vendor that we had signed up to win a cruise with.  They wanted to confirm our information just so that they had everything correct on file.  When they got to a question about our income, they had down that we made $50,000 or more a year.  I corrected the associate that we didn't make that much, and then suddenly, POOF!  We were no longer eligible for the prize.  After a talk with some people, I was informed that it was probably given by a time share and that we would have been required to attend meetings for the whole of our vacation and that our income was important so that they would have been confident we would have bought one.

My final grade for the Southern Bridal Show & Expo is a C at best bordering on a C-.  For budget brides, I'd say to skip these big name shows.  They look for the biggest, most expensive vendors and aren't always budget friendly.  If you do go, you'll have to stay vigilant to not be suckered into something you can't afford, and you'll have to look hard to find those few precious vendors who want your business regardless of your budget.

The best things that came out of the show are that we do get a free pair of tungsten wedding bands, we received a $20 gift certificate for a local restaurant that we are using next weekend, I received a voucher for a free pair of earrings that are truly no purchase necessary, and we found a few vendors that we're excited to work with.  In the end, I guess that the show did its job, but I still was left with a bad taste in my mouth after all was said and done.

For those of you who are truly itching to attend a bridal show in the NC area, go to Forever Bridal to sign up for the next bridal show in the area.  Just do your research ahead of time and go in with a plan.  Preparation is key!

Sorry for the long wall o' text, everyone!  There was just a lot to say about this one!

The Wedding Venue: All Saints Chapel

One of the most important things for the wedding day is a place to hold the wedding.  Kyle and I knew from the get go that we wanted a church wedding.  Not necessarily for religious reasons, though those do play a part, but because we liked the idea of walking down a church aisle surrounded by our friends and family.  Also, considering that we are getting married in March, we wanted to make sure we had a warm, covered place for all of us that day instead of hoping for good weather for an outdoor ceremony.

During our cursory search, All Saints Chapel in Raleigh became our front runner.  It's is a small, intimate chapel in downtown Raleigh with a beautiful dark wood interior, stained glass and a nice, spacious reception hall downstairs.  We liked the look and feel of the venue, as well as the fact that we could have a ceremony of our choosing with any officiant we wanted.  Just to make sure, we looked at several other venues, but no matter what we kept coming back to All Saints Chapel.

So, in early February Kyle and I went on a scouting mission to see the chapel first hand.  All Saints has an open house from 4:30 to 6:30 pm on Mondays, so we headed over as soon as Kyle got off of work.  When we got there at 5 the chapel doors were locked!  I began to panic a little, but Kyle, ever the clear headed one, knocked on the door.  We were greeted by Sarah Morris who is the coordinator for the chapel.  She was wrapping up a tour with another couple, but she encouraged us to take a look around on our own.  When she was done she took us on a tour and answered all of my many (and I mean many!) questions.

I'd been speaking with her via email for a few weeks prior to our meeting and she was able to recall our conversations.  However, she warned me that another bride was looking at the exact same date as us.  Again, I began to panic.  I asked her to look into it for us and, unfortunately, another bride did have a hold on that date.  Sarah reassured me that she thought this bride wouldn't end up booking because her family didn't want her to have her wedding at All Saints.  Then after I had a minor moment of despair, Sarah had a suggestion.  She said that since this bride was thinking of having her wedding there in the early afternoon that perhaps they could pencil us in for that evening so we could still have our special date.  Needless to say, I almost started crying.  Kyle and I were both so relieved that we'd be able to get this venue one way or another.

In the end, the other bride didn't end up booking just like Sarah said she wouldn't.  The week of Valentine's Day, Kyle and I put down our deposit for All Saints.  The venue isn't exactly cheap, but we're finding ways to make it work because we wanted it so badly.  And, Sarah has continued to be a source of knowledge and help.  So far, I couldn't ask for a better venue for the wedding!

Kyle and I are so excited to walk down the aisle at All Saints and we spend a lot of time talking about how we want to decorate the chapel.  We both agree that the chapel is beautiful on its own and doesn't need too much decoration, so we may leave it fairly bare and let its beauty speak for itself.

We did look at other venues if anyone is interested.  The other venues we considered were: St. Mark's Chapel at the Mordecai Plantation, The Stone Chapel, and Mount Pleasant Church at Tanglewood Park.

I'll include a link to All Saints Chapel in the side bar for anyone who is interested for themselves or just wants to get to know where we are getting married!

*All pictures included in this entry were obtained through a quick Google search and are not mine.  If this is your photo and you'd like me to take it down, just shoot me a comment!*

The Wedding Date: March 3rd, 2012

As soon as Kyle and I got engaged, we started thinking about potential dates to get married on.  We thought it would be a fun idea to either get married on our anniversary or to get married on the date that we had our first date.  However, unless we wanted to get married this April, the next available weekend date that coincided with our anniversary is in 2015.  Not wanting to rush a wedding in five months or wait almost five years, we knew we'd have to choose a different date.  We still wanted a date fairly close to our own anniversary, so we begin thinking of dates that we could use that wouldn't fall near Valentine's Day or Easter.  That is when I remembered that March 3rd was my grandparents' wedding date.

For those who know me well, you know that my grandfather and I were very close.  I'd been saying for most of my adult life that when I got married that I wanted him to walk me down the aisle.  However, my grandfather fell ill almost ten years ago, and two years ago, he passed away.  My family was devastated by our loss.  To this day, we all still mourn over his passing.  He meant so much to all of us.  When my grandfather passed I wrote him a letter which I stuck in his jacket pocket before they buried him.  Inside I wrote how much I loved him and how much I missed him.  I also wrote that I promised that I would not marry a man unless this man was as good as he was.  I meant that then and I mean it now.

I met Kyle a little over a year later, and the first time he met my extended family my grandmother turned to my mother and said that Kyle reminded her so much of Buddy, my grandfather.  Along with many other things, my grandmother saying that really made it feel like it was meant to be.

So, while Kyle and I were deliberating about a date, I told Kyle that my grandparents' anniversary had been on March 3rd, and perhaps we could use that date, as well.  Kyle said that it sounded like a good idea, so we approached my grandmother about it.  We didn't want to use the date without her blessing.  When we told her that we wanted to get married on March 3rd she burst into tears and hugged us both saying that she would love it if we used the date.

For me, the date doesn't just symbolize the start of my life with Kyle.  It is also a way for me to honor my grandparents.  Since my grandfather will not be able to walk me down the aisle like I had always dreamed, this is a way to feel close to him on that day.

Kyle and I are very excited about getting married on March 3rd and we definitely want to do something during the ceremony to honor my grandparents for passing the date on to us.  We haven't decided yet on what we'll do, but we'll be sure to think of something meaningful for all of us.

This year on the 3rd we had a private mini-celebration of the beginning of our one year countdown!  We couldn't believe that at that time next year we'll be Mr. and Mrs. Belk!  And we can't wait to share that day with our close family and friends!

The Start of Something New

For those of you completely out of the loop, Kyle and I are getting married!

We're a little less than a year out from the wedding, and because of this I thought I would start a planning blog to keep everyone up to date on what is going on behind the scenes and what to expect on the day that "he and she" become "we"!  I get a lot of questions and I figured having a blog would be a great way to let everyone know what is happening.  Plus, it can be a shared resource for other friends who are getting married now or in the future.

I'll be posting vendor information, my bridal show review, party plans, updates to the wedding website and registries and everything in between!

Feel free to comment or ask questions and I'll try and answer them in this blog as soon as possible.

This week, I'll be posting a few entries of the vendors we've already chosen and giving everyone the scoop on how we came to our decisions.

I'll leave everyone with our proposal story taken directly from our wedding website.  I'll put a link up to our website in the sidebar.

"On the evening of November 20th, 2010, Megan came to Kyle's apartment after attending a Carolina Hurricanes game with her mother.  When she unlocked the door she walked in to find the lights off, candles lit everywhere and Kyle wearing the outfit that he wore on their very first date.  After taking off her coat and putting down her purse, Kyle presented Megan with a handmade card that read "Clue #1".  The card had a riddle on it, and after solving it, the clue led her to yet another card somewhere in the apartment.  This scavenger hunt took her through the apartment to some of their favorite things, each card with something sweet written on it along with the riddles.

The final card required that Megan find Kyle and return to him.  When she returned to the living room, Kyle was on one knee.  He told her that he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and that he couldn't imagine his life without her.  Then, he pulled out a ring box, opened it and asked Megan to marry him.  She could barely get her answer out, but it was obvious that it was a yes!"