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!"