Amy Getting Married?

Although it causes me physical pain to do this, I'm going to refrain from giving more minute-by-minute updates on my plants and instead devote a post to something almost as important - the planting of my wedding. I mean planning.

A few months ago, in the initial stage, Chris and I made a trip to Baltimore to scope out a few wedding venues. The locales that ended up leading the pack were the Baltimore Aquarium (pros: holds special memories for me and Chris, great evening view of the harbor, unique wedding venue, guests would have an hour to tour the aquarium), and Chase Court, a 200+ year-old former church that is now privately owned (pros: in the absolutely fabulous mid-town neighborhood of Mount Vernon, blocks away from Peabody Conservatory, has a garden so the ceremony could be outdoors, and has an easygoing but romantic atmosphere that I had previously envisioned.) We ended up going with Chase Court and decided that the Aquarium could always serve as an outing for guests on the day after, and I moved on to researching caterers and ceremony officiants.

Having good food at our wedding is one of the more important
"must-have" factors for me and Chris, and given that caterers are typically charged with rentals from tables to linens as well, we wanted to make sure to devote real attention to finding a good catering outfit.That encompassed making a mini-trip down to Baltimore, which we are almost never hesitant to do.

We stayed smack in Mount Vernon with my good friend from college, Ryan Carroll. (He literally lives two blocks away from Chase Court, so he would have the option of log-rolling up the street to attend our wedding, if that is his want.) I love Ryan's place because not only has his landlord decorated the curving stairs and walkways of the apartment halls with bowls of candy, but Ryan owns the cutest damn little girl cat I've ever met, a bug-eyed, three-legged little hobbler named Mariah (whose tail is about half the length of Grundton's). Not only was it great to have the chance to catch up with a good friend, but it was such an added to bonus to have a kitty to wake up to, as Chris and I are quite used to. I root for Team Ryan and Mariah.

We had three appointments on Friday that took us from Hunt Valley, about 15 miles north of Baltimore, right back to Mount Vernon. The catering meetings gave us quite a bit to talk about, and for the first time Chris became really invested in the planning of the wedding. After hearing a chef draw up a completely customized menu for us, and seeing fabric options and styles of tables and chairs, there were enough details that Chris finally had something concrete to latch on to, and most of the decisions we were pondering were ones with some depth, not just a back-and-forth of invitation wordings and polka dots versus filigree. In the afternoon, between two of our meetings, we ate a late lunch at Donna's by the Washington Monument and got to discussing seating arrangements, and figuring out how to best allow the different groups of guests from our lives (family, friends from the office, people we met at Hopkins, people we knew since before we met each other, friends we made in Philly, etc.) get to know each other. It was a hearty conversation about which guests would have what interests in common, and which were the personalities that would be the "glue" between strangers. For anyone who has planned this sort of thing, it's the type of question that would come up on the "Analytical Reasoning" section of the LSAT. (For the record: real-life - interesting; on a test - not interesting.)

So thus far, we have our venue and are nearing confirming a caterer. I've tried on a few dresses at Bijou Bridal on a whim with Jen (Sherman, in Philly for the summer to work at Institute!), and was delighted to find that not only did my mental "ideal" gown look great on me - strapless sweetheart neckline with a whole crapload of ruffles - but there were a whole lot of them to choose from and after an initial visit I already found two that I would be happy to wear. Both Chris and I also just "booked" our bridesmaids and groomsmen, which has been the most exciting part for me (because it's the most personal!). Once I find an officiant, I will consider the "Big Three" of wedding components to be complete (location, food, ceremony). After that, all the planning will be in the details and I get to wrack my brain over polka dots versus filigree. Stay tuned! :)

(Pictured above right: Chris and his groomsman, Mike!)
Chase Court photograph courtesy of Jason Putsche Photography.