Our Venue: Welcome Hall

It didn't take long for us to decide on the reception venue for our wedding.  The choices in Brenham are  somewhat limited, especially if you are looking for a place with built in character.  I've known for a while that I wanted my wedding to be in one of the amazing old dance halls in the outskirts of town (aka the country).  We were able to secure our date at Welcome Hall, located in the community of Industry, Texas, and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Welcome Singing Hall was originally located in Welcome, Texas (named for its hospitality, ya'll) but was later moved to its current location in Industry.  I assume that it was built in 1899 based off of the date over the door (duh).  This can only mean that there have been 114 years of killer dances, thousands of cans and bottles of good ol' Texas beer consumed, and a whole heck of a lot of celebrating.

About 11 miles outside of town (yes, we really do classify 'going into town'), the hall is fronted by a Farm to Market road (yes, thats really what its called) and surrounded by pasture and a few cows.  It is perfectly peaceful and quite magical and I love that we'll have such and intimate and remote setting for our celebration.

Though this hall is only 10 minutes from my childhood home, I don't have any memories of ever visiting.  This meant that the first time I saw it (after booking it almost 2 months before) was this past weekend.  We went early morning and it was a bit cloudy outside so when we walked in, the windows cast the most beautiful glow throughout the room.  I was smitten.

The green (!) shutters line both sides of the walls and we've got our fingers crossed that we'll be able to keep them open all evening at the reception to bring a bit of the outside ambience in.  One of my favorite features are the benches that line the wall.  I love to imagine the shy girls sitting along the wall waiting for the cute boy to take her hand and lead her to the dance floor.  Or the person who danced so hard they simply had to grab a cold beer and take a break before they could get out there and dance some more.  I'm a bit of a romantic...can't you tell?

Of course, what is a dance hall without a huge stage?!  I was a bit ambivalent about having a band vs a DJ early on, but I'm SO excited that we'll have a live band.  I've got high expectations for a lot of dancing....We provide the 'liquid courage' and I have no doubt that our guests will show us their best moves!

I'm also excited for the potential for the outside deck space.  A built in bar (one window for California themed drinks and one for Texas of course) and plenty of space to hang out under the stars but still be close to the action.  Perfect for the non-dancers (though there may not be many in this group!) to hang out and get some fresh air.

While there are quite a few perks to this big empty space, there are certainly some challenges we will need to get over.  First, it is a big. empty. space.  There is a TON of character in the building itself, but we certainly have a challenge in making it feel like the forest fairyland I have in my mind (yep, fairies, ya dig?).  I've got some big ideas and some very crafty family and friends so I feel confident that we will be able to make the transformation happen.  Also, unlike a ballroom or hotel, there is no venue coordinator so coordinating everything is up to us.  We will work with our caterer to determine the layout of food and tables in relation to the dance floor but I already have a to-scale map that I made so i can start moving miniature tables around.  I'm the daughter of an engineer and there is no denying the excitement I get out of that activity.  Finally, the bathrooms.  I feel like I should just warn our guests in advance.  They are...rustic, to say it kindly.  Along with the good kind of charm comes the questionable kind of charm I suppose.  I'm sure we'll add in some nice touches to make it a little more on the side of 'good charming' and hope for the best.  But, this is my official warning.

There were many reasons I wanted a Texas wedding (instead of a So-Cal wedding) and this hall is one of them.  The shell of the building is incredible and even more I can't wait to put my own style on the overall design with the help of the amazing Missy at Moosefeathers!

My mom has a great (or rather terrible) story about having to pull down children's artwork from walls and sweeping and mopping her Church Hall for her own reception just hours before the ceremony.  Do you have any wedding disaster stories to share?

God must think I'm *hilarious*

You've heard the adage...
"If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans"

Well, apparently I'm pretty stinkin' hilarious.  After thinking so for over a month, we found out on Tuesday afternoon that we WON'T be moving to Austin after all.  Instead, Connor will be moving to his current company's headquarters located in Houston.  While we're a little bummed that we won't get to help keep Austin weird (that's their slogan if you didn't know!), there is no doubt that this will be a great move for us.  Rather than work from home as was the plan for Con in Austin, he'll be in a big office getting to meet people, work on different projects, and just be exposed to the company more in general.  He has a lot of respect for the way his company is run and I'm very happy that he'll be continuing his career with them.

Not wanting Connor to have all the fun, I'll be making a pretty big career shift as well.  After over 10 years in the theater, I'm looking to move to a career in event planning (among other things).  I have LOVED my time at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.  I always get comments from people who say, "what a cool job!" and in all truth, it really is.  I get to design and create every day while working with incredible artists on inspiring projects.  My co-workers are just lovely and I'm so proud of the work we do.  At the same time....there are some downsides to my job.  I work with incredibly toxic materials every day.  While I do take many precautions when using dyes, paints, and glues, there is still a level of exposure that cannot be good for my body.  I also miss working at events, something I haven't done since college.  I love the rush of making sure everything is just right, working with people in a high paced environment, and making personal connections with people every day.  I spend a lot of time sitting at my craft table in my own little world (which is nice, don't get me wrong) but I miss being out and about as well.  I think the project management aspect of working in the theater will transition nicely into Event Planning and I'm very much looking forward to where I might land next!

Our move will take place Mid-June and though I'm terribly sad to leave Cincinnati, I'm so thrilled that I'll get to put Texas license plates back on my car and be a card (or rather drivers license) carrying member of the greatest state in the Country!



Have you ever had big plans that took a 360?  Any Houstonians out there who have some advice on what to do/where to live?  Let me know in the comments!

OMG Its time to shop for wedding dresses!

One would think that with my background in Costume Design, I'd have a huge advantage in finding my wedding dress.  I'm beginning to think that is terribly wrong.  I helped a friend fit a wedding dress on her future sister in law a few days ago and I was asking the bride's advice on finding dresses.  She had some great things to say: don't judge it on the hanger, try on everything even if you don't think you'll like it, etc.  I then mentioned something about finding a dress that would fit with our reception venue and how it needed to feel like the ethereal rustic style I was going for.  She looked at me like I was a bit nuts.

via Ruffled

Apparently not EVERY bride-to-be analyzes every part of her wedding to help determine what her wedding dress should look like.  Lesson learned.  From my perspective, this wedding dress is my ultimate costume, the most influential dress I'll ever wear up until this point in my life (and, lets face it, probably ever unless Connor reveals that he's secretly a Californian Prince and we're going to live in a castle...then maybe not.)  So, now that you are all dying to know how I'll ever find a dress of such epic proportions, here's how I've STARTED the process of finding a beautiful dress (notice I didn't say THE dress...I don't believe in that only one dress in the entire world that would work business).

via Ruffled

(The dress in the first two photos are of a dress that I actually bought on ebay and tried on b/c I loved it so much!  After a weekend of shopping in big stores, we'll see how it stacks up!!)

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Pinterest really has been my best friend in this entire process.  All of my girlfriends who got married before me are quite jealous that they didn't have access to such a wealth of inspiration and truly, I can't imagine how they designed their weddings without it.  When I started my wedding Pinterest account, I made a board for "wardrobe", dresses, veils, headpieces, shoes, and anything else I might wear in reference to the wedding.  I didn't look for a specific style of dress to pin, I just waded through pages and pages of pins.  If I liked it, I pinned it, easy as that.  The real fun part was going back and looking through all of the images.  There was definitely a theme that I didn't even realize I was attracted to!  Illusion Lace backs, long elegant lines, soft tulle, a vintage flair....I had identified all of the elements of my perfect dress without even stressing about it! 

via 100 Layer Cake

All this time, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking about the elements of our wedding day and how this dress (and myself of course!!) will fit in.  A church wedding that leads into a rustic dance hall reception can be a tricky combination.  The first is classic and reverent, the second is earthy and fun!  The combination of a late fall wedding plus the use of gold in the decor PLUS my red hair/freckles/fair skin call for a warm white dress rather than a pure, cool white.  In an effort to be somewhat modest I'd really like to avoid wearing a strapless dress, though regardless of that, I am just more attracted to sleeve details anyways.  There will be a live band at the reception playing rocking music so one more thing to consider is the danceability of the dress.  Girl's gotta get her groove on.  And finally, I need a little sparkle.

So, after all that, I'm left with this list of Loves and Hates:

OMG I love:

Lace...especially beautiful back details

warm, golden white

tulle, silk, lace

one shoulder or cap sleeves

fit and flair or long and drapey silhouette

sparkle!

vintage meets contemporary

unique

Please stay away from:

strapless

bad satin

gigantic skirts

poofy mermaid silhouette

pick ups

Justin Alexander 8651

Via

I'm waiting in the airport now to fly to Houston to meet up with my mom, my future mother in law, and two local bridesmaids to try on dresses on Friday!!  Saturday and Sunday we will be in Brenham meeting with vendors and making a few more decisions about the wedding!  I'm quite blessed that I'll have both Moms there to help out, its going to be a very busy weekend!!

via 100 Layer Cake

So which one is your favorite? Any dress that you think I MUST have?  What was YOUR list of requirements when you went dress shopping?  I love hearing dress stories, please share yours below!!

Photographer Love

After my roommates came home with the most beautiful engagement photos, I have to admit that I was pretty jealous.  They were all so beautiful and I was sad that I wouldn't be able to use their photographer because I loved his style!  Alas, Pierre-olivier Photography is out of Southern California so I had little hope.

Fast forward a few weeks and a lot of research in finding my own photographer for our Texas wedding.  I was finding photographers that I loved but non in my price range.  While I FULLY believe that a stellar photographer is worth the investment, I do have a budget that I'm sticking to.  After talking with Pierre, I realized that we really could make things work with him traveling to Brenham and stay within budget, I did a happy dance!

A few weeks after our engagement, we met up with Pierre at Stone Brewery and World Bistro to take engagement photos.  I wanted a location that was unique but also represented something that Connor and I enjoy together, craft beer.  With a Texas wedding, it was important to me to represent California in a big way and Stone Beer is certainly a huge part of Souther California Beer culture.

Connor and I were both nervous but we jumped right in with private access to the actual brewery floor!! (Side note: there was an extra charge by the brewery but we all agree that it was totally worth it!  We had an employee follow us around but not bother us and we got to roam around and as long as we weren't touching stuff, it was like a playground for adults.)  After about 45 minutes in the brewery we were thirsty so of course, it was time for a beer break!  We both enjoyed hanging out with Pierre, learning more about him and his background and (hopefully) he was able to get to know us a little better as well.

(top L to bottom R) Making googly eyes in front of barrel aging beers, hanging out in an empty 18 wheeler ready to be loaded, playing with mini kegs, sneaking behind the kegs for a kiss.

We spent the next bit of time walking around the grounds of the Brewery which are in Escondido, California, just north of San Diego.  The brewery has done an amazing job of making itself a destination with a top notch restaurant and tap room, tours, and reception area.  I'm a big fan of greenery so the outdoors-y photos are some of my favorites.

Can we talk about those doors behind us?  So much pretty!!  And the little secret garden path? So sweet!!

Once again, it was time for a beer break (can you sense a trend here??) and setting up the shots for our Save the Dates!  Before coming out to San Diego, I created pint glasses with "Connor and Megan are getting married" and "November Sixteenth Twenty Thirteen" etched into them.  It is a delicate but  not difficult process but I LOVE how they turned out!  We poured our beer into the glasses and Pierre found the perfect backdrop right behind our table.  I love how the idea worked out and now we have custom glasses to commemorate the day!!

The sun finally went down and our day was nearly over but Pierre pulled out a great surprise...like any good photographer, he just happened to have a stash of sparklers with him!!  Since I was little, I've LOVED sparklers, all the pretty sparkly light without all of the big boom of regular fireworks.  We finished our session with sparkler writing and I love how they turned out.

I really couldn't have asked for a better experience and better photos.  They are unique and fun and so very 'us'!  I'm looking forward to seeing Pierre in a few months at my roommates wedding and again when he joins us in Texas in November!!!

You can see more of his work HERE!

{distracted} is an understatement

To say that I have been distracted from life around me the past 2 months is a bit of an understatement.  The weeks before Connor proposed, I actually lamented to him that I was a bit bored.  I had run out of 'projects'...and if you know me well, you will know that I always have a few projects in the queue waiting to be completed.  After the proposal though, life went to 125 speeding miles per hour: a wind in my hair, bugs in my teeth, don't even bother stepping on the brakes kind of speed.  All of a sudden, life was all about wedding planning!!  Which was really perfect because this was the ultimate project for me...crafts, organizing, researching, creating, and food!  Woo hoo!!  And my super mom and I jumped right in.  Within 3 weeks we had the church, the hall, caterer, florist, theme, photographer, and honeymoon set.  And its *possible* that I had a secret Pinterest account (this was before they created secret boards!) that was all things wedding that might have helped out a bit with the vision.  After all of that came Engagement Photos in San Diego less than a month after our engagement since I already had a trip planned to see Connor.  And then the photos were done so I was able to design our Save the Dates.  And they were printed really fast so I was able to address and stamp them all tonight.  In two weeks I'll head to Texas where I'll meet up with my mom and future mother in law to dress shop, meet with the caterer, florist Missy, and see the hall.

A huge part of me wishes the wedding was in 2 months instead of 7 months...we are both just ready to get the show on the road.

Of course, in the midst of all of the wedding excitement, Connor and I find out that we will be moving back home to Texas!  This is hugely exciting as I'll be close to my family again for the first time in almost 7 years.  This is hugely terrifying because I'll be changing careers in order to make the move and we'll have very little time to apartment hunt in a brand new city before we make the move.  Jokes on me for complaining about being bored!

Oh, and lets not forget that on top of my regular job, I'm co-designing costumes for a production of Go Dog, Go! at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.  Its SUCH a fun show and I've loved working with my co-designer but the timing laughable.  I had no idea when I accepted the job last summer that all of this would be happening simultaneously.  Hilarious, really.

And finally, to top it all of with a nice juicy cherry, I'm in the final month of training for the Flying Pig 1/2 Marathon!!  This little training adventure has been such a great experience for me.  Each week that we run a longer distance is just so exciting, to see my pace drop as the miles increase.  I'm shooting for a 9 minute/mile pace (but hoping for a bit faster).  I run once on my own and twice with a running group coordinated by a local Running Equipment Store.  The group runs are pre-planned so I just get to show up and run with  my pace group.  This is my third 9+ mile race but the first one that I'll be truly trained for thanks to the running group.

I will be leaving Cincinnati in late May and Connor will be following behind in mid June.  I'm going to be terribly sad to leave Ohio (words I NEVER thought I'd utter) and I know Connor feels the same way about San Diego.  The one thing getting me through the next 2 months being away from my fiance and facing all of these distractions is knowing that this next move finally brings Connor and I together.  Forever.  foooorrrrreeevvvvvveeerrrr.

Can't. Wait.

Have you ever 'accidentally' overbooked yourself?  Am I insane for running a half marathon in hilly Cincinnati?  Do you have a magic way to move myself and my possessions to Texas for me?  Leave me a comment and let me know!!!

Registry Race Results

When we originally planned my end of February trip to San Diego, it was to be centered around a nice relaxing camping trip and time with a few friends.  Once the engagement happened, there was suddenly a great need to get as many items crossed off the list as possible while we were in the same city!  And, let me tell you, there was a huge list of things to do.  Connor was SUCH a trooper and we ran all over San Diego (I think we drove over 200 miles in 3 days) completing our tasks.  One of the biggest things I hoped to get done was working on our registry.  I knew that the next time we'd be in the same city long enough to do this would be way too close to the wedding so it was crucial--at least to my wedding planner brain.

Connor and I really are building our home from nothing, unless you count our mismatched college hand-me-down dishes and Ikea pan, so registering was a bit overwhelming at first.  Neither of us has ever furnished an entire home, always using second (or third) hand housewares or living in a furnished home.  Not knowing where we even wanted to register, and hoping to keep it to three locations, we did a walk through of Macy's, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Crate and Barrel, Macy's, and Sears before we narrowed it down to the first three.

I knew Connor would love the clean modern aesthetic of Crate and Barrel so we started there.  Sure enough, he fell in love with a fun set of white square shaped plates and we were on our way!  He informed me that any food looks fancy if its on a square plate and, well, who am I to argue?  As you can see he was a big fan of the scan gun.  I did manage to scan a few things but I left most of the fun to him.

This is a man with a plan

We also successfully "finished" registries at Target and Bed Bath and Beyond which was a huge weight off my mind.  We had a bit of a 'scan now, think later' sort of attitude because of our time crunch.  It was quite handy to go back to the websites and make changes after we had time to think things through.   Target was the only store with an actual 'gun' (major criteria for Connor) but beyond that, all three locations were accommodating, easy to use, and fun.

Registry Race Results According to Megan:

Oddest thing on registry: Rice Cooker.  Connor has lived in a house with one for years and his life won't be complete unless he has one.  My mom looked over the registry and made a comment that there was something that she thought sort of odd but did not say it by name.  I knew it was this.  Later on she mentioned the rice cooker and I had to laugh.  Yes, its odd, but I is His biggest 'want' so I couldn't say no.

Most difficult item to choose: Bedding. We both have such different tastes when it comes to...everything...but this was extra tricky.  He likes neutrals and no pattern.  She likes color, prints, and texture. Went with a nice textured charcoal duvet that we can accent later with other (fun loud) colors and prints.  A nice compromise I think.

Most excited about: KitchenAid Mixer in Cobalt.  I've been the baker in the family since I can remember and I always coveted my mom's stand mixer.  Though Connor was nudging me towards a 50s Sky Blue color, in then end I've settled on a nice Cobalt that makes me smile every time I think about it.

What a beaut'

Longest Analyzation: Who knew coffee makers were so complicated?!  We are very casual coffee drinkers though I very much enjoy tea daily and coffee on the weekends.  We chose a Keurig model but it took us about 20 minutes of comparing to come to that conclusion.  

I have to say, overall, we had a really great experience.  It would have been nice to spread it all out over a few weeks, but I'm so glad we got to do it together.  There was lots of high fiving when we agreed on something and a bit of lobbying when we didn't.  

If we can live our lives high-fiving (and sometimes lobbying) I think we'll be alright.

Did you register for any crazy items?  Did you even register? Who started this tradition anyways (though I feel like I should give THEM a high five)?  How many times a week will Connor cook rice?

Whirlwind trip #1

When I moved to Ohio 1 1/2 years ago, I know there would be sacrifices. A long distance relationship is more than just missing your significant other, it means a lot of flying back and forth between cities. Lucky for me, that means I get to visit San Diego several times a year! I'm in the airport now, tapping away this post on my phone excited about seeing my fiancé (won't ever get tired of saying that!) in 7 hours. 7 hours seems like nothing compared to 7 days or 7 weekends so I'm very excited about this.

Before the engagement, this weekend was going to be a camping trip in the mountains and lots of relaxing. Now it is all about engagement photos, celebrating with family and friends, and registering!!! I we may be apart until early June so it is important to get these things done now (according to the bazillions of to-do lists found on the internets)

So, we'd love your help!! Married or just a professional wedding guest, tell me your dos, don'ts, loves, hates, advice and suggestions about wedding registry. Favorite stores, best value, most used and never taken out of the box items are all welcome. Come on...you know you want to give your opinion!!!

Thanks friends!!
See you soon, San Diego!!