We really live in Decatur, GA, which is included in the “metro Atlanta” designation, and the reception (and perhaps ceremony) will be around downtown Decatur. Want to know more about the county seat of DeKalb county?
Dress shopping #1 27 August 2008
For the first round of dress shopping, Mom and I went out in Johnson City, just to try on a few dresses, just to see what shape, style, fabric, etc… would fit and look good, and I was really surprised at what worked. Initially, we were thinking something simple, probably a soft satin, not white, and not strapless.
We started at a sort-of secondhand/sample store and picked the few off-white, non-strapless dresses off the racks. Immediately, we found that wedding dress sizing varies immensely (I tried on dresses from size 10 to 16) and that my shape makes fitting difficult. Often, it would fit on top, but I couldn’t get it over my buns of steel.
So, there were three that fit, all kinda poufy and all with large trains. My favorite was sort of an ivory-gray dress with lace on the edges, and cutouts in the train with lace. Nicely made, but still too much dress.
Next, we went to another local shop, but smaller and more higher-end dresses. The dresses there were lovely and definitely well-made, but nearly all strapless and maybe one of the samples would have fit. Though the dresses were pretty, we left without trying any on.
Since it was a go-see mission, we next went to David’s, figuring I’d be able to try on a bunch of different styles in sizes close to what I’d wear. And, success! We had to wait about half an hour for an appointment, but it was so the shop girl could finally eat lunch, so we went and got a drink nearby. Then… the great dress-trying-on began! They had me go through their catalog and pick out dresses, and I think I checked off every non-strapless dress. The woman helping us was wonderful, pulling out extra dresses that were similar to ones I’d marked, and dresses that she thought might work (like the strapless, lace ones), and questioning me about some of the poufier dresses that I’d marked (since they weren’t working and I didn’t really like them- I’d just marked them because they were not strapless.)
The big poufy dresses were, thankfully, definitely a no-go. For a July Atlanta wedding, any dress in which I was sweating in the store got crossed off the list. The ones that worked best were the allover-lace ones, strapless (surprisingly), tiny-to-no train. And there was one that looked like a head-of-state-ball dress, with the one-shoulder look, that looked pretty good. All of the top dresses from David’s were like regular dresses, no crinolines. It was a pretty successful “let’s go see” trip, but no clear winners stood out.
Confirmed 26 August 2008
Got the letter back from the Mary Gay House’s coordinator, and we’re all confirmed for the rental!
Pretty ordinary day 20 August 2008
I spent Monday with my Aunt Janel and, after lunch, we went by a wedding shop that she’d never been to, just to kind of look at dresses for fun. And I puchased one.
Wedding Party: Team Bride 17 August 2008
Introducing Team Bride!
Georgia: Dear Seester. Sometimes each other’s only friend for a summer when we’d move, and my roommate for 15 years. We’ve gotten the stink eye from and asked about the length of our relationship by people assuming that we’re dating. We get the same sicknesses at the same time, even living 4500 miles away from each other. One summer, we watched “The Matrix” in theaters at least 5 times. She’s my sister.
Abby: Stood next to her at tryouts for Indiana Speed, discussed bras and previous sports experience with her. Then I stayed at her place after Monday Night Practices, so I didn’t have to drive back to the Haute between Monday and Tuesday practices. We sat in the front of the bus together and exchanged book recommendations, staying as far from the team drama as possible. We’ve trained for and run several 5k races together. She’s my partner in sports.
Sydney: One of the first times I met her, she borrowed my red sweater. That night, we went to the North Georgia State Fair and oohed and aahed over the duckies, the goats, the ponies together while Jeremy and Abby looked at us like we had three heads. We both love the party wii games. She’s my partner in cute.
Gordon: We went to high school, then college together (We even did most of our college visits together.) We were in bunches of high school clubs together, featured as student-athletes of the week together, and he certainly kept me sane during the Rose-Hulman fire hose shock. I think he’s my non-relative person that I’ve continued to know the longest. I always look forward to when we get to spend weekends playing video games, maybe having a few beers, and going to science museums. He’s my partner in nerdiness.
Things to do 15 August 2008
Looking to do some sightseeing in Atlanta? If you’re going to be here for a few days, why not try the CityPass? For $69 (hee!) you get to go to a bunch of places:
The Mary Gay House 14 August 2008
So, Jeremy and I went to tour the Mary Gay House, which is located near downtown Decatur. It was only kind of on our list of possible places because the interior was just so darn pink. We had a little bit of a time figuring out parking, but got over and walked in the house. The porch is cute, and the entry is nice. The main room looked bigger in pictures, but there’s a dining room that will easily accommodate all the food, so we don’t have to worry about the food in the room. We’d looked around that much before the rental coordinator came up from her office and gave us the tour (it’s in the basement.)
The house has a nice back porch that can be tented, surrounded by a pretty garden. I really liked all the flowers. Next to the house is a public park/historic site and behind the house is a dog park. (Angus was terribly excited about that part.)
In the house, there’s the main room, a dining room, a storage room, and a getting ready room. There’s also bathrooms and a little kitchen. The women’s restroom has the same wallpaper that was in the DDD house, just a different color, which is the same as was in our dining room when we moved in.
It’s a little smaller than we’d hoped for, and we’re going to have to give up our ideal of everyone having an assigned table, but it’s well within our price range, not booked for our day, and the coordinater was extremely helpful, giving us ideas for bakeries, setup, rehearsal dinner locations/caterers and just a nice person all-around.
So, we’ve booked that. Now, we’re looking for an indoor, air-conditioned location for the July Atlanta wedding.
First round of reception location tours 10 August 2008
In the first round of location scouting, we toured the Solarium, 7 Stages Theater and the Atrium at GA Tech, but weren’t so thrilled with any of them.
The Solarium was already tentatively rented for the date we want, and we found that it’s smaller than it looks in pictures. That smaller space is split into two wings and each of those are divided, so people don’t have to pass through the other space to get to the bathroom, creating two groups that never have to interact. Plus, the Solarium recently raised their rental rates. On the other hand, it has easy parking and easy directions.
7 Stages was reasonable, and one of the Team Bride members (Sydney) works there as Director of Marketing. They also have plenty of parking. But it’s in the middle of Little 5 Points, which can have bad traffic and everything that an art district infers. Most importantly, it was already booked for the entire month of July 2009.
The Atrium at Ga Tech was ok, lovely space. On the plus side, it does have plenty of patrolled parking and an easy retreat to an auditorium in case of rain. The courtyard has large glass doors that can be opened and a long staircase for a grand entrance. Unfortunately, they usually turn down non-academic functions, as they did ours.
After those disappointments, I emailed the Mary Gay House, which is cheaper and easier to get to from downtown Decatur than the Solarium and, judging from the floor plan, looked like it has way better flow. Plus, it’s next to a dog park, so we could most certainly have the wedding there and have an Angus ring bear(er). And they were available on 11 July next year. The downside was that parking is across the street at a church, not actually at the house. No street graffiti for pictures, but it has a stream, bridge and log cabin on site. We also got a great recommendation for it from my coworker: his sister had her wedding + reception there, and said it was lovely, fun, and a great space. So, we decided to go look at it during their open house hours.
