Our very own street parade

I am so excited! I just got off the phone with the police officer that arranges the second line parades in New Orleans. He confirmed that will do the second-line parade at 11 pm at night. I am beyond excited since he said that it will be able to go down Bourbon Street with the parade. I think this is going to be an amazing way to end the night anfd such a fun activity for our out of town guests who have not experienced New Orleans nightlife.

This is a link to our parade route. "Eat your heart out Baccahus!"
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=hotel+monteleone&daddr=Toulouse+St+to:29.955901,-90.067248+to:403+Royal+St,+New+Orleans,+LA+70130+(Latrobe's+On+Royal)&hl=en&geocode=FZYQyQEdWquh-iGe6ufmAgnbBw%3BFUgeyQEdFrOh-g%3B%3BFW8WyQEdZrCh-g&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=2&sz=16&via=1,2&dirflg=w&sll=29.955567,-90.069008&sspn=0.009054,0.012167&ie=UTF8&ll=29.956087,-90.065467&spn=0.004899,0.009624&z=17

Think I may pick this back up

I've been away for awhile. I thought I could just cut ties with the blogging as it was one added thing to do in my life, but then I heard I had a follower (yes outside of Greg). I was very excited to hear that at least a few other people were reading my blog and sharing this journey with me. This got me thinking about picking up the wedding blogging once again. Since I am a long distance bride, most of my key decisions makers are far way. There is not really time to get into detailed discussions on the commute home call with my mom. Without pictures and in depth descriptions, its hard to picture exactly what I am thinking as I make my decisions. I think blogging about my thought process would help my Mom and others see my inspiration (and help my parents as they are writing out the check to make sure I'm not "wasting" money).

I'm officially back on the wedding blog circuit.

Its Official...

We have a date and a place for our reception. Its been a while since my last blog regarding reception sites. During that time we have selected the site, determined the date, had deposit drama (well not real drama) and its booked!

Greg and I will be getting married on April 16, 2010. Our reception is to be held at Latrobe's on Royal. The ceremony site is TDB but that is another story for another blog.

I am just so happy to be having our wedding at Latrobes. I fell in love with the venue and can actually picture our wedding there. (I literally had a dream where Greg and I were cutting our cake in the the "cake room".)

I have included a link to the website.
http://www.latrobesonroyal.com/tour-floorplan.html

The Venue Selection

Last weekend Greg and I took a trip down to New Orleans to do the venue selection. We went down on Thrusday and flew home on Sunday morning. In that time spand, Greg, Mom and myself hit 8 different venues. We went to the following places (in order):



1) Omni Royal Orleans

2) Latrobe's on Royal

3) St. Louis Hotel

4) Brousard's

5) Mason Dupy

6) Pavillion of Two Sisters

7) Benachi House

8) Board of Trade



After the first past, we narrowed it down to 3. I won't bore you all with the details of each since there were some obvious "No's" due to size, location, or auto veto from one of us.



The final 3 were the Omni, Latrobe's, and Board of Trade.

We went back to all three places on Saturday and saw them all set up for a wedding.

After seeing them all, I think that Latrobe's won for Greg, myself, and my mother. Dad still like the Omni but I think it was because he liked the flowers for the wedding better than the space.

So now I think I have venue, we have date penciled in..but who knows what the actual date will be.. guess that is another post!

So many choices.

So we officially have booked our tickets to head down to New Orleans to pick a date. I have to admit I was getting a bit nervous that we are looking at things a bit late and that most places may be booked, but seriously its a year in advance, plus we really like the idea of a Friday Night Wedding.

So as I am making my list of venues to contact to schedule a showing, I have realized there are so many choices. Each venue I like is uniquely NOLA, but still totally different. The choice will set the theme for the whole wedding weekend and while it will be NOLA all the way, the feeling will be different.

Also, to add to the mix, I think I really would like an outdoor ceremony. I just see Greg waiting for me somewhere in a natural setting, with soft candle light and flower back ground. Not sure how this will go over with the family or with the New Orleans weather. If I choose outside, we would have to move our date up more into the early Spring so that no one dies from heat stroke.

All in all I am really excited to go view venues. Right now my favorites are the Pavilion of Two Sisters, St. Louis Hotel/ Louis 16th, Mason Dupey, and the Montelone Hotel. I'm going to add some of the standard hotels in the quarter as back ups b/c the number of people may add up as we actually kick off the planning.

So, I'm now an addict

I think there needs to be some form of bridal AA. Ever since I got engaged, I have become a follower of everything wedding related. I watch the shows on WE, Oxygen, and TLC. I make lists of ideas that I see and want to use. I am not only registered on the knot but also wedding wire, and I have become addicted to weddingbee.com.

The addiction keeps growing. Now I think the only way to get my fix is to start my OWN blog about my wedding. I know that probably only my friends and family will view it, and that these people will already know all the details of the wedding (mainly b/c I'm a talker), but I can't help it. I had to start this blog to journalize my trip down the aisle to marry my wonderful fiance!