and guest

So I was talking to Aaron's aunt tonight, and she was telling me that I should plan on inviting all the single people with a guest. Its been something I've been milling over, but unless they are someone that really wouldnt know anyone else at the wedding, I'm not sure I want to pay x amount of dollars for some random person I dont know and have never met before, just so someone can have someone to dance with.

It would make my already large guest list, twice as big. I don't mind inviting plus ones if they have been dating for a reasonable amount of time (I don't want people bringing strangers to the wedding.. like oh we met yesterday!!.. great thanks for bringing them to my wedding and making me pay $50 for their dinner.) If they are living together, engaged or been dating more than x months at the time I send the invites out, I'll send them with a plus one (but I'll find out thier name first). I am NOT sending out people with the wording - and guest. If they don't know their name beforehand, they aren't coming.

I hate giving out "and Guests" - that wording is so open to interpretation. I would love for them to bring their serious significant others, I do not want them to use that wording to bring just any guest they want like- neighbors, kids, cousins, random person they met yesterday, their best friend or any other person that is NOT their date.

Plus I'd rather take that extra seat and give it to someone who I actually know and love.

Is it wrong to invite people who are single as singles? or am I required to open the invitiation for them to bring someone?

That being said, any person that I know won't really know a lot of people at the wedding, I'll include and invitation for a guest. I don't want them to feel alienated... but my friends, who all know each other, would it be wrong to just send them a singular invitation and maybe accept guests on a case by case basis?

Save the date magnet proof

The company emailed me the proof as an attachment and I had no problems. I'm pretty happy that they were able to take care of it so quickly.

So what do you think? Does the picture look too blurry? Do you think I should tell them to switch the website and city? Anything else?



We had them bring both names to the front and add city instead of formal invitation to follow.

Also they had to enlarge our picture to 278% to get it to go, do you think if I sent them the original picture but I sharpened it, do you think it will look better?

Enlarging pictures

So the magnet place sent me a proof of the magnet and I cannot open it. When I click on the link (its a website), it just opens a blank page. I'm just a little annoyed. I really want to see what it looks like.

The only problem I can see right now, is that they enlarged my photo to 278% so that they can use it. I'm afraid that when it shrinks back down to go on the magnet, it will be blurry or out of focus or just look weird. I don't know..

Save the date?

What do you think of this save the date... but in blue?



So I think I want our names (including last names) in the same font, not faded into the background. Also the pink & symbol will be blue, or white or something.. not pink.

I want to replace formal invitation to follow, because I think thats a given... or is it? I think it would be nicer and more of a momento if it had the city.. Yes? No?

More bridesmaid dresses

Sorry about the cut off pictures - the space was really limited:

More bridesmaid dresses... Unless the color name is noted, I would order it in a different color.

Alfred Angelo - satin - color: tealness..
I love the color. I'm not sure about the dress.


Alfred Angelo - satin - color: Indigo

Bari Jay

This one is available in two blues..

After six:

After six color Ocean Blue:

After Six:

Best blue color in this one: Cornflower:

After Six:

After six color: ocean blue

Bill Levkoff

This one comes in Royal Blue, the sash can be light blue or vice versa
Bill Levkoff

The only blue this one comes in is navy:

Mori Lee

I still really like the teal alfred angelo color, but have not really found a long satin alfred angelo dress that I like. Do I just choose the best dress to go with the color, or do I choose a dress and pick a color I like out of the colors available?

Am i just complicating things too much?

Dress shopping

So yesterday I went to Sacramento to meet up with my friend Kerry. I was a little late for my appointment at the first bridal place, so Kerry called and made sure we could come half an hour later.

When we got there we realized they do not have a parking lot, so we were stuck with street parking. We did not have any quarters so i had to run into the bridal shop to get change and run back.

When we got into the bridal shop and i filled out a car and made my way upstairs where the lone three racks of dresses were that I could try on. We found about seven dresses to try on. I liked a couple of them.

So after running out to feed the meter, yet again. We went and had lunch at a place next to the bridal salon. They had some 3 course lunch special for $10. You get soup/salad, entree and ice cream or a mocha. Well they were out of that, so we had to order something else. When we finally got our food, I noticed a meter maid checking all the meters. Well ours was across the street and so obviously flashing red. So I ran across the street and moved my car. I found a spot not too far away that didn't require quarters.

That sucked since it was within walking distance, so we could have relaxed and not worried about it. Oh well. We'll know next time.

We went next to a place that has a bunch of dresses. Its an outlet but they told me over the phone that they have orderable dresses. So I wanted to try on the orderable dresses, but the lady kept giving me ones that were "limited stock" basically you see what you get.

So of course I try on one dress that I loved and it fit almost perfectly, but its limited stock. So its not something I can order. So I either buy now or can't get it.

save the date choices and wedding websites

When we got home, I looked at wedding magnets. I want to get Save the Date magnets to send out. These are the two that we are considering:

We are going to get both in the same color scheme.. so just look at the designs..
Magnet A

Our thoughts We love the simple easy to read design. We also love the colors. We might change our names into a script font or something. Aaron thinks it doesn't look that personal though..
Magnet B

Our thoughts Its pretty. Its personalized. We'd want it in different colors - which they do. We like the color scheme of the one above. So we'd probably get it in the same color scheme. Plus we'd want our last names to be white as well. Why would they fade them out?? I don't know. I don't really like the font that the date is in, but we can change that.

I'm not completely sold on having our picture on the magnet.

What do you think - would you rather get a magnet with someone's picture on it or one without? I'm not sure everyone would want to have our picture on their fridge everyday for a year. Then again, if they love us and they are invited to our wedding, they might not mind. I don't know...

Aaron and I also worked on a wedding website, now that we know the date and place. I think it looks pretty nice so far. :) We decided to use a website called - weddingannouncer.com. Its free and it has some nice features. Plus we were able to get a name where its not long and drawn out, and it doesn't involve using nicknames or mangling our names at all. Yay. :)

So if you were a guest at a wedding, would you prefer to receive a magnet with a photo or without?Also if you are not a photo person, what would you do with the magnet? Would it be a waste to send it to you?

Venue check... DJ Check.. Date Check.. Happiness check..

Aaron and I have a date, a time, a place (for both Ceremony and Reception) and a DJ. Yay!! :)
some pictures of our ceremony/reception site. The ceremony will be in the rose garden and the reception will be on the patio:

A picture of a reception through one of the arches
A picture of the pretty rose garden

The patio starting to be set up for a reception.
picture from the driveway through the vineyard. Those dark pink flower trees line the whole long driveway. Its very pretty.

Its a vineyard in the next town over.

The patio is really pretty with twinkle lights all over it that will light up at night. The venue is completely surrounded by grape vines on all sides. It has a gazebo too, but we'd rather use that to set up our head table in.

We went down today and did some wine tasting. Then we signed our contract and a contract with the onsite DJ (we didn't have to use him, but decided it was easier).

Plus now we know the date and everything. So it will be easier to figure everything else out.

Oh and our date is: September 20, 2008!! :) So we still have awhile to go.

One year older

Happy Birthday to me

Happy Birthday to me

Happy Birthday dear Angela

Happy Birthday to me!

All inclusive

I called one of the all inclusive places we were looking at in Sacramento about the centerpieces.

We are required to do our centerpieces through the venue. So I wanted to know how much they were.

I don't want to sign a contract and find out later that all the centerpieces are $100 each for a little vase with a single rose in it...because that would be a big rip off.

So I finally get this wedding coordinator on the phone (apprently they dont like to talk to people who haven't already booked the site. Usually you talk to a Sales person first than talk to the coordinator. Which is stupid because the sales manager couldnt really answer all of our questions about the costs.

Really if you want to sell something to someone you should know how much it costs. Its not like I'm going to sign a contract and be surprised later.

So the non-floral centerpieces start at $40

and the floral centerpieces start at $50

So hmm... for a candle its $40 and for some flowers its $50?

They are so making a huge profit on that...especially with the candles. So I dont know if we'll end up going with that venue or not.

Weird call from a caterer

So I just got a call from a caterer I sent an email to about pricing. It was really weird because she called and said that someone else that was on another phone call would call me back regarding the pricing. Um. okay. So why did you call again?

and the search goes on.. and on... and on.. and on...

So yesterday Aaron, his dad, My mom and me went up to view our top two ceremony sites in sacramento and on the way home we stopped at the vineyard in Lodi to have another look. My favorite part of the whole day? The adorable little kitten at the vineyard in lodi. Her name was meow meow and she was so freaking cute.
So lets recap my day a little bit.

Aaron and I are running a little bit late meeting my mom and his dad at his grandparents house. So we don't leave on time. Which kind of worried me that we'd be late. Especially when I learned that Aaron's dad drives the speed limit on the freeway. Exactly the speed limit and not a bit over. So it took forever to get there. We weren't late though surprisingly.
I was kind of pissed when the lady at the country club double booked our appointment time. So I felt kind of weird talking finances in front of these complete strangers. Plus we had a good sized group already, and it only went to make the tour that much slower. Because she not only had my questions, she had the other brides questions and my moms and aaron's and etc.

Plus she had another group scheduled directly after us, so they were already waiting (in the same room as us). Plus the "sales manager" didn't know how much all of the required extras were. Like they require we do our centerpieces through them. However, they said its about $50 each for floral centerpieces (if we have about 15-16 tables that could really add up) but they do have non-floral options. So I asked how much they were - she had no idea. She said normally the people who did know didn't like to be bothered if we aren't booked. So basically to get your questions answered by someone who knows how much EVERYTHING will cost, you have to be booked. Which is the most retarded thing I have ever heard.
I was kind of upset when we left because I felt it was kind of rude to 1. double book and 2. noticeably rush through everything and try to get us out of there ASAP.

I was a little more excited because we went to the place I liked next. I love the wedding coordinator there. We are both on the same page, she's friendly and nice and willing to answer all of my questions. She even gave her 1:00 appointment to her assistant so she could accomodate us at the last minute. She called me back around 10 am (I had called and left her a message around 8 pm last night). She said we could come at 1:00 because she would give the other group to her assistant. Aaron called the hotel a "glorified Holiday Inn" and no one really seemed to like it at all. Which kind of upset me.. because that was the place I liked. Plus Aaron kind of went on about how bad it was in front of everyone and I was a little embarassed and upset.

I got over it at lunch. We stopped on the way home at Joann's to look at the wedding stuff because my mom said it was onsale. We didn't end up buying anything except some candles that were on sale and a couple of wedding magazines.

On the way back we stopped at the two vineyards in Lodi. The really pretty but expensive one and the pretty and semi-reasonable one. They had the cutest kitten and i spent a lot of time playing with her. Then we asked if our date was still available - it was - but it was the only september date. So we had them hold it for week. I don't know I think the vineyard is going to be the better bet. They are nice there and seem to want to help. Although Aaron straight out told the owner we were looking at other places and we hadn't decided yet. So she asked what other places and etc. I thought it was a terribly uncomfortable conversation. I think its okay to mention other places in passing, but not to straight out start discussing them in front of other people.

So that was my day yesterday. I had thought we would put a deposit down, but we didnt. Now I'm stuck with the site issues again for another week. I'm just so sick of looking for a site. No where has really stuck out as THE one.. Either the ceremony site sucks or the reception site sucks or there is some other issue I dont like. well okay maybe it doesn't suck, but there is something about it I don't like. Its just really annoying...REALLY annoying.

I think the one I like the best so far is the vineyard. The only things I don't like? I think the bridal suite looks like something from my grandma's house.. plus its cluttered with knick knacks. I don't like that it would serve only beer, wine or champagne as I am not a fan of any of them. So basically I'd be drinking soda at my wedding. which really bites. The other thing is it is all outside. Which has its upsides (dancing under the stars) and its downsides (too hot? too cold? bugs?)

Augh. So I don't know.. I'm so conflicted.

Top 3

Lake Natoma Inn

Ceremony site

Garden area - where we can take pictures

Reception Room


Pros: I like the crystal chandaliers and the draped celiing in the reception room.
Cons: The ceremony site is okay. I like the garden area better, but its farther away and the gazebo area is RIGHT outside of our room. So if we don't use it, someone else might making their wedding outside of our room.

oh and plus no one in our group yesterday really liked it.

Site 2: The Hotel
Arden Hills Country Club

Ceremony Site:

Bridal Suite:

Reception room:


Pros: Nice clean reception room, love love love the bridal suite and the little mini-mansion like bed and breakfast inn its in, I'd be able to have mixed drinks, good pictures spots on the property.
Cons: Kind of dim in the room - Hardly any of my pictures on my camera came out nice, I'm not too crazy about the ceremony area - plus that fountain is loud (and shaped like a giant penis...), unknowledgeable staff, might end up being more because no one was able to answer all of my finance questions, The reception room we'd end up going with is not my favorite one there, but the one I like is the big fancy room - the 200 person minimum room and it has a very high food minimum

Site 3: Harmony Wynelands

Granny Bridal Room with private attached bathroom:

Garden Arch Ceremony Area:

Another view of the arch decorated with tulle:

Reception area:


Gazebo (also a ceremony site option but we can use it for the head table or just for me and aaron:


Pros: Close to home, pretty garden area, friendly staff
Cons: Everything would be outside, everyone would be in the same area the WHOLE time (even watching us take pictures), Only beer, wine, champagne served - no alcohol I'd drink, granny style bridal suite.

I give up

My mom looked at the two pictures of the wedding venue I like and then preceeded to nitpick it. *rolls eyes*
Then she said she didn't want to pay for the venue, she'd rather pay for the invitations and the dress and etc. Stuff that really wont amount to much. So I suggested her paying for the food. Thats the other big expense. I dont really want her paying for all the little stuff because I want to be able to pick what I want without her criticizing it or me in the process.
The she preceeded to go on and on about how lovely pink dresses would look on the bridesmaids. or brown. or red. or at least at the very least if I have to have blue, navy. Anything but light blue. Light blue is ugly and she personally would not want to wear bright blue. She commented that she was glad I would not be forcing her to wear blue to my wedding.
What is wrong with BLUE?!!?
Augh... I guess you can't please everyone.
and you know what I am sick of trying.

augh...

So Aaron and I went to the library today. While I was waiting for him, I went upstairs and looked through the wedding books. I found one book with a neat idea for centerpieces if we decide to have our wedding at one of the places we are looking at. The venue gives you a mirror tile and votive candles for each table. That way you only have to add some sort of main thing in the middle -- like a bigger pillar candle, or a bowl with a flower, or something..

like this:


So I saw a book that showed a small square vase or could be a bowl with blue water and a white floating candle in it. It looked pretty and would probably look really good on the mirror tile.

While arranging with my mom what time to meet us so we can carpool to look at the top 3 choices tomorrow, I tell her about the centerpiece idea that I liked.

So this is our converstation:
Mom: Well I thought they gave you the centerpieces
Me: Well they give you the mirror tile and the votive candles, you just add the focal point
Mom: what good is that? Might as well give you nothing
Me: If they give you nothing, I'd have a small bowl of blue water with a candle floating in it
Mom: I thought you said you wouldn't have to buy centerpieces if you went there
Me: Well we could get away with not having a huge floral display at each table
Mom: Thats just dumb.. You aren't saving any money

Me: *bangs head into desk*

Save the Dates

My mom's friend found a bunch of clearance invites marked down to $3 at michaels. They really aren't what we were thinking of using for the invites.. but she'll be mad if we don't use them at all..

So I've been thinking, We have 100 blank printable invitations that we don't want to use for our wedding invitations. We won't use that many for either our shower or our rehersal dinner. I was thinking of using them as save the dates, but I have my heart set on magnets.

Would it be okay to print pretty much what we are going to say on the magnet on the "invitations" and put them in with the magnets? or would that be redundant?

Or anything else we can use it for as an insert for the magnets?

I'm just not sure what we are going to use them for...

Marriage Advice

No doubt there are days when you feel as though you deserve the BestWife in the World award: You make sure dates with your mate stay hot,you settle arguments with amazing grace and you don't always go intowhining mode when you find his dirty socks next to, rather than in, thehamper. How did you get so smart? You were given some stellar marriageadvice from friends and family. Here, the nuggets of nuptial wisdomyou've stayed faithful to over the years.

Polite Fight
"On my wedding-invitation RSVP cards, I left space for guests to writetheir favorite wedding wisdom. The tidbit that rings truest afteralmost nine months of marriage is: 'Attack the issue, not each other.'How it works: If my husband and I disagree about something, we stayfocused on the issue and skip the personal put-downs."
— Melissa Gitter Schilowitz, 31, Metuchen, NJ

Fit to a Tee
"My grandmother insisted that I learn how to play golf. 'If yourhusband loves to play, you can go along and spend hours together,' shesaid. So I took lessons, and now my husband and I hit the links once amonth. We both love the game and are thrilled to share a hobby, evenwhen we spend half an hour looking for my out-of-bounds balls!"
— Aimee Borders, 27, Houston, TX

Tabletop Trick
"My aunt told me that if I'm running late when it's my turn to makedinner, just set the table. That way my husband thinks he'll be eatingany minute, so he doesn't start complaining, which buys me some time.It's a silly trick that sounds straight out of the 1950s, but I have toadmit that I've tried it a few times in the three years I've beenmarried — and it works!"
— Dawn Clayton, 34, Holdrege, NE
Perfect 10
"My husband's great-aunt wrote a list of the10 most important things in a marriage, and she gave it to me at mybridal shower. It read:

10.Patience
9. Kindness
8. Patience
7. Communication
6. Patience
5. Caring
4. Patience
3. Patience
2. Love
1.Patience

"First of all, this couldn't be more true. Second, an 80-year-old woman made up a top-10 list; how funny is that?"
— Beth Power, 26, Arlington, VA

Ratio for Romance
"After my husband and I got together, a close friend of mine told me,'If the sex is good, it's only 10 percent of the marriage. But if thesex is not so good, it's 90 percent. So do your darndest to make sureit stays really, really good!'"
— Emily Cho-Basco, 28, Los Angeles

Boob-Tube Brilliance
"Because my husband is such a remote-control freak, my mom suggestedthat we have 'my turn' TV nights. That means three nights a week I getto hold the remote and watch whatever I want, and on the other nightsit's his turn to hold the remote and watch whatever he wants. Now whenhe starts flipping through the channels, it doesn't get on my nerveslike it used to."
— Angela Clayton, 27, Odenton, MD

Pop the Question
"My sister-in-law passed this helpful hint on to me, and it has servedme well for our five years of wedded bliss: 'Marriage is not mindreading, so ask your spouse what he/she wants and believe what he/shesays.'"
— Clare Graca, 27, Dallas

Nix the Nit-Picking
"Before I said 'I do,' my mom (who'sbeen married to my dad for 55 years) told me to take out a piece ofpaper and write down the top three things that bugged me about myhusband-to-be. Then she told me to forget the things on that list andforgive him for not being flawless. Once you make a commitment thisbig, she explained, you can't let petty things get in the way. In oureight years of marriage, my husband and I have had two kids, tackledcross-country moves and started two businesses -- and so far, so great."
— Rebecca Hart Blaudow, 31, Jacksonville, FL

Space Smarts
"Always have separate closets, my best friend told me. It may seemsilly, but I listened to her and made sure to find a one-bedroomapartment with two closets (mine being the larger, of course). Now myhusband and I each have our own private space, and we respect that: Ifhe wants to keep his shoes in one huge heap or leave his dirty clothesin a pile on the floor, the mess doesn't bother me a bit!"
— Patricia Bontekoe, 26, Lake Hiawatha, NJ

Agree to Disagree
"Before we got married, my minister told my husband and me, 'You aretwo imperfect people making an imperfect union, and that's wonderful.'This advice made me ditch my belief that in a happy marriage, thecouple always agrees. My husband and I have learned to appreciate ourdifferences (yes, even differences of opinion!); in fact, we encouragethem because we realize now that those differences are what makes eachof us unique and special."
— Beth Swanson, 28, Chicago

Comic Relief
"Before I headed down the aisle, my stepfather told me to always laughand never take myself too seriously. After four years of marriage, Iknow that this trick works. My husband and I often play practical jokeson each other and always try to crack each other up, even in the middleof an argument. Hey, if one person laughs, a fight tends to fizzle,doesn't it?"
— Lisa Giassa, 31, Bogota, NJ

You've probably heard a few of these pieces of marital pop wisdombefore. If so, these marriage experts say to promptly forget 'em.

Love means never having to say you're sorry.
"Oh, please! In marriage, love sometimes means having to say you'resorry even if you don't know what you did or you didn't mean to do it."
— Trisha Taylor, psychotherapist, Houston, TX

Always be totally honest.
"What are you going to do, tell him that he's just too short and youcan't stand his mother? Sometimes you need to temper the truth."
— Tara Fields, Ph.D., marriage, family and child therapist, Marin County, CA

Children come first.
"This is bad advice if it means your husband always comes second. Ofcourse you should love and care for your kids, but you should neverlose sight of your couple-ness. The best thing a child can have ishappy, fulfilled parents who are deeply in love."
— Mary Pender Greene, chief of social work services, Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, New York

Always keep the peace.
"No, no, no. If you don't face a hot issue head-on, you'll stockpilenegative feelings. And before you know it, 20 years go by and you'restill fighting over the same thing because you never resolved it in thefirst place."
— Rebecca S. Ward, M.S.W., psychotherapist, Little Rock, AR

Never go to bed angry.
"Forget it. Often a couple needs time to calm down before they canrationally wrap up an argument. And that may take a few days, so in themeantime, get some sleep!"
— Gilda Carle, Ph.D., psychotherapist, New York

Temper tantrums galore

My mother is like a spoiled brat throwing a temper tantrum because she is not getting her way.

Her dream wedding for me is:
A cheap wedding where we still have some of her money left over to take a nice honeymoon. Shes only giving us a few thousand. So how are we supposed to plan a wedding, have a wedding, with food etc, and still have money left over for a european honeymoon? I don't know. Considering most places around here cost at least a few thousand to even to rent a place. Then she keeps talking about this fancy $1000 rehersal dinner.. so she is just confusing the hell out of me.

She is really upset about us venturing outside of the stockton area to look at wedding sites. Eventhough she very willingly went to a few places with me in Modesto. So I dont know why she is upset about that. She said no one will want to go an hour away for the wedding. When they will. My aunt (who never travels) said she'd go as far as sacramento.. or any place the same distance away.

Basically what she wants is:

a small wedding close to home with all of her friends and none of mine (in her opinion we should invite all the people who will give the best gifts (her friends) and the first people to cut would be my friends (all the college students with limited income)). Where we spend all of our money on her friends and family. Where we have limited people our age there and all the older people taking over. Shes been arguing with me about why I want a dj (because all the old people won't dance) and why we want as long a reception as we can have... because all the old people will leave by 9 anyways. So I was like who cares if they leave, that leaves everyone else to party and have fun. It could be just me and Aaron there til 11 or 12 and I'd be okay with that.

Then she wants us to choose the cheapest location - a place Aaron absoluetly hates. All the cheap ones (a few thousand less at the most) are the ones that look the worst and/or need the most decorations. If we choose a place that is already pretty, we need less decoration thus saving money.

If we can spend the extra few thousand towards a prettier location instead of decorating a place that needs a lot of decorations.

Basically I think I am being punished because Jenn has a big elaborate wedding, so I'm supposed to make up for that by being satisfied by having a small dinky ratty wedding? Whats wrong with wanting to get married somewhere pretty?

She thinks I talked Aaron into spending money he didn't want to spend. I did not. I basically took Aaron around and showed him what we could afford on the budget he proposed and he decided to up the budget himself because he didnt like any of them.

My mom said "I don't want to be a part of some big fancy wedding. I thought you were different than Jennifer. But you are just the same."

Well if I am the same.. don't come. If she ruins my wedding day, I will never forgive her.

Oh and she's been offering her friend as a photographer for awhile - but she hasn't been able to get a hold of him - and now she's telling me she doesn't know who will take our pictures when we are soooooooo far away. (there are such things as a photographer)

I do know this - I am not choosing a place that either me or aaron doesnt like just to please my mom. I'll take her suggestions but they are just that - suggestions. I'm not going to turn my wedding into something I dont like just to please my mom or anyone else.

I'll choose the dresses I want
the place i want
..etc

I dont care what anyone but Aaron thinks... because it is OUR day... not their day.

Lockeford Springs Golf Course

Golf Course


Front:

Patio area where the reception would be:


The patio can also be used as a reception area if the weather is bad. You would just face these doors:

View of the lake from the patio:

The other ceremony site:

There is the lake behind the grass... They would cut the grass down the day before the wedding so it is visible in pictures and during the ceremony..
Door I would be walking out of:

Bride changing room:


Vineyards all along the edges of the course:

The room where the cake would be in and a place people can go as well, to get away from outside:

I know there is someone in this shot, but its the bar area. The bar is really nice as well. The bar has a granite top.. but you can't see the bar. I just took a picture of the bar area. The bar area would be open as well for our guests to hang out.


I think this place is nice and has potential..

Pros and cons:
It was a little dirty when I went - but I was assured that they had a huge tournament over the weekend and they were in the process of cleaning today. I will give them the benefit of the doubt since I went early in the morning
There were a few places on the property that looked bad.. but I guess you can't expect everywhere to be picturesque can you?
Everything looked pretty new and nice
They only have long rectangle tables - I like the round tables better
They don't have a bar package.. so it would be open bar, but we can do a limited or a limited amount..etc
The grass around the lake bugged me. I mean if you have a lake, why hide it with tall grass? I don't know how much they would cut and how visible the lake would be... because the lake is the main selling point for me. I love the idea of getting married near the water.
Plus the waterfront patio is nice. :)