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So a couple that I know is planning a wedding in Atlanta for next fall.  They have been venue hunting for quite some time now. They’ve seen a few places they absolutely love and a few places that they don’t.  It’s down to three contestants, which they recently shared with me. All three either have a garden adjacent or is within a garden, which was the main aspect they were looking for in a venue.

1. Piedmont Room:

Pros: Great view of the city, In house catering, Tables chairs & linen provided

Cons: No real outdoor ceremony space, Venue can hold multiple weddings at the same time

piedmont

The Piedmont Room

2. The Atrium:

Pros: Pretty, outdoor ceremony space, In house catering, Tables chairs & linen provided, Great garden view from ballroom

Cons: Not a pretty building exterior

The Atrium

The Atrium

3. Cator Woolford Gardens:

Pros: Beautiful outdoor garden and ceremony area

Cons: Rent own tables chairs & linens, Hire own caterer, Reception hall is minimal and plain (not the couple’s style)

Cator Woolford Garden

Cator Woolford Garden

I came across this picture from the Cator Woolford Garden’s blog and just wanted to share it. I love the color, the sequence, and the energy in this series of photos.

Photo from http://www.cwgardens.blogspot.com/

Photo from http://www.cwgardens.blogspot.com/

Which venue do you like the most? Cast your vote with a comment!

by Mel | posted in Ceremony, Reception, Vendors | 1 Comment »

If there is one thing that happens when you first get engaged and start spreading your information around, it’s this:  Wedding Spam.  Sign up at any major wedding website: get spammed; Register for wedding gifts: get spammed; Try on a wedding dress: get spammed.

When KT and I first got engaged, the first thing we did was set up a wedding Gmail account.  This was the best thing we did!  As we both have personal Gmail accounts, we were able to set up the wedding Gmail account to forward to both of our personal accounts AND automatically get labeled with a “wedding” tag.  Having a wedding only account is great – we can give out one address to vendors when we have questions, and they then email both of us the information.  The downside is that we also end up getting spammed a lot.  Thankfully though, we didn’t intend to keep using the wedding account after we’re married, so we could choose to either remove it from sending us copies of all the emails, or have Gmail just redirect everything that comes in to our Gmail archive.

Unfortunately, my home address has also been given to various vendors, so after I got engaged I daily got some kind of wedding related post card that I would usually throw away.  Thankfully, when I moved into our new house after the wedding, all that mail has pretty much stopped coming.

Here’s some instructions on how I got our Gmail redirecting into our individual accounts:
Set up Gmail account
Go to Settings | Filters
Create 2 filters – 1 that sends to you, and 1 that sends to your fiance(/e), and marks it as “read”.
Log out and log in to your personal account.
Go to Settings | Filters and create a filter that will label all mail that is sent to your wedding address with the tag you want to use.

The other cool thing about Gmail is that you can go into the settings, click “accounts,” and add your wedding account to your personal account. Whenever you compose an email, you’ll get to choose to send from either your personal account or your wedding account.

There is only one problem that I have found with the redirect method.  As the filter is only forwarding those things that were addressed to us, it does not forward anything where we are a BCC.

I hope these tricks are helpful for you! Do you have any other tips for managing wedding email and snail mail?

by auschick | posted in General Planning | 2 Comments »

He got down on one knee, looked deep into your eyes, and asked you to spend the rest of your life with him.  You didn’t hear the rest because you were blinded by the dazzling brilliance of the bling he put on your finger.  It’s soooo pretty!

Artist: Anne Taintor

Artist: Anne Taintor

“So what’s your answer?”

Huh?  What?  Blinking the tears away (your eyes hurt – the rock is sparkly! ), you find your voice and shout “YES!”

After calling everyone in both of your address books, uploading pics of the big moment to your Flickr account and posting your new status to Facebook and Twitter,  you realize you’re going to have a wedding!  Yay!

So….where do you start?  Do you pick a date first?  Or do you decide on a venue?  Definitely at the church you went to growing up, right?  Or maybe on the beach in North Carolina, or better yet – a tropical destination wedding on a secluded island.  Planning a wedding is a HUGE thing – there are a zillion moving parts to coordinate, and at times, it can be overwhelming.  I’m not married, but I’ve agonized over choosing colors, flowers, putting together invitations, etc. – it’s exhausting!

To spare your sanity and ensure you don’t turn into the dreaded “Bridezilla,” organization is key.  If you’ve been the bride, chances are you have a binder, folder, or some other sort of system you used to keep track of everything.  You can buy pre-made kits, but like anything remotely related to a wedding, there’s that mysterious 20% extra charge.  Save yourself some money – all you really need is to create a spreadsheet in Excel and to purchase a binder and tab dividers  from an office supply store.   Me?  I would also make sure to color code everything (I have this thing with sorting by color, I can’t help it) and visit an art supply store for a few extra goodies to make my planner pretty.  If that means sparkly stickers and ribbon, then so be it.

Credit: Zela (www.sxc.hu)

Credit: Zela (www.sxc.hu)

After you get yourself organized and color coded, make sure to check the interwebz for advice.  Best place to start?  Why, right here, at BigFatCake.com!

Remember – you’re planning  a wedding, but even more importantly, you’re getting married.  Don’t let the little details overwhelm you!

So ladies and gentlemen, veterans of The Big Day, share your wisdom.  Where did you start when planning your wedding – date, venue, flowers, etc.?  Who did most of the planning (there are some guys who are quite involved!)  What would you have done differently?

by Anna G | posted in Engagement, General Planning, Time Management | 1 Comment »