90+ degree weather = lots of wedding stuff gets done

Today was way too hot to do much of anything, so I basked in the air conditioning and got some things done.  Two days in a row of wedding-related work!

First, I sent Mel the Wedding Planner off on a hunt to locate hotels for all you friendly folks :)  Mount Pleasant, where the reception is located, is way less expensive than downtown Charleston.  It's also only about a 5-15 minute drive depending on where you are.  A lot of my family are coming in from Canada, and I'm sure some of you are flying in from who knows where.  I figured the sooner you could book up, the better.  I'm not sure if you can book this far in advance, but better earlier rather than later.

She's finding two to three good hotels and then also looking up group rates at the Cottages on Charleston Harbor.  A few months ago Southern Living magazine did this whole thing on Charleston.  Clearly I bought that magazine.  In the back in a tiny little paragraph, it talked about these cool cottages:

I asked Mel about them and she said they were "AWESOME!"  According to her, they're about 10-15 minutes away from the venue and about 5 minutes across the bridge into downtown Charleston.  According to Southern Living magazine, they start at $229/night.  Kinda steep, but maybe groups could organize staying together and split the cost.  I'm sure that 4 people splitting the cost would be less than individual rooms.

I'm having Mel figure out if group rates are an option, particularly since November is the off-season in Charleston.  Anyone interested?  Maybe I'll get one for the bridesmaids.  Chris can use his house for the groomsmen (who cares about them anyway), and the girls can wake up to this in the morning:

Robin is putting together our wedding website, so I'll have her post it on there as I find out what's going on.

My mother is also being super annoying, as usual.  For all of you getting married in the somewhat foreseeable future, I will talk you down from a ledge after dealing with your mother. While we've only been planning this wedding for 7 months, I have become ridiculously good at (1) ignoring my mother, and (2) placating my mother.  This week's topic is getting married in a church.  When I told her that we were thinking of having the ceremony at the garden behind the house at Boone Hall, she clearly found something to be negative about.  Mothers have a good habit about finding something negative about everything.  She was like, "You mean you're not getting married in a church?" [insert disdainful tone here].  I spun some story about getting married outside in the glory of God.  She was unimpressed.  I told her that getting married in a church costs money.  We've already paid for this venue, which, by the way she thought was too much even though the price I told her was 1/3 of what it actually was.  Basically, my mother wants this whole wedding to be free or something.

Long story short, I'm having Mel look into beautiful Episcopalian churches nearby the venue.  My only stipulation was that it had to be pretty at least from the inside.  If my mother is willing to fork over the cash in order to have the ceremony there (plus all the necessary acoutrements like extra flowers and transportation costs), then I will concede to having it at a church.  As long as I'm married at the end of the day, I really couldn't care less.  If she doesn't want to pay for it, then at the plantation it is!  This way, she can't say anything either way.  I feel like this is a great solution!  Chris and I are paying for everything ourselves precisely to avoid my Momzilla's opinions.

I know this will add onto the timeline of the day, but you guys can just show up to the par-tay if you want.  I don't mind :)  Either that, or come to the ceremony, and provide an extra body shield between me and my mother.

Last, I FINISHED THE RSVPs!  As you know, I'm designing all of the paper goods myself.  The invites are super-secret and almost finished.  The RSVPs are done and could essentially be printed now if I wanted.  They are interactive and suh-weet.  My aunt, like my mother, has an opinion about everything, and I bet both of them won't like it too much.  But I don't really care.  Just remember, folks, when you recieve these invites remember how much effort and creative juices went into them.  I expect the same amount of effort and creative juices when you reply back.