Let Them Eat (Anything But) Cake

Dan and I are salt people. We don't particularly like many sweets at all, and neither of us are fans of cake. In fact we can't remember a single time we ate cake at someone elses wedding.

So with our personal preferences in mind we've decided not to have a cake...or cupcakes, or any version of a cake like substance.

Since we don't want to leave those sugar loving people out to dry (I do have a pastry chef for a sister-in-law after all), we've decided to do something fun for dessert that we both enjoy.

No decisions have been made yet, but I'm leaning towards an old favorite, ice cream sandwiches!

Source: thekitchn

Spinning the Color Wheel

So apparently you can't have a wedding without defining yourself into a color scheme and overall theme..so I'm jumping on the bandwagon and have decided...drumroll please...our colors are navy blue and lime green!

I'm not exactly sure about the theme yet though, I'm envisioning a mixture of clean lines, wood & trees with a mix of funk mixed in. If you're a bit unsure of what that looks like, join the club. And if you do know what I'm talking about, please fill me in with photos...

This pic is the closest I've found to what I'm looking for:

Source: The Knot

What's Next?

So the venue is booked, the date is set...what now? Since my wedding is still 14 months away, it's hard to figure out what to do next.

I've started looking at caterers, but that seems pretty overwhelming, there are so many choices and we are still figuring out what kind of menu we'd like to have.

My instinct is to sit back and relax for a little while, but I have a feeling if I do that the months will fly by and I will suddenly be freaking out!

There is a wedding fair type thing (does anyone actually like those things??) in Santa Barbara this weekend, so Dan and I might use it as an excuse to get back up there and fool around.

Location, Location Location!

When Dan and I first started looking at wedding venues, we were pretty sure we would find a place in San Diego. I didn't have a specific place in mind, but I always pictured myself getting married in my hometown. After 2 months of looking at a large range of venues from small lofts downtown to botanical gardens in Encinitas, we just couldn't find the "right" place.

For Dan's birthday we headed up to Santa Barbara and then Solvang to check out some venues. We love both areas and have great memories there.

The first venue we checked out was the Rockwood Women's Club...and there was no need to see anything else after that! As we were walking around, it just felt right. The location is close enough to downtown Santa Barbara to be convenient but far enough way to feel serene. We will get married on the patio, surrounded by trees and then head inside for the reception.

Favorite Things about Rockwood?

• Outdoor Fireplace
• Location
• Old Spanish feeling
• Can have ceremony & reception on same site
• Surrounded by trees

It might be hard planning this wedding somewhere 3.5 hours away, but I think it will be worth it. Plus it will serve as a mini destination wedding for my friends. 

One thing on the list done, about a million to go....

Why Spring 2013?

A lot of friends are curious why we are waiting over a year to get married, but the answer is really pretty simple - we like to take our time and we have awesome friends.

Taking our Time

We waited until after the Holidays to really start looking at venues, and by then most everything was booked. We want a lot of time to plan everything because we get sidetracked easy and are doing most of the planning on our own. Plus indecisiveness runs in Dan's family....

Awesome Friends

We have a number of great friends getting married this year and will be traveling a lot to some kickass places, like Denver and Cabo San Lucas. These friends are obviously NOT lazy and have planned their weddings already. Instead of trying to sandwich our wedding in between others, we decided it would be best to take our time and enjoy the experience.

I Said Yes!

To kick things off, I will share the story of our proposal and a little bit about Dan and I.

We've been together for a little over 5 years. We met through a mutual friend (and future best man) and lived in Chicago for 3 years before deciding to move back to Southern California. With Dan from LA and me from San Diego, it just made sense to take the leap and move back to our homeland together. We moved in together and have been living in sin for 3 years...until we went to Paris on a family vacation!

My parents, brother, sister-in-law, Dan and myself headed off to Paris for a 10 day trip last October. It was the first time all of us have taken a trip together, and it turned out to be an amazing time with lots of walking, laughing, eating, drinking and occasional site seeing.

For some sanity, Dan and I planned a side trip to Champagne, France, a quick train ride away from Paris. We checked out a few different champagne houses and imbibed on some delightful champagnes.

After we had a long lunch (with more wine, obviously) we went to check out the Notre Dame de Reims. In my humble opinion, this fantastic old church is even more captivating then the one in Paris. It was here that Dan got down on one knee and did the dirty deed and asked me to marry him! It was really windy and tourists we asked to take our picture weren't exactly professionals..so this is our first official pic as an engaged couple!

Here's a closeup of the ring, since somehow Dan designed the PERFECT ring for me without any help! Go Dan! Excuse my freckled chubby fingers...

Meet Me...and Dan

Hellloo people. My name's Kate and I'm newly engaged to the love of my life Dan (see handsome pic below). We just started the process of planning our big day and we're a bit overwhelmed - after enjoying so many of our friends weddings, we really had no idea how much work went into planning one of our own. Apparently I should have paid more attention to the decorations and layout vs the music and bar...

Since Dan and I will be planning most everything on our own, we will be relying a lot on our amazing friends and family for their input, advice and help. I figured this blog would be a good way to let everyone know whats going on while documenting this exciting part of our lives.