Wedding Re-Plan

So after last week's letdown of the cancellation of our venue, V & I have been desperately trying to find another place to have our wedding & reception. I went to B'ham last Saturday & looked at 6 different venues. Some were available for a Friday or Sunday wedding, but not Ocotber 10th. And some were just so pricey that it didn't make sense to choose them.

But, our wedding director told us about another place so we went to B'ham again yesterday. It's called The Club and it's a private club with a terrace overlooking Birmingham! It's really pretty & they have awesome food we can choose from, so we were sold on it! We also get to serve the wine that Vincent's parents helped us pick out & we are able to keep our photographer and rehearsal dinner venue. YEAH! You have no idea what a relief we feel today! October 10th is the most desired date in the fall because there are no Alabama or Auburn football home games. For the people whho do not live in the area - it's sad but true that football games eliminate half your guest list! http://www.theclubinc.org/

We're going to follow up with a couple of churches in the same area tomorrow. We visited the chapel at Canterbury Methodist and it's really cute. It only holds 120 people so it's perfect for our group. The sanctuary looks exactly the same, but at 4x the scale. They already have 1 wedding scheduled that day, but maybe that means the sanctuary or the chapel is still open. We also looked at St. Paul's catholic church & it's AMAZING! But Heather,Missy's friend in B'ham, said they already have a wedding booked that day. So she's going to find out if they can do 2 in one day. Cross your fingers for us! http://www.stpaulsbhm.org/ http://www.canterburyumc.org/

The hotel Heather suggested was Aloft & it's really cool. The design of the hotel is very modern. We are going to keep some rroms saved at the Hampton Inn in Calera in case some people would like to stay there on the night of the rehearsal dinner since it's much closer to the winery. We will book rooms for Friday and Saturday night at Aloft for people who don't want to change rooms on Saturday. It will be a busy day & I know I don't want to be changing hotel if possible. Aloft is supposed to have a shuttle service by October so our guests will not have to worry about navigating around even though the club is about 1 mile from The Club and the churches we are looking at. http://www.starwoodhotels.com/alofthotels/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=3272

The location of the venue & hotel is very close to the Birmingham Zoo and the Botanical Gardens which may interest some of our guests. There is also lots of shopping and places to eat in this area.

Check out our knot.com website for more details!

Video for Mom of The Club:

Becoming more & more French

So Vincent bought me Rosetta Stone & I love it! It's keeping me pretty busy. I'm actually passing up my gym time to use it tonight. I feel like a dork again - in a good way :) I wish we were going back to France this summer. I told Vincent this morning that sometimes I have the French cafe music in my head. haha.

We're still trying to decide on where to go for our honeymoon. We've been looking at St. Lucia a bit & Vincent mentioned Canada. I suppose it's not a rule that you have to do the beach thing. This man at work told us about how he & his wife went on a Mediterranean cruise for their honeymoon. Sounded awesome so I'd like to read up on it. We only have 5 days off work though so I don't want to head off too far and have to recouperate from the travel and the wedding.

Our Engagement party at Stacey & Ken's house was April 18th and it was so much fun! We had an awesome cake & live entertainment by my bro. Vincent also made a heart touching speech that I will never forget :). It was lots of fun to have family & friends there to celebrate us! I have to share some our pics:

Quarterly status - lol

I'm finally getting to post!!! We've been so busy planning and Vincent is flying and playing rugby a lot these days. In case you don't know, Vincent andI started a wedding website for details and directions. www.theknot.com/ourwedding/KatieHudson&VincentTesson. It's a great website because I can add my guest list and guests can RSVP online. We just sent our "Save the Date" or "Reservez la Date" magnets to all of our overseas guests last week. Vincent made some great information packets of all the things to do in the region. We hope that everyone will get a true Southern experience while they are here for the wedding.

We are also staying really busy meeting with caterers, florists, and dress shops. Mom and Stacey and Melanie planned a special day for me a couple of weeks ago. Mel and Stacey tried on bridesmaids' dresses and I tried on lots of dresses for me. It was so much fun! When mom and I went back to Birmingham the next weekend, I tried on my favorite dress again and decided to order it! It's beautiful! Vincent and I have decided not to see each other on the wedding day until the ceremony so he's going to be in complete awe when I walk down the aisle. :)

More exciting news is that Vincent's parents are coming to visit April 3rd through 10th and they are going to meet Mom & Dad while they are here! It's going to be a great time. We can't wait. We're trying to think of something fun that all of us can do together. Maybe it will be a surprise... :) See the pic below that Vincent's mom, Martine, sent me of her refridgerator. It's so cute! Vincent added his own special touch to the envelope. It says "Katie said yes" in French.

Yeah to 2009!

Vincent and I are back and busy at work, but with much more fun because we are planning our wedding! YEAH :) No decisions have been made yet as to when and where, but I will keep everyone posted with the details when we make them.

For now, here are some more pictures from our trip to Colorado:

Another post-proposal picture

Ice Skating on a Real Pond near Allenstown :) ... :

The view from our lodge at Mary's Lake, Estes Park, CO

We snow-shoed 2.5miles to a lake in the Rocky Mountains. It was a piece of cake :

Georgetown, CO

We stopped for a bite at Red Ram Restaurant in this old Victorian village on the way backfrom Vail after a long day of skiing.

Capital Hill Bed & Breakfast - Denver

We stayed here the night before we left Colorado. The "Forget Me Not" room was so cute and they served an amazing breakfast the next morning.

Larimer Street - Downtown Denver

this is where we went out to celebrate our engagement. We went to a nice jazz bar called ALTO and got a glass of champagne :)

New Beginnings for the New Year

Vincent and I have had a very exciting day today. We woke up this morning to a ton of snow everywhere (that would be about 4" actually which seems like a ton for a dixie chick). We left our mountain lodge this morning with the snow still falling to continue our sightseeing of the Rocky Mountain National Park. The sky was pouring snow as we drove up the mountain to Bear Lake which was completely covered in snow by the time we arrived. Needless to say, it was a very special moment as we were hugging to stay warm. With this beautiful adventure, Vincent kneeled to propose another one :) See the pictures for the smiles and tears that were to follow...

In front of Bear Lake

Ta da!


Top of Breckenridge
(where Vincent skiied from) I was somewhere almost as amazing. Notice the valley in the picture... I was about 10 ft higher than that! hehe.

A halfway frozen lake near Pikes Peak

It was amazing to hear the gurgling noises of the water flowing under the ice.

In the gondola at Breckenridge

You can't even tell I was freezing! Fantastic!