Colors? Check! Venue? Still TBD...

Today my mom and I visited Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Belle Meade Plantation for possible reception sites, and to be honest, neither really lived up to my expectations. Cheekwood is very pretty (well, not so much in January), but it's also extremely pricey for being an older facility. The wedding coordinator was very helpful and upfront about everything, which I really appreciated, and she gave me a bridal magazine full of vendors in the middle Tennessee area, which is awesome. The main problem is that every single item - from chairs to silverware to lighting and even plants - is an additional fee on top of the rental fee, which gets very expensive when you add it all up. The options are wonderful if you have a bottomless budget, but even the bare minimum on everything was too much for us.

Belle Meade Plantation is quaint and charming, but a little too rustic for my tastes. I should have known that a glorified stable would be too country for me, but it looked really nice in the pictures. And I'm sure that when decorated, the facility looks lovely. But I just can't get over the barn feel... Not really what I'm after.

So I guess we've eliminated two from the list now, which is helpful. Today we also finalized the budget, so now I have a better idea of what to shoot for, and we started looking at dresses. :) Making progress! Tomorrow is the bridal show (yay!), then Tuesday I have an appointment with the Nashville City Club. More appointments will follow soon, I'm sure. I still definitely want to check out the Factory at Franklin, 3rd aVenue South, CJ's Off the Square, Traveler's Rest Plantation, and Riverwood Mansion.

If you have any suggested venues in the Nashville area, please comment!!

Final update for today: the wedding colors have been chosen!! After having an original palette in mind, second-guessing myself, and then tweaking the original option, I've come to a final decision on colors: black, white, and turquoise all over! The inspiration? Tiffany blue, appropriately, and the new black and white bridal bag I picked up today from David's Bridal. I put my turquoise wedding binder in it and voila! I found the color combination I had been searching for. :) Other combinations I had considered include: turquoise and brown (brown + black tuxedoes = mismatch), turquoise and pink (too beachy), purple and green (one word: Barney), and turquoise and purple (not amazing together). I'm happy with my choice, and I'm sure some of the others will show up in accent colors. :)

Stay posted for an update about the bridal show!

C & A