Our Song

It's been almost a year since Rob and I had the biggest celebration of our lives.  There was so much planning and figuring out details that I was sure I would never forget them.  Even the day of the wedding, I was chanting to myself, "don't forget" repeatedly.  Everyone told me it would become a blur and I thought, Ha, not me!  I will remember.  Sadly, I have realized despite my efforts that some have faded.

Our photographer did a phenomenal job recording it all on her camera, but there are still some details that just don't quite get captured.  I know we have a video recording of the day in all it's wonder that we will eventually get (and by no means is this a hurry up request).  But no matter what's been recorded there are still some details that flicker.

One of these should not, but for some reason has.  At Cassie and Shannon's wedding we quickly realized we can't remember our song.  We know generally what it sounds like, but get it confused if we hear another song by the same artist.  How embarrassing!  We can google it and watch it on YouTube practically any time and hear it on the radio occasionally.  At least we kind of know it.  So here I am putting it down for the archives.  Sigh... :P

Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat - Lucky

The Big Day!

*** The main reason for the delay of this post was I assumed we would be getting our photos from our photographer sooner than we did and I am posting now without her photos because she hasn't mailed them to us yet.  Once she does, I will highlight them in their own blog post.  Of course a move, temp housing, and new job haven't helped with finding time to do these things either.  :)

The long awaited day had finally arrived!  Rob and I had decided that we were not going to see each other the day of the wedding, so it made it a little interesting moving around the house.  My sister and brother-in-law made breakfast for the whole house on Friday, so we got quite a buffet of delicious foods to choose from including sausages, baked sweet breads, fruit, and mimosas. I grabbed a good plate of things and sat out on my private balcony sipping my mimosa and eating fruit in the bright sunshine.  Melissa and Joanna and Annie came to visit me and we played and enjoyed the weather. 

It came time to get to the salon for our hair dos and what not so we all piled into my sisters van and went to Hairoics for some pampering.  We brought a tray of chow and more champagne to sip on at the salon.

How it begins

The salon with everyone getting ready

Almost done with the hair

The finished product :)

From there we picked up the flowers from Harris Teeter which were just fabulous.  I couldn't have asked for nicer flowers that really fit our wedding.  We wanted simple but pretty bouquets and he nailed it perfectly.  The gals went back to the house and ate our lunch before getting ready for the ceremony. 

From that point on it was a bit of a whirlwind of activity.  The girls were getting ready upstairs, the boys took over the downstairs and there were people everywhere.  Our photographer showed up and started dancing between the floors to capture everything.  (She did a spectacular job)  Once we were set, we made out way over to the ceremony site. 

Getting some last minute instructions before heading down the aisle

Dad and I make our way down the beach

Rob and I see each other for the first time that day

Rob smiling :)

Exchanging vows

You may now kiss the bride

On our way to happily ever after

Fun bridal party poses

I feel like this is the appropriate place to give a huge thank you to the wonderful individuals that married us.  Meredith and Brantley put together such a beautiful ceremony and homily.  It was personal and it was lovely.  We are truly grateful to know such wonderful people.

Also, I would like to give a lot of thanks to Mr. Dave Hauver who filmed our ceremony and through miracles of modern technology was able to stream it live over the internet for people who couldn't make it.  We heard scattered reports of success, so we were pretty pleased we had the ability to share our day them. 

After the ceremony and pictures, we were whisked away to do some of our individual and couple portraits which turned out fabulous!  I can't wait to share them with you.  Before we knew it, we were running late to be at the reception to get the party under way!

Hiding on the back porch to be announced in with the rest of the bridal party

Our first dance - Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat

Father Daughter dance - Just The Way You Are by Billy Joel

Mother Son dance - The Man You've Become by Molly Pasutti

Our DJ did a great job getting people out on the dance floor and just having a great time.  It was the most fun I have had in a long time.  Of course being surrounded by friends and family and celebrating one of the biggest moments in your life probably had something to do with it.  Rob and I were absolutely overjoyed by how wonderful everything went and really happy to see everyone.  We wouldn't have changed a single thing about our wedding and would do it all over again in a heart beat.

Places People!

Rehearsals are often needed to make sure that important events go as planned. Usually they are associated with live drama or music or dance, but someone along the way thought they would be good for weddings too.

On Friday, after most people had arrived, we headed over to the ceremony location to get our practice on. The weather was holding out pretty well and we kicked off the sandals and went to get the game plan together.


Meredith and Brantley were our fabulous officiants who provided the general outline of the ceremony and when to move where. After everyone figured out who there exit buddy was, we did a test run to make sure we really knew what we were doing. Since everyone has been in at least a wedding or attended one in the last 2-3 years, we knew the drill.

I had a bouquet that was part of the Jack N' Jill bridal shower contest and then one from my shower. My sister and all her creativeness blended the two for the gianormous monster I am seen holding below. After we had left for our honeymoon, I began to wonder where on earth that thing have wondered off to. The last time I saw it was in Colleen and Bruce's trunk. When we got back, it was piled on the stack of boxes in our apartment. *shurgs* I have no clue who got it back.

From the rehearsal part of the night, we went to the dinner part of the night. This was most exciting because we were hungry and going to one of our favorite places to eat; The Black Pelican. Dinner was delicious and even came when some entertainment from Bill the Best Man.


A brief welcome was said by Rob's dad and then a small speech from my dad. We followed with our bridal party gifts. The boys got engraved pocket knives and the girls got an engraved jewelry box along with a necklace that they could wear the day of the wedding. My step mom made those and they were very nice. Then it was time to get some rest for the big day ahead. ;)

Arrival to the OBX

In the week leading up to the wedding, there was a lot going on. Lists were getting checked off left and right and we were packing fools. Not only did we need to get everything for the wedding, we needed all of our stuff for our honeymoon as well. In all the craziness I also got a wicked head cold which added a whole new layer of fun to the already stressful week.

We managed to make it to the airport and got down to Norfolk without too much trouble. One the second leg of the flight though, my head felt like it was going to explode. That was the first time I had flown with a head cold and I have decided I really don't like it.

Our trip down to the Outer Banks was much shorter than all our previous trips down. It was kind of refreshing and felt like we were cheating by being in the car for only 2 hours. We managed to make it down in time to drop our stuff at our house and meet Rob's family for dinner at one of our favorite places, Tortuga's Lie.

After dinner, Rob and I explored our newly remodeled house. When we rented it, the scheme for the decor was kind of kitchy beach/border line tacky if it weren't at the beach. The week before we arrived, they updated the website with the new photos. I thought I had saved the wrong website at first, but then realized they totally overhauled the place. It looked much more updated modern beach. Very classy. It turned out that we were the first people to rent the house after it's renovations. What a super bonus.

On Thursday we took care of some of the errands we could before everyone got to the beach. I went to Hairoics for my trial hair run. It was nice to have someone play with my hair for a while. :)


After the hair shop, I met up with Rob (he was picking up his tux) and we picked up our rings from Diamonds and Dunes. My favorite jewelry store. We grabbed some chow and headed back to the house to relax for a bit.

Given the beautiful weather, I went to the beach to take in the awesome views and just have a zen moment. Just a wonderful reminder why we chose this as the place to get married.


Thursday night we got a hold of everyone we knew that was in the area and went to Jockey's Ridge to watch the sunset. It was nice to share a very Outer Banks thing with so many people who haven't been there before. Jumping down the dunes after the sun had set was a huge hit, especially with Grandma Smith who was laughing so hard and releasing her inner 12 year old.



Then back to the house for much needed rest to try and kick that cold.

Hmm...

Yeah, bright and sunny and raining for our wedding day... Oh well. :P

Wedding Planning

One of the many perks of getting married at the beach is that you get to go back to it a lot for planning purposes. This past weekend was another one of those trips, and in fact is the last one we will make before the wedding. We are less than 3 months out from our wedding date and things are moving right along!

We were able to make an overnight stop in to see my friend Andrea who is a very 7.5 months pregnant and her husband Tyler. I am so excited for the both of them to become parents and can't wait to meet Julia! We had a short, but good visit. I wish I lived closer to them.

The next morning we got up and made our way down to the Outer Banks to start making progress on our list of wedding planning to-do's. We made a pit stop into Beach Bread Co. for lunch. We have never been there before, but they have a nice selection of sandwiches and bistro eats. Conveniently, the are located a few doors down from our first stop - Diamonds and Dunes to pick out our rings. We had sort of pre-picked them out last time we were there, but made the final choice and ordered them. Very exciting.

We then made our way to talk to the florist at Harris Teeter. That turned out to be one of the best stops on this trip. He was nice, creative, he listened, and offered a fair price for the flowers unlike the first lady we tried. Bonus! The next stop was making hair appointments for the bridal crew which was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. All those books about wedding planning make you think you are going to have this huge hassle with everyone and so far I haven't really had that problem with anyone.

We checked into our hotel and went for a walk on the beach. I think this is the first time I didn't go barefoot. Even with the nice weather (low 50s) it still wasn't quite warm enough for that. However, since the beach is basically vacated at this time of year, you can do some awesome beach combing for shells.

After our nice invigorating stroll along the beach, we went back to the hotel for our own Chili and Wine night made infamous by Mike P. It was quite tasty and hit the spot after being out in the cool air.


The following day we were up and on the road early to get to the wedding planning at the reception place. We did our tasting first thing and picked out the food everyone will be eating. I am glad we did the tasting because we did end up changing our minds on some of the items. Our tasting carried over into the cake department. I was surprised at how tasty the samples were. Also, I am pretty sure that was Rob's favorite part of the day. :P We also got to place with centerpiece decorations and this was Rob's masterpiece. It was cool (hence the spotlight on the blog), but ultimately not our choice.


We wrapped up our visit there and wandered around Manteo for a little bit taking photos and enjoying the town. We squeezed in a visit to the tux place before they closed to get pricing and information on the "when" for ordering. We had a late lunch at the Outer Banks Brewing Station which is one of our favorite places. We finished our visit with booking our house we are staying at and more beach time. :)

It was a great visit and a very productive one too! Now it's go time! Whee!

Back in Atlanta

This weekend was too short. Of course spending 20+ hours in a car in 4 days may have something to do with that. You know you have made that length of a trip often when you start to think at hour 7, man, time is flying by today. We had a pretty smooth ride until we got back to Atlanta tonight, but really, can't complain. We have had much worse.

Overall it was a great weekend. The weather held out and we were able to picnic for lunch on the way up and on the way back. Rob and I are pretty much over stopping at Burger King or other such establishment on these trips. Picnics work out better for wallets and stomachs alike. :)

We stopped into the jewelry store that we bought my engagement ring setting at and we think we have our wedding bands pretty much picked out. They were just as nice as when we went to get my ring set last May. They even recognized us and we dealt with the owners directly. They shinned up my ring (OMG - HUGE difference) and fixed Rob's necklace for free. Yes, they are definitely going to get more business from us.

We talked with a few tentative vendor-ish people. We know were are early on these things, but well, we know what kind of time lines to work within now for them. We also got to talk with quite a few housing people and I have to say, the people at Outer Banks Blue and the people at Village Realty were the most helpful. I felt like they were the most honest and listened to what we were looking for.

One of the things we were looking to do on this trip is see what the tempurature is like at the time of our ceremony. It varied a bit, but the sand was comfortable to stand on. The wind is really my only concern for my bridesmaids. I think it will work out ok though. And because we were there, we decided to stick our feet in the ocean. Now, considering that it's normally in the 55 degree range when we go in May, April is going to be colder. MUCH colder. In fact, I would say that going anywhere near the water this time of year is just plain stupid. There were people in the water of course, but they had on wetsuits. I still think they are nuts.

While we were there, Rob got his birthday gift early. He now has his very own body board so he doesn't have to borrow mine this year. :) We had a hand-me down, but still working fine all foam one we shared two years ago and last year I bought my own and he used the other. Well, kind of, he used mine too. :) So now he has his very own to play on too.

Another Beach Trip (Yes, it's a rough life)

This weekend Rob and I are making another trek to the beach. We are pre-gaming for the beach week trip next month for sure, but we are really there for our pre-wedding anniversary which is tomorrow. In fact, I just went and wished Rob and "Happy pre-rehersal dinner anniversary or some such thing." I am sure this year is going to fly by.

We are making this trip now rather than combining a trip in May for a couple of reasons. One - we want vacation to be vacation, and two - we want to check out how things are there in April. Can we stand on the beach barefoot without our toes going numb? That kind of thing.

We are also doing a lot of research and meeting with a bunch of different people. Photographers and floral people and checking out housing and hotels. We will probably even stop in to where I got my ring set and see what they have for wedding bands. They were super friendly and reasonably priced. Can't go wrong there. :)

All in all, it's going to be a good productive weekend. It will be short, but we will be at the beach and that makes it all right.

Outer Banks in October

Last weekend, Rob and I took a trip to the Outer Banks. The purpose of this trip was mainly to scout out places for our wedding ceremony and reception. However, I am not going to lie, any excuse to go to the beach makes it a vacation.

A number of things went well while we were there. The rides up and back were OK. When we stopped for lunch, we got free cookies - huge plus for Rob. Since October is considered a low season, we were able to snag a few local deals. My favorite of these was finding out Monday night is pizza night at Black Pelican. I was planning on getting my favorite pizza anyway, it was a bonus to find out it would cost me $6 less than normal. The tourism office was very helpful and friendly. Since their job is giving out information, we got exactly what we needed.

While we were there, I realized how much different the place is at night. When we go in May, we usually run out to dinner, but it's still light out when we get back. I got a chance to see the Manteo Lighthouse at night, and see the blinking of the Bodie Island Lighthouse as well. Very cool.

Our search for sites went fairly well too. We had appointments with all of the places we wanted to see except one and we squeezed that in there too. I tried to get a variety of places to give us an idea of the options we would have. Below is a list and summary of what each place was.

Mallards Marsh - Located in Wanchese (south of Manteo), it is set in with the marshes and very pretty at night. This is an all inclusive place that takes care of most everything from chairs at your ceremony to your DJ and centerpieces at the event hall. They offer a lot of options, but do most of the work for you. This is a plus when you are planning a wedding from a few states away.

NC Aquarium - Located on the north end of Roanoke Island, it provides an area for a sound side ceremony and then the aquarium for the reception. When you rent the aquarium, you get the entire place for an hour, then for the remaining time you get the rooms you rented. They have tables and chairs and would set them up for us. We would just have to coordinate the rest with the vendors. Oh also, we are not allowed to have live fish for our centerpieces. I think we can handle that.


108 Budleigh - Located in the heart of Manteo, a few blocks from where Rob proposed, this place offers a great location. The deal is we are essentially renting the building which comes with tables and chairs for 150 people. We get the building at 7am in the morning the day of and need to be out by midnight. It's what I like to call the, do it yourself place. But if we wanted to have an all day party, we can. :)

Duck Woods Country Club - This was in Southern Shores, but we wanted to check it out anyway. And that's about as far as this place made it. It's pretty, but reminds us of a hotel and they were pretty explicit about how removed we would be from its "members". Well Mr. Country Club Man, you and your members seem to be fine without us, but thanks anyway.

So now it's left to homework and investigation. Just because they told us they were fabulous doesn't mean they are. We have enough time to check things out so that's what we are doing. Reference checks, Better Business Bureau, and most importantly, what will this cost us? It's a lot of work, but it's mostly fun work. :)

Can We Afford That??

Planning for a wedding is probably the most interesting and unique experience of my life to date. Of course there is the obvious part, getting married to the love of my life. But then you have to figure out all of the details that go along with it and since we are not eloping, there are a lot of them. Where to get married? Who to invite? What are we going to wear? What are we going to eat? When do we want to have it? And the biggest driver for all the prior questions is - can we actually afford that?

Thankfully some resources have broken down the percentage of your total budget to tell you what should go where, but even still... holy cow! One of the break downs totals 105%. I don't think that's really going to help. Another issue is that some of it's just not really defined. For instance, there is no category of spending for centerpieces. I suppose you just steal from some other category, lump it in with the miscellaneous category (as well as every other thing you don't have a spot for), or you merge in with flowers category and call it a day. Or better yet, I can call on Ben to hijack at least two centerpieces per wedding until ours and we should have enough to go around. Brilliant!

I think I just had no idea how much of a balancing act all of this will turn out to be. What may not seem like a bad price for a DJ may end up being totally out of line with what you "should" have spent according to your total budget. I now have new found respect for those who have already planned a wedding a lived to tell about it.

What I am really trying to say is when you enter our hand made sand castle we built on the beach for the reception and see PB&J and bananas for dinner, but it is really well decorated, you'll know we clearly had no idea how much flowers would really cost. I can see the calculator and myself becoming very good friends over the coming months.

Drum Roll Please.....

Over the past few months, Rob and I have been struggling trying to find a location that we would both like to get married. There was an initial idea that had come to mind, but we had set it aside thinking, no, it will be closer to home. We bounced around some more ideas and came up with Northern VA, the Poconos, most major cities in Central New York, and even in Jamaica as a wild card. We just weren't finding "the place".

I think now it was because we were trying to make everyone else happy but ourselves and that's when, after most friends and family repeated to us, "It's YOUR wedding", we finally took a look at our initial location and seriously thought about it. Turns out, that's our place. It's where both of us have very happy memories together and where Rob got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. We are going to be married in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and we couldn't be more excited about it!


The actual event itself is a ways off yet (looking at April 2010), but it almost needs to be with everything we have going on. Rob is in school for another year and then we are going to be moving (better be!), and before you know it the holidays are upon us and then into the spring. But since Rob and I are crafty people, we want to do a lot of stuff ourselves and this will allow for that to happen as well. While a longer engagement isn't something we wanted initially, it's showing positive points for us now. :)

Sarah's Getting Married!

While I was on vacation something pretty fantastic happened. Rob asked me to marry him. I said yes. :) This is the reason there has been great delay in my blog entry. We wanted to inform as many people as we could before they read it here. Since that was really the next thing to get blogged about, well, we needed to wait. :)

We went camping at Pettigrew State Park in North Carolina near Lake Phelps. We did this last year and found it worked out great to get out to the Outer Banks early on Saturday and enjoy ourselves fully instead of driving all day. This year we learned to bring firewood and food to cook. We enjoyed the unwinding after being in the car for 9 hours and started to relax. We got up the next morning to rain and overcast skies. We packed it up and headed towards Manteo to get some breakfast and coffee. Yum!

We got into town, parked, and I went towards the coffee house and he went towards the lighthouse. I said, "What are you doing? I am hungry and want breakfast!" Keep in mind it's still kind of icky out. He said, "I'm going to the lighthouse." I realized he was just going and so I said, "you are being a poop" and followed him out there.

Once inside the lighthouse, he handed me a present and said, "I thought beach week should start with a gift." So I opened it and found a small brass kaleidescope. He explained, "This is the first thing I remember buying with my allowance and technically that would make it one of the first gifts I ever bought because I am giving it to you now. This is one of those gifts you only give once and I don't want to loose it, so..." I had been looking out the window through it and things started clicking in my head and I turned around to find him on one knee, "Sarah Alice Behling, will you marry me?" I managed a yes before I started with the tears of happiness and hugs and all that goodness. Needless to say, that set the tone for a very enjoyable vacation. He made me a very happy woman. :)

There will be a lot of changes over the coming months, but I think they will be some good ones and I am sure you'll be able to follow along here as I see no need to delay in postings again. :)