The first steps of planning...

So this weekend was rainy and wet in Atlanta so Joe and I had nothing better to do than plan our wedding.  We are both super excited about all the planning so it is never a chore to plan (at least not yet!) It is also far enough out that there is no stress involved :)  We also had two big meetings set this weekend that forced us to start thinking about our "vision" for our wedding.

To start off the wedding filled weekend Joe and I had dinner with his family at Chops.  Who doesn't love an expensive steak every once in a while!  To say the least we ate WAY too much.  We enjoyed smoked salmon, crab cakes, steak, mushrooms, mac and cheese, creme brulee, and of course wine and champagne.  We also got a piece of super yummy bread pudding that had a lovely note from our waiter congratulating us! Here is all of us after dinner!

My future in-laws! 

So besides that, what did we do all weekend??? We planned!!!!

1) Planned a budget.  I knew Joe was a numbers person (he majored in finance) but let me tell you we have the fanciest Excel budget spreadsheet known to man kind!  It even has drop down menus depend on what option we settle for.

2) Got overly excited about our honeymoon.  Yes, I know our planning is all over the place but we have time for all the details!  We might as well plan what is going to be a honeymoon of my dreams (hopefully).  Needless to say, I might have to forgo shopping for the next year so that I can save up for it, but it will totally be worth it.  I don't want to share too many details because I don't want to jinx it but it combines a cruise ship and over water bungalows...how much better can it get!?!?!?

3) Met the planner at the venue.  We pretty much only had one venue in mind so this was easy to set up.  We just wanted to verify that it was what we were looking for even though we had seen the place many times!  It was exactly what we thought it would be, minus the chairs :)  Who wants red backs to chairs if that's not your color!  Although Joe might not think its a big deal (guys and their lack of attention to details) this was going to drive me crazy so we did some research and came to a happy compromise of inexpensive chair covers!  Other than that, the meeting went smoothly and now we just have to put a deposit down and make the date official!

4) We met with the deacon.  With both of us being Catholic we had always said we would do the ceremony at a catholic church.  When I called Deacon Nick to set up the meeting earlier last week it was the first time that the planning part really sunk in.  Something about actually setting a date and time to get married in the Catholic church and hearing about the whole process really made it sink in!  The meeting went great and we are excited about all of the counseling and retreats that will bring us closer together and really allow us to get to know each other even better (if that is possible!)  Below is a beautiful picture of the church :)

All in all, it was a great weekend to plan because we did not have much else to do!  Hopefully sometime this week we will make the date official! 

On a completely random note, I cannot wait to see my uncle tonight who happens to be traveling to Chicago from Slovenia the same time I have a meeting in Chicago.  Ready to enjoy some deep dish pizza before heading to Indy for the second part of my travels this week :)  I can't wait to be home all next week so I can cook dinners/try new recipes to talk about! Now stay tuned for when we set the date...should be coming any day now!!!