Sabrina & Paul's Wedding Weekend

Paul and I's Wedding featured on Off Beat Bride!

2008-10-28T00:56:00.004-05:00

So this is SUPER cool....
I submitted a few photos of Paul and I's wedding to Offbeat Bride last week and tonight/this morning I discovered this:

And then this:

Pretty sweeeeet, huh?!

Here's the direct link to my bride profile.

Thanks Ariel for featuring us on your site! Your book was really helpful and a great read - and your OffBeat Bride site was super inspirational. Nathan - once again - thanks for providing us with such kick-butt wedding photography!! And Justin - for all the beautiful portraits and reception photos. And thank you to everyone (especially friends and family for the countless hours of indentured servitude) for helping us with our incredibly offbeat and extremely memorable wedding! We love you all.

From the Scrapbook

2008-10-07T23:27:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago when I was down in Florida my friend Laura created a really cool scrapbook page for a competition using Paul and I's wedding photos from Stephen's Gap. She won the round by the way, and right now is down to the final round!! Go Laura!!

The Traveling Shoelaces

2008-09-12T00:10:00.003-05:00

So Paul and I's good friends, Jasna and Jason, who recently moved WAY out to Colorado, sent us these great pictures of the awesome St. Louis-made shoelaces we gave away as favors - and a trip they made up a mountain peak!!

If anyone else has photos of where our shoelaces or accessory cords have traveled - send them on over and I'll post them here.

Thank you!

2008-08-04T09:53:00.006-05:00

Well we are on the very last set of thank you notes right now - have about 20 more to do. We still have a mystery gift that didn't have a note with it - Two white shirts that say "Every Day is a Caving Day" from Cafe Press. We think they are great! But we don't know who to thank for them. So if anyone knows - tell us. There were several donations to SCCi made on our name which is wonderful - the caves (and Paul and I) thank you!! Amazingly enough - all of our goodies on our REI list were purchased, except for a pair of socks. Several people gave us REI gift certificates - which went towards our brand new backpacking tent - a Big Agnes 3 person (or two people with gear).
We tried it out two weekends ago on the Jack's River Trail in GA. Weighs just under 6 pounds - including the footprint and is really quite roomy. I'm going to post photos from that trip on my regular blog (Brina Bat) this week. Still have to organize and put together photo albums of all the photography of our wonderful wedding weekend - to whit I am enlisting the help of a professional - Laura - in early September. Now all we have to do is go on our honeymoon at some point in time....

Bride Price Hiccup

2008-06-16T08:02:00.001-05:00

Paul received these photos and official letter in the mail recently. Seems as thought the bride price (joke folks - joke!) sent to my father didn't get through. We're currently working on sending the Goat and Camel branch all of the necessary papers. Hope (Click on the pages below to read.)

My Dad and Paul kept teasing me throughout the whole time my parents were in Huntsville to help and put on our wedding.... the "price" kept going up, more camels, a couple more goats, etc. until they finally settled on a price.

A Little Kiss

2008-06-03T00:21:00.005-05:00

Just a little movie I created from Nathan's "burst-mode" photos of Paul & I at Stephen's Gap cave right after the wedding ceremony. I added the running water sound effect, multiply the sound 10 fold and you've got the real sound of all that rushing water from the waterfalls behind us.

Plethera of Pictures!

2008-05-22T11:31:00.010-05:00

A plethora of beautiful wedding weekend photos await you here from Justin Itnyre of HUE Design +Photo. Be patient while they load, it takes a little while.

There are photos of the set up, some snapshots of the cave trip to Tumbling Rock, the Family dinner, portraits of Paul and I on the 3rd floor of the Lowe Mill just before the reception began (that's why we were all dressed up when we popped out of the elevator), and then the reception.

Our grand entrance from the super cool freight elevator ....

...to our waiting guests... before we got changed and all comfortable.

My Mom & Dad, Paul and I and Paul's Mom and Dad

More photos to come and a short video from the wedding ceremony at Stephens Gap - stay tuned!

Portraits by Justin Itnyre © 2008
HUE Design +Photo

Bride Price vs. Dowry

2008-05-16T10:16:00.011-05:00

My Mom, Dad, Paul and I kept calling it a dowry. I looked it up. Dowries are "property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage." But the one Paul and my Dad worked out was the opposite - with items being paid to my father. That's actually called a "bride price." Bride price is defined as "a sum of money or quantity of goods given to a bride's family by that of the groom, esp. in tribal societies." It took over a week to work out, with heated negotiations - offers by Paul and counteroffers from my Dad, until finally they agreed. I think it was the "fire ant mound for my father's enemies" that really cinched the deal.

My bride price:

13 Strong Female Goats
6 Two-humped (or Bactrian) Camels that don't spit
1 XL Fire Ant Mound to put in the tents of enemies

The goat futures market went down a bit during the week of negotiations, the original offer starting out at 5 goats and eventually climbing to 13. And there was much discussion as to one-humped (Dromedary) or two-humped (Bactrian) camels, with my father refusing the single-humped, citing that two-humped camels are always better than single-humped. Spit-free camels allowed Paul to save and only pay 6 instead of 8. (As an aside - you have no idea how hard it is to find XL fire ant mounds. S and M are easy - but XL is really tough - not to mention all the fire ant wrangling involved with all those little buggers.)

We've managed to procure several crates for transportation of live animals. This afternoon they'll be promptly shipped to my father, chief of the Greywicke tribe.

Eat at Joe's

2008-05-15T08:08:00.002-05:00

After our brilliant wedding ceremony at Stephen's Gap our little band cleaned up and hiked out of Stephen's Gap.

My wonderful hubby, Paul, and Michelle behind him, adjusting her ponytail.

Our resident cave photographer extraoidenere, Nathan and myself, Tommy and Lea in the back.

Tommy and Angela

What everyone expect to see hanging in a tree at Stephen's Gap - two formal dresses!

Angela was taking photos of wild flowers behind me, so we paused for a minute, allowing me to shoot this set of three. The last one makes me laugh.

Lea (surviving her first caving experience/wedding in a cave) showing off her jacks with Tommy in the Stephen's Gap parking lot.

Angela called in our orders and we enjoyed a wedding ceremony repast of most delicious pizza. We ate at Joe's - Joe's Pizza that is, off 72. I highly recommend it! (its marked on the map I posted on Feb 21st).

Mmmmm... pepperoni, olive and extra cheese.

The bride and groom's toast

And yes - and the tradition of feeding each other wedding pizza!

More photos of the wedding weekend soon...We're just getting started here folks!

Get Me to the Cave on Time!

2008-05-12T13:07:00.012-05:00

Announcing the long awaited photos from the wedding ceremony at Stephen's Gap from the morning of May 1st, 2008.

My "something blue"

Angela starting the ceremony

Lea reading

Paul reading his vow to me

"You may kiss the bride"

Lea, Michelle, me, Paul, Tommy and Angela on the pedestal at Stephen' Gap Cave.

More kissing practice.

A long shot of Paul and I. You're looking at about 100ft of waterfall, then the pedestal hides about another 30 feet down to the floor.

The whole nutty crew: Michelle, Angela, Tommy, Nathan, Paul, me and Lea. All packed up and ready to hike out after a successful wedding and pit bounce!

I think all of us really had an incredible time at Stephen's Gap. The day was so mild, the timing and light just right, the perfect words exchanged and everyone was all smiles (despite getting a bit chilly while taking photos).

These are just a selected-selected few of the keepers. I have 8 CDs worth of photos from Nathan, so I'd be posting for days if I even tried to post 1/2 of them! I will post at least a couple more items from the ceremony - And then after that I'll have photos from the cave trip and reception when I receive them from Justin so check back in the next few days.

All photos in this post by Nathan Williams. (thank you, thank you, thank you!)

Everyone else's pictures

2008-05-09T17:57:00.002-05:00

In the aftermath of the wedding weekend, there were several who posted their own photos:

Annamaria:
post #1 - Aunt B
post #2 - venue
post#3 - family dinner
post #4 - Monte Sano

Christin:
I fell into a crevasse
Brina's Wedding Weekend (TONS o Pics!)

(and by the way I feel utterly horrible for you Christin! I'm sorry! ... she was walking when she left on Saturday... I so didn't know ... and she made it out of TR ok, or at least we thought - heal up Christin!! Feel better!)

The Basics

2008-05-08T21:10:00.002-05:00

Here's a little teaser leading up to when I'm able to post some of the professional photos back from the wedding which took place on May 1st at Stephen's Gap (Nathan) and then the Reception from May 3rd (Justin). Hoping to get some of them in the next couple days.

So lets review what it takes to have a wedding:

1. Love

(now I have "All you need is love" going through my head.. "love, loooove, love is all you need")

2. A letterpress invitation printed on our 1924 Chandler and Price press (Preston) to join in on the wedding weekend fun

3. A wedding license and an officiant to marry Paul and I (thanks Angela!)

4. A (slightly nutty) Bride and Groom who want to get married in a cave

5. A group of (equally nutty) awesome friends to help with the wedding-in-a-cave.
Including (but not limited to) sherpa-ing, marrying, reading, photography, rappelling, witnessing, signing and of course laughing about it all.

Lea, Paul, Sabrina, Nathan, Michelle, Tommy and Angela

6. A bouquet of the orange-est Gerbers I've ever seen, and boutonnière for Paul

7. A really pretty dress for the bride and a tux for the groom (We told the rental place it was an outdoor wedding .... oh if they only knew!)

8. An incredible venue - Stephen's Gap Cave - with perfect weather - complete with complimentary 100'+ waterfalls and an after-wedding 130' rappel.

Geo Event

2008-05-05T00:46:00.007-05:00

Here my Dad and I getting ready to go TAG some RR cars.

Kidding..... Kidding... As you can see I was working on painting some gigantic corn. These were all preparations for the Geo-event "Tying the Knot" from 1-4pm on May 3rd....

Paul cutting out our "Giantized" Jolly Green Veggies that I drew for our event cache.

My Dad passing out from paint fumes while working on the radish. (I'm just kidding again- he was just playing like he was passing out... the wind kept changing a lot while we were spraying.)

And then the finished product at the Lowe Mill - Nathan K. and I standing by the 4 Jolly Green veggies: radish, corn, bean and carrot.

Down to the Wire

2008-04-30T00:17:00.002-05:00

Some pics of the final days of preparation leading up to the big weekend:

My Mom writing out cards for the family dinner.

My Dad covering the box for the cards and making signs to hang up to guide folks into the Lowe Mill.

Mom taping down postcards for a little "decor board."

My shirt for the Geo Event. (Just for easy identification and all) Paul's is burnt orange with "Groom"

Paul and I working on our family tree. (More on that wedding project later)

Piñata 101

2008-04-29T22:16:00.007-05:00

There will indeed be a piñata at the reception! I thought it'd be quite fun to find one and stuff it with goodies for everyone to beat up... but the more I looked at the ones available the more disgruntled I became. I did not want a Barbie, Power Rangers, or Pirates of the Carribean piñata. As much as I would find it very comforting to start wailing on one of the Power Rangers - there isn't an orange one, so it really didn't go with our orange and lime green decor. Not to mention how much they are - $15 - $20 for the fancy ones. So I bought two white science project boards, and two packs of tissue paper. Added that to a roll of tape and some hot glue and with a few hours of work you've got a really pretty piñata.

First I cut out the front and back

Then I cut strips for the sides, carefully rolling the cardboard and taping it down.

I had an extra bit so I just curled it in for extra support in the middle of it, securing the string with hot glue to the interior wall and out through the top.

Then we stuffed it with a whole bunch of goodies, and taped on the lid just like the first side.

Paul cut out all the orange tissue paper fringe, Jasna folded the paper for the side and I assembled the covering.

Paul helped me with the finishing touches last night. Green squares (about 2") wrapped around the eraser of a pencil - dab a bit of hot glue on and tuck them up very tight against each other and you get this great center.

Its almost too pretty to beat up!

Addendum (added 10.28.08): The final demise of the pretty pinata...(nothing like a whole bunch of tipsy folks swatting at a pinata with a large stick - thankfully no one lost an eye) Man did it take a lot of whacks to finally get it open!

All in the Details

2008-04-25T21:08:00.000-05:00

Phew - we've been really hard at work for weeks now (especially the past few days) - ironing out the little details and making sure everything is all set for the big Wedding Weekend.

A few weeks ago Jasna and I set up all the arrangements

Paul tagged the vases

Darien and I modeled a few flowers

TA-DA!

Jasna, Paul and I sorted our way cool Shoelace Factory shoelaces from the City Museum in St. Louis.
Nathan and Michelle joined Paul and I to tie up favors

Nathan doing some favor "crafts"

Last week Jasna and I made an evening tree branch run ... Don't worry....it will all be explained when you see the hall on Saturday

A Caving We Will Go!

2008-04-15T08:15:00.004-05:00

As part of our wedding weekend there will be a cave trip with friends and family on Friday, May 2nd at 9am. Tumbling Rock is our destination. I'd expect our trip to get out of the cave around 1-2 pm. For those of you who are new to caving Tumbling Rock will be a fabulous first adventure into the wonder that is the underground caving world. (Boy did I just sound like an info-mercial) And as our former HSV grotto chair would say "Its a TAG classic!" You can see some photos of the cave here (Nathan's Flickr site) and here (Realms of Reality).

For you cavers this should be a fun little jaunt into TR to Topless Dome and back - just bring your regular gear. For the newbies - If your RSVP card said you'll be attending - we will have helmets and main headlamps for you to borrow. But there are a few other items needed for your first cave trip. Here's a list of basic caving gear that you will need during the cave trip:

1. Bandanna to keep your helmet from sticking to your forehead if you get sweaty and to control long and short hair in your helmet. (I never go caving without one - but some folks don't use one - your choice)

2. Kneepads (do not get hard plastic knee pads - they will slip) Volleyball knee pads that are covered in cloth seem to be the best kind.

3. Gloves - cloth garden gloves with the rubber-dipped palms like the Atlas pair above are excellent - you can get these at your local hardware store. Gloves are particularly important for two reasons: #1 Traction/Protection for your hands and #2 Protection for the cave - natural oils on your hands will harm formations and cause them not to grow. Formations should not be touched, but sometimes it is unavoidable - especially if you have to travel over or through them - which we will be doing.

4. Boots with good grippy tread that you don't mind trashing

5. Batteries (AA & AAA)

6. Small flashlight and/or stap-mounted headlamp (these will be your back up lights) Your local hardware store should have a good selection of these too.

7. At least 2 Bottles of Water
8. Snack/lunch - granola bars, Cheese and Crackers, trail mix, beef jerky, or sandwiches with Ziploc baggies to put them in

9. Small pack that you don't mind getting muddy to stow all your gear.

10. Clothes that you don't mind trashing - preferably NOT cotton. Synthetic materials insulate best. Try for old workout leggings, or long underwear underneath jeans or camo pants. Caves in Alabama run 58-60 degrees year round. So if you run hot or if you run cold - dress in layers (long sleeve T-shirt on top of sweatshirt) that can be put on and taken off when you get hot or cold. Warm socks like Smartwool, or synthetic hiking socks are a plus.

And for after the trip:
11. A FULL change of clothes including underwear, socks and shoes!
12. A big trash bag to put all your mucky clothes in.

13. Small towel or wet wipes (I always have a box of wet wipes for cave trip clean up)

Optional Gear:
14. Comb or brush for helmet hair
15. Camera - If you decide to bring a camera be sure to double Ziploc it and also pad it with a towel or rag.

If anyone has any questions - please post a comment and I will answer them.

We're Registered at REI!

2008-04-13T20:08:00.005-05:00

Above all we are stressing PRESENCE not Presents! Believe us - we have everything covered house-wise. We want YOU at out wedding - not things at our wedding. But a few of you are bound and determined to get us something - so we have registered for a wide range of items at REI. Part of our honeymoon (whenever it may be) will encompass hiking and backpacking - and there are quite a few necessities that we still need to tromp happily off into the back country.

You can look up our REI registry under Paul or my name AND our REGISTRY # is GR1721843.
Here's a direct link: PAUL AND SABRINA's REI GOODIES

OR you can make a donation in our name to SCCi (Southeastern Cave Conservancy) for Tumbling Rock Cave which is where our cave trip will be Friday morning with friends and family.

A Little Ink Goes a Long Way

2008-03-23T23:17:00.005-05:00

Paul and I were busy printing and setting type this weekend. The invitations are coming along nicely. Colonial Graphics (offset) printed the interior of the envelopes and the back of the cards that will become the invite and itinerary. Paul and I printed my flower pattern design on the front Friday evening and Saturday, so they'd have a day of dry-time. (I drew the above artwork in Illustrator and sent the file Owosso who made a copper die out of it.) Tomorrow I'll bring everything back to Colonial to have the envelopes die-cut and the cards cut apart. (Preston is just a 10x15 - and the envelopes are larger than that.) Then on Monday or Tuesday evening we'll print up the text for everything. Wednesday - Thursday - Friday will be stuffing and addressing.

We made these great labels too. I randomly stamped the flower pattern over sticky label sheets and then we used a little rounded-corner square die-cut that I'd gotten for free from a letterpresser in Canada for just postage! The whole process took a bit of time - especially since it was a 1-up die-cut - but the labels turned out SO fun.

Flower Power

2008-03-20T00:19:00.005-05:00

Here are a few of the silk flower configurations Jasna and I came up with one of the evenings she came to help. I think Paul and I have cleaned out every single square/rectagular shaped glass vase at Target, Wal-Mart, Michaels and Hobby Lobby, Trees and Trends, and Old Time Pottery. One day after work I'll make up the arrangements and tie them up together so they'll be ready to pull out and stick in the various sized vases. I pondered and pondered what I could use in the vases - where water normally goes - then a few weeks back - Eureka! The orange stuff the flowers are in are actually a certain type of orange split pea (Masoor Dal - or red split lentil) that we found at our local Indian grocery store. The color is great and because the peas are 1/2 the size of the regular green split pea - they pack tighter - holding the wired stems securely.

Folding poof-balls

2008-03-18T23:32:00.004-05:00

Jasna came over several times last week after work (thank you thank you thank you!) to help Paul and I fold cut and wire the tissue paper that will eventually turn into the beautiful poof-balls that we'll hang up in the reception hall at the Lowe Mill. Both of them said I was a harsh task master.....all work and no play.

Group Rates at Hampton Inn

2008-03-10T07:21:00.002-05:00

Paul has officially arranged a group rates for both of the Hampton Inn's here in Huntsville. There's been a bank of 10 rooms at each Hampton set aside for our wedding weekend. You can take a look at where they land in Huntsville on the google map I've created here. (Or just scroll down to the "Need a Place to Stay" post.)

Hampton Inn Arsenal-South Parkway
$89
501 Boulevard South
Huntsville, AL 35802
(256) 882-2228
This Hampton Inn is a bit closer to Lowe Mill and is in a quieter, less congested part of town.

Hampton Inn Hotel
$79
4815 University Drive
Huntsville, AL 35816
(256) 830-9400

Save Room for Dessert!

2008-03-05T17:39:00.006-06:00

I was all worried that Ellen - of Ellen's Creative Cakes - would either freak or be extremely happy about the my sketched-out cake design. When Paul and I met her at 11:15 this morning to discuss our cake she told us the sketched design was great! And then we talked about the different kinds of cakes and fillings we'd chosen.

This past Sunday evening, Michelle and Tommy came over to the house to cake test. (We had to BEG them. LOL!) Ellen had given us a bag full of 12 different types of cakes, 7 different fruit fillings, and about 20 other different kinds of other fillings and icings. It took us hours to test out different combinations but we finally landed on 3 favorites! Each tier will have three layers. Tier #1 and 4 will be White Cake with Strawberry and Almond icing between layers, Tier #2 will be Chocolate with Pecan Creme Cheese and Almond icing between layers and then Tier #3 will be Humming Bird Cake with Creme Cheese and Almond icing in between its layers.

The whole thing will be covered in Amaretto Butter Creme. The burnt orange flowers will be cut from rolled fondant and cover the 1st and 3rd tiers. And the lime green stripes will be about 1/2 in width 1/3 of the way down from the top of tier 2 and 4. Ellen found a great cookie cutter that looks super close to the flower I drew - she said she's had it for years. I told her she'd been saving it just for our occasion. Paul and I enjoyed working with Ellen. Her cakes are yummy and she's a hoot.

So save room for our awesome cake! (I'm leaving it up to you to decide whether you eat dinner first)

Addendum (added 10.28.08): Figured folks would want to see the final version... and it looked as good as it tasted! (yum!)

Details, Details, DIY

2008-02-28T10:14:00.006-06:00

With a graphic designer its all in the details.

There will 120 of these hanging from the ceiling of the Lowe Mill at our party. Last night was spent on the living room floor. Paul and I separated tissue paper into smaller stacks of 8 sheets while Jasna began accordion folding, wiring and trimming. Once Paul and I finished, I joined in on the accordion folding too. We'll leave them flat until the big decorating day of the party. So far we've got about 25 completed. Tonight will be another evening of accordion folding.

As much as I detest any fake vegetation - being the daughter of a nursery-man and all - we're going with silk flowers. With the kinds of flowers I wanted to use - short-lived live flowers would probably have cost more than the food, the hall rental and the photographer combined! So I settled on silk. #1. being cost effective, but #2. I can arrange the flowers myself which is kinda cool and then #3. I can give away some of them to friends/family that like them!

US Space & Rocket Center

2008-02-23T22:47:00.003-06:00

For those of you who are coming into Huntsville the top attraction (outside the cave trip and the reception) will most likely be the US Space and Rocket Center. The Space and Rocket Center has a ton of things to see and do - and is the home of Space Camp. Our fantastic cave/wedding photographer Nathan actually works there! The Exhibits that you'll see include a Saturn V, and many of its predecessors, moon rocks, original Mercury and Gemini capsule trainers, the Apollo 16 capsule, Casper and a full life size replica of the Apollo 11 Saturn V. (I took the photo of it the other evening) Some of the attractions include the space shot, G-Force and a climbing wall. And then there's the IMAX theatre too which is showing a number of cool movies.

Mail Call

2008-02-22T00:05:00.003-06:00

Paul and I were excited to hear a few people say they've gotten their "save the dates" postcards. I'm sending out another small batch tomorrow and I still have to get some names and addresses from both of our Moms. Over the next couple weeks I'll be designing our invitation, and sending off to have letterpress blocks made, and hopefully a die for a cool folding custom envelope.

Preston all inked up.

Adding the 2nd color on our postcards.

Need a place to stay?

2008-02-21T09:00:00.002-06:00

Or a good place to eat - or some sights to see? Well there are quite a few places available in Huntsville close to the Lowe Mill reception venue. I've created an interactive Google Map just for our weekend with some recommended places to stay - including a places to camp/RV camp - and a few areas of interest in Huntsville. Zoom in and out and click on the icons for further information on each locale. Click on "View Larger Map" at the bottom for a list of locales and to get directions from one place to another.

Here's a good site with RV camping reviews for Huntsville: RV Park Reviews

View Larger Map

We are currently checking into getting a group rate at the Hampton Inn at 501 Boulevard South and will post a notice as soon as its a go.

iTunes DJ

2008-02-20T14:30:00.000-06:00

All right folks as I mentioned before we're going to shoot for an iTunes DJ before the live entertainment after dinner - which basically means WE ARE THE the DJs. So here's where I need your help - I'm taking requests for songs that you simply MUST hear, or would like to hear during the wedding reception. The songs can be slow and easy or something to really get the party started! Please leave your requests by clicking on the "comments" below - and I will see about tracking them down. Or - you can send the songs to me - either by email - or iTunes - or even on a CD by mail which would be spectacular! You can even bring CDs and load them AT the reception!

Presence vs. Presents

2008-02-19T13:51:00.000-06:00

First and foremost for you out-of-towners, and even for the folks in Huntsville, Paul and I want your presence - not your presents! Its gift enough for you to make the trip to Huntsville just for us. We want you to come celebrate on May 2nd with a little cave trip to Tumbling Rock - but especially on May 3rd for our wedding party at Lowe Mill. So please don't feel obligated to buy us anything. Our house is overflowing and our needs are taken care of.

That being said if you still feel you simply HAVE to give us something there are a few options:

1. Our honeymoon is going to involve some hiking and camping - and we are planning on registering for some useful camping items at REI. (will let you know when we do)

2. How about a donation to the SCCi for Tumbling Rock Cave in Paul and I's name? The SCCi is dedicated to cave conservation, caver education, and cave management. They buy and lease caves to protect and take care of them. Quite a few "TAG classics" have SCCi to thank for their good management.

3. We will never turn down Target gift cards seeing as how we do all our grocery/regular shopping at our local SuperTarget.

Reception Party Venue

2008-02-19T09:37:00.001-06:00

Lowe Mill is our venue for the wedding reception on May 3rd. We're planning on throwing a great big casual party on the bottom floor of the Mill. It'll most likely be a nice block of time (tentatively starting at 1pm till we close down the place). So guests can drop by and stay for as long as they'd like to visit - an hour - or the whole time!

Lowe Mill is an awesome venue - big open spaces, wood floors with exposed brick and huge windows. Originally it was a textile Mill, then a shoe factory that apparently supplied a lot of the combat boots for Vietnam. Here's some more history on the Mill. Presently Lowe Mill is home to - Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment - whose 2nd floor hosts Susan Knecht's fully operational Glass Blowing studio, the Flying Monkey, Artisan Bread by Fred Bread, Vertical House Records, Karma Rags, Tina's Cantina - and a whole bunch of other artsy coolness. On Saturdays - like our May 3rd - they usually hold an artists market on the second floor where local artist and craftsmen come to exhibit and sell their wares. So there will be more to explore at the reception than just our party!

The party will be all the fun of a regular wedding reception without all the formality. Like I said - casual - as in no uncomfortable stiff clothes required - dressy casual down to jeans it totally cool with us. I'm going to collect songs for an iTunes DJ and then we'll hopefully have a live band after a nice buffet style dinner. Yes, there will be a wedding cake for dessert! We do have a few more surprises in store for the reception - such as a geocaching event in the afternoon from 1-5pm - a pinata for the kids, (& probably one for the adults too) and a few other quirky things. I can't give it all away, now can I?

photos totally borrowed from the Lowe Mill website

Wedding Venue

2008-02-18T08:52:00.000-06:00

photo by Nathan Williams

Our actual wedding venue is the double entrance of Stephen's Gap Cave. It'll just be Paul & I, the person marrying us, our cave photographer friend, Nathan, and a witness during the ceremony. Since its so weather dependent we'll probably pick a block of days for the ceremony a week before May 1-4th and then try for the best weather. It takes about 45 minutes to hike (in and Amongst stream bed boulders and up and down hills) to the cave from the parking area. I've got a fancy dress and Paul's got a tux reserved. We'll hike, get changed at the entrance and have the little ceremony on the circular "pedestal" you see.

Nathan's Stop Action Video
Here's an awesome 360 view of it
Photo by Tim Curtis

Coming to a Mailbox Near You!

2008-02-17T22:06:00.001-06:00

Paul, Preston and I were busy today. Three hours just for type set up and a whole bunch for fine tuning and then mixing ink and printing. We were able to run the front and back. Now all that's needed tomorrow is a bit of an accent 2nd color on the front of the postcard. Then we'll address postcards till our hands fall off and drop them at the post office!

Paul doing his printer's devil duty at the layout table

Wooden letters and hand dingbats for the front of the postcard

Me doing some fine tuning work on the back of the postcard

The completed back of the postcard in the afternoon light.

The Beginning

2008-02-17T10:26:00.000-06:00

Well folks this is it. Over the next several months you can come here for information such as hotels, things to do in Huntsville and all sorts of cool things about the upcoming wedding party weekend on May 1st-4th, 2008!