The time had come for Sean and I to make a trip to Georgia to start official wedding business. Our first mission was to check out hotels, restaurants, and shopping in the town of LaGrange, Georgia. Since LaGrange is only 15 minutes away from Hogansville (where the wedding venue is) we thought it would be a perfect city to host our guests for the wedding weekend.
We stayed overnight at the Wingate by Windam Callaway Gardens hotel. Which was beautiful and newly constructed. Features include rooms either with carpet or hardwood flooring, flat screen TVs, refrigerators, microwaves, and a continental breakfast each morning. We thought it would be a great weekend escape for our guests so we made it our official wedding hotel!
The city was great too! Besides all the common restaurants and stores, LaGrange offers Callaway Gardens and the Pine Mountain Animal Safari nearby.
The next day Sean and I to had our first meeting with our wedding planner/coordinator Vickie Brown, who also owns our venue Victoria Belle. The mansion was decorated so beautifully for Christmas! Us three definitely hit the ground running and we left with three pages of “To Dos” before our next appointment in February. I brought my inspiration board along and felt a little, well, obsessed and one of THOSE crazy brides! To my surprise, Vickie LOVED the board and it actually helped translate my vision of the big day to her.
After our meeting with Vickie, it was time to meet our potential photographer, Karen Ann Yontz of Mac and Cheese Photography. We met at the Dancing Goat in Decatur – a swanky Starbucks lookalike with a less commerical feel to it. We talked for over an hour with Karen Ann and definitely hit it off. We then took our conversation to the Brick Store Pub where the beer selection was outrageous and contracts were signed for her to be our wedding photographer!
Needless to say, it was a very successful 24 hours!