Wedding Plans

Walk it out

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:17:00 +0000

What will we do with our lives once this wedding is over? Hopefully we won't be spending any more entire Saturdays (and some of Sunday) tying ribbons, but anything is possible I suppose. Here you can see Eliza doing a final walk-through of the reception venue. As always, the notebook is in hand.

How not to RSVP to a wedding

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:33:00 +0000

Three weeks until the wedding and by now we've heard back from most people, including mystery guest here (or "S," as he/she prefers to go by).One hint: an Austin postmark.
Hey S! Throw us a bone!

Bachelorette Party

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:02:00 +0000

Eliza's co-workers threw her a bachelorette party this week. Here are a few of the tamer photos.

Keep it weird

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:14:00 +0000

Ben's dad sent us this article, which provides an incredibly accurate rendering of Austin from an out-of-towner's perspective. It's a great preview for (what is hopefully) your upcoming trip to Austin, complete with the requisite strange-but-friendly characters Austin is so full of.

Hear Ye!

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:48:00 +0000

There's only a few days left to book hotel rooms in our blocks! Sept 29 for the Austin Motel and Oct 1 for the Radisson.

Details here.

CORRECTION: Apparently, the Radisson block is still open, as long as they have plenty of availability in the hotel.

Takes the Cake

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:19:00 +0000

Eliza's been talking this thing up for months. Well, today it finally arrived and it's every bit as great as she said it would be. Fortunately, they didn't build Ben's giant head to scale, so it should be able to stand atop the cake without tipping over.

Last One!

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:56:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, we flew back to our old stomping grounds in Atlanta for one last engagement party. This one was a tag-team effort, hosted by Eliza's sister Margaret and brother-in-law Matt, and Ben's friends Matt & Laura and Rebekah & Joel. Rebekah and Joel were generous enough to host the party at their new and beautiful house in Decatur (or Deck-a-tore, as our friend Mike says).

Rebekah and Joel also have a very cute little boy named James who loves to eat ice! And there's nothing he loves more than a cool ice buffet. Feels cool, tastes delicious! Work it, James.

Unfortunately, Ben didn't take any more pictures until the very end of the night, when he bum-rushed the late-night crowd with a series of unwelcome overhead shots on the way out.

Lauren's getting tired...
Eliza waves goodbye to her fans.

After we returned home to Matt and Margaret's house, Eliza was delighted to find a gift certificate for a brand new puppy inside this card. OK, not really, but isn't that how it looks? The girl likes cards. What can you say?Thanks to all of our Atlanta friends for coming to wish us well! And especially to all of the party planners who made it happen. See you in Austin!

Invitations

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:21:00 +0000

Despite the appearance of the envelope pictured below, you won't find the latest Unabomber manifesto inside. It's actually our wedding invitation.

Yes, we finally sent our invitations. They were designed by our friend Jeff Moore. But Eliza added a nice touch, too. She stamped all of the addresses by hand. And she even invited Ben.

Details, details

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:56:00 +0000

We're now within three months of the wedding, so these days, we're starting to take care of more and more of the small details. Last week, we took a trip to Spec's, a local booze superstore, to figure out how much wine and beer we'll need for the reception. Still on the fence about the margarita situation.

And this weekend, Eliza worked on the tabletop design. It's going to involve mason jars, dried peas, brown gingham ribbon and candles. One of the things Ben has learned while planning the wedding is what "gingham" means.

An Actual Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:32:00 +0000

Just when all this planning is threatening to consume our lives, it's nice to attend someone else's wedding. It reminds you that at some point all of these preacher visits, dress fittings, bow-tie-ordering phone calls and everything else will result in an actual wedding, where two people look really happy and everyone else cries because they're so happy the couple is happy. In this case, we took a trip up to Cape Cod to see Ben's old BrightHouse friend Matt get married in a lovely beachfront ceremony.

At the airport, we made a last-minute decision to upgrade our rental car to a convertible Mini. Here, Eliza takes her turn. (The phrase "unsafe at any speed" comes to mind for some reason.)

The thing to eat in that part of the country is the lobster roll. Here we had a pretty good one.

But even better, dinner came with a free mug. Those New Englanders sure know how to treat an out-of-towner!

The mug fit snugly in the capacious trunk of our Mini.
Here we are just before the ceremony. Thanks to Eliza's mom for the blue tie she brought back from Italy. Those Italians sure know a thing or two about dressing sharp!

The happy couple, Matt and Steph.

Matt and Ben reminisce about the good old days. Ahh, simpler times.

We were very happy to catch up with a bunch of old Atlanta friends, including Amanda here, who apparently knew the lyrics to this particular number. Sing it Amanda! (That's Eliza down in the bottom left corner. You can't see it in this photo, but she was barefoot... Like a common hippie! And in such a classy place. Oh, the shame!)

July 4th Engagement Party

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 02:50:00 +0000

On July 4th weekend, Ben's parents gave us an engagement party in Fairfax. Eliza's parents and all of Ben's brothers, sisters-in-law and nephews made the trip up for the party. The weekend was a lot of fun. Ben's parents went all out, and we're very thankful for all of the work they put into the weekend. In fact, it would really be more accurate to say they threw us three parties: a July 4 burger grill-out, the actual engagement party, and a Sunday brunch.

Ben's newest nephew Clyde had a great time showing off his many skills for the family. Here he is doing a furniture inspection, watched over by Ben's dad.

Here he is showing Eliza how to open a box.

Lunch time.

Laughing with his dad-- Ben's brother Jon.

Here we are helping Mom and Dad with some last-minute shopping for the various feasts of the weekend. Don't just stand there, Eliza! Grab a tomato or something. Jeez!
One of Clyde's favorite activities is grabbing doorknobs. That's his mom Karen to the right.
This is one of our favorite shots of Clyde.

These doors are more your size, Clyde.
Here's Clyde showing us where his eyes are. (Just after this, he tried to crawl away while still covering the eyes. Didn't work out so well.)
Clyde and Karen.
Eliza helping prep the flowers.
Can't remember what Clyde was eating here. Looks like a pie crust or rocks or something like that. Bon appetit!
Ben showing off his "Texas for Obama" t-shirt.
Ben hoisting Clyde, and Clyde's not so sure about this move.
Doorknobs!
Doing some push-ups in preparation for the party.
This is where the actual party photos begin. Here's Eliza with her little friend Jessica, who lives in Bethesda.
Custom napkins. How could you have a party without these? Eliza was very excited.
Ben's dad in the middle of all the action.
Ben's nephew Miles giving Ben the stink-eye, with Lewis in the background.
Our neighbor Mr. Koplan, Eliza's dad, Ben's nephew Lewis and Ben's brother Billy manning the grill.
Ben's mom tells the camera to "talk to the hand" while she chats with Eliza's parents. She's become quite sassy since retiring.
Ben with his brothers Chris and Jon, all eating. Budding pyromaniac Lewis gets his hands on some sparklers.

Eliza helps with the cake.
Lewis and Miles share a brotherly moment. That's their mom Kathy in the back talking to Ben's mom's friend, Mrs. Jordan. On the far right is her husband, who Ben mainly knew as Santa Claus growing up. (He was very convicing.) Lewis looks on and samples the goods.

The next day, before dropping off Eliza's parents at National airport we stopped by the World War II memorial downtown, which overlooks (or maybe underlooks?) the Washington Monument.
It was pretty darn hot, so Patricia wisely cooled off in the pool.

Far Out

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:21:00 +0000

We thought Austin was supposed to be a slacker town.

This morning, we showed up at the Austin Motel at 8:30 to book our room block there for our more adventurous and/or budget-conscious wedding guests. (They only reserve blocks three months in advance.) We thought we were on the ball, arriving a half hour before they started booking room blocks, but there were already six people there waiting! We overheard one bride-to-be say that she had been there since 5:30. Apparently, some of these Austin slackers own alarm clocks.

Fortunately, we were smart and chose a non-football weekend for our wedding (unless you're a fan of Florida or Georgia-- sorry Todd and Amanda), so we were actually the first people there to book for our particular weekend.

While we waited for our turn, we got some delicious iced coffee from Jo's while Eliza planned out which particular rooms we wanted for our block.

While we were waiting in the motel lobby, we envied their well-rested cat.

Check out the "travel" page of our wedding web site for details on booking a room at the Austin Motel.

Hippie Hollow

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:49:00 +0000

There are some images you cannot shake from your mind no matter how hard you try. Today we visited Hippie Hollow, a clothing optional enclave on Lake Travis. Eliza's Statesboro friends Adam and Jon, Adam's wife Lauren, and Jon's roommate Tara convinced us that Hippie Hollow is the most beautiful spot on Lake Travis. They were right, the lake was gorgeous, but some of the other scenery will be forever seared into our memories, for better or for worse.

Afterwards, we had some dinner at the Iguana Grill.

Practice Round

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:27:00 +0000

Today, Ben had a trial bachelor party on Lake Travis. His friends Rob and Patrick were in town for another friend's bachelor party, and Ben joined the festivities for a day on the lake. Ben will surely be well-prepared for his own bachelor party later this summer.

Meanwhile, Eliza practiced hair and makeup and tried on her dress and veil. It all went splendidly. Eliza's genius seamstress, Laura, was even able to alter Eliza's mother's wedding veil so that it will work perfectly with Eliza's dress (which actually belongs to Eliza's friend Young who was married two years ago).

"Borrowed" and "old" are covered.

Get ready for... LINENS!

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 22:15:00 +0000

This was surely one of the more exciting parts of planning the wedding: renting linens. But we got it done.

Here's Eliza perusing the options.

Ben couldn't get enough!
More excitement: the chair selection.

Hamilton Pool

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:34:00 +0000

We had some visitors this weekend. Eliza's friend Melinda, Melinda's boyfriend Mike and some of their friends drove from Nederland to Austin to see a band called Firewater at Emo's. On Friday, Mike (who used to live in Austin) and Melinda introduced us to an amazing corner of Austin we hadn't visited yet: Hamilton Pool. Hamilton Pool is one of Texas's best swimming holes, about 30 miles west of Austin. According to Texas Outside, the pool was formed "when the dome of an underground river collapsed due to massive erosion thousands of years ago."

Craving tacos on the way home, we tried out Taqueria Chapala. Thanks to Taco Town, a very reliable guide to Austin's best tacos, for sharing this little gem. According to Taco Town, Taqueria Chapala is a Jalisco style taqueria. We stopped at their new location on South Congress Avenue, and while it doesn't look like much from the outside, this was some of the best pastor we've had anywhere. Eliza couldn't remember what she actually ordered but it was great, too.

The pastor and barbacoa plate.

The Tie?

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:17:00 +0000

We haven't decided exactly what the groomsmen and Ben will wear, but Ben is thinking Carolina blue ties. Ben's mom picked this one up in Chapel Hill from Julian's.

Julian's is the store that dresses Roy Williams and used to dress Dean Smith. It looks nice, but we may end up getting some bow ties custom made. Ben is partial to the bow tie, and that way we can have matching cummerbunds made too. Ben's sister-in-law Kathy is helping out with that. Thanks Kathy!

And thank you, Roy.

The Announcement

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:26:00 +0000

Here is our engagement announcement in the Statesboro Herald.

Engagement Photos

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:06:00 +0000

Here are some of the photos from our engagement photo shoot. We were not really used to having someone tell us to kiss and laugh over and over again.

This one is Eliza's favorite.

This is what we look like when someone tells us to laugh.

Notice the costume change. We were told to bring a few options.

This wasn't actually part of the photo shoot. This is just a spot in town where we like to stand around, leaning against the wall, looking casual. The photographer just happened to walk by.

The photographer was very big on the "thumb in the pocket" move.

You can't see it, but there was a used hypodermic needle right next to us in this photo. No charge for that.

Party in Statesboro

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:20:00 +0000

Since our last post, a lot of wedding stuff has happened, but we haven't been very good about documenting it all. We had our engagement photo shoot several weeks ago, and Ben plans to post a couple of photos from that soon. But in the meantime, we had our first big enagagement party in Statesboro, which was a great time with lots of family and friends.

A big thank you to the Prices for pulling off such a huge party and to everyone else who was able to make it.

Ben brought his camera along for most of the weekend's activities, of course. So for everyone who couldn't make it, you can live vicariously through these.

Here's the walk to dinner Friday night in Savannah.

The Prices took us to a lovely dinner at the Olde Pink House in Savannah, where it's safe to say the waiters have ample access to mind altering drugs. The food was great, but we all could have done without the repeated offer for tequila shots (wasn't funny the first time!)

We had a little time to kill before our table was ready, so we all took in the lovely Savannah humidity in one of their picturesque squares.

Friday night was Mom's birthday, which was celebrated with dessert of course.

This evening was actually the first time our parents had ever met. Fortunately, Patricia and Polly wore the same outfit to the dinner, so everyone felt perfectly at ease.

Saturday afternoon, Eliza introduced Ben to the pride of Statesboro: Vandy's Bar-B-Q. Ben was impressed.

Preparing for the party. Lots of glasses.

We love dog pictures. Here's May with Matt-- Eliza's brother-in-law.

The party begins...

Two newspaper men share stories.

All of the sudden, the party kicked into high gear.

Eliza's mom and two of her best friends- Jo and Reva.

Here the party's winding down.

Sunday brunch at the Statesboro Inn with the Price clan.

Lots of family photos after brunch.

Sno-Cups

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:47:00 +0000

The weather was too nice to worry with wedding planning today. So we took a trip to P. Terry's and Molly's Sno-Cups, where Jaxon mugged for the camera to a fawning crowd of Sno-Cup eaters. As you can see, she has fully recovered from the trauma of her bath yesterday.

Eliza had a kiwi-lime Sno-Cup, which turned her tongue the same color as Barton Springs. This part of the day was somewhat wedding-related. It was part of our effort to document fun stuff to do in Austin for our wedding web site.

After some children who were popping balloon animals scared Jaxon silly, we took her to another part of Zilker Park to relax for a few minutes.

Oh, the humiliation

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:35:00 +0000

Yesterday was bath time for Jaxon. As you can see, this is not her favorite activity.

Coordination

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:00:00 +0000

Today after work, we met with a potential wedding coordinator. We don't really need a planner, because Eliza is pretty much a ringer in that department. But we do need someone to help make sure things get set up and cleaned up and all that.

We found her on craigslist, which you have to be a little skeptical about from the get-go, but it actually turned out quite well. For one, she showed up, which is more than you can say for most people you contact on craigslist. And on top of that, she seemed to know her stuff. Eliza was especially impressed by the fact that she's an accountant by day. So she must be good with the details, right?

Then we celebrated our success over some grassfed beef at Hut's. And if you don't know what Hut's is, you haven't spent enough time at our wedding site.

Consolation Prize

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 03:19:00 +0000

Last Saturday was not a fun day.

But there was a bright side. On the way to San Antonio, Ben and Jay (fellow Tar Heel) stopped at Kreuz Market in Lockhart, Texas (the barbecue capital of Texas) to have some of their famous barbecue. They have some strange traditions there. The meat is served on butcher paper. Also, there's no sauce and no forks.

These were some tender ribs. I mean, you just had to look at these things and the meat fell off the bone. But even though the no-sauce rule is kind of admirable, I really missed the sauce. This place doesn't beat the Salt Lick, but it was definitely worth the visit.

Oh, and in case you're wondering what this has to do with the wedding, just consider this a way of making sure we're serving the best barbecue around for the reception.

Wedding Cake

noreply@blogger.com (elizaandben) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:29:00 +0000

Today was wedding cake tasting day at The Cake Plate. The choices were Mexican Vanilla, Almond Amaretto, Vanilla with Lemon Filling, Chocolate Raspberry, and German Chocolate. We liked them all, but Almond Amaretto was the big winner.

Ben's not a cake person, so he's going to have pecan pies instead of a groom's cake.

Eliza loves cake, so she had a second cake tasting at home. The Almond Amaretto still won.