Hotel Accommodations

We have set the ceremony for 4:00 pm on September 29th. For all of our out-of-town guests.... stay tuned for information about hotel accommodations. Tomorrow we're working on getting a block of rooms booked for those wanting or needing to stay overnight. There are a few hotels at Lebanon, but if you are interested in staying in downtown Nashville please let me know and we'll get additional information for you. Downtown Nashville is about 30 minutes from the wedding venue in Lebanon.

A Well Deserved Date Night

After we opened our bridal registery at Target last night, Lewis and I decided to go to the late movie last night. Seems like forever since we've been to the movies so we took advantage of having some alone time without kids. We sure miss 'em when they're gone, but it was a great opportunity to chill out for bit. We've been burning both ends of the candle since we got engaged, trying to get things booked for the big day.

This morning we turned the NFL draft back on to see how many Vols have been drafted, grabbed the morning paper, brewed some coffee, and had a nice quiet morning alone before we had to welcome back reality. :-)

And Now....The Fun Stuff!

Today Lewis and I picked out our wedding invitations. Heather had suggested we could save some money and make our own, which I thought was a great idea. Less money spent and a personal touch to our day. Kills two birds with one stone. We found the ones we liked at Staples (believe it or not!...) and I'm guessing we saved ourselves at least 100 bucks or so. Love it!

Now we're getting ready to jump on our bikes and do some fun stuff this evening. Noooo.... not a long ride down the Natchez Trace... we're going to open our bridal registries! Ok..ok..ok.... I know some folks think this might be a "faux-pas" to register for bridal gifts and post them on our website. I've read the do's and don'ts and shoulds and shouldn'ts. Everything I read was conflicting. So I guess it's up to what the bride and groom want to do. Now, we certainly don't expect gifts... that's not what the wedding is about. But several of our family and friends that live out-of-town have asked us where we are registered. So rather than end up with some fuzzy-covered canister set that crows when you open it, I figure we should just go ahead and register for some things that we could really use.

Stay tuned.... "faux-pas" or not, we'll have a link up to our registeries when we're done. :-)

The Never-Ending To-Do List

Here's the latest and greatest from Harkness Wedding Central!

I've been in Atlanta for a few days attending a conference. No worries, though..... Lewis is great with this wedding planning stuff and didn't miss a beat. I think he might have missed his calling, though I don't think I'll tell him to quit his regular job just yet!

We have all the major vendors booked now, including the photographer. Lewis' persistance paid off, and we got a great photography package at a very affordable price. This guy will even take my bridal gown and Lewis' tuxedo fitting pictures. He lives and works in Lenoir City, back in East TN.

Last weekend Lewis and I met with Teresa Coleman, the potential wedding coordinator for our wedding day. She is a local lady and she and her son started a bridal consulting business a few years ago. We probably chatted with her for an hour or so and felt very comfortable that she could handle any of our wedding day debacles...though I hope those are few!! We hired her on the spot.

Thanks to a great suggestion from Heather (my Matron of Honor), Lewis and I were able to create some neat "Save The Date" cards to send to our out-of-town guests. We'll be addressing and stuffing the envelopes this weekend so we can get them to the post office before the price of postate goes up! Yes.... every penny counts.....

Photos Are Forever

We now have a DJ and a caterer booked! The only last major bookings to make are the photographer and the florist. Who'd a thunk a photographer would be so dang expensive??? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. "We must capture the most important day of our lives." "Photographs are timeless". I get it! But I can't see myself paying over a thousand dollars for a perfect stranger to pictures of my family and closest friends while they are gettin' down on the dance floor. I ain't payin' extra money for those embarrassing photos that will get tossed in someone's desk drawer for decades until one day when I die they clean out those desk drawers and find these pictures of strangers doing goofy things. Sure, they'll be fun to look at .... but I think we've got enough of those photos laying around already. I think we're going to buy the disposable cameras to put on the reception tables and let the guests take the candid shots. THAT will be worth the money to see what kind of pictures my crazy cousins take.

A Wedding Coordinator

We have an appointment this weekend with a wedding coordinator. We're mostly interested in someone to take all the stress off of us the day before and the day of the wedding. We have decided to do most of the planning and decorating for our big day, but we don't want to worry about who takes down the decorations and turns the lights out after we leave. I think this will be a good investment! I spoke with her briefly this afternoon. She is a local lady, and she seemed very nice.... I hope it works out!

What to do First?

What comes first? The colors? The caterer? The photographer? The DJ? The invitations? Oh yeah, and what about one of the most important things.... my dress?? Unless I'm getting married in one of my Vegas dresses I better get searching for my wedding gown now! (No Mom, I promise I won't wear one of those dresses, so don't freak out!) So much to do! I've made a list, and we are slowly checking things off. We did book the venue, so that is a huge item off our list. On to the next thing... We really need to get a good DJ.... anybody got a good reference? A good DJ is the key to a successfully fun party. So this is next on our to-do list. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! --Kim

Game On!

In case the title didn't give it away.... we're getting married! Lewis proposed on April 7th in Knoxville in true Big Orange fashion. Lewis bought a personalized UT football jersey with "Harkness" on the back and gave it me.... on bended knee. Oh yeah... and did I mention the RING?? Wow. It's beautiful!!!!! He did a great job.

There were about 40 or so of my family members there to see all of this take place, which was the true icing on the cake. I couldn't have been more surprised or thrilled!

So as they say.... today is the first day of the rest of our lives. Please check back to see our progress on the wedding plans. We hope this site will serve as a place of information for our family and friends.