What have we done so far?

Okay, Kelsey became engaged to Matt on August 11 of this year.  Scott, Emily and I were all in Nebraska for the happy event.  Matt also arranged for his parents, his 6 siblings and 4 foster children to meet us for dinner.  What a wonderful way to start a new family, by getting the families of origin together for a meal.  Matt made a lot of points with everyone that night!

Well, Matt's family is from McCook, Nebraska and Kelsey's family is from Voorhees, NJ, so the first decision this young couple had to make was where was this wedding to be held. Aside from the two above locations, they also were considering Lincoln, Nebraska, which is where they currently attend the University of Nebraska, and also where they are hoping to settle once they are married.  To the bride's parents' great delight, they chose the traditional route of the bride's hometown and church for their wedding.  Nine months is not very far away, considering many East Coast weddings are planned far in advance, so we had to get busy on a venue for the reception.

Kelsey began to look furiously on the Internet for affordable places that would be open in the beginning of June.  I may say here as an aside, wedding planning has greatly changed since my own wedding almost 28 years ago.  If we were in the same situation then as the kids are now, living so far away from where the wedding is to be held, my mother would have had to plan the majority of it herself, with phone calls to the pay phone @ the college!  But now, even though Scott and I have to do the actual visiting, it is being directed by Kelsey and Matt from their research on the web.  It really is amazing, but I digress....

So off Scott, Emily and I go to visit locations.  We visited 2 wineries, very nice, but not a good fit for one reason or another.  Then we went to Lucien's Manor in Berlin.  The engineering minded groom picked that location from the web based on the fact that it takes exactly 11 minutes to get there from the church.  Have I mentioned that I like that young man?  We saw a beautiful ballroom, looked at the gardens, went over prices and they fed us hors e doevres and desserts.  They had Emily @ the food!  She was very impressed.  She is to be the Maid of Honor, so her opinion went a long way.  So Lucien's it is!

Berlin United Methodist Preschool

 Funny thing though.  After the final decision had been made (took a bit of talking through, did I talk about the fact that it is a little challenging planning a wedding and involving everyone living in 2 different places?) it was time to  place the deposit.  Now, we have lived in our current home for almost 19 years, Kelsey was 2 when we moved here.  On my way to Lucien's to settle things up, I was backing out of the driveway and had the strangest sense of deja vu, and I recalled the memory of pulling out of the driveway with little Kelsey strapped in the backseat, going to preschool.  Where does the time go?  To my young mommy friends that might be reading along with me, let me tell you, the Bible is correct in saying that this life is a breath.  I am telling you, it seems like I just had preschoolers in my house.  Enjoy every stage thoroughly, they go by quick.

Lucians Venetian Ballroom

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