our vision

Updated to add: Things have changed quite a bit since our initial planning..we do have an all in one location now, in Country Manor Acres on Boat Gunnel Road.

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David is at a conference this weekend, and the semester starts next week, so we won't have a chance for awhile to make more specific plans for the big to-do.

I wanted to take a moment to share our thoughts so far about our wedding weekend.

- As a Memorial Day weekend event we hope that people coming in from out of town can turn it into a mini-vacation of sorts...The whole weekend will be very casual, informal, and spontaneous. We want people to linger and mingle and be able to spend time with us and each other. Or to do whatever they want to do while they are here.

- We chose the Townsend area because it is in between the airport and the national park. It's also not far from the joys of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge (for people who are into that sort of thing.)

- While we weren't able to find an all-in-one location, we do have the Smoky Dream Chalet once again as a central gathering place, where we can cook with our families and hang out with folks on the porch throughout the weekend. Then we'll move the gathering to the Metcalf Bottoms pavilion on Saturday (or Sunday, not sure yet) for the ceremony and reception.

- Ideally we'll have the ceremony outside in the park, weather permitting. Turns out it requires some doing to get a permit to get married in the national park. We reserved the Metcalf Bottoms pavilion for an evening reception of sorts, and as a backup location for the ceremony if needed. Since it only holds 70 (with limited parking), that motivated us to create a guest list of those who mean the most to us, or, as Deb said, those we will feel comfortable crying in front of. That's you!   

- We'll work on creating a ceremony that's meaningful and focused primarily on our marriage and our community (including audience participation!) I have no idea what that might look like, but I know it will be awesome. (And thanks to Millie and Miriam for getting me thinking in this direction.)

- There's limited parking at the pavilion, so we're contemplating renting a couple of big vans or even chartering a bus to get people to the venue from a central meeting point. If anyone has ideas about this, let me know. I envision providing a few main dishes and then having local people contribute some dishes as well.

- We don't want or need wedding gifts in the traditional sense - but we welcome your participation and contributions to making the weekend a wonderful experience. If you have skills or talents to share, that would be a lovely gift - playing music, taking photos, decorating, arranging carpools/ride sharing/cabin sharing, designing invitations, helping me think about cake options, helping me figure out what I should wear on the big day, making/bringing food for the reception - and I'm sure there are many other things I'm forgetting.

- Thanks to all of you who have already volunteered to contribute to the community approach to the wedding. I look forward to brainstorming and making a plan on a hike, at happy hour or over a meal sometime soon!

We are so very glad that you are going to be a part of not only our wedding - but our marriage!