Wedding Planning-Reception (Erin) (Archive)

This past weekend I went up to Huntsville to see my family, go to a bridal shower for one of my friends, and go look at a few reception sites for the wedding!

My parents and I (unfortunately Gerrit wasn't able to be in town) were planning on looking at the Huntsville Museum of Art on Sunday, and last minute we made plans to visit the Botanical Gardens as well. We were just sitting around Saturday afternoon talking about possibilities and decided it would be good to look at the Botanical Gardens, and so we called and they said we could come right then!

The venue we saw at the Botanical Gardens was The Arbor (it's the only place big enough to hold the amount of people we are planning on). It is a beautiful room that is supposed to have an indoor garden feeling. It has vines entwined with lights that climb up arbors on the walls, a high ceiling with a beautiful dome, a working fountain, and so many other unique details. My mom, dad, and I walked in to the room and were wowed by it. By the time we left we had decided that any other venue would be hard pressed to beat this one!

On Sunday afternoon we went to the Art Museum. It was also a beautiful room! It was much simpler with high ceilings, windows that lined the top of the room, and gorgeous artwork on all of the walls. It also had two adjoining rooms that could be good logistically. It felt very elegant, and I could definitely see the reception in this place as well.

All this to say, when we were done looking at both venues (and forget looking at more! our decision was already hard enough!) there was a lot of discussion about them. Pros, cons, costs, etc. And FINALLY I think we have decided on the Botanical Gardens!

The only problem is that we can't book it until August...which, being the planner that I am, makes me very nervous. But we talked with the lady there and she said it really shouldn't be a problem at all and we will continue to be in touch with her to make sure nothing comes up.

We are excited to have made a decision though! Now we have somewhere to visualize when making plans for the reception. And here it is for you to be able to visualize!

Save the Date! (Erin) (Archive)

We’ve officially set a date!
We will be getting married on August 7, 2010 at Faith Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, AL.

Currently we are working on our website so that you will be able to go to gerritanderin.com and view wedding details, photos, and more. We’ll post wedding details as we know them in order to keep everyone up to date!

It’s exciting that plans are getting put into place!

Backpacking in the Sipsey Wilderness (Gerrit) (Archive)

As a way of kicking off Spring Break 2009 (one of TWO spring breaks that Erin and I have actually had overlap) We went backpacking for three days with some friends of ours through the Sipsey Wilderness. It was a thoroughly planned, three day, thirty mile adventure where we'd planned on walking in a very large circle carrying very heavy "backpacks".

On the eve of our departure we had to make some tough decisions as a group. At the time we made these decisions, there was a storm stretching from Atlanta to El Paso that showed nothing but endless rain in the forecast for the weekend. Here's some key words to pick up on so far in this post: Wilderness, Rain, "Thirty Miles", "Heavy Backpacks". Maybe now you can accurately see the picture we were facing.

Alas, we left early the next morning with nary a backward glance...

Upon arriving at the trail head and covering every scrap of cloth on our bodies with ponchos and rain jackets, we set off on the thirty mile loop. Progress came to an abrupt halt when we reached the "creek" that the trail map assured us would be no big deal to cross. I say "creek" because the raging torrent before us was about 20 yards wide, neck deep, and moving at a speed that rivaled white-water.

Quickly giving the dream of hiking the thirty mile loop in the downpour (some of us more quickly than others), we trudged along on another trail, the destination of which we were unsure.

Lots of hiking in mud, climbing one cliff, and crossing a knee deep stream later we eventually found a suitably dry campsite about 5 miles into the trail. We had dinner, went to bed super early, and tried to stay away from swimming in the tent thanks to all the leaks.

Thankfully the rain mostly stopped during the night and the rest of our camping trip was very fun and mostly dry. We didn't make near the thirty mile goal (it ended up being more like 10) but it was certainly a memorable experience...

I have a cold now...