It's Happening!

I'm getting MARRIED!

..but first we have a house to build.

The very next day after I said YES, we laid out grid paper at Philip's and started to draw our future house:) It had long been decided that we would first build a shop/apartment on land that would soon be ours near my lifelong home. I walked into Philip's room and saw this

ahhhh..he's already hard at work:)

We had a couple nights of this and then I realized..yayy. fun. building. but I have a WEDDING to plan! Mel and Momma were both warning that places, photographers, and caterers book up fast and they weren't wrong!

1st. Where do I get married? My church is too small and I was worried about construction going on at Philip's church at the time of the wedding. I looked at different venues and fell in love with this place.

The Historic Cash & Carry Building in Downtown Lake Charles.

So we called..and our date was taken. Our date that I so did not want to change for many reasons.

11.11.17

sad. I called around to a few other places and couldn't get this place off my mind. I called again and asked about 11.TEN.17, which I wasn't really okay with, but if I really wanted this place it was the next best option. So I set up a meeting and tried to get excited about the date change. If I just went and fell in LOVE with the place, we would get married the night before our perfect date.

I had prayed hard that some place would just fall into our laps.

Sunday came and we (me, Momma, and Kayla) headed after church to meet with the lady that was going to show us this beautiful place.

But. On the way, we passed the Boy Scout Camp and Kayla said, "Let's drive down there!" and I said, "I could get married THERE!" (which of course was why she suggested it in the first place. I just thought she was into a Sunday Drive)

So I got way too excited way too fast. We stopped at the house to ask permission to go back and no one was answered the door..so we drove back there anyway. It was beautiful. I had only ever been back there once before, and even then, I didn't go very far past the entrance. Just like today.

We headed on to Lake Charles (me a little less excited about the venue we were going to see) and I sent Philip as many pictures of Camp Edgewood as their site had.

We got to Cash and Carry and it was very nice. It was my style, but it had a few downsides. Still couldn't get the camp off my mind!

When Philip and I headed back to town that evening, we were trying to beat the sun going down to go try that house one more time.

and he was THERE! and I stammered on his doorstep and said "I've lived down this road all my life and I love this place and I'm just recently engaged (probably shoved my ring in his face at this point) and I wanna get married here!!"

and this man, in his pajama top with the game going in the background, said--in a not-as-excited-as-I-was voice-- "A wedding would be GREAT!" I was bouncing. I called my mom out of church and she left right then (oops) to come see it with us:)

It was PERFECT. the outside, the inside. Everything! Lots of room to park, a--get this--MESS HALL (to be used as a reception area), and lots of benches facing the beautiful lake where the ceremony would take place. Guess how many chairs (along with the appropriate amount of tables) were already in the mess hall...300! THREE HUNDRED people could be accommodated. This is just perfect.

We went back Tuesday along with the whole family + Meemaw and Peepaw to get a better look and more pictures.

I love the wood, the fans, the boy scoutiness;)

 

getting ready to tie the knot. heh.

So excited MeeMaw and PeePaw ASKED to come see the camp:) They were just as excited as I was when I told them I was going to have my wedding here. I had just "worked out" with PeePaw that day. He has fought so hard to get his strength back after a stint in the hospital.

 

two pretty bridges like this that bring you across the lake to other lodges, campsites, and more that I have yet to see.

 

Momma's wheels already turning:)

Where we will say I DO!

:)

it's beautiful, it's perfect, it's home.

and it's exactly what I was praying for before I even knew it.