Looking Forward

We know it has been a tough wedding season on everyone. Couples have had to postpone, reschedule or adjust their weddings, sometimes at the last minute. As a venue it is heartbreaking to watch our couples have their dream days cancelled and frustrating to navigate the constant changes imposed on all of us.

We have chosen to focus on the venue. We have spent all summer working on the property and various projects - landscape lighting, new fencing, clearing the lower field for a formal garden we will start planting early this fall, we have planted over 200 hedge plants and trees, installed a wrought iron gazebo, added draping to the pergola, added to the constantly growing antique collection and today hauled home two vintage cast aluminum lamp posts for the yard.

We were lucky to host one beautiful wedding once Thurston County reached phase three and before the new restrictions took place. We are now booking for 2021 and offering a smaller wedding only package for those couples determined to have a wedding this year. Despite all the obstacles 2020 has thrown at the world love will always win.

Thirty Years Later

December 2, 2019 was our 30th anniversary. 30 years ago our friends and family made it thru the snow to the church, no one objected and we walked out as husband and wife. The reality is you don't make it 30 years without support. The support of your family and friends, the ones that stood beside you as you said your vows, the ones that sat in the pews of the church that day and the ones that have come into your life along the way. These are the people who prop you up as a couple when you struggle, when a crisis hits, the ones who remind you how great the person you married is when you want to strangle them and mark my words there are those days for every couple because some people never put their dishes in the dishwasher and others drag home church pews in mass quantities.

We have spent our anniversaries home with sick babies, Christmas shopping for those babies, enjoying a dinner out just the two of us, had the entire Tbird Dance Team yell Happy Anniversary to us before they performed at halftime, sitting on the couch watching the Seahawks and three years ago standing in the middle of Target while I sobbed happy tears when Josh & Patty called to tell us they were getting married. What matters is that we have spent all 30 of them together.

We both have a lot to be thankful for over the years. Tracy is thankful for all the ideas in my head and that I always have a plan. A plan to build a house – it was fun. Drive all over the state to buy china cabinets, dressers, tables & chairs, church pews, etc. Believing that any piece of furniture just needs a little paint to be amazing. Deciding we can turn anything into a sign or piece of décor. That the dining room needs painted again. That we can always make room for a friend, a niece or nephew or a baseball player, we just have to rearrange a little. That we need to move an old grain silo across the state. That we need to start a business or three or a wedding venue. That we have room for another Christmas tree. His current favorite that I needed an antique square grand piano that I don't know how to play and just yesterday moved into the house. He is especially thankful that I start these conversations with I have an idea or I was thinking, followed by don't worry I have a plan and that I give him enough advance warning to come to terms with my plan.

I am thankful that when I took the “obey” out of our wedding vows he realized there was no reason to even argue and still showed up at the church. That despite the ridiculous number of conversations I start with I have an idea or I was thinking he hasn't moved out yet. That I have learned to sit thru every Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movie they ever made no matter how bad the acting is or how predictable they are. That no matter how hard he resists whatever plan I have concocted once I break out the power tools he decides it was a great idea after all and jumps on board.

All funny stories aside I could not have picked a better partner to spend the last 30 years with. I love that no matter what he supports me, our children, our extended family and our friends.

The Perfect Day

You have dreamed of this day, planned for this day, imagined this day. You want it to be perfect and you have planned every detail and moment to make sure the biggest day of your life is exactly what you imagine, that it is perfect.

But what is perfect? The truth is nothing, no matter how well choreographed ever goes according to plan. Flowers girls refuse to walk down the isle, groomsmen forget their shoes, cakes have accidents, the list goes on. The reality is something will happen, the trick is to roll with it and remember it is all fixable and at the end of the day no one will ever remember that one groomsmen had to borrow shoes from the photographer and they won't know that someone had to fix the cake topper at the last moment. They will remember how amazing the bride looked, her fathers speech, how good the food was and how much fun they had.

My wedding was on a December day thirty years ago and like every bride I had planned the perfect day. On the way to rehearsal we broke one of the alter pieces and had to send someone to the store. It snowed without warning the next morning and we were not aware that the annual toy run would be going by the church at the same time our guests would be trying to pull in and park. The ceremony had to be delayed because of both and some guests were nervous about the weather and icy roads and choose not go to the reception at the last minute. It has been thirty years and I honestly don't remember if other things went awry but I remember walking down the isle and marrying my best friend and I would do it again. That is perfection.

Twenty seven years later on a Saturday in August our oldest son walked down the isle, it is still fresh in my mind. In May of that year in the middle of turning our property into the reception venue a rare micro-burst tore thru Olympia and we took a direct hit, news crews flying over our home and all. We had to repair the damage and still put together a venue by August. We made it, it was done and it was beautiful. The week of the wedding we had almost record breaking heat and wildfires in Canada were causing thick smoke and air quality warnings. The weather cooled down just in time for the rehearsal dinner but the luxury restroom trailer that had been reserved for months & guaranteed to be delivered early Friday did not show up. We got up early the morning of the wedding and begged a local company to bring us three portable restrooms on a moments notice before 200 guests made it from the church to the reception. The groom then cut both index fingers and probably should have had stitches. My best friend and I played doctor and everyone made it to the church on time. Not wanting to feel left out the cake was in a car accident on the way to the venue and had to be fixed and we discovered there was a wedding three properties down, we both had wedding crashers we had to redirect. The guests never new about the bathrooms or that they were supposed to have a fancy trailer instead of port-o-potties and no one cared. No one noticed the cake had been repaired and everyone raved about the food and the dessert table. It was the best day ever and our guests danced until midnight. In the end the most important part and all that really mattered was Josh & Patty were married and they were happy. It was the perfect day.

In the midst of dreaming and planning your perfect day plan to be flexible. When your wedding day finally arrives focus on enjoying every moment, taking in the beauty of what this day means to you, your partner and your family. Let someone else handle the little things that will come up and roll with all of it because no bride should be in tears over the flowers not being perfect or the cake topper being crooked. Some things will go as planned, other will go haywire but never loose site of what and who truly matters because at the end of the day you are now husband and wife and that is truly all that matters It will be the perfect day.