OUR WEDDING PLANS

Sorry about the wait.  There, that’s all the explanation I’m giving for my blog hiatus.  I’m busy, I’m lazy, blah, blah, blah.

Anywho, we recently sent out our save the dates!!  I hope everyone got their’s.  I only received one back for an incorrect address and will rectify that situation as soon as I can. 

Check back in a few days for more engagement pictures from our photo shoot.  We had a lot of fun!

A lot of you guys have been asking how the wedding planning is going.  So I decided to lay out some details.  I’m currently following a list provided by Bride’s Magazine about where I should be in our timeline.  Let me know if you guys think I’m doing good or if I’m behind schedule. 

12 Months Before

--Write up guest list DONE

--Fantasize about ideal wedding DONE about 15 years ago...sheesh

--Have the money conversation DONE

--Book a reception venue and ceremony site.  Lock in the date DONE

--Set your budget with some wiggle room DONE

--Figure out who’s paying for what DONE

--Hire a wedding planner, if you want one Who do they think they are talking to? I’m too broke for that, plus I LOVE to plan parties, so this is just an exaggerated version of that!

--Book a stationer Also not happening….Unless Microsoft Word counts

10 Months Before

--Settle on you officiant DONE

--Go dress shopping DONE AND ORDERED AND RECEIVED

--Select your bridal party DONE

--Shop for vendors.  Set up in person meetings with potentials DONE

8 Months Before

--Book the caterer, florist, band/DJ, ceremony music and photographer and secure your rentals This is mostly done....We have the caterer, DJ and photographer booked.  I don't have the florist yet.  We aren't doing many real flowers...they're just too expensive.  But a Google search of florists in Salisbury is not very helpful.  I'm supposed to meet with a company this week, but I haven't heard from whoever is supposed to be calling me, so we'll see.

--Order your dress SEE ABOVE

--Register DONE...but hear me out...We registered at Target.  But don't go to the registry page and expect to find the entire store on there.  Jason and I have lived together for 2 years now and lived on our own before that.  So we have almost everything that we would possibly need to "start out as a married couple in a new home."  We have a few things on there that are upgrades, and a few other fun things.  But that's about it.  And if you were paying attention to the last blogs, then you may have noticed that we bought a house this year.  Was it a house of magnificent grandeur? No.  Can I attempt to make it that way? Sure.  How do I accomplish this?  LOWES!! My all time favorite store, and Jason is catching the bug pretty quickly too.  So if you're catching my hint...Lowe's gift cards are also a GREAT option for a gift, if you feel so inclined to get us anything at all.  NO, SERIOUSLY....The presence of your company is all we really need!

--Block hotel rooms for out of town guests  DONE   We scouted out the hotels in Salisbury for our out-of-towners a few weeks ago.  The Holiday Inn on Jake Alexander Blvd is a really nice hotel and offers a quite a bit.  They are providing a special rate for our guests.  $110 a night.  Follow the link below to book.  Use the code DWW to get the rate or mention Dwyer-Walker Wedding if you book over the phone.  We blocked out 15 rooms but can probably get more if need be.

Dwyer-Walker Wedding Accomodations

6 Months Before

--Shop for wedding bands DONE

--Send save the dates DONE

--Meet with vendors to hammer out details Working on it

--Order invitations uhhhh....

--Order bridesmaids dresses 1 DONE, 1 TO GO

--Book the getaway car not yet

--Book transportation for guests, if required  We don't have it booked yet, but I have found and seriously, just have to call to confirm, a mini bus that will transport our guests from the hotel to the church, from the church to the reception site and from the reception site to the hotel again.  It holds 14 people but I will have it make several trips if need be.  This is for any of our guests that would like to take advantage of the shuttle but especially for those of you who need a designated driver.  

--Book the honeymoon  It's not booked, but it is planned....MEXICO OR BUST!

4 Months Before

--Order the cake DONE! Oh my God!  I can't wait for you guys to try the cake!

--Hire a calligrapher Ummm….really? No.

--Plan the rehearsal dinner I have some ideas

--Crank out thank you notes post shower This is not going to happen 4 months prior to the wedding

--Choose the groom’s and groomsmen’s attire GROOM AND DADS ARE DONE, BEST MAN...I HONESTLY DON'T KNOW YET

2 Months Before

--Finalize the ceremony selections with the officiant

--Write the vows, if you plan to personalize I doubt we'll veer from the traditional path

--Mail the invitations

--Set up your hair and makeup trial ALREADY DONE ONE HAIR TRIAL! 

--Buy gifts for the bridal party, parents and your fiancé Working on it

6 Weeks Before

--Apply for a marriage license

--Confirm the arrival of the bridesmaids dresses NOT NECESSARY

--Print the programs, menus and other wedding-reception stationary

--Plan welcome baskets for out of towners

--Partake in bachelorette high jinks

2 Weeks before

--Final dress fitting

--Submit your shot list to the photographer

--Give playlist and “no play” lists to the DJ

--Procure your marriage license

--Update the registry

--Review the RSVPs and chase after stragglers

1 Week Before

--Give the final head count to the site and caterer

--Break in your shoes

--Finalize the seating chart

--Give last-minute requests to vendors

--Get any waxings and facials

48 Hours Before

--Pick up your dress

--Put all vendor tips in envelopes.  Delegate their distribution to the maid of honor or best man

--Write day-of balance checks that are due

--Drop off welcome baskets for out of town guests

Day Before

--Reconfirm pickup times

--Rehearse ceremony and go to dinner

--Give your bridal party and your parents their gifts

--Last-minute primping (nails, bronzing)

Day Of

--Exchange presents with the groom

--Give the rings to the best man and maid of honor

--Eat small, light meals

--Beautify

--Get married!!!

--Enjoy

So that's the list that I found, and so far, I think I'm doing pretty good.  What do you guys think?  I have 5 months and 7 days left... maybe I am behind schedule.  I think they forgot a few things, so as the following: 

--Buy the booze and day of, get permits...We've bought some, still working on buying more

--Hire security officers...I need to do this

--Finish wedding crafts (Napkin Rings DONE, Chargers Working on It, Flowers I need to start)

--Work on tan I need to do this

--Get Jason's Passport..seriously, why haven't we done this yet?

I'll keep ya posted on further details as they progress

Love as Always

Meredith

Moving on Up!!! Or to the new House

It’s been three weeks since we made the blue and yellow house our home.  I could say I was sorry for not posting this sooner, but truth be told, I haven’t really had enough time to myself to be sorry.  I don’t really talk about everything that happened in between.  You know: First Citizens being jack wagons, the sellers not completing their end of the deal in a timely manner or closing.  It was just a bunch of frustration that is FINALLY over and we’re moving on, moving in and moving up.

Jason got to patch up all of the holes while we waited to go to the Lawyer's office the morning of closing

So moving day was fun….said no one ever.  Ugh!!  I hate moving day.  Closing on the house was at 1 pm and we got out of the lawyer’s office around 2.  Jason and I promptly returned to the rental and grabbed the first load.  I had Pop’s truck and Dad’s trailer, Jason had his own truck and his Grandpa’s trailer. 

We proceeded to the new house and quickly unloaded.  By the second uploading of stuff, we had reinforcements.  My mom and dad both responded to our cries of help and even Jason’s boss David came.  Mom and Dad with the Jimmy SUV and David with his truck.  Mom also went ahead and packed the Camry too.  So to count, we had 3 trucks, 2 trailers, 1 SUV and 1 car fully loaded with stuff.  Multiply that by 3 trips and then one extra mini trip with just Jason and I to end the night. 

Jason's in the front, then David, then Dad, then Mom and I'm pulling up the rear!

All of the vehicles!!  And our stuff

Whew…too much stuff!!!  What was I thinking? 

I was probably thinking that I needed it, which I didn’t.  But that’s ok.  Lesson learned…the hard way.

By the end of the day the only thing we had set up was the mattress and the sheets, on the floor.  We hadn’t bothered to turn on the A/C since we had the doors open all day, so it was 84 degrees in the new house.  We went to bed using only the top sheet and were still hot.  Jason set the A/C to 62 and then we tried to snooze.  That was at 11:30.  At 1 am we both were awake shivering.  The A/C works well!

Day 2 consisted of additional trips for me and Jason as well as my Dad.  Dad and I went to Winston to get a fridge.  Needed.  Jason continued pulling things from the rental and bringing them to the new house.  We met up at the new house around 11 with additional company: Grams , my Aunt Kathe, my lil’ cuz Joey and my Pops.  Pops spent the entire morning mowing the yard.  Bless his heart.  3 hours and that was non-stop going at speed 5.  Yowzers.  Grams, Kathe and Joey helped un-pack the kitchen.  Jason and Dad rearranged furniture upon my request and I’m really at a loss for what I did all day.  After everyone headed home around 2 or 2:30, I was ready for a nap.  But my oh-so-lovely future husband wouldn’t let me.  We had to go to the rental where my dear mother and sister had spent most of the day cleaning.  Bless their hearts.

                Side note:  they took their dog Wetmore with them.  He suffers from sepearation anxiety.  These are my father’s exact words:  “Melinda, you’re not paying attention to Wetmore, so he’s eating the paper towels”  Ha Ha, I thought it was funny.

Until next time!

With Love,

Meredith

Our Current State of Affairs

Our Current Situation Continues

Empty cupboards = High Anxiety

Sorry.

I know it feels like a decade since I last wrote a blog post.  In reality, I think it’s been 2 months.  I apologize.  I think my stress level over buying a house has been astronomical to say the least.

Yes, I know I kept saying that everything seemed to be going really easy.  And for the first portion of the house buying process, it really was very easy.

But as I last mentioned, we were waiting on the lot loan to come through in order to move forward.  Well we waited, and waited and waited some more.  First Citizens finally decided to correct their little snafu of sending someone four hours away and hired another appraiser for the land.  But after hiring them, it took the appraiser close to a week to actually meander over to Davidson County.  The appraisal was completed on a Monday and the paperwork wasn’t turned in until a Friday.  Total B.S., I know, but when you can’t make someone do something, they’re in no hurry.  

So the appraisal went to First Citizens and then to a lawyer to close out that loan.  Here in lies the problem.  We didn’t have an easement that connected the land to the roadway.  In technical terms: it was “landlocked.”  Well that was no surprise to us.  We could have easily told them that.  

And the lawyer said “don’t worry about it,” so we didn’t.  That was a Wednesday I think.  Turns out the lawyer was working on getting an easement drawn up.  A week later we got the paper work.  On Monday we received same, sent it to Andrews so that Jason’s parent’s could grant the easement.  They signed it and got in notarized and we had it back by Wednesday.  As soon as Jason got it out of the mailbox, he took it straight to the Davidson County Courthouse and got it recorded and then notified the lawyer and our SunTrust banker.  So we thought we were golden.  Finally.

By the way, this was after close to seven weeks of trying to secure the lot loan.  That’s right, 7!!!  It’s pathetic.

After returning from the Courthouse, Jason looked through the rest of the mail.  Take a wild guess as to what else was in the mailbox?  Oh yea, a letter from First Citizens saying we had been denied the lot loan.  What the hell!!??!!!  We had given them seven weeks and then all of sudden they were giving us no time to fulfill the easement obligation.  Screw you First Citizens!!  We promptly called our guy at SunTrust and asked what the dealio was.  I will be drafting my F*%( you letter to First Citizens in the coming days.

SunTrust guy made it all right.  Finally.  A few days later Jason went down to First Citizens in Charlotte and closed the loan.  That was on Wednesday, May 30.  We were set to close on Thursday, May 31.  SunTrust had sent everything to the lawyer’s office and told us that we were finally approved for the home loan on Tuesday, June 5.  Sheesh…what a process.  The lawyer requested that we set the closing date for today, June 8.  So we did.  By the way, this was the third time we had changed the closing date.  Each time we had to get an extension signed off by us and the sellers agreeing the contract addendum.  

Well, while getting everything together for our closing date, the lawyer ran a title search on the property on that same day.  For those of you who don’t know, a title search double checks that there is nothing pending on the property.  We had to have one for the lot loan too.  It insures that no one is owed money or has a say in the property that we’re not aware of.  It’s not a bad thing, but they wait to do it at the end of the loan process.  It seems backwards to us because if there are any problems, everything that is set for completion gets put on hold.

And guess what?.... when the title search was run for the house, the lawyer discovered that the sellers had taken out a line of credit against the house and that it wasn’t closed out yet.  So yea, while Jason and I had been busting our bums to get everything ready for the closing date, the sellers still hadn’t completed everything on their end.  We were told this could push back our closing again, from Friday to the end of the month.  THE END OF THE MONTH?!!  Crap.  

Via Lillan G on Pinterest

We called everyone we could to try and get some answers.  We called Monica, who was reassuring that we might still be ok.

It turns out that Wells Fargo was as helpful to the sellers about closing their line of credit as First Citizens was with getting us our lot loan in a timely manner.  This is in part to the sellers not paying off the credit line until May 31.  A full 2 weeks after the original closing date.  And from what we’re told, WF requires 22 days between the balance being paid off and signing the satisfactory closing document.  Hence, the end of the month.

But SunTrust guy is working very hard for us to get the process expedited.  And even though we did not close on the house today, we are hopeful that the middle of next week will be the big day.   So that’s where we are, again.  Waiting in limbo for people to get their shit together.  

Our shit has been together since the end of April, when I thought we would be moving in less than 2 weeks.  So our house has been a maze of boxes and empty cupboards for quite some time.  My crafting has taken a nose dive, my patience is at an all time low and Jason is growing antsy.  

Here's a look at our current state of affairs

The Kitchen:

The Dining Room:

The Guest Room:

Even the hunting boots are packed: 

 

Ugh…we are so ready to move…. I hope that’s when you’ll catch me next.  D-Day!

 

Love

Meredith

Current State of Affairs

The waiting game has officially begun. 

We are in a holding pattern.  

Everything goes so smooth and for us at least, very quickly, until you reach the point we’re at now.

Over the last 5 weeks Jason and I have been communicating with SunTrust as well as First Citizens (the bank handling the lot loan) in an attempt to get everything settled.  We haven’t had to sign any more papers, but fully expect to in the next few days.

First Citizens is slow.  I don’t know if this is single bank thing or if all banks suffer from that disease.  They waited a week or so to finally decide they wanted to appraise Jason’s land.  When they made that decision, they waited another week to actually put someone on the task.  

The problem?  They  hired someone in Andrews, NC.  For whatever reason, when Jason’s parent’s moved, the address of the land owner moved too.  We still can’t explain it, but we are having to deal with it.  So when the appraiser said he wasn’t able to locate the land on the map in Andrews, we just rolled our eyes and told him it was because it was four hours too far west.  Go figure.  

Image of NC provided by geology.com

So now we’re waiting on a local appraiser to finish his job and cut the d*&m check so we can finally sign the bagillions of dotted lines that we know are going to be coming for our actual loan.

In the meantime, SunTrust has had us gathering paperwork upon paperwork to prove where our money is coming from.  Funny thing is, sometimes we provide with an explanation and they don’t understand it.  For example, when one withdraws $700 from an account and then turns around and deposits $700 a mere 4 weeks later, where do you think the money for the deposit came from?  Me too!  SunTrust, not so much.  You literally have to spell it out for them.  In our case, not once, but twice.  

Also, did you know that there were a lot of people involved in your loan?  Yea, me either.  First, we have the mortgage counselor.  The guy we’ve been dealing with mostly.  And then he has an assistant who will begin communication with you after you’ve been pre-approved for the loan.  And then she turns all the paperwork over to an underwriter.  By the way…WTF is an underwriter?  Sounds like an under-wearer to me, and hello! We all wear underwear, so you’re not so special, mmkkay?  (Monica and SunTrust had both warned us that underwriters have an ego issue)  

Image provided by google images 

 Be careful when you google underwear and hit images.  Just word to the wise on that one!

And while I’ll be the first to admit, I have absolutely no idea what an underwriter does, I have to wonder how new each case can possibly be and what the hold up is.  I would think that the forms would be pretty straightforward these days.  The language doesn’t change, just the numbers on the lines, so just fill in the blanks, hand me my money and let me move forward with this process.   KAPEESH!?

So while we wait, we have been slowly but surely packing the house.  The non-essentials are almost boxed up and our guest room has become quite the hazard zone, hard hat may be required.  I’ll have to check with OSHA on that one and get back to you.

I will do my best to keep the blog more updated about our house buying process and the move and decorating in real time from now on.  But then again, those things may take precedence and who knows when the computer at the new house will be ready to go.

Love you all and thanks for being on this journey with us as we continue to move forward in our journey!

Love as always,

Meredith