Robert and Sara's Wedding

Pictures from Wedding and Honeymoon

2007-01-31T10:06:00.000-05:00

You can view pictures from our wedding and honeymoon now on Robert's Picasa site.

Phone Numbers and Cabins Names

2006-12-25T12:22:00.000-05:00

For the cabins Robert and I reserved, these are the phone numbers and residents for the weekend:

My Mountain Hideaway - 706.374.0219
Sara & Robert, Brian & Dinisha Rogers, Antoine Rollin, Carl & Anja Corbitt, and Jon Mein
Wedding and Reception

Hawk’s Ridge – 706.374.0562
Sharon Roberts, Bob, Debbie, & Brittney Mitchell.
Rehearsal Dinner

In Your Dreams – 706.374.1006
Susan Nicol, Johanna & Andre, Mary Morgan, Kristy and Jonathan.
New Year’s Day Lunch

Hidden Outpost – 706.374.3109
Fred Nicol, Linda White, Fred Jr. & Patricia Nicol, Tom and Suse Patton.
New Year’s Eve Brunch

Cherokee Lodge – 706.374.3458
Gloria Roberts, Bob, Sharon, Bill & Allison Blevins

Peace of Paradise – 706.374.0478
Josh & Marcie Gibson, Jonathan Brookshire, Staci Padove & Darryl Cohen, Travis Ledwith, Chris & Amy

Things to do in Blue Ridge

2006-12-14T21:36:00.000-05:00

For those of you looking for activities to pursue during the weekend, give these sites a gander:

Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge: You won't be able to pick your own apples this late in the season, but the store sells every apple product you never knew existed and traditional treats like fried apple pies (according to Southern Living, a must-try) and apple butter.
http://www.mercier-orchards.com/

Shopping in Downtown Blue Ridge: Robert and I enjoyed strolling through the art galleries, antique stores, and tourist traps in historic downtown Blue Ridge.
http://www.blueridgemountains.com/shopping.html

Amicalola Falls State Park: Okay, so this one's a little more of a drive, but what's an hour in the car to see the tallest cascading waterfalls east of the Mississippi? The falls are 729 feet tall and beautiful. For those of you looking to stretch your legs and see some nature.
http://gastateparks.org/info/amicalola/

Directions to the Wedding and Cabins

2006-12-14T21:33:00.000-05:00

There are two ways to get to the cabins, and I'm going to give both sets of directions here. Both involve several miles of travel over gravel roads.

The first way brings you in through the front of the development. For those of you who are staying in My Mountain but not with our group of cabins, use these directions. Coming this way, you will travel on a one-lane road for part of the trip that is fairly bumpy and rutted. The second way I'll describe brings you in up the back way to our cabins. The road is in better shape and wider but you do have to cross a very small creek without a bridge/culvert. When Mom and I went through it this morning, it was about 4 inches deep, and there was ice around the edges. We were in Mom's Mazda 6 and had no problem with the crossing. If we've had heavy rains in the day or two previous to the wedding, I wouldn't come this way without a truck or SUV. Using either set of directions, you may be more comfortable traveling in a 4-wheel drive or SUV or something with a pretty good ground clearance, if you have the choice. We made it BOTH WAYS just fine in Mom's car, but she did worry here and there about her ground clearance (though we never actually scraped the ground).

If we have bad weather (snow or ice), we will shuttle people up in 4-wheel drive vehicles from somewhere safe to leave your vehicles.

And now, the directions (if you're coming from somewhere other than Atlanta, skip down to the ***). Essential (man-type) directions are bolded; the details (woman-type directions) are included for your edification.

Directions #1
From Atlanta, take 75 North to 575, which will become 515 when it quits being a limited-access highway. You'll travel through Jasper, Elijay (where the Walmart is), Cherry Log, and then into Blue Ridge. The second intersection in Blue Ridge is a large one, you'll have an Arby's, Zaxby's, and Home Depot on your left and a McDonalds just through the intersection on the left. At this intersection, reset your trip odometer. You're going to travel 6.3 miles further on 515 to Loving Road. (The Ramada and Days Inn hotels are about a mile past the intersection we're counting from, on the way to Loving Road, so go about 5 miles and start looking hard.) The road is marked by a yellow diamond shaped road sign ahead of the intersection, and you'll see a Citgo on the left. Turn left on Loving Road.
*** Travel 2.0 miles to Old Loving Road, and turn left. There is a building at the corner that houses another cabin rental company with a big black, metal elk out front. So, turn left at the elk. Stay on this road for 1.2 miles. (You will see a sign during these 1.2 miles showing Old Loving Road turning off to the left; do not turn there. The road name will change to Lowry Road; you're fine. After about 1 mile, you'll see a covered bridge on your left. Keep going 0.2 miles.) Turn left on My Mountain Road. The entrance is pretty big and hard to miss. If you hit gravel at this point, you just missed the turn. Stay on My Mountain Road for 1.6 miles. You'll pass the cabin rental office which is at 1146 My Mountain Road (on the right). Turn left onto Walkabout Creek Road and stay on this road for 1.2 miles. This road is single-lane gravel. It is bumpy and lumpy and has lots of tight turns. If you're coming in for the first time in the dark, please go slowly! Keep an eye out for deer; we saw two this morning. At the end of 1.2 miles, you're going to be approaching a ridgeline and a road - Burke Mountain View. Turn left, the wedding cabin is the second one on the left (332 Burke Mountain View). If you keep going past this cabin to the end of the road, you're at my mom's cabin, 500 Burke Mountain View. If, when you reach the top of the mountain, you turn right on Burke Mountain View, you will arrive at Robert's mom's/the Mitchells' cabin (first on right-"Hawk's Ridge"), then Robert's grandmothers/the Blevins' cabin (second on right-"Cherokee Lodge"), and then my dad's cabin (third on right-"Hidden Outpost"). If you're staying in the "friends" cabin, please come to the wedding cabin first, and Robert (or someone not busy) will show you to your cabin.

Directions #2
From Atlanta, take 75 North to 575, which will become 515 when it quits being a limited-access highway. You'll travel through Jasper, Elijay (where the Walmart is), Cherry Log, and then into Blue Ridge. The second intersection in Blue Ridge is a large one, you'll have an Arby's, Zaxby's, and Home Depot on your left and a McDonalds just through the intersection on the left. At this intersection, reset your trip odometer. You're going to travel 6.3 miles further on 515 to Loving Road. (The Ramada and Days Inn hotels are about a mile past the intersection we're counting from, on the way to Loving Road, so go about 5 miles and start looking hard.) The road is marked by a yellow diamond shaped road sign ahead of the intersection, and you'll see a Citgo on the left. Turn left on Loving Road.
*** Travel 2.0 miles to Old Loving Road, and turn left. There is a building at the corner that houses another cabin rental company with a big black, metal elk out front. So, turn left at the elk. Stay on this road for about 0.7 miles (not exact). You will see a sign showing Old Loving Road turning off to the left; turn left onto this gravel road. Stay on Old Loving Road (gravel) for 2.2 miles. You'll cross the shallow creek I mentioned earlier. When we crossed today, it was shallowest on the left. Keep an eye out for deer; we saw two this morning. After 2.2 miles, turn right onto Eld Ridge Road. (Yes, E-l-d; not elk.) Drive 0.2 miles and turn left onto Crestview Road. Stay on Crestview Road for 0.3 miles to the intersection with Burke Mountain View. Turn right, the second cabin on the left is the wedding cabin. If you keep going past this cabin to the end of the road, you're at my mom's cabin, 500 Burke Mountain View. If, when you reach Burke Mountain View, you turn left, you will arrive at Robert's mom's/the Mitchells' cabin (first on right-"Hawk's Ridge"), then Robert's grandmothers/the Blevins' cabin (second on right-"Cherokee Lodge"), and then my dad's cabin (third on right-"Hidden Outpost"). If you're staying in the "friends" cabin, please come to the wedding cabin first, and Robert (or someone not busy) will show you to your cabin.

Just so you know, Mom's cell phone worked on the mountain. My service was intermittant, but we both have Cingular, so maybe she just has a better antenna in her phone.

Invitations are being sent today! (and Revision to 8/22 Post)

2006-11-15T11:06:00.000-05:00

Invitations have been printed, stuffed, and sealed, and should be on their way to your homes today. (Thank you, Robert!)

It has been brought to my attention (way to read and re-read, Mom) that on the 22nd of August, I posted a listing of ancillary events occuring alongside our wedding and that the list is now incorrect. Your invitation contains the correct information. Dad is hosting a brunch on Sunday. Mom is hosting a lunch on Monday. All is well and peace reigneth over the Earth.

Completely off topic

2006-09-23T12:37:00.000-04:00

Lucius finished his championship this morning!!! He's now CH RokiShoals Luscious Lucius, TT. Yay!!!

Coup de Cabin!

2006-09-11T19:30:00.000-04:00

In what can only be described as karma, we called the original cabin rental company today to BEG them to rent us the fifth cabin in a row of cabins (from which we had already rented four cabins) only to hear that they had already reserved the cabin for us... This was strange because we hadn't actually reserved that cabin, and in June, they pronounced that they were not going to rent us more than five cabins for three nights. And this cabin makes number six for us. What is more, the cabin rental company contends that we have already paid the deposit on this cabin; we told them we didn't think we had paid that deposit (we still don't). But they are CERTAIN that we have. All I can say is, "Mwa-ha-ha-ha!!" (This particular bit of fortune may reverse itself, but no matter. The most important thing is that we have now secured all the cabin space we think we need.)

We now know of the following cabins:

Our cabin
My mom's cabin
My dad's cabin
Robert's mom's cabin
Robert's grandmother, Gloria's cabin
Courtney and Andy's cabin
Shane and Kate's cabin
The Byrds' cabin
A Friends' cabin

Do us a favor. If you don't know whether you're staying in one of these cabins or you know you're staying somewhere other than one of these cabins, email one of us pronto!

Three and a half months to go!

Scheduled Activities During the Wedding Weekend

2006-08-22T15:40:00.000-04:00

Here's some preliminary information for those of you chomping at the bit to find out how exactly Robert and I tend to entertain you for three nights in the North Georgia mountains.

Saturday night, Robert's mother, Sharon, is hosting a "rehearsal" dinner at her cabin. (Probably the only thing we will rehearse is eating, for those of you who may be out of practice.)

Sunday morning, my mom, Susan, will host a morning-of brunch in her cabin. This is likely to be an informal drop-in, open-house type event.

Sunday night is the wedding; that will be in our (i.e., the to-be-weds) cabin.

Monday morning, my dad, Fred, is hosting a morning-after brunch to get you primed for a day of lounging around watching football. (All cabins - in our group, at least - have big screen satellite TVs. A schedule of games will be available.)

All events are casual except for the wedding itself. Casual, in this case, means really CASUAL. I'm packing sweatshirts and track pants. You can leave your khakis at home - unless you like to wear khakis, and then you should bring them. The wedding will be cocktail - think sparkly. It's New Year's!

More Cabin Options

2006-08-22T15:34:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Sage Nichols (formerly Byrd, of the Nicol clan) for sending along this link to a web site offering cabins for rent directly from owners. If you choose to go this route, look for cabins located in Blue Ridge, specifically in Morganton and even more specifically in My Mountain, which is the development we're staying in.

Reserving Cabins

2006-08-08T17:34:00.000-04:00

In a most unfortunate turn of events, the cabin rental company we are using (who assured me at the time we booked our initial cabins) has decided to rent no more cabins to our party for 3 nights, saying that they have promised their owners that they would be getting 5 night rentals through the holiday season. I was able to rent a fifth cabin from them for 3 nights from them because they had a 5-night rental abutting our dates. We may be able to get more rentals from them in November or so by waiting to see what gaps they have in their holiday rentals. (I'm sure we can get a few more this way, I'm just not sure if we can wait to find out whether that will work.)

My good friend, Courtney (thank you, Courtney!), has found another company on the mountain with cabins near ours whose normal requirement is 7 nights during the holidays, but they have several cabins available this week that they will rent for 3 nights over New Year's weekend because of abutting reservations. They are My Mountain Cabin Rental, and a link to their web site is included under Lodging in Blue Ridge in the right hand navigation bar on this page.

Please talk to me and Robert before making reservations. We may already have space reserved for you - especially family that has expressed a desire to stay on the mountain for the weekend. We also know of empty bedrooms in already-reserved cabins that you could "sublet".

Save the Dates are in the Mail!

2006-08-04T22:05:00.000-04:00

Save the Date cards went out today. If you're reading this because you followed the URL on the card, hurrah! And yes, the talented Mr. Roberts created the Save the Dates as well as the yet-to-be-revealed invitations.

There's some good information in this blog for our guests; there's also links to email me and Robert. We look forward to seeing you at the wedding!

Playing Matchmaker

2006-06-28T11:21:00.000-04:00

If you want to come stay on the mountain with us for the wedding (and we hope that you do!) but you don't know someone to share a cabin with, please get in touch with us - either one of us. Sharing a cabin is cheaper than renting one on your own, and we know of several people and couples who would like to share.

It's important that we get cabins rented soon - before the fall, anyway.

...life goes on

2006-04-13T10:51:00.000-04:00

Well, as all of you know, we lost Robert's father in February. That has taken some of the fun out of planning the wedding for me. Every time I think about it, I think about a very important person who won't be there with us. Still, life goes on.

This is my last week working for the Department of Energy. On April 25th, I start my new job as a technical writer/editor with CH2M Hill. Getting that job was the first bit of happy news that Robert and I have gotten in a while. The new job is going to allow us to make headway on the house, which is a project that had kind of stalled out. We're going to do glamorous things like removing a tree and replacing the roof and gutters. Hopefully, we'll get to start on remodeling the kitchen, too, because our new dishes won't fit in our currently meager cabinet space!

We're about to get down and dirty finalizing the designs for the save the date cards and invitations. Save the dates will go out in June some time. I've still got to find shoes I like. Well, shoes I like that I can also wear. I found the most gorgeous pair at DSW a few months ago, but ouch! I couldn't even tolerate wearing them around the store. After that, I need to do some hard thinking about flowers and food and whether I am going to try to convince Robert to wear a tux.

Autopilot

2006-02-16T15:17:00.000-05:00

I haven't made any new posts in two months, which means something fabulous has happened: we've switched the wedding onto autopilot. We're pretty much finished with planning until late summer, and that's great! It gives me time to concentrate on starting a new job and (hopefully) a new puppy. The only things that have changed lately are our registries. There are two and links to them are located in the right-hand navigation on this page. If anyone is sweating the cost of traveling to and attending our wedding, please skip the gift; we would much rather have your smiling face at our wedding than a towel in our linen closet!

The only updates from me and Robert are these:
1. I've had two interviews with a major government contractor for a job, so hopefully we'll know something soon on the job-front.
2. Lucius now has 8 points toward his AKC championship. He needs 15 points to be a champion.
3. If all goes as planned, we will be getting a female ridgeback puppy Memorial Day weekend. We don't know yet whether the bitch is pregant yet, though.
4. Robert and Bob conspired to get me a valentine: a beautiful orchid. I am going to try not to kill it.

Cabin Details

2005-12-21T21:18:00.000-05:00

Having now paid a deposit and committed ourselves, we're prepared to disclose now the name of the cabin rental company we are using: Above the Rest Cabins. They are actually located in Morganton, Georgia, which is just a smidge north of Blue Ridge. A link to the company's web site can be found in the right-hand navigation bar. If you want to stay the weekend with us in the mountains (and we encourage you to do so!), please consider renting a cabin from this company. They can place you in walking distance to us in a beautiful cabin with a big screen satellite TV, hot tub and wireless internet access.

If you prefer to come up for one night only, you will find links to local hotels and the only B&B in Blue Ridge (that I can find). Those links will take you to web pages where you can see pictures of the hotels. The Days Inn has doors that open on to the parking lot. I believe the Ramada has an interior hallway. Rooms at the Ramada run about $75/night (includes a continental breakfast), while rooms at the Days Inn are $50-60/night.

Hurrah! We found a cabin!

2005-12-02T13:18:00.000-05:00

Our trip up to Blue Ridge yesterday was (to my mind) a great success. We have found a cabin to hold our wedding in, and I'm just delighted with it. We're also renting three other cabins all on the same stretch of road for family and friends. These four cabins won't hold everyone though. We're offering them to close friends and family first because we expect those people will want to be with us for the entire weekend. Others may also rent cabins in the same neighborhood (it is quite large) and be very close by. Once all the details are ironed out for the cabins that Robert and I are reserving, we will release details. Because the cabins are owned by individuals - not the cabin management company - the management must first verify that the owners of the cabins are willing to give them up for the holiday weekend. The management company didn't seem to think it would be a problem, so I am hopeful that we are good to go.

In the right hand navigation bar of this page, you'll find a list of links for lodging. While we can vouch for this cabin rental company, we have not visited the hotels or bed and breakfast and cannot vouch for them. If you use the links, you will find photos of those facilities on their respective web sites. Our hope is that people will want to stay the weekend and enjoy the mountains with us, but we understand that not everyone will be able to do so.

Little Cabin in the Woods...

2005-11-28T10:27:00.000-05:00

Thursday, Robert and I are heading north to look for a cabin to hold the wedding in. We are slightly fudging to the cabin management company our anticipated guest list because I can't imagine anyone renting us cabins if I told them the guest list was around 100. So we fudge a little. It'll be okay.

Also, has anyone seen the upside down Christmas trees that are so suddenly popular? They're pretty and all, but they are not Christmas trees. They are po-mo expressions of secular delight. Nothing more.

The Ringbearer

2005-11-03T14:57:00.000-05:00

We've been getting quite a few questions about who will be in our wedding party. The truth is, we don't know. We haven't got all the ins and outs of that figured out yet. The only role in our wedding party that we have definitely filled right now is the position of ringbearer: that will be Lucius.

For those of you who have not met him yet, Lucius is our Rhodesian Ridgeback. As I write this he's 16 months old and weighs 81 lbs. Everyone loves Lucius, even our friends Shane and Kate, who are most definitely not dog people. He's a big dog, but not a scary big dog. My main concern about having him at the wedding is that everyone will have nose prints on the crotch of their fancy clothes. I'm not really sure how to get around that, but rest assured, he's not a jumper, so there shouldn't be paw prints all over your clothes.

Welcome!

2005-11-02T09:40:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. Since this wedding is going to be a semi-destination wedding - and a holiday weekend wedding to boot - Robert and I thought it was important to keep y'all clued in on the whats wheres and whens of everything as it's decided.

Here's what we know so far:
The wedding will be somewhere in the North Georgia mountains on New Year's Eve - that's December 31, 2006. It will be a night-time cocktail wedding/reception extravaganza.

Once it's decided, we'll let you know where the wedding will be and where you can find accommodations nearby. We've got a date to look at cabins in the vicinity of Blue Ridge, Georgia on December 1st. Hopefully, we can decide on the spot to take one of the cabins we see. We'll also reserve three additional cabins for family and friends to stay in: that's one for the Nicols, one for the Roberts and one for friends - or at least that's how we'd imagined it. It needn't necessarily work out that way. Obviously, three cabins won't be sufficient housing for everyone, but it's a good start. Oh! You should know that since the wedding is the weekend of New Years, most cabins, hotels and B&Bs have a three night minimum stay rule. Some have a five night rule, but the earlier you book, the more leeway the management is likely to give you on that!