Howdy!

Today was a very busy day for me at work as I wrapped everything up to get ready to go on vacation, but couple of pretty interesting things happened!

First off, at lunchtime today I went over to Green Pastures and talked to their event planner about having the wedding and reception there. It went really well and I'm even more excited about it now! My favorite option right now is to have the ceremony out on their South Lawn and a Sunday Brunch reception. The gal that I talked to mentioned that one of the options for the ceremony is a ceremony in-the-round...which I think sounds fantastic! Not to mention a lot more intimate. I haven't actually been to a brunch at Green Pastures (cause I can't afford it...its pricey) but they offer pretty much the same brunch buffet for receptions at a MUCH lower price per person.

I was also talking to some girls at work today about the importance of having a wedding cake. My opinion is that it really isn't important at all. I'm not even really that into cake. However, they seemed to think it was pretty important. I can see if you're
having a very traditional thing where you really want the pictures of you and your new spouse shoving cake into eachother's faces and you have people coming who really expect cake then it might be important. But:
1) We're not having a traditional wedding
2) We may not take the traditional wedding photographs
3) There will be other desserts as part of the brunch buffet that cake will actually be superfluous.
4) Cake costs extra
But I also don't know what Ben's feelings are on the matter. He
might really want cake. In which case, I wouldn't be totally opposed to a non-traditional wedding cake...like maybe cupcake tower!

Cupcakes are something I could totally get behind. I also know there are other folks out there who would rather have cupcakes anyway.

What do y'all think? What elements of a traditional wedding are
too important to be left out?

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Moving on, last night my neighbor caught me as I was coming home to ask me if I wanted to go with her to see the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at Bass Concert Hall. She had a friend who had gotten tickets and could no longer go. After I picked my jaw up off the floor...of course I said yes! Pass up an opportunity to see one of the most well known and well regarding modern dance troupes in America? No way.

In the late 1950's Alvin Ailey was the first person to really inject the African American cultural experience into modern dance. He really changed the way people thought about modern dance and he continues to influence modern choreographers. Needless to say...it was amazing!

The music for the first piece was comprised entirely of an a capella group that was also on the stage with the dancers and played a role in the piece. The second piece was a tribute to Otis Redding and utilized a lot of his lesser known songs. My favorite piece, though, was a classic. Since this was the 50th anniversary tour, they performed the "Revelations" piece which was originally performed in 1959 and put Alvin Ailey on the modern dance map. All the music used in the piece were classic Southern gospel hymns and the choreography dealt with all the themes you would expect: sin, prayer, fellowship and celebration of faith.
Fan. Tastic.

Well, that's all for now...but lots of exciting posts coming up! We're heading out tomorrow for Philly to visit Ben's sister Victoria and definitely plan on taking a day trip to Manhattan and doing some fun touristy stuff in NYC. There even may be some special birthday surprises for Ben :) Be on the lookout for tales of our adventures...and pics!

BTW...I don't know why the Green Pasture pics above are so out of whack. If anyone has any helpful hints about formatting and picture placement...bring 'em on.