Thanks for everyone who came to the wedding. We really appreciated all your love and support. We both had a great time, and I really just was so happy to have my friends and family. You can see loves of pictures by going to Flickr Photos. There are a ton. We will be putting a bunch of our favorites into a separate section, but that section is not done yet. You can also see an overview of all the photos by going to the Flickr Sets This will give you a little thumbnail of all the pictures. Let us know which are your favorites! There are lots of good ones there.

So if you want childcare, please RSVP to kate1928@yahoo.com.

Thanks!  We are so excited as you can well imagine!

Another shot from just down the street is the entrance of the Church where our service will be held.

The reception will be right after the service (probably 12pm or 12:30pm) at Inn at Walking Horse Farm. You can see their entrance in this photo.

Another location is The Factory. If you like shopping with arts and amazing antique and crafty type stores, you will love this place. There is a great restaurant there called Saffire Their food is amazing. Though if you want to go on Saturday night, you will have to call early to get a reservation or just be prepared to wait awhile. It is one of our favorites!

You can also take a walk around downtown Franklin on Main Street. You can park around there, or in the Square and walk to all the shops. There are some other restaurants downtown in Franklin, like the Irish Pub McCreary’s. There is this amazing chocolate place on Main Street call Xoconochco

And, if you want there are some great restaurants downtown Nashville. I recommend Cabana or, I’m sure you can find lots of different places downtown around 3rd Ave. You can also head there if you want to hear lots of Music (some country and western bars, some rock and roll bars, some blues clubs, etc)

I have a few things to share here so here goes…

(1) My friend Julie Calise was reading about my suggestions for things to do and she wanted to make a suggestion. If anyone goes to the Chattanooga area (2 hours east of Nashville) she suggests that they go to Ruby Falls. I’ve only seen signs for that from the highway, but Julie says she went with her husband and really enjoyed it.

(2) Another friend, Sarah SanClemente, suggested that we put our email addresses up here on this blog so people can write directly with questions… so here goes. You can use my yahoo address: kate1928@yahoo.com. Ask your questions! Make your comments! We love questions and comments! [Side note: I’m not posting my gmail account here in case there any computer bots ready to find my address and send me spam!]

(3) I was at the church today and wanted to mention that there is free parking in a parking garage across the street from the church. The church spans a block and the door you will go in is on the other side of the church from the parking garage. I know this might seem like a quirky little detail, but I feel better now that I’ve said it. As for the reception, there will be parking in a pasture on site.

Speaking of the reception… so many people can make it to our wedding, and we are so excited about that. There will be a little over 200 people there. The facility usually handles weddings closer in size to 150, and although they say they have had functions with 200 people, they also say that’s the largest size that they are used to. That having been said, I’m sure it would be helpful if people coming from the same hotel would be able to carpool there. Not that you should feel pressure to carpool, but if a golden opportunity presents itself, don’t miss it! :)  It’s a large horse farm and if they run out of space for your car in one pasture I’m sure they can find room for it in the chicken coop or something.

I forget if I’ve already mentioned (and don’t want to go back and re-read my blog now) so I’ll talk about the food. There will be a buffet lunch (and not a sit-down dinner). They will serve the food right when the first guests arrive after the service (probably around 12:30 or 1). That means people will likely start eating before Christopher and I arrive. There will be sandwiches and other lunch type foods there. When we get there we will have dancing and visiting and cake cutting and such. I just wanted to mention this for those who are more used to weddings having a formal sit-down dinner. I think buffets are a southern thing- but I’m sure there are exceptions to that all the time.

Anyway, the reception will be over sometime between 3:30 and 4:30 and then people will be on their own for supper. The area where the hotels are has lots of restaurants, and even the hotels have restaurants. Just want to be sure that people have the facts so they can make plans.

I’ve mentioned before that Christopher and I plan to go to the Marriott after our reception, but you should know that we plan to just hang out at the bar and visit and chat we don’t have anything structured planed for then.

Whew! I wrote more than I thought I would! Please let me know if there is anything else you need to know!

See you all soon! :)

XO

Kate

I’m glad to hear that people are checking out our site! Someone suggested that I list some other things to do in the Nashville area that are a bit more kid-friendly. Two things come to mind although they are both a 20-30 minute drive from Franklin (both are in Nashville). One is the Discovery Science Center. I haven’t been there but Christopher has and he really enjoyed it! I think they do a good job of having exhibits which are interesting to both kids and adults.

The other suggestion is the Opryland Hotel. It is a beautiful hotel with a large indoor area that is glassed in and has trees and waterfalls and little paths to walk. There is also some shopping in there as well.

Both of these suggestions might appeal to people wishing to avoid our Tennessee heat.

And speaking of heat, I know it will be hot in August but please be assured that the church is well air-conditioned, and the reception location has a large indoor area that is air-conditioned and that opens up to an air-conditioned tent on the patio area next to the main room. The comfort of our guests is very important to us!

I was glad someone asked for kid-friendly suggestions for things to do. Please do let us know if you need any more information or have any other questions. We love the feedback!

It’s less than a month now! Christopher and I celebrated our -1 month anniversary five days ago. Really that was just me being goofy because I enjoy the irony of expressing negative increments of time. But in all seriousness, we are both very excited and can’t wait to see our most loved family and friends!

Love, Kate

People coming in from out of town have been asking me about things to do while in the area, and i have a few ideas to share. Since Nashville is the “Music City”, you may want to catch some of the local music scene. Much of the music is country/bluegrass, but if you are not into that you can find some great other types of music.

Some suggested places to try are:

Kimbro’s Pickin Parlor

The Listening Room Cafe

The Bluebird Cafe

You can get food at those places and the atmosphere is casual. If you are a connoisseur of beers, Yazoo is our local brew and we are big fans of their Pale Ale and Dos Perros. They all have web sites you can Google to get a sense of they type of music they are playing.

Historic downtown Franklin is quite a nice place to walk and shop (unless the temperatures are so hot as to make walking prohibitive). There are some historical sites to see which I haven’t spent much time doing as of yet, but there is a tourist information center which can provide more info.

If you find yourself needing anything from a traditional american mall, the Cool Springs Galleria is right near any of the hotels we are suggesting. You will also find pretty much any nationwide chain store in the Cool Springs Area. Side note to my brother Eddie- there is even a Sam’s Club!

For those driving from the Northeast, I have a few suggestions. First, I’ve heard great, great things about the Asheville, North Carolina area. I haven’t been myself but I’ve heard it is a neat place to see. It is an area which has lots of natural beauty and is a cool college town as well. Also, if you find yourself anywhere near Chattanooga TN, the aquarium there is supposed to be awesome.

Well, those are the updates for now. I will keep trying to think of things to suggest.

Hope all is well!

Love, Kate

I am changing the info in my last post. We were going to block rooms at the Hyatt but have decided to stick with the Marriott because they are providing a better price. However, if you do want another choice for a place to stay, there are several hotels in the vicinity of the Marriott.

other hotels in the cool springs area:
the hyatt 615.771.8900
country inn and suites 615.778.0321
hampton inn 800.4267866
embassy suites 615.515.5151
wingate inn 615.277.870
I believe my family is staying at the Marriott, and since the wedding will be over around 4:30 or so, Christopher and I plan to go over to the Marriott that evening to hang out with people. We don’t have anything specific planned for there, but they have a bar and restaurant there as well as an indoor pool so we figure people can go there to hang out and visit. It seems like a good idea to set up a central location for people to go who want to visit more. All the hotels listed above are less than a mile from the Marriott so you can visit at the Marriott and still be close to your hotel where you will likely collapse from exhaustion after BOOGYING on the dance floor all afternoon!

Here is a map of the area that the Marriott provided us:

map-of-cool-springs

As for our honeymoon, it is going to be sometime in the upcoming year. I have school on Monday the 11th so we will wait until one of my vacations.

Those are the updates for now. Can’t wait to see you all on Aug 9th!

Love, Kate

I’m suggesting that my family stay there, and since we will have an afternoon reception, we will likely have an after-party there in the evening.

There are other hotels in the Cool Springs area which we can recommend. I don’t have the info here and now as I write this post, but one of us will update again soon with more recommendations.

Info for reserving at the Marriott:

**Please dial 1-888-403-6772 to call in your reservations and ask for
the Myers/Cotton Wedding group rate.**
Franklin Marriott Cool Springs >>
http://marriott.com/bnacs?groupCode=mcwmcwa&app=resvlink

PS - we are so excited and are happy about all the people who are making plans to be with us on Aug 9th!