I like making plans.  It gives me time to look at most options and determine what's the best fit for us as opposed to blindly selecting something that looks nice but has no practicality.  Unfortunately the world doesn't seem to want to work with us.

Karen and I got married last October by a local magistrate on a Sunday morning.  No frills, no fanfare, just us, our marriage certificate and sixty American dollars.  Since then we've moved to Florida permanently and wanted to put together something so that we can share this occasion with our families and friends (chances are if you are reading this, you already are very aware of this).  We've been working on the details for a while, we've got our plans for catering, cakes, photographers, clothes, everything except the venue.  The venue has been the biggest limiting factor of putting this together and those whom provide this service aren't making it much easier.

We have a simple need.  We want a quick easy casual ceremony on the beach followed by a low key casual reception.  No $20,000 chandeliers, no designer tablecloths, no 30 person choir, just a room and a place on the beach.  With the Gulf coast as beautiful and popular as it is, almost every possible venue offers only the giant "wedding package" that contains all the nonsense that everyone typically wants for a full out wedding.  Not to mention trying to get any information about pricing basically outputs a "call for further info" message where I'll undoubtedly be connected with some planner that will talk my ear off about how wonderful their facility is and what all they can provide that I don't need and certainly can't afford.

The other option we were looking at was a full blown rental property, perhaps for a weekend or so.  Again, most properties need you to rent it out at least a week (some do have 3 day weekend options) and anything that is actually beachfront is ridiculously priced, even for October.

It probably doesn't help that this is our first time ever booking any type of social gathering as well as being in an area we've only lived in for a few months.  I just didn't expect it to be this challenging.

Perhaps I need to go rent 'The Wedding Planner' at my local Redbox for some insight.  Silly me, that'll only teach me to be a terrible actor.

As our time in NC winds to a close, I wanted to thank the Tar Heel State for being our lovely host for the past two years.  The time we've spent here will never be forgotten and was influential in putting us on the path we are headed.  I'd like to share some final thoughts about our time here below.

First off, I'd like to personally thank the everyone involved at the NC State Fair.  Not only did we attend the fair itself for the last two years, but we also enjoyed various other activities that took place at the fairgrounds such as the Greek Festival, 4th of July, Got to Be NC Festival, coin shows, boat shows, and of course the flea market.  Conveniently located near our apartment, there were (mostly free) events almost every weekend and if we found ourselves in need of something to do we'd first look at the fairgrounds schedule.

As much as traffic is mostly bad on I-40 and I-440, it was nice to finally live in an area where the interstate was accessible.  Back in Kentucky, 3/4 of the city basically had to drive 20 min or more to even get to the on ramp of the closest interstate.  Even out of Cary where we live there were 3 interstate exits within 15 min of each other.  I know this is kind of a silly thing to write about, but it was one of the first things I noticed when I started living here.

No reflection post of mine is complete without mention of food.  The Raleigh/Cary area provided a multitude of restaurants, some I had only seen in far away bigger cities.  My first trip to Ruth's Chris Steak House was in Cary.  We got to enjoy the mostly Canadian based Jack Astor's.  Other restaurants like California Pizza Kitchen and the Cheesecake Factory were so far away back in Kentucky it wasn't worth the drive, but both were basically right down the street here.  I was able to regroup with long lost sandwich shop Jersey Mike's which was based in downtown Lexington when I was in college but closed relatively quick.

Finally and most importantly, we got married in North Carolina.  Sure it wasn't a big wedding with all the fanfare and such but we were married on our dream date of 10/10/10.  Our wedding for $80 at the Wake County Public Safety Center was perfect for us.  It's really about the couple, not the circumstances.  I love my wife Karen and everything about her and couldn't ask for anything more.  It's also going to put a lot less stress on the wedding celebration we're putting on this fall for family and friends to commemorate our first year of marriage.

Our time in NC served as a platform for the future.  As we start our Florida journey in just 2 weeks' time, I couldn't have asked to be in a better position.  I'm slowly learning that life is nothing but a bunch of beginnings, and this could be our biggest one yet.

We'll miss you North Carolina, you really do hold a piece of our heart.