1. Choose the Place Finding the right setting will set the tone for the engagement party. We're partial to outdoor settings with plenty of changing leaves and beautiful views. Wedding venues are great options since they are setup to host parties and have many amenities to host a larger party. If that's not your vibe, try a restaurant with a large gathering space. Keep the Fall feels with either a patio or rooftop setting. A large room with a cozy fireplace is also a great option. For smaller parties, a backyard party can be a great option. Add some string lights and candles, a small firepit and flowers for a cozy atmosphere.
2. Let the season drive your color choices and decor Warm colors are the perfect complement to crisp evenings. Use cozy fabrics and colors in your table settings. Add throw blankets or flannel pillows to seating for decor and to keep guest warm for outdoor parties. Seasonal flowers like mums and dahlias are often found in colors that complement the changing leaves. Use apples, pumpkins, acorns or leaves in your decorations. Candles always add magic to a party and they are perfect for a Fall engagement party. One of my personal favorites is a few small bouquets with flowers, greenery or leaves along the center and place a few candles and apples or small pumpkins strategically along the center of the table. 3. Keep it Cozy (Sorry, had to throw in some alliteration there) Add a small fire pit or heaters for guests to cozy up to. Blankets are another great option. If you are planning an outdoor celebration, make sure you let guests know so they can bring sweaters or jackets if needed. Provide some warm drinks for guests. Spiced cider is a given. But, get creative. What about coffee with Fall creamers? Or herbal tea? Sometimes just holding a warm cup is the perfect thing for chilly hands. Layers aren’t just for keeping your warm when you get dressed. Add a table linen, then cloth placemat with texture, charger, dinner plate and then a Fall colored napkin. Include a water glass and cocktail or wine glass at each place setting. Those layers add to the cozy feel.
5. Hire a photographer This might seem like it’s out of left field, but this is definitely a moment to document. Guests are usually dressed up. Everyone is excited and the couple is madly in love. Plus that shiny new ring is begging to be photographed. Look for someone who is great at getting candid shots. You want the photos of the bride-to-be showing her ring to her aunt, friends laughing around the fire, everyone raising a glass to toast the couple. PS – these are great to display at the wedding, use for Save the Dates, etc. 6. Decide if it’s a Surprise or not Sometimes engagement parties are planned for right after the engagement. That involves having friends and family in place close (but not too close) to the engagement spot. And making sure they aren’t accidentally seen. Think through where everyone will park, where they will stay during the engagement, etc. An easier plan is for the newly engaged couple to come straight to the party from a different location. It’s still an immediate celebration but without the stress of a surprise party. Engagement parties don’t have to take place immediately following the engagement. You can plan it a week or two after the engagement. This gives the couple time to let everyone know and enjoy their new engagement on their own for a bit.
7. Have a team in place This could mean hiring a caterer to set up, serve and clean up. Or it could just be enlisting a group of friends and family to pitch in. It takes a lot to gather the details and set it up. And after the party, you definitely want lots of help to clean up! Make sure you have a team in place to clean up so everyone can head home to rest after! That’s it! Just a few steps to get you started in the right direction.
If you are looking for an Engagement idea for Spring or Summer, check out our Honeybee Proposal Post!
You can also find (and share with the happy couple) tips on wedding planning here!
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 You're engaged – congrats! And now you get to start dreaming and planning your wedding. Scrolling through photos of venues. Checking out their websites, Instagram, Facebook and more. Now you have pricing, emails from a few different venues, blog posts to read and everyone is asking if you would like to schedule a Venue Tour. That sounds fun! But, wait, what is a Venue Tour like? Your parents are asking if they are supposed to come. Your fiancé is asking if they need to take off work. (Do you need to take off work?) What are you supposed to wear? What are they going to ask you? It’s just the beginning so you don’t know everything yet! Ok, maybe this doesn’t seem so fun anymore… Walking into a new experience can be fun and nerve wracking – we get it! So, what if someone told you exactly what to expect? What you should wear, who should be there, what questions will you have to answer and what questions should you be asking. Well, we’ve got you covered!
What is a “Venue Tour” at our North Georgia Wedding Venue?Don’t feel like this is a dumb question. Since we are also a working farm with farm events and visitors, the “Venue Tour” has caused confusion for several people! We renamed it “Wedding Tour” to help. Before that, we would get Tour requests asking if they could see the chickens and maybe milk a goat (completely separate from wedding planning). Obviously, we were not communicating clearly! So, a Wedding Venue Tour is a chance for couples to see the venue in person while they are deciding if they would like to get married here. Think of it as a home showing with a Real Estate agent. It’s designed for someone who is looking to buy and let’s them see the space in person – which is important for both Wedding Venues and buying a house! It doesn’t cost money to come. You aren’t required to spend money to book the venue if you come. And, at Pleasant Union Farm, you will not get a pushy sales person waving a contract at you before they allow you to leave. No offense to car sales, but we aren’t a car salesman! Ok, that’s the simple overview. Let’s dig into some details so you are fully prepared!  How do I schedule a Venue Tour? If you are looking for a wedding venue in North Georgia and are local to Canton, Ga, it’s pretty simple. (If you are out of state, don’t worry – I’ll cover the easy way you can tour in just a minute!) Our website covers all the details of our packages, pricing, photos, etc. You will find a link in several places to “Request A Tour” or “Schedule a Tour”. Clicking that link will take you to a page with a short form to fill out. It will ask items like your name and phone number (this makes it easy for us to text you in case our email reply ends up in Spam jail), your preferred wedding date and Fiance’s name. If you don’t have a specific date, choose one that falls within the range and you can make a note later in the form. If you aren’t local, we can schedule a virtual tour! We can Facetime or set up a Zoom call to walk you through the space and answer all your questions. The great news is our all-inclusive packages make planning a wedding while out of state much easier.
Choosing a Tour Date After you answer the questions, you will find a calendar that shows available days and times for a tour. You can choose the one that fits you best. The great thing about this is you can handle it on your time – even if that’s at 9:30pm when you can finally talk with your fiancé and anyone else that you need to talk to. After You Schedule Once you hit Submit on the form, your tour time is booked on our calendar! You can find our address, email, phone number and a map at the bottom of the page. This is easy to go back to when it’s time to come visit us. We will follow up with an email and a text to confirm your tour. You can reply to any of these with questions you have. You will also get reminders the day before and a couple hours before your tour along with options to easy change the tour time, if you need to. A couple of these emails will be automated, but we will also send a personal email with some additional information for you and a few more questions. Yes, it’s a lot of questions but we want to get to know you and your needs so we can help you have the best wedding day possible for YOU! Take a few minutes when you get the form and answer as many questions as you can. It’s perfectly fine to not know the answer yet. And we are happy to give you guidance, if needed. You've got this! You can have a gorgeous, unique wedding that you get to fully enjoy!  Tour Details So, you’ve made it through scheduling, answered our many questions (thank you) and now you are planning for the tour. Who should ComeAnyone who needs to see the space before you make a decision, but not everyone who might just have an opinion. It could be just you and your fiancé, it could include your parents, maybe a maid of honor or sister. Make sure it’s people who will truly support you as you decide and that need to see it before a final decision is made.
What Should I Wear Something you feel good in, something comfortable and something you like in case you decide to take any pictures of you and your fiancé around the space! If you are together with a beautiful sunset over the blueberry fields or the cut flower garden is in full bloom, you don’t want to miss out on the photo op. You don’t need to dress up, but if you are always looking for an excuse to dress up – then go for it! We are typically in “business casual”. A skirt or dress, nice jeans and a blouse or something similar. Where do I go and What do I do when I arrive? You will see a Pleasant Union Farm sign at the entrance to the venue. We have a gravel drive (it helps you slow down and enjoy country life) that you will follow back to a parking lot in front of the barn. It’s very common to see rabbits, deer, goats and a chicken or two along the road. The beauty of a Georgia farm wedding venue means you will see lots of trees, views of the blueberry fields and our large garden area on your way in. Once you park, you will be in front of the venue. We will be watching for you and greet you at the front door. If you arrive early and it looks like there are additional cars there for a previous tour, feel free to hang out on the side porch or walk the grounds while you wait.  What will I Do On a Tour? We will guide you through the space and show you what a wedding day setup and flow might look like. We will ask you a few questions, share information (which we will send in a follow up so you don’t have to take notes) and answer all the questions you have. You will see options for ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, dancing and more. We will explain the typical wedding day flow at the venue, but we are happy to talk with you about different options. One of our couples had a background working at summer camps and they changed the flow around so that they had time to mingle before the ceremony. Feel free to share your vision with us and we will walk through how to bring it to life!
How many Questions do I have to Answer? Just a few! Generally, we just want to get to know you better and understand what is important to you. Do you want something laid back or a party with everyone on the dance floor? Do you have specific worries or concerns? All of those things help us serve you and make sure you have the information you need as you decide where to host your wedding. What Questions Should I Ask?We will give you lots of information – both on our website and as we walk you through the space. Many of our couples say “You’ve answered all my questions!”. If you want to know where to start, check out our blog series below on Questions to Ask Your Venue. View the Blog Series here.  Wrapping Up the Tour We usually wrap up the tour by sitting down, offering you a cold water and a small snack while we go through pictures of the space decorated for a wedding and explain how our All-Inclusive Packages work. After that, we like to give you time to sit and talk (without us yammering in your ear) or walk the grounds and enjoy the peaceful setting. Then you can ask any questions that might have popped up before you head out. If it’s lunch, dinner or snack time, feel free to ask us for recommendations on where to stop and eat as you head home. Downtown Canton has some of our favorite restaurants! Queenie's - we recommend a slice of the Chocolate Mousse Pie Bizarre Coffee - check out their seasonal flavors Sidelines Grille - go healthy with the Paleo Chicken, or all out with Chili Nachos The Mill on Etowah - stop by Reformation Brewery or any other of the great restaurant options After You Tour We will follow up with an email that highlights the points we talked about on your tour.
We will also let you know the next steps to book your date. That’s it! Low key and fun. The goal is to meet us, let us get to know you better and let you walk through the space. PS - there's a link to schedule a tour just below If you are looking for a unique North Georgia wedding with experiences your guests will be talking about for years, we've got some great ideas for you! 1. Fun Food Trucks We've had a few different food trucks at Pleasant Union Farm, and they are always a hit with guests! Summer and early Fall weddings are warm enough to enjoy an ice cream truck or Kona Ice during cocktail hour. This is a great way to give your guests something fun to do while you finish photos. Donut trucks like Simply Done Donuts is a personal favorite! They make the donuts fresh in their donut truck and have a huge menu of flavors to choose from. When they show up during dancing, all the guests are excited to see them (along with the bride and groom)! Our North Georgia wedding venue has the perfect setup to bring the food truck fun right to the party.  2. Late Night Snacks Late night snacks are always a hit with your guests. After they have enjoyed dinner and dancing at our North Georgia wedding venue, guests are ready for a pick me up. The ideas for this are endless! After an elegant meal, choose a fun late night snack option like cheeseburgers or sliders. Krispy Kreme donuts are a fan favorite for any North Georgia bride and groom. Our wedding venue is located near several great apple orchards in North Georgia. Fried pies are a late night snack perfect for a Fall wedding. 3. S'mores The fire pit area at Pleasant Union Farm wedding venue is perfect for post dinner s'mores! Go classic or add fun chocolate options like dark chocolate or Reese's peanut butter cups.
4. Include Games during Cocktail Hour Several outdoor wedding games are included with our North Georgia wedding venue. Cornhole, ring toss and jenga are great for guests to enjoy on our large covered porch during cocktail hour. Personalize the game experience by including mini games on the hightop tables on the cocktail porch. Connect four, small jigsaw puzzles and more are great conversation starters for your guests.
5. Live Wedding Painting Live wedding painters are a great combination of an experience for your guests to enjoy and a keepsake from your wedding. The artist starts the painting during the ceremony and continues throughout the reception. Guests love to watch the artist as they add details and see the painting come to life.  6. Caricature Artist
If a traditional artist isn't quite the experience you are envisioning for your guests, then a caricature artist might be a great fit! Guests can sit for the artist throughout cocktail hour and receive personal caricatures to take home with them. This has been a hit with guests at our North Georgia wedding venue! Have any ideas for your wedding guest experience or fun plans for your wedding? We'd love to have you share them in the comments below! Do you want to know the best reason to use locally grown flowers in your wedding flowers? Every year at your anniversary, those flowers will be blooming for you. It's the perfect way to make you smile and enjoy your anniversary! Plant some in your garden to enjoy an anniversary bouquet every year. So, now that I've convinced you local, seasonal flowers are a great idea - what is the best way to choose local flowers for your North Georgia wedding?  Choose a florist specializing in local flowers Your florist will take your wedding day vision and bring it to life through the flowers. They are also responsible for finding and purchasing the flowers for your wedding day. Make sure you choose a florist that is familiar with where to purchase local flowers. They will be able to guide you on the best types of flowers for your wedding day and have a large selection of local flower farms to work with.
Know which flowers are in season Each flower types blooms at a different time of year. In North Georgia, we have ranunculus, peonies and garden roses typically May - June. Sunflowers and lisianthus love the hot summer of July and August. Dahlias make an appearance beginning in September and bloom until late October. Your florist can help you understand which local flowers will be available around your wedding date or you can talk with a local flower farmer. 
Be flexible Locally grown flowers can be impacted by weather, pests or other items that might mean your florist needs to shift the plan. A florist that has experience with local flowers will understand this and be able to easily shift to another type of local flower that still delivers on your vision (one more reason why the first tip is so important)! Some flowers can be shipped from other locations easily so you can keep certain flower - like peonies. Others, like dahlias, don't ship as well. Talk with your florist about options and trust that they will delivery beautiful flowers on your wedding day! Bonus Tip - what if you want to use local flowers for your DIY wedding? It's still possible!
Many local flower farms will sale buckets of flowers that you can use to design your wedding flowers. These will be what they have blooming on their farm that week. Some may be able to provide flowers based on a color palette and others are "grower's choice" which means they pick the best looking flowers and don't focus on the color. We are fortunate to have many local flower farms in the North Georgia area which make beautiful, local flowers available for your wedding! Georgia is known for long summers. And we don't always view that as a good thing. When it comes to growing a summer garden full of flavorful produce, it's a very good thing. Our long summer means a long growing season that gives us weeks of fresh tomatoes and items like okra that need the long, hot weeks. Today we are sharing some of our favorite summer veggies and a few tips for growing each. Home Grown Tomatoes For many of us, this is what we wait for all year. At the Farmer's Market, we see customers asking weekly for the first tomatoes. (Hint, it's usually late June or early July before locally grown tomatoes are ready in North Georgia.) The good news is tomatoes usually love our red Georgia clay. The natural acidity is good for them. You can plant them directly in the ground or grow in raised beds or even large pots or 5 gallon buckets. Tomatoes need lots of sun! At least 8 hours to produce juicy tomatoes. You want to have a small plant to go in the ground (don't try to start these directly by seed in the garden). The absolute earliest to plant is mid-April, but you need to watch the weather carefully for late frost or strong storms. We aim for early May and typically have tomatoes the same time as all the other local farmers. Small tomatoes, like cherry tomatoes, will ripen first. Larger tomatoes will take a little longer. There are tons of articles and information on how to fertilize tomatoes. For beginning growers, I recommend Dr. Earth Organic Tomato Fertilizer. It has a mixture of minerals needed by the plants and is easy to apply. Tomatoes will need support as they grow. You can purchase tomato cages from local hardware stores that are easy to use and can be reused each year. With sun, regular water and a little fertilizer, you will be on your way to delicious homegrown tomatoes!  Squash and Zucchini I'm grouping these together because they are in the same growing family. Yellow squash, pattypan squash and zucchini are all easy to grow in North Georgia. These plants branch out and don't require any support. Start them by seed directly in your garden. Create a small hill of dirt and place 2 - 3 seeds in the hill. The hill helps with drainage so the plants don't sit in water after a big rainfall. You will need to keep an eye out for squash vine borers. These are moths that lay eggs under the leaves. The larvae eat the vines and kill the plant. If you have several plants, you won't need to worry as much since they don't usually impact all of the plants. You can also purchase squash vine borer traps that attract and trap the moths to keep them from laying eggs. Harvest the yellow squash and zucchini before they get too large (keep an eye on them because they can double in size almost overnight!) These will produce for several weeks throughout the summer. Green Beans These are another easy to grow veggie that you can start directly with seed in the garden. You can either plant bush beans that do not need support or runner beans that will need a trellis of some sort. It's personal preference on which you choose. It's easy to find "stringless" beans that area easier to prepare before cooking. The leaves of bean plants can be a draw for Japanese beetles. Japanese beetle traps can help keep down the number of pests. Once these start producing, you will need to harvest at least every other day.  Okra This is a true southern staple. Fried okra is my favorite way to eat it, but it's also great for soups, gumbos, roasted or pickled. Okra loves the heat! Start the seeds directly in the ground and let them grown. You can begin harvesting later in July and they will go through September. The stalks will continue to grown taller as you harvest the okra. Make sure you pick it when it's about 3" long. If it gets too large, they get woody and tough. What is your favorite Summer veggie or one you want to try in your garden?
I know, you are doubting that a stress-free wedding is even possible. Stress-free might be over promising - let's just say "low stress" or "lower than your cousin's crazy wedding stress". We've got our top 5 tips to help you enjoy a low stress North Georgia wedding! 1. Decide what is most important When you start planning your wedding, there are so many details to consider. Which venue will you choose? What type of menu do you want? What colors will you choose? Which wedding dress is right for you? And the list keeps growing. If you try to prioritize everything, you will become quickly worn out. Choose your top 2 – 3 items that are most important. Maybe it’s the cake or the flowers. It might be having a larger wedding with all the guests. By choosing 2 – 3 most important items, it will help drive your decisions and help you say “no” to some other items.
2. Trust your vendors You’ve done your research and taken recommendations to find your vendors. After you have hired your vendors, trust your judgement and theirs. If you chose your florist because you love their style, you clicked during your consultation and their proposal works with your budget – then don’t second guess yourself. As you get closer to wedding day, the stress can start to kick in and you might start questioning your decisions. Trust that you made the right decision and let your North Georgia wedding venue and vendors do their thing.  3. Ask family and friends to help You don’t have to do it all on your own. Stop and think of 2 – 3 family members or friends that you know would be willing to help. You can probably come up with some names pretty quickly. Ask them to help! (They may have already told you they would love to help – you just have to ask). I get it, asking for help can sometimes be hard. They really will love to contribute. Think of a specific task for them and ask them to take care of it. It can be simple things like bringing décor to the North Georgia venue or taking it home after the wedding, bringing water or snacks for the bridal suite or getting cards and gifts to you after your honeymoon. These small things can take a lot of stress off your plate.
4. Take a Break
The hardest thing to do during wedding planning can be to take a break. Every time you are with your fiancé you can probably think of at least 10 things to discuss, ask or update them about the wedding planning. Make sure you take some time to step away from the planning and just enjoy being engaged! Go on a date and don’t talk about the wedding (maybe at least until dessert). 5. Don't worry about the little things Spoiler alert, something is going to not go to plan. It’s usually something small, and you might not even know. Try not to stress about every detail being perfect. Napkins came in the wrong color? Your guest won’t know what shade of pink they were supposed to be. Caterers brought an incorrect appetizer? The guests will never know and still enjoy the food. Do your best to stay in the moment, focus on marrying your best friend and enjoy the day! If you are looking for a great solution to help you plan and enjoy your wedding, take a look at our all-inclusive packages that guide your through creating and enjoying a beautiful wedding. You're engaged - congratulations! Are you hoping for a short(er) engagement? Are family and friends telling you it "can't be done" in 8, 6, 3 months? Good news is - it can be done! And not just with a court house elopement. You can have a beautiful wedding with the people you care most about AND it can be done without too much stress. (Spoiler - there is always a little stress when planning a wedding. Sorry!) How do I know it can be done? Because I've done it - many times! Cale and I planned our own wedding in just 3 months. At Pleasant Union Farm, we've planned MANY weddings in short time frames. It's one of the biggest perks of our All-Inclusive Packages!  Camille Wilson Photography The first step is finding the right venue with a date you love. A shorter engagement might limit your choices some, but if you are looking for a gorgeous outdoor space with views of the North Georgia countryside and a great indoor reception space - we might just have the perfect venue for you! Venues come in all shapes and sizes (and we don't just mean guest count). Some venues max out every weekend with weddings. Those venues often fill up quickly. Other venues host fewer weddings each year and they might have more openings. We intentionally host a smaller number of weddings each year which allows us to serve our couples to the best of our ability and remain flexible. It also means we often have availability for shorter engagements - which we love!  Kristen LeighAnn Photography I highly recommend looking for venues that offer All-Inclusive Packages if you are planning a shorter engagement. These packages help you pull everything together with less stress! Our wedding packages provide you with details and pricing up front so you know how to budget. Plus we have referrals for any other vendors you might need. We work with amazing North Georgia wedding vendors that help pull all the details together! We will help connect you with the vendors, answer questions you have along the way and our amazing coordinators put all the details into a wedding day timeline which they make sure flows smoothly for you. From coordinators to catering, cake and DJ, we have an amazing team. Plus we have some great suggestions for photographers, officiants and other vendors you might be looking for.  Kristen LeighAnn Photography So, after you have the venue set and a wedding package chosen - what's next? First, guest list. Get that nailed down and get invitation sent out. You want to get those out 4 - 5 months before the wedding (or 3, if you are working on a timeline like we did!) Make sure you ask guests to RSVP 6 weeks before your wedding so you know how many to plan for. (And to give time to follow up with the people who don't RSVP, because there will always be a few). Then, dress shopping. Finding a dress you love that can arrive in time can be a challenge. Make sure you communicate your timeline with bridal shops so they can guide you to dresses that will arrive in plenty of time for your wedding. Get this done as soon as possible! Next, schedule a consultation with the florist to share inspiration photos and details for the flowers. They can help guide you to what flowers are available in the season of your wedding and help you develop a plan to meet your budget. We recommend meeting with your florist 3 - 4 months before the wedding.  Camille Wilson Photography Then schedule a tasting with the caterer and cake designer. Most of the time, these vendors will have a menu for you to choose from so it's a little easier to plan after you get the date set. They will need a final guest count 3 - 4 weeks before the wedding to order supplies and plan for staff. Try to schedule your tasting at least 2 - 3 months before the wedding. As you are working through these items, take moments out to think through a song list for the DJ. They usually don't need this until a couple weeks before the wedding but it usually takes more than just one "meeting" with you and your fiance to come up with all the songs. So, spread it out over a few weeks!  Hillary Leah Photography When you are a month away from the big day, schedule a final meeting with the coordinator to go over all the details. Often they will give you some "homework" before the meeting to get vendor contact info, bridal party order and other details.
They can confirm the table layout, timeline details and answer questions at that meeting. Chances are good that you will still walk away with a few things left to do, but you will have a clear plan in place. The best piece of advice I can give is trust the experts. The vendors you choose to work with should know what their part in your wedding clearly looks like. They will know what they need to provide and what information they need from you. Ask them if you are missing anything and if they have everything they need. And then trust them to take care of you! We get to work with an amazing team of vendors at our North Georgia venue and they truly make all the difference! Good luck with the wedding planning - you've got this! Are dahlias one of your favorite flowers? (If not, you probably haven't been around too many of them yet!) These gorgeous blooms come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. They bloom in North Georgia starting in the late Summer until the first frost. They can seem finicky to grow at times, but we've got a few tips to share to make your dahlias grow beautifully!  They need sun, but don't like too much heat. In North Georgia, that can be a hard combination to find! The best place is one that gets morning sun and some afternoon shade. You can also use a shade cloth over them if needed. It's easy to find on Amazon and will help keep them cooler in the afternoon. Plant in raised beds or pots Our red Georgia clay soil here in North Georgia is great for some things - tomatoes, blueberries, etc. Dahlias don't love the clay soil, though. The biggest issue is the lack of drainage in clay soil. Dahlia tubers (the root or bulb of the plan) don't want to stay wet. They will rot if they sit in water for too long. We have had the best success when planting our dahlias in raised beds or large pots. You can either mix the clay soil with potting soil, compost, or sand to help with drainage or just fill the bed with soil designed for pots or raised beds. This also makes digging the tubers up easier (more on that later!) Plant the tuber on it's side Dahlias are most commonly sold as tubers. They look a little like a small sweet potato to me! When you plant, you want to dig a hole 4" - 6" deep and lay the tuber in horizontally. Dahlia tubers need an eye to grow (see? like potatoes). Sometimes, they will have a small sprout starting when you purchase it. If so, put that toward the top. It's ok to bury it! It's also ok if the sprout breaks while you are planting - it will regrow! If there isn't a sprout yet, you can lay it horizontally and don't worry about where the eye and sprout will be located. They will find their way to the light. Don't water it right away The tuber holds the food and water the sprout needs to get started. After you plant it, you don't need to water it until you see green growth. If your soil is really dry, it's ok to dampen it some. If you are planting in a raised bed or your pot is outside and it rains before there is a green sprout - it's fine. Nature will take care of itself 99% of the time. Once the green sprout becomes a small plant (12" or so), you will want to water it regularly and deeply. Usually that means once or twice a week with a really good soaking. If it's raining, you may not need to water. Even though they don't like to sit in water, they do like LOTS of water. This is why a raised bed or pot with drainage is a great fit in North Georgia.  Pinch the plant for better growth Pinching a plant means cutting off the top of it when it's young. For dahlias, once they are 6" - 8" tall you can cut off the top - just leaving the bottom set of leaves. It know it's painful (for you - not the plant) and it seems like you are delaying when your flowers will come, but it's a really important step! This makes the plant create more stems which means more flowers! Cut long Stems One of the best things about dahlias, is the more you cut the blooms the more they will bloom! They were made to be cut and brought inside to enjoy. When you cut your flowers, cut a long stem. Sometimes that might mean there is another bud lower on the stem - it's ok! I know you want to cut it above that bud - we can't lose any flowers! Trust me, cutting long stems will cause the plant to grow more long stems with more flowers. I promise, it works!  To dig or not to dig?
Because the tubers are sensitive to too much water and cold, they have to be dug up each fall in most of the US. But, we are lucky in our area because we don't have really cold winters. That means we can leave them in the ground through the winter! Every once in a while we will get really cold temperatures in North Georgia. Last December, it got down in the single digits - that's cold! If we do have temps that low in the forecast, you can cover your dahlia area with layers of leaves, mulch, cardboard or other material to give them extra insulation. We piled a few inches of leaves from our yard onto the raised beds and then covered that with landscape fabric to keep the leaves in place. Our dahlias survived the single digits perfectly! There is one BIG benefit to digging up your dahlias - they multiply! Yep, that one tuber you planted can turn into 4 - 12 more in just one season. Each of those tubers can grow it's own plant! I wait until Spring to dig my tubers for 2 reasons. 1. They are difficult to store over the winter. 2. You can see where to divide them more easily in the Spring. The tubers have to be divided correctly to make sure they grow a new plant and it takes some practice to learn. (I'll share a post on that later - you've got enough to do with just planting right now!) Good luck and enjoy your dahlias! -Becky Before there was a wedding venue, a farm and a family - I baked. A lot. Back then, I actually had time to be "bored", and baking was my solution. My co-workers enjoyed it because I would often show up with cookies or other goodies. Christmas was the main event. I made buckeyes, molasses cookies, chocolate chip meringue cookies, cinnamon roasted almonds and s'more cookies. I'd bring in a huge platter to work and everyone would reach for their favorite. After Cale and I were married, s'more cookies became his favorite. Those have become our Christmas tradition cookie (Santa looks forward to them every year)! This year, I am sharing the recipe for our favorite cookie - hopefully it will become one of yours!  S'more Cookie Recipe
Ingredients: 1 3/4 c flour 1 c graham cracker crumbs 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 1 c butter softened 3/4 c white sugar 3/4 c brown sugar 2 tsp vanilla 2 eggs 2 c mini chocolate chips 1 1/2 c mini marshmallows 3 regular Hershey bars, chopped In a stand mixer, combine butter and sugars and mix until fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla until combined. Add flour, graham cracker crumbs, salt and baking soda and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour. Preheat oven to 375. Take a tablespoon of dough, roll into a ball and drop onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 6 - 7 minutes. Remove from oven, push 2 - 3 marshmallows and pieces of Hershey bar into each cookie. Return to over to bake for and additional 2 - 3 minutes until golden brown and marshmallows are toasted. Cool on rack. Enjoy warm with a glass of cold milk! -Becky Planning a wedding that's perfect for you and your fiancé takes a lot of time, money and stress! DIY might seem the answer to everything (especially if you spend too much time on Pinterest). Is it really the right answer for you, though? Here are our top list of DIY wedding planning categories and what you should or should not attempt on your own. Airbnb or Backyard Wedding The wedding venue can take up a large portion of your budget, and that might have you thinking a backyard wedding is a great way to save some money! Even better, find a gorgeous cabin or beach house and use that location! It may seem a less expensive option than a wedding venue, but is it really? Probably not - and here's why. That gorgeous, blank canvas space doesn't come with tables, chairs or linens - of course, you can always rent them. It also doesn't have a covered area large enough for you and your wedding guests in case of weather - so add a tent to the rental list. If it's hot or cold, that tent isn't going to offer much to help with that. You can rent portable AC or heat (which can be expensive) and do you have a place to plug them in? Speaking of plugging in, what about lighting? And electrical for the DJ? That perfect space (which may not be looking quite as perfect now), probably doesn't have enough parking for your 100+ guests. And, what about restrooms? Your house or Airbnb may have a few restrooms, but are they convenient for guests and do you have enough for all of your guests? You could always rent a portable restroom trailer - that rental list is getting pretty long now. Oh, and if you do rent all those items, who is setting them up and taking them down? Yep, add some hired staff to the list. A wedding venue will have these items covered for you and will probably come in much less than the rental list you just created. So, we're going to have to say No to DIY Venue.
 Wedding Meal The next largest portion of your budget is the food. Your guest count drives the overall cost and a delicious, catered meal for all of your guests can get expensive. Should this be an item you DIY? What are some options for DIY on the meal? If you know someone with a smoker and you are a fan of BBQ, you might consider that option. You might visit Costco and stock up on finger foods in the frozen food section - some just need to be defrosted to serve. But, again, there is more than just the food. Who will be setting up the food and making sure items stay filled? Do you have chafing dishes, sternos, large serving trays? What about ice, ice containers and drinks? Most importantly, who is in charge of making sure the food stays at the right temperature so no one gets sick? It takes a lot of work to make sure the meal is set and served well. It can be extremely stressful (just think about trying to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for 12 people!) There are lots of options for caterers to find a meal that fits your budget and is prepared and served professionally. We're going to put the wedding meal in the No category for DIY.  Dessert Elaborate wedding cake, pies, donuts, mini dessert bar - there are so many options for dessert at your wedding. If you aren't set on a large, multi-tier wedding cake, a DIY option for dessert could be pretty simple. Pick up a few dozen of your favorite donuts and pile them on plates or stands. Choose a few favorite kinds of cookies, brownies, etc. from a local bakery and display on a table. We don't recommend trying to transport a multi-tier cake, but a few different small cakes from a bakery can be set as a cake bar. Keep the design simple to reduce issues with transport. We're voting Yes for DIY on dessert - there are a lot of options!  Wedding Flowers Flowers often make up a big part of your wedding decor - and a big part of your budget. The bridal bouquet, bouquets for bridesmaids, boutonnieres for the guys, corsages and boutonnieres for family members, arbor decor, centerpieces - there is a long list of items for floral. Could you DIY the flowers? Possibly. It definitely takes design skills to pull the items together - not all of us have that talent! If you are just doing bouquets and centerpieces, you could pick them up from a florist and set them up at the venue. That could save on the setup cost if you have a good team of family and friends to help. What about silk flowers? Silk flowers that look as beautiful as real flowers are probably going to cost about the same. They don't die like real flowers, but do you need 8 bouquets and 20 centerpieces after your wedding? If you want to include flowers on the arbor, ceiling, etc. you are going to need someone who knows how to attach the flowers and stay within the guidelines the venue has for installation. (We all know that person in our life who can make anything stay with the right amount of screws and duct tape, but the venue probably doesn't allow that.) A professional florist brings much more than the flowers to your wedding. They have access to more types of flowers than what you can pick up at Costco or Trader Joe's. That makes it much easier to get the color and type of flowers you are dreaming of. Florists have the design skills. It's why they do it! The bouquets, centerpieces, etc. will be gorgeous. Florists also have access to lots of vases, centerpiece bowls, candles and more to put together gorgeous tablescapes. They bring the team to set everything up (while you enjoy time with your bridal party) and they come back to clean up the floral at the end of the night. If you are planning more than just simple bouquets or centerpieces, we recommend a NO to DIY for flowers.
 Wedding Decor Your wedding decor is often made up of more than just the flowers. Candles, lanterns, welcome table decor, favors, seating charts - there are lots of places to add personal touches to your wedding. The tables for your reception are usually the main focus for decor. Are there options for DIY decor? Absolutely. You can purchase lanterns, votives, candles and more to decorate your tables. Make sure you have a great team of friends and family to help set all the decor - it can take much longer than you think! Purchasing your own decor can give you more options to truly customize your decor - especially if you want to showcase some color. With access to Canva or Vistaprint, it's become much easier to create beautiful signage and seating charts for your wedding. Make sure you think through the details of who is setting up, where boxes will be stored during the wedding, who is cleaning up and that you have all the easels, candles, etc. you need. With a good plan, we vote Yes to DIY for decor. Music Do you need a DJ for your wedding? Maybe you have a friend who is good with music. Could you just put a playlist on your phone with a speaker? A DJ does a lot more than just play music for dancing. They provide the speakers and mics for the ceremony - not just for their music, but for the officiant and anyone else singing or speaking during the ceremony. They are experts at timing music as you walk down the aisle and have access to instrumental versions of tons of songs. That lets you customize your ceremony. They provide music throughout cocktail hour, dinner and dancing. They also help with announcements to keep the flow of the day moving. Because a DJ provides much more than just music, we vote NO to DIY music.  Hopefully this list will get you started with your wedding planning and knowing what you want to DIY vs. hire a professional.
If you are looking for some great North Georgia wedding vendors, check out some of our favorites here. |
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Wedding & Venue Rental ~ Email: [email protected] | Phone: 470-517-2792
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North Georgia Wedding Venue | All Inclusive Wedding Packages | Farm Events
1994 Pleasant Union Rd. Canton, GA 30114
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1994 Pleasant Union Rd. Canton, GA 30114
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