Building Love
Pardon our mess, we are building love. Well actually, a building to celebrate love, but that doesn’t sound as smooth. We have officially started our construction with deconstruction. Confusing I know. We have been tearing out some of the existing landscaping bricks and rocks from the currently built house to save for later before the real work begins. Which leads us to our most asked question. Or, one of them at least.
Do you allow alcohol to be brought in?
I joke, that’s not the question although we do get that one a lot, and yes we do.
Ok, the question on everyone’s mind…
When will construction begin?
Now the thing to know about construction is there are a ton of outside forces which determine the schedule and availability to work. Construction is such a fickle thing and time is an abstract concept. The weather has to be just right, the schedules have to line up, the deliveries have to be on time, and if you tap your head while rubbing your stomach and singing the ABCs backward, you can have a construction plan that actually is followed and completed on time.
Now, if you know me at all, you know I am incredibly OCD and a planner. I had every semester of college planned during my Senior year of High School. I need a plan, I follow the plan. I turned that into a career working in DC as a project coordinator. My life is run with calendars, planners, and excel to manage 90 advisers around the world. So, when I have seven contractors telling me there is no schedule, there are no dates, we’re going to play it by ear, I clutch my 2019 planner I always have to my heart and gasp. How do they work under these conditions?!
Anyway, so without further ado, I have avoided the question long enough, here is our TENTATIVE timeline we are working with.
February 2019. Our current plan, weather pending, will be to start our demolition of the current structure and break ground in February. February as in the month three weeks from now. We do not have a set date or week, just February. We will, of course, keep everyone updated as we have more set dates and things are happening on the grounds.
Now, some work has already begun as I mentioned before. We are starting to remove some of the existing sidewalk and rock walls we put in with the house 18 years ago. We have these saved so we can use them later as part of a patio once the groundwork is complete. Come March we are doing a massive clean up.
This will include timber clean up of the underbrush, and removing any dead or dying trees to make room for new ones to grow and allow the leaves to really branch out when Summer comes. We will also clean up the two ponds on the grounds. Remove all the weeds and growth along the edges and clear up the ponds so they aren’t so murky. Next, we will layout the rows for the amphitheater and various altar sites so those can be ready for guests to view going into Summer. Cleaning all the grounds and keeping them maintained so the grass can come in nice and thick.
Once all the dirt work is completed where the pavilion will go, the concrete will come next. I would love to provide an estimated start time or how long it will take to be complete. However, I have none. So, the next best thing. I’m going to guess! When it comes to time we can all sit back and laugh together at how off I was, or laugh at the sheer dumb luck I have! Complete gander the concrete will be able to be poured around March 15th and will take 10 days to place the footings, pour the support walls and floor and have it set.
We’ll see how close that is.
Once we have a foundation to work up from, the building will be placed. Woo walls! This is the stage where it will really start to take shape (literally) to what I have been envisioned.
Onto the guts! Electrical, plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and carpentry. All the things that take four walls and turn them into an event center. All the details come into play at this stage. The whitewashed wood walls. The exposed white-grey brick accent walls, the wrought iron railings, and chandeliers, everything that makes Small Grand Things unique in style and setting.
And lookie! There you have it. Building love. The same seven contractors who tear my soul into several pieces by saying there is no schedule are the same ones telling me the building will be completed between June and July. Everything after that is on me. Finalizing the altar sites, perfecting the grounds and photo backdrops, setting up tables, chairs, and tableware. July is the date we are working with currently. Some people are skeptical of this timeline. If you think about it, we are not building a house which does tend to take much longer. No, we are a box. A very large, very expensive box. It will not take the near the time required to build a house with multiple stories and rooms. And, as always, we will keep you posted as we have more dates solidified. You can always follow our Instagram to get more day to day updates!
Because construction is fickle and time is an abstract concept, we are leaving a buffer period before we are “wedding ready”. In order to ensure everything will be absolutely completed and ready to host your event, we are not taking reservations for weddings before September 1, 2019. This will give us a one to two month security blanket. Want a September 1 anniversary date, or a fall wedding yet this year? We can accommodate anything after September 1.
Other dates to be aware of as we move forward.
We will be hosting Wedding Preview Weekends a couple of times throughout the end of Spring and Summer to offer couples the opportunity to come and walk the grounds and get a sense of how everything will feel before our grand opening. Probably in April, May, June time frame. We will be having a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony once the building is completed either in June or July where we will have refreshments. Finally, we will have a Grand Opening Reception in August. We do not have any set dates for these currently but will have a better idea in the next couple of months.
And there you have it. The answer to the all elusive question is, we will break ground in February (hopefully) and construction will be completed between June and July (we promise).
Until next time!