Rockwood Manor Dublin, VA

Rockwood Manor Dublin, Virginia: Review

After final business dealings with the owner of the Rockwood Manor I am working on a review of my experiences, time and interactions regarding all things wedding, business and bathroom building. You may be interested in hearing some of what I will write. It is my hopes that over time this page will be visited by others looking into doing business at the Rockwood Manor. This review should help serve as a guide into (in my experience) what went well and what did not go so well...

It happened

More to come.

Weather

Today's weather tip from weather.com for our wedding day:

Have extra umbrellas on-hand for guests to use.

50% chance of storms

The making of a candle...

Although I am not the most traditional person around I agreed to having a Unity Candle in the wedding ceremony. Of course if this were going to happen there had to be some conditions. One was that I needed to be educated about this part of the ceremony. Not educated as in "What Happens", but more in the "Why are we lighting candles?" and "What is the history behind this?"

I found this article on the Unity Candle. Looks like it has not been around that long (early 90s). I like the symbolism. The only concerns are wind, weather, etc. What if the individual candles blow out before lighting the unity candle? What if the unity candle blows out? I have a solution to this dilemma, but I'm not sure Erin will go for it. We'll have to discuss.

My other condition was that we make the unity candle ourselves. I've always wanted to learn how to make a candle and this provided the perfect opportunity. In order to add a special touch to this part of the ceremony we added rose petals to the candle from flowers I had given Erin as we have been dating this past year. As a back-up Erin suggested we buy a back-up candle. Knowing I had no candle making experience, I agreed.

So without further ado, here is how to make a candle your first time...

First you gather the materials:
1. Candle Mold (a metal cylinder that was way overpriced) w/ wick
2. Candle Removal Spray
3. Wax
4. Additives (rose petals)
5. A double boiler (2 small pots from Dollar Tree)
6. A thermometer

Next: Heat the oven burner, place water in the pot and place the whole thing on the burner. When it starts smoking ask yourself, "What is going on?" Then realize that something has caught fire. Followed by lifting pot to find that you have left the label on and that it has caught fire and turned to ash!

Candle making tip #1: Remove labels from materials before starting.

Next: Allow the wax to melt while stirring it. Place the thermometer in the wax and allow the wax to reach 200 degrees.

Next: Get out the 'Mold Release' and spray into candle mold. But first read the instructions and stay AWAY from the oven while doing this. Although a FLASH FIRE sounds cool, after reading the instructions I was not so sure about what I had gotten myself into...

Candle making tip #2: DO NOT spray mold release near oven.

Next you add the wick to the mold, attach the wick to a string, put in some dried rose petals and then pour the wax. But don't pour it over the sink. It does nasty things to drains. I must admit this part made me nervous, but I made it out with no burns.

Candle making tip #2: DO NOT pour wax over the sink.

And finally you let it cool some, heat a little more wax to pour on the top. This gets the rose petals off of the top of the candle and helps fill in something called the 'well' (picture a small bowl) that gets created as the candle cools.

Then you bake a cake???

Candle making tip #4: Cakes and Candles go well together.

You wake up the next morning, beat the heck out of the mold until it releases your candle.

Candle making tip #5: Don't break the mold while slamming it on the counter.

Then you have your result:

Rose petals

Hope it lights, I'll test that tonight. Glad I undertook this project, it was an adventure but most things that I do end up that way. Hope you now know how to make a candle of your very own!

Rockwood Update & the 7 Day Relaxation Plan

Rockwood Update (7/17/06):
Tiles are in both sides and grouted. Sheet rock is ready for paint. The lights outside are going in. Lee is in tomorrow for mowing and general cleanup. The poles in the barn have been painted and we may continue to paint the lower end today. I should be able to install sinks and toilets tomorrow.

7 Day Relaxation Plan:
I highly recommend this if you are planning on getting married. These have been some of my most memorable times these past few days and I'm sure they will stick with me.

Saturday: It all started Saturday with a hike to Dragon's Tooth the hike we took on our first date a year ago to the weekend. We even wrote our vows up there and used the trip as a little added inspiration. The hike was really good and we recalled parts of the trail where we had discussed certain subjects on our first date. The hike was 5 miles total and took us 3 hours of hiking time with an hour + relaxing on top of the mountain. We are thinking about doing it every year...

It was a bit sunny at the top.

Erin (Bottom Right) with the "Tooth" in the background.

The view from where I wrote my vows.

Our Picture 1 year ago.

Our picture on Saturday.

Sunday: Today we went to church, did a little planning then headed to the pool. We've never actually been to the pool together, so I found it interesting that we were going the week before our wedding. But it was a good time to relax, have lunch and for me to catch up on some reading. Granted the reading was about the structure of software companies and the role of the Programmer to that of the Analyst, but it was reading. We also tried out that new spray sunscreen and I'll have to say both that it works and that I am a fan, you get 2 less ounces, but it goes on in under a minute. After that we headed to the final meeting with our wedding coordinator and her assistant.

Relaxin' at the pool.

Erin, me, Liz (assistant), Brandy Faulkner (coordinator)

Monday: This evening we did a little wedding work. Rex headed over to Macado's to see some friends that were in town and Erin did other things. (What would be the fun in me telling you?) Later we headed out to the Huckleberry Trail in Blacksburg. We walked for ~ an hour and discussed a couple wedding related things and then a little about our future. Cassell Coliseum was wide open so we gave ourselves a self tour. We followed the walk up with some Ice Cream for Erin and Taco Bell for me. The weather was great, but the company was better. Looking forward to many more walks.

Tuesday's plan: a couples massage after work in Roanoke. It's a rough week let me tell you. Actually this has been one of the best weeks of the whole wedding planning venture.

Updated Pictures!

Stained vs. Non-Stained floor

The Barn 2 months ago.

The Barn 2 days ago.

And Another from the other side.

Pile in a corner of the barn.

Where the pile used to be.

The Giant (7.5hp) fan in the box.

Downstairs of the barn cleaned up.

The beginnings of the bathrooms.

Tiling the Women's Restroom.

A happy Rex.

Less than 2 weeks & the Relaxation Plan

Less than 2 weeks remain until the wedding weekend is here and I am getting excited. I have made it a goal of mine to enjoy the last week as much as possible. This means working hard the few weeks prior. This past Sunday was program creation day as well as time to prepare the e-mails for our wedding party, guests staying at the Rockwood and all of our vendor packets. The vendor packets were sent out yesterday and everything has been verified with phone calls as well. The Wedding Party and Rockwood Guest emails will go out the tail end of this week. This work took the better part of the afternoon and evening and we finished up around 11:30pm

The bathroom construction is coming along. Last night I headed over to the Rockwood to lay tile in the Women’s Restroom. We finished about 75% of the room and I’ll head back tonight to finish it and work on the Men’s Restroom. After the tiling there is some painting and the installation of hardware (toilets, light fixtures over the sinks and the sinks themselves). There is quite a bit left to do and I am sure it will get finished up, but I will not be working on it since today is my last day at the Rockwood.

On another note the giant box fan in the barn is working, the downstairs of the barn is MUCH cleaner, thanks to some good pressure washing and the upstairs floor of the barn has been sanded and sealant has been put on it. This makes the wood look darker and changes the entire feel of the barn. These changes were unexpected, but welcomed. I’ll have to take a few pictures.

The rest of my evenings are taken up with planning, planning and more planning. Planning is used in a very generic way. I can’t let you in on all of the details, it would spoil the fun! And between planning I will be playing softball with guys from work, playing the final summer Ultimate Frisbee Game and spending some alone time with Erin not working on things related to the wedding. To do this we are putting together a 7-day relaxation plan. We are working to spend an hour each day alone leading up to the wedding. It will be hard, but I don’t think it is impossible. Here is what is on tap.

Saturday: Hike Dragon’s Tooth (Erin & my first date)
Sunday: Toss Frisbee and have a picnic
Monday: Couples massage!
Tuesday: Walk part of the Huckleberry Trail
Wednesday: Take in a movie
Thursday: Another massage
Friday: Play video games (Mario Party)

Looking forward to it!

Erin has been Moved!

This past weekend we moved Erin’s furniture. It took much less time than I thought and we ended up using the extra time to catch lunch with her parents and head out to the river for a little while. We moved my couches downstairs and her couches are now in their old location. Erin’s Father, Mother & Brother helped out as well. This made things MUCH easier for everyone. All that is left to move now is smaller things from Erin’s place in Roanoke. She’ll be sleeping on an airbed with a foam pad for the next couple weeks, good thing it is comfortable!

Thanks for the help Rick, Carol & Matt it would have been a much longer day without it!

Last Weekend at the Rockwood!

So I just spent my final weekend at Rockwood Manor. I'll likely take a few weekday trips to see if I can help finish up the bathroom and re-clean the barn, but that is about it. There are too many other things coming up. The bad news is that the bathrooms are not finished (and actually have a long way to go), the good news is that a lot of work was done to the barn this weekend. All in all it was somewhere between 15-20 hours worth of work for me. My father, soon to be father-in-law and Erin pitched in as well. Below are some photos: