Wedding Planning!

[Gravity Defier]

wedding recaps on my blog

I got to this at work today. Have I mentioned I love pictures? Surely I have. I loved your pictures and the narration was fun, as always.


But...it made me want ice cream and gummy bears so bad.

[VelvetElvis]

I have to say that it was the tastiest ice cream i've ever eaten. I no not regret for one minute having and ice cream sundae bar instead of "real food"

[locke]

So far we have identified three dates, cleared them with the three likely venues and will be making a decision on date and venues by sunday. Church is cleared already for all the dates. We think we know who is going to cater rehearsal dinner and where it will be at.

And I looked at a lot of cake vendors. even if we have a venue that has required vendors, rather than our own choice for cake, we'll still go out and taste at other places. Clearly, the cake is the best part of wedding planning. that and tasting catering options as well.

[Gravity Defier]

Clearly, the cake is the best part of wedding planning

Is it wrong to say "And the wedding"? Because that's the real reason I'm going.

Can't wait to find out when; I don't plan on being here next summer but I'm still going to email the date to the Asst. Director "just in case." We normally can't take Summer Reading off, so I want to give her no reasons to not work with me if I tell her a year in advance.



Speaking of cake, Helen, I forgot to mention earlier that I love the design on yours. Enough that I have that pattern scattered throughout my room.

[VelvetElvis]

We told the cake lady to make it look however she wanted to. I thought she would faint when I told her we weren't having a cake topper, though.

[Young Val]

*Sigh*

So having the wedding up on the family land is officially off the table. We met with them this weekend and everyone was very very very uncomfortable/unhappy with the idea, and despite what David and I wanted, it is really not worth it to piss off his entire family by extracting such a very large favor from them when they're unwilling.

Partly it is a relief, because at least it is a final decision and that avenue is closed to us. We can stop planning the Family Land Wedding, because that wedding is not happening.

It's also a disappointment. But that's to be expected.

Which leaves us back at square one and ramps up my panic to about an 11.

I am afraid we are going to have to make a choice and sacrifice either food or location to stay within our budget. We want to spend a lot on food, because food and food politics are important to us. We want a local, organic meal. That means the venue we book has to allow open catering. Which, in Minnesota, is super rare. Unless we want to book a VFW hall, but......I don't want to do that. OR we could get a beautiful venue, and be stuck with their in-house caterer. Which I don't want to do either.

So far, there isn't anything within our budget that fits both my food and aesthetic requirements and is also within the Twin Cities proper and not out in the middle of nowhere (if we're not using the family land, we're staying in the cities so that the out of town guests don't have to rent cars in addition to buying plane tickets).

I also need to find a way to kindly ask David's mother to stop. She keeps offering to pay for the James J Hill library for us, which has exactly one weekend left open next summer, and yes, it allows open catering there and is so woefully beyond our budget. But it is beautiful and I adore it and want so so much to get married there. Her offers to pay for it are well meant, but she is not in a good financial situation right now. We can't accept that money. And we can't afford it on our own. So I need to get over it already.

Ugh.

I wish I didn't care so much.

I wish MN and MA were not so far apart.

I wish I were enjoying this more.

[fawkes]

I just had a "holy crap, I'm actually getting married" moment. The first of many, I'm sure.

[fawkes]

Well, I just heard from my mom that the venue we picked out for our engagement party might not work out. Turns out the lady who co-owns the space wants us to pay $2000 now for the party which will be held next August. Yeah, we don't have that much money right now... with any luck we'll still be able to take our engagement pictures there, though.

[locke]

we have locked down church, officiant, reception venue, wedding party and date (June 10th!).

Oh, and Renee bought a dress today. off-the-rack actually, so she already has it. We've got a tentative on the DJ, hope he's available, and we're both really really hoping that our first choice photographers are available and not much more expensive than they were for our friends' wedding back in march. Photographer seems to be the big area where we didn't budget appropriately, even though we thought we were budgeting very generously for that area. If we can get the price our friends got, or even that price plus 20% I'll make up the difference. I'm a pretty good saver, so if I know I need an extra 1500$ for the photographer, I can swing that with ten months to plan.

A friend of mine will probably do engagement photos for us for very reasonable, but first he has to finish producing a feature. My thought is to recreate our first date for the photos rather than posed, have them be more fun, I already kind of know the look I want him to get, but we'll probably only make three actual 'setups' in terms of shots I particularly want.

I think the next thing we'll worry about is hotel and cake and scheduling a food tasting with our venue.

[VelvetElvis]

(June 10th!).

A f****** fabulous wedding date, my good man.

[Young Val]

we have locked down church, officiant, reception venue, wedding party and date (June 10th!).

Oh, and Renee bought a dress today. off-the-rack actually, so she already has it. We've got a tentative on the DJ, hope he's available, and we're both really really hoping that our first choice photographers are available and not much more expensive than they were for our friends' wedding back in march. Photographer seems to be the big area where we didn't budget appropriately, even though we thought we were budgeting very generously for that area. If we can get the price our friends got, or even that price plus 20% I'll make up the difference. I'm a pretty good saver, so if I know I need an extra 1500$ for the photographer, I can swing that with ten months to plan.

A friend of mine will probably do engagement photos for us for very reasonable, but first he has to finish producing a feature. My thought is to recreate our first date for the photos rather than posed, have them be more fun, I already kind of know the look I want him to get, but we'll probably only make three actual 'setups' in terms of shots I particularly want.

I think the next thing we'll worry about is hotel and cake and scheduling a food tasting with our venue.

:::is speechless:::

How is it possible to accomplish that in the, like, two weeks that you've been engaged, when all we've accomplished in two months is perfecting our MOANS OF UTTER AGONY?!

I'm in awe.

[Dr. Mobius]

You did make some awesome book flowers. I'd consider that a signifcant achievement.

[Young Val]

Ok, then, MOANS OF UTTER AGONY, roughly 40 paper flowers, and more hot glue gun burns than I can count. Those things I can cross of my list!

Seriously, Adam. Is it something in the water? Did you and Renee secretly plan your wedding before getting engaged? TELL ME YOUR SECRET.

[steph]

(June 10th!).

A f****** fabulous wedding date, my good man.

That's my parents' anniversary.

[Luet]

Maybe they have cooperative family?

[locke]

Maybe they have cooperative family?

This. We couldn't really do any of it if her parents weren't putting down deposits for us. And her parents have budgeted and saved for their daughters' weddings for years, so there's money that's been set aside for it. Also, Renee knew she wanted it in her church, with her pastor officiating, the venue we got was the first one she mentioned off hand when we were first discussing it, though she looked at half a dozen others with her mom, after a week she was pretty certain that was it, I saw it twice, at night and in the day, and it's just perfect, exactly what I would have wanted as well (spectacular view of LA from the mountains). The dress surprised me, but she found it on her third or fourth place she visited dress shopping, so she went back with her mom (since she found this one on a trip with a friend) and both agreed it was perfect, and they went ahead and got it, since it was an off the rack store. :-p

[Young Val]

Rock on!

I wish you continued smooth sailing in your planning!

I'm DETERMINED to have the date set by the end of this month. DETERMINED.

[powerfulcheese04]

Adam, I'm so glad your wedding planning is going as well as mind did! Kelly, I'm so sorry yours is not!



16 days til my wedding!

[fawkes]

Kelly, have you thought about pushing the date back a couple years? It helps take some of the pressure off, and there's absolutely no rule saying you have to get married within a year of getting engaged. We're waiting til 4/4/14, so we have lots of time to tour different venues, look at lots of vendors, and get creative with decorations. Also, your venue of choice will be less booked so far in advance.

Anyone gone to any bridal shows yet? It's a good idea, you can sample food from a bunch of caterers, and check out several photographers at once. Plus, there's tons of drawings. A bride at a show I went to a few weeks ago won a complete photography package worth thousands.

[Young Val]

While I know pushing back the wedding is an option in theory, it's not really an option in my personal reality. Even if my ovaries would allow it (they won't), David and I are ready to begin the next stages of our lives together. Neither one of us wants to wait. If the timeframe for the wedding is being moved at all, it's moving forward, not back.

4/4/14 is such a cool wedding date, though!

In other news: I think I am playing my damsel in distress card. Over my wedding. And that sucks. Am resolving to tone down the hysteria a bit.

Now, this next bit, with as little hysteria as possible.

Last night David and I steamrolled through venue research. In the end, we made an appointment for lunchtime today to go scope out the Landmark Center, which just so happens to be directly across from the James J. Hill Library. :::headdesk::: But, that also means it's in the same perfect location as the library. Minutes from our apartment, walkable from the farmers market (where I plan to get my flowers the morning of the wedding), tons of hotels all over the place, two on the very same block, right downtown.

It's an old post office/town hall. Really high ceilings with lots of natural light. Big open space. Ornate columns and beautiful tiled floors. Nice. Historical. Whatever. If we only rent the lobby (and thus allow other people/functions to use the building on our wedding day) it's $1000 less than the library and within our budget. It allows open catering. All good things.

And yet....I'm left cold by it. I've read some mixed reviews from couples who've had their weddings there. It seems the events coordinator can be a bit of an a******. But still, lots of the reviews are positive. But I am just...not feeling it. Still, on paper it's the best option we have so far. So David and I made this appointment to go scope it out and pretty much decided that unless we LOATHE it, we're going to put down a deposit.

Which is fine. Except I have accidentally fallen in love with another venue.

After our wedding planning was done for the evening David went out to meet a friend for a drink. It's nearly apple picking time, so I was looking up the orchard David and I went to last year to see what types of apples the have available this year and lo and behold. They do weddings.

A wedding. In an apple orchard. If I was getting married back in Massachusetts we would be getting married in the apple orchard 5 miles from where I grew up.

I figured that something, ultimately, had to be wrong with it, so I decided to investigate more thoroughly. Open catering? Check. Free lawn games? Check. Huge, gorgeous white tent with lighting included in the rental price? Check. Stocked and tended bonfire? Check. Within our budget? Check. IN AN APPLE ORCHARD? CHECK.

I started hyperventilating, I actually could not believe how seemingly perfect this place was. I googled the hell out of it and found a handful of simple, sweet, homemade-type-feeling weddings that have been held at this orchard and they were all beautiful.

There's a little gazebo and open lawn and a tent and APPLE TREES.

The catch? It is, obviously, not in the cities. It's much, much closer than David's family land is, though. And there are lots of accessible hotels near by. Getting from the airport to the hotel to the orchard and back poses a bit of a problem. But a LOT of hotels have shuttle service these days...

That is the only con. We can essentially have the outdoor, quirky, board game and jazz music, organic locally sourced, community-centric wedding we were hoping to have on his family's land. Just...in an APPLE ORCHARD.


I stayed awake late to wait up for David because I was so so nervous he'd be upset because we'd sort of resigned ourselves to the other place. I needn't have worried. He LOVED it.

We're keeping our appointment at the Landmark Center just in case. But I'm going to email the orchard today. Hopefully they'll have some availablity next summer/fall! GAH!

[VelvetElvis]

Oh, Kelly, that is so exciting!

[steph]

Kelly, I am OVERJOYED!! I'm so excited for you!!!!!!!

[Luet]

Rental cars are not THAT much of an extra expense. We are talking, what, an extra $100 tops for a long weekend for a car? And people who are family or close friends can share cars. Anyway, if you love it, I would not worry about the car situation. Let people deal with it!

[Eaquae Legit]

Good luck!!

If it helps, our ceremony was an hour(ish) drive from our reception, and everyone managed just fine, even the people who had to take the train in from one to the other. All the out-of-towners managed. It's totally doable! And it sounds so like you!

[Petra456]

*sends good thoughts*

Oh man, an apple orchard would be amazing!!!

[Dr. Mobius]

Yay Kelly! You're wedding plans just went from pretty cool to downright awesome! (Anyone who is still griping at this point because you're not doing things by the book needs to be shot [and their ticket given to me >.>]).

As for transportation, out-of-towners should be able to carpool with locals if public transit doesn't reach out to the orchard. Or you might be able to get a group discount if you call the car rental agencies in advance and ask if they have any deals for out-of-town wedding parties. (I don't even know if they do that sort of thing, but it's worth a shot.)

[starlooker]

Hee! I knew it! I knew the wedding gods were rooting for you.

[LilBee91]

Yahoo! That sounds lovely. I hope it all works out!

[VelvetElvis]

m

[Dr. Mobius]

Were you the one with the zombie wedding or was that Resa?

[VelvetElvis]

No zombies.

[locke]

we nailed down our wedding photographer yesterday. Met with them at a coffee shop and knew within a minute or less of talking with them that they were just too perfect. We'd already seen their work at our friends' wedding, but getting to know them ourselves really solidified it. Lots of our friends' wedding photos are at the link below. Here they are, I LOVE their work and have no problem paying a bit over our budget for them.

http://www.micahandmegan.com/index2.php?v=v1

[Dr. Mobius]

Adam, as great as it is to have you back and posting again, you may want to consider not posting in this particular thread before Kelly makes certain you have a zombie wedding.

[Young Val]

Haha, Adam, and everyone else may post freely. I may be INSANELY jealous of you wedding zen, but I proooobably won't hurt you.

Probably.


Asked for an appointment to tour the orchard and hopefully book it (can't imagine we won't--we're obsessed with it) on Saturday, but am still waiting to hear back from the coordinator there.

[zeroguy]

we nailed down our wedding photographer yesterday.

You might want to pry them up again before the wedding. Otherwise you might gets only shots all from the same angle, if you get any at all.