Red Tape

I feel like I've come to my first snag in this wedding planning business.  More than anything, I want to have an official date set. We've decided on  June 22, 2013.  I feel like if we can get that set in stone by reserving the ceremony and reception locations, then I will be worry-free for quite some time.  We have 17 more months; flowers, caterers, dresses and the lot can wait, but I feel that a ceremony location and a reception hall cannot.

The reception hall is easy.  At the Wareham (my pick!) we get to use it from 8am-1am the next morning.  We don't have to have exact times yet and can plan everything into that chunk of time.

The hard part is the ceremony.  We're looking into All Faiths Chapel on campus and it rents it out hourly.  I have no idea how much time is necessary to set up, take photos, hold a wedding ceremony and give a little of time to clean up too.  I really wish that we could just rent the place out for the whole day so that we could have some down time at the church before everything gets started and not feel rushed into a small time frame.  Since we have to pay hourly though, I really don't want to reserve more time than we need too...

Another problem that I have come across is something I haven't yet decided myself:  do Adam and I want to see each other before the ceremony?  I love the whole traditional approach of no.  I think there is something really special about waiting until I'm walking down the aisle before we see each other.  However, I know that I don't want to spend time taking photos after the ceremony while my guests are waiting for the reception to start.  I also have read that the bride and groom really don't get a chance to be alone during that entire day and it is a nice chance to get together, calm nerves down and take a few pictures together.

So what do I do?  Any suggestions out there?  I feel like the paperwork to reserve the chapel is just hinging on the fact that I cannot make up my mind (and Adam doesn't seem to have a preference!).  I think it is something to sleep on as it is overwhelming me a bit.  I think a mother talk is necessary too.

We're signing the contract with the Wareham on Thursday so I better make my mind up quick!

Color Scheming...

So I made Adam sit down with me and discuss some wedding planning stuff.  My philosophy for this wedding is to pick out several options of what I like and then have Adam pick from there.  That way I don't have to torture him with the minute details that I really enjoy agonizing over.  Anyway, I wanted to discuss potential wedding dates and colors that I liked.

Potential Wedding Date:
Adam wanted later rather than earlier.  So July 2013.  I wanted earlier - June 2013 but not the first week (since I will be finishing up the school year and don't want to be working and finalizing wedding plans).  The last weekend in June is always Country Stampede and it is an interesting 4 days in this town full of country music and confederate flag waving hillbillies (so no 29).  So we were down to June 8, 15, 22 and July 6, 13, 20, and 27.   I got Adam to compromise to the end of June and that is where we're at now.  Luckily, nothing is booked this far in advance so we really have the pick of reception and ceremony venues.

Colors:
I logged onto David's Bridal to show Adam my color choice.  It's called Marine. I like it.

After I showed it to Adam he said, "Okay."  Now, to give you some back story, when Adam and I painted our house a few years back we argued forever about the colors that we were going to use.  I would pick out ones that I liked and he didn't agree.  This continued on for awhile.  So when I showed him the wedding color that I picked, I didn't expect it to be so easy.  In fact, after he said okay, I still didn't believe him.  I started to show him other colors that I also liked and finally he says, "Why are you showing me more colors?  I liked the first one."  Cool.  

Soon after, I realized that this is the exact same color that we painted the shutters, front door and porch on our house.  No wonder he agreed, we'd already been down this path before!  Who says co-habitation is bad for marriage?

The only thing that worries me about this color is that it is not really a summer color.  I really like the knee-length style of bridesmaid dresses so I think that will help make it a little more cool.  Also, naturally dark blue flowers don't exactly exist in nature.  I think I'm going to have to default to white, red and pink for bouquets.  Another idea that I thought of is to include some non-floral elements into the bouquets that match this color (paper or fabric flowers, ribbons, etc).

Texts from Mom

I love my mother.  She is all about the text messages since she has a full keyboard cell phone now.  Anyway, this is probably the longest message I've ever received, and I thought it was worthy of sharing:

"Your wedding will b perfect...dont stress over the $ part because we have Bret 4 food & dj now jk seriously it will all work out....loved that horsey being there 4 us 2day.....that was one of the highlights of my day...good timing Id say.  luv u...what a fun thing 2 do on a wedding anniversary for the wife anyway (heart emoticon) (ice cream emoticon)...next year let's drink! Your dad will b dd next yr."

So, giant right? I have to further explain some things:  

1. My younger brother Bret offered to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the reception.  50 people for $100.  He said that he would even cut them into triangles.  I think that is a pretty sweet deal.  I guess he is also promoting himself to be my dj.  I hope that cost is included in the catering bill.
2. The horsey that my mother is referring is to a horse and carriage that happened to be cruising around the parking lot and gave us a ride to the entrance of the hotel where the bridal show was held.  While it was fun, I personally don't really enjoy the smell of horse butt.
3. The day that we went to the bridal show was also my parents' anniversary.
4. They had a cash bar at the bridal show.  I was not feeling the need for an adult beverage this year, but my mom certainly offered.  I've been under the weather with a cold this week and didn't feel that a mimosa would really help.  Since we have almost 18 months, we will have another year of bridal shows (if we so choose) and can drink next year and then have my father pick the two of us up! Mother-daughter bonding.

Bridal Show #2

Today marks the second bridal show that I have been to in the past two weeks.  While it is a great opportunity to get a lot of information and questions out of the way, I feel a little overwhelmed!  I went solo to the first bridal show, which was a little awkward.  I feel like brides should always have an entourage in tow, but I'm not really the type of person that has a large grouping of girls waiting by aimlessly.  This time it was just mom and me.  It was nice.  I feel like it was the first time that we could actually sit down together and go over this new wedding stuff since Adam and I announced our engagement about 4 weeks ago. We're going dress shopping at the end of February and I almost want it to be just the two of us as well; forget making a big deal and just focusing on us spending some time together.  Does that make me an anti-social bride?  Probably.

So, bridal show went well.  I think we have our reception venues narrowed down to two.  They are the most affordable, but also the ones that are the most flexible when it comes to choosing your own caterers, bringing in your own foods, cake and alcohol:

The Wareham Opera House is the one that I am rooting for.  It is an old theatre turned reception venue (basically).  They add your name out onto the marquis and it has a really great downtown vibe, especially after dark.  Inside it has a balcony (which I've never actually seen in use), and a large stage at the front of the room.  As soon as you walk in there is an open foyer and the bar area as you enter into the actual theatre portion.

Our second option is the Houston Street Ballroom.  It seems to be much more spacious and I've heard great things about working with them.  They are a bit cheaper than the Wareham (only $200) and they have some decorations already in place to make the room feel a little more full (and save on flowers and centerpieces!). The colors are basically grey and burgundy which I don't feel really go with my color scheme of the week (dark blue), but it will really come down to the number of guests that we have and whether or not they will fit in the Wareham.

So the plan for this week is to call up both and schedule visits so that we can go through and really analyze whether which will work for us best.  Then I think we can pick an official date and then we'll have a WEDDING DATE!  And then, we should probably figure out our ceremony venue.  I find it humorous that the reception takes on a bigger role in the wedding planning process than the actual ceremony does.  Should I feel bad that I figured out what our alcohol bill would be like before researching churches? Probably, but I'll account it to the fact that Adam and I really don't have a church home nor would we be considered church attenders.  More on the religious aspect of things later, but for now, its time to continue my internet image and inspiration searching.

Strings, please

So, I got some inspiration from the Wedding Bee website about music selection last night:  stringed tributes!  Thus I spent the rest of the evening poring through Spotify's entire collection of Vitamin String Quartet and I am super excited.  How fun would it be to have songs that both Adam and I love playing before the ceremony?  Not only would it sound fancy to our elder family members, it would also provide a really personal and nostalgic feel to our guests that grew up during the 90s.   I think it would even be fun to have a contest to see how many songs people could figure out before the ceremony starts, but I'm not sure if that makes things too "gamey".  Or include a blank page at the back of the program with the answers on the flip side (with a little warning that says "No cheating"?).

Anyways, here are my top selections for songs that are awesome, but also sound wedding-like (with their original authors)

Transatlanticism (Deathcab for Cutie)
Soul Meets Body (Deathcab for Cutie)
Resistance (Muse)
Sex on Fire (Kings of Leon) although the title is a little risque...
Creep (Radiohead)
Hey There, Delilah (Plain White T's)
Today (Smashing Pumpkins)
Drive (Incubus)
Colors (Crossfade)
Method Acting (Bright Eyes)
Bowl of Oranges (Bright Eyes)
Under the Bridge (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Yellow (Coldplay)
Karma Police (Radiohead)
Climbing up the Walls (Radiohead)
Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol)
With or without you (U2)

I feel like a lot of these don't have a true wedding resemblance, but nonetheless, I still think they would sound great.  Any opinions out there?

Welcome!

I've always wanted to start a blog (and consistently maintain it!), so here I am.  I figured of all the things to focus a blog around I am going to talk about my wedding.  Hopefully, this will keep it so that I am not boring my jealous non-married friends to death with wedding planning details that I personally get really excited about.  I've never been the type of person to center things around myself, so this is not only my first attempt at blogging, but also at being self-centered.  To all my non-existent followers out there:  I hope that you enjoy the journey with me and I look forward to spending the next 18 months with you as I dive into this massive project.

To start off, my fiancé and I have been dating for over 8 years.  We starting dating during our junior year of high school.  While we always joked about running away and getting married, we both really knew that we wanted to wait awhile.  For both of us, we come from divorced families and it was really important to us that we waited until we knew that we could make it through anything.  We've also been waiting for both of us to finish college.  While we both graduated high school the same year, the college process went a lot quicker for me than I can say it has gone for the Mr.  I am in my 4th year of teaching Spanish and most certainly looking forward to a summer wedding, while Adam has a year (plus an internship with a hopeful job line-up) left of school.

Everyone has asked:  when is the big date?  I'm not the type of person to just sit idly by and plan a non-existent wedding date in the clouds.  I need some hard facts.  Well, I don't quite have them yet.  Adam wants to wait another six months to a year to get married (a 2 - 2.5 year engagement!).  While I am in no rush to get married, this ring that now sits on my finger gets me in the wedding planning mood and I just want to start everything.  I really don't think I can handle a wedding during the school year.  I know its most certainly possible, but I let my job control my life.  Even over winter break, I can't just stop thinking about lesson plans and copies and grading.  It's not enough time to let go, and I really don't want my wedding plagued with additional to-dos for work.  I would love a fall wedding too.

So Adam and I came to a compromise: his main issue with getting married in 18 months (right after he graduates) is that we won't have the money to pay for everything.  Adam and I long ago decided that we wanted our guests to have a great time at our wedding (free drinks, good food, fun, free drinks) and Adam felt that the ambiance would be sacrificed as a result of us trying to fund the wedding off of my teaching salary and his minimum-wage campus job.  I agree.  So we're off to talk to the parents.   I THINK THINK THINK we can make it work on our savings alone, but I would really like to feel like I have some back-up in the event that things go massively wrong.  Upon doing that, we're going to set a date.

As for now, I shall continue scouring the internet for ideas and money-saving tips.  I am looking forward to doing my own invitations, programs, menus and decorations.  I may be pushing it, but I just might wander into bouquet and cake land as well...

...to be continued many more times...