Honoring the family
One of the nice ideas that I found in one of the wedding books was the idea to put old family pictures around the placecard area. I got some pictures of my grandparents, my parents, my fiance’s grandparents, parents and even his great-grandparents. It was a lot of fun to look through the old pictures! Also, we think it is a great way to honor the people who make up our history, some of whom have passed and others who will just laugh at the memories that the pictures invoke.
Reception | Comment (0)Things I learned: starting the box
One bit of advice given to me by a friend, who got to her wedding location (many miles away from her home) without the toasting flutes, was to start the ceremony/reception box a week before the wedding. Start gathering the items that will be needed for the wedding. I have found this very helpful, because it has given me a few days to remember what I need to bring and let me tell you, it is amazing how much crap you need (especially for a do-it-yourself decorating wedding). I have a ton of candle holders (that will most likely go up for sale on Craig’s list the Sunday after the wedding), flutes, cake cutting utensils, favors, place cards, table numbers, family pictures, guest book and pen, and lists for the event planner. Fortunately, we have a meeting with the event planner the Tuesday before the wedding where we get to drop off all of the stuff. If we have forgotten anything, she will let us know.
1 week before "W" Day, Reception, Things I learned | Comment (0)October, August - who needs two extra months to plan?
So in the end we went with the place that felt more like us. It is a executive club at the top of a high-rise, downtown. I had done a little reconnaissance work on the place and it seemed to be on the up and up. I had heard horror stories about how places upped the price of your event if they heard it was a wedding. So, I had my best friend call the club to inquire get pricing and menus for a “retirement party” on a Saturday night for around 150 people. She and I compared menus and pricing and they were happily the same. Once I figured out they were not giving me trumped up numbers, I called to book them. However, the only dates they had were in April or August. Hmm. My fiance was up for April (he thought you only needed 3 months to plan a wedding, silly, silly man), but I overruled him. As an extra bonus, if a member of the club sponsored us, we could get the “members rate”. I sent out an email to some of my old friends at the accounting firm I used to work for, figuring the firm might have a membership. Sure enough, one of the partners responded and we were sponsored! He will get special thanks at the wedding.
So we had a place and a date. Now the real planning could begin!
Reception | Comment (0)It’s January and you are booked until November?!
We got engaged in December and while my fiance will tell you that my mother and I started wedding planning the day after we got engaged, I can tell you that it didn’t really start happening until January because of the holidays.
First thing I did was consult my list of invitees (I will admit, I had started that list before he proposed) to see how big of a venue we would need. Mom and Dad added a few people and my fiance added a few and we ended up around 150. And so the search began. We looked at golf courses, wineries, hotels, wedding halls, historic houses, social clubs and my personal favorite, the modern art museum.
We started out thinking that we were going to have a wedding on a Friday or a Sunday because we could get cheaper rates. We threw around the idea of having a wedding brunch, but Dad wasn’t too excited about that prospect, so it quickly was dismissed. The thing that surprised me most was how booked all of the venues were! It was January and we wanted an October wedding. We figured October was a little off season, so we could get better rates. The weather is still pretty nice in California in October, so we thought we still might have the option of an outdoor fall wedding. Boy, were we wrong! I am no longer sure there is an “off season” in weddings and if there is, October doesn’t fall into it. A lot of the venues were booked through November on Saturdays, or there were a smattering of dates available, none of which were in October. Fridays and Sundays were still available, but they were going too. We were told we needed to book soon. It was January!!
I have to admit, this was probably one of the most stressful times for me. You cannot even start the wedding planning without having a place and a date. We went for onsite visits at a few golf courses and wineries. I wanted to try to compare apples to apples, but they do not make it easy. Some places had wedding packages, others were a la carte. Some charged for linens and glassware, others did not. Some let you bring in wine and charged a corking fee, others would only serve their own alcohol at significant retail prices. There were so many differences. How was I ever going to figure this out?
a word about art museums
My favorite reception venue was the art museum. It was unique. It was interesting. It fit me. My fiance was okay with it too. The guests could spend the cocktail hour wandering the galleries. If they weren’t dancers, that was okay! The galleries would be open for a while after dinner too. How great was that? It was a little more expensive than I wanted it to be, but I thought I could find a way to fit it into the budget. I would have to get a caterer, which would be a little work, but the museum had a vendor list, so I was going to rely on that. I was 99% sure that was where the reception was going to be until I asked the all important question.
“What exhibits will be here in the month that I want to have the reception?”
Well, one hall was going to be closed, one had Mexican heritage paintings and one was going to feature an artist named Camille Rose Garcia. Seemed like a pleasant enough name, but I decided to check out the art… just in case. The name of the exhibit was Tragic Kingdom. Hmm… doesn’t sound too appropriate for celebrating a new marriage, does it? With pieces like Orphaned Nihilist Poison Rations and Subterranean Doom Party (Cake) I suddenly had to mark the art museum off of the list.
Reception | Comment (1)