Happy Final Headcount Day!!

This my lovely venue where I went today to drop off my lovely final headcount. It was a bit like studyong for weeks and the exam finally being over. For all my grumbling we are in our ideal range after all, even considering the few people who haven't responded yet. It is just such a relief to move on from stupid RSVPs. I ran over right after physical therapy today.

They have a team of three event staff and as of this morning I had solely dealt with one of them. Today I met her boss and had a little chat. She was very nice. Turns out we don't need a valet for parking, phew! We discussed arrival times of vendors and how many chairs I'd want in a row for the ceremony (the boring stuff) first. Then we moved on to the mapping things out. As you can see, it's a big place.

We talked about where we could enter from and not be seen before hand, dramatic grand entrance! We discussed the best spots for our first look photos. So, romantic. I asked her to show me were all the photo spots I'd admired in other people's pictures were. She showed me the waterfall, the stage, the old gate, the stone wall and the meditation garden. Squeal. My idea is that we have the reveal shot and then Mike and I talk a little stroll in a certain corner of the garden while he snaps pictures. Yay!

We also compared ceremony spaces. I picked the Wedding Lawn (in the center) originally because I liked the openness of it, but the North Lawn could easily accommodate us and has a more intimate feel. Mike and I are considering switching. What's nice is the whole place is ours starting at 5pm so we can go/do whatever we want.

It seemed my enthusiasm and "interesting ideas" delighted her. I guess it would be boring to set up and break down the same old wedding over and over. What a nice wedding errand. I can't believe how much I worried about getting that paperwork done, it was really silly.

I even goofed on the floor plan a little. I forgot to draw a cake table. Maybe we'll cut it on the floor. My life has been all about guests and I forgot the cake. Check the venue errand off the to do list. See you at the rehearsal, Sunken Gardens!

Other Weddings at Our Venue

Swept Away Studios This my favorite picture at Sunken Gardens hands down!

It's that gorgeous? This photographer has some beautiful stuff. This is my favorite of this wedding, but I also really like the one looking up from the hearts on the sidewalk. I've never noticed any hearts so I'm wondering if those are sidewalk chalk? Cool idea. She also got lots of beautiful pictures of the couples through the trees. They had their whole wedding at SG just like we will. Also, how did they get permission for sparklers? Unless the rule changed after their wedding... They didn't cover the frames or decorate the pillar. Which was the case with most of the weddings I found.

My second overall favorite group of wedding photos from our venue was from Loving Legacy Photography Here's my favorite shot:

This is the stage with the cool old tree growing out of it that I LOVE. This bride did all her group shots there, great minds. Mike informed me that the took the tree out, bummer! Beautiful first look shots too! Unfortunately this couple partied post nuptials at a hotel so I didn't get any reception decor inspiration from them.

This one is from P.L. Carrillo Photography

While I found most of these wedding pictures to be a little boring, I really like this shot. Adding cave picture to my must take photo list for sure. So, pretty! There are so many great spots for pictures I'm getting so excited. This couple dressed up their Garden Room Reception with rented lights. They chose not to cover the frames either. Although they turned the sconces off.

This one is by Maria Angela Photography Must find cool old gate!

This was another wedding where it was really hard to pick a favorite! I also LOVE the one of the bride and groom under the vines. So neat. They really wondered around for their photos and made the most of the gardens. I also love their pictures because besides being awesome they were one of the only evening weddings I found. They used the Garden Room, but they only draped fabric from the ceiling. Interesting effect, but I doubt, if we do our job, guests will be looking up.

This one's from Stephanie A. Smith Photography

This is lovely! I hope I can work out the time line so we can hang my dress from the trees. They had a small outdoor reception so no decor inspiration from them. Again they left to guests waving sparklers...hmmm...

Hilary Mercer Photography I don't think this beautiful tree is anywhere near our ceremony site, but what a great picture.

We've definitely picked the right venue. So many must take photo spots! I'm still completely in love with our photographer even after letting myself scroll through photography blogs all day. I also feel that even if we only have our centerpieces on white tables cloths (Mike's vision is much grander) the reception will be beautiful.

Field Trip!!

So, remember that field trip to the venue I've been mentioning for a few weeks? It finally happened. I've learned that coordinating the schedules of even 3 people can be very complicated. Mike, the kids and I headed down to Sunken Gardens this afternoon to meet Janine, our florist. We were armed with a tape measure, paper, pen and three creative people's imaginations.

How did we entertain the kids? No need. Big empty room equals loads of fun. The camera is not out of focus, that's how fast he was running. They chased each other, crawled through the desert (aka carpet) to the oasis (aka dance floor), danced, hid behind the pillar and made multiple trips to the water fountain. They had a great time.

We measured, by which I mean Mike measured and I scribbled furiously in short hand on a legal pad. We got every dimension we might need for decor/table set-up and then counted and noted outlet placement. It was kind of like being in a bank heist movie.

Janine listened carefully to Mike's suggestions and gave us a few things to think about. For example, far cooler than aqua beads is barked wire! It's perfect for discreetly fastening willow branches to metal beams for example. Mike's wheels are turning about their camouflage abilities in combination with their ability to conduct electricity. My nerdy David Tutera. We refined some of our prior decor ideas and for the first time really talked about table placement. What a headache. Head table? Sweetheart table? Feasting table? Where will the buffet go? How much room between tables? And so on...

Speaking of tables, Janine says the caterer is charging too much to use their plain white linens and I could get cheaper prettier ones, no problem. Exciting, now that I've looked at the black chairs and imagined the stark white table cloth under our beautiful centerpieces. It would be different if they were included, but if you can get something prettier for less, why not? We may also be draping fabric around the room and using lights and flora to decorate them.

I think two things make Janine an amazing florist: 1)She really listens to us. 2)She likes a challenge. She even offered Mike some barked wire to experiment with. She's a real team player, I just love her so much. It was good to all be in the space together. At one point I noticed the light fixtures over the dance floor, which I hadn't remembered being there.
I really like them. Nice of them to have pretty lights over the dance floor. It doesn't make up for the gratuitous wood frames we have to hide without damaging their paint, jerks. I can't imagine what use these would have had, ever.
I'm also, a little unclear on what the heck these are although they are awesome and futuristic looking. Our guess was speakers.
And speaking of the sound system, the music was on when we got up there and it's a good system (or the room has good acoustics or both).

And I will now leave you with my favorite shot of the day. Mike (in tourist attire) using an app on his phone to see if our venue has wifi.

Where Do You Feel God?

One thing that came out when Mike and I did the questionnaire for the wedding planning ecourse I'm taking was how we feel about nature. It's a spiritual thing to commune with nature. It's beautiful and allows for a lot of peaceful contemplation. We're not just getting married outside our entire wedding is themed around enchanted woods.

Whether, that magic is God smiling down on a new union of souls or Shakespearian fairies playing tricks on us ("Oh what fools these mortals be") we feel more connected to the universe out there. It gives us the calm one should posess when making eternal promises. Churches can be beautiful, but they are man made and confining. Nature is God's canvas and we'll standing out in the openness of the universe when we say our vows.

Whatever truth Puck utters about us foolish mortals, I do value the comfort of my guests as well as my romantic and spiritual feelings about being outdoors. We'll be dining inside, in the air-conditioning with a view of the lovely gardens and any fairies that happen by.

It's an everlasting promise. To make ready your heart and soul for such vows is a big task. In every area of the wedding I strive for the comfort of the bride and groom first and the meaning behind things as a close second. I am thrilled beyond words for our beautiful ceremony spot in our perfect venue. It's going to be worthy of a sonnet or two.

Now We're Cooking With Gas!

I met with the venue (see updated Vendors tab) today. I read and re-read all the literature, my notes from the initial meeting and their weddingwire.com reviews to make sure I knew what I needed to ask. I scrawled all my question onto the worksheets in my planner and liberated them from the binder. I was ready. I was nervous. I was excited.

I wanted to be there when they opened, but much like the process of getting down there with the deposit, I was delayed. At least this time it was hours instead of months. I got there late in the afternoon with lots of questions, my checkbook and my mom (for moral support). I was greeted warmly, but it turned out the event manager had an appointment in a few minutes. I confidently replied that I didn't have an appointment and I'd like to go up to the reception room and take pictures in the meantime. She showed us up to the reception space and left us to it. I remembered the room being smaller because I saw it with all the tables set up last time. I was glad to have seen it as a blank slate this time. We took tons of pictures and marveled at the view. I was 100% confident in the space before, but now so was my mom. I was worried we'd have to kill time for a while before we could get down to business, but the bride with the appointment was pretty late and I was there so, I won.

N., the assistant event manager, laughed at my energy and decisive statements. She didn't bat an eyelash at any of my odd requests or ideas. I calmly went down each list of questions, taking notes as she answered. It was a little stressful knowing I'd have to recount every detail to Mike later. My memory's good, but the adrenaline was pumping hence the notes. When I was done she remarked "you're the most organized bride I ever seen." Way to go, me! I was relieved to get a date with significance to us, for a good rate. I was super relieved that our one and only source of concern was a non-issue. In general the whole experience was a huge relief. Phew!

I know that a few of my decisions will require a family press conference to explain, but it is my wedding. I am thrilled with my choices so far. I also got a return phone call from the caterer last night and they're in! Now if everything else goes south we have a place to be and an amazing dinner! I'm really on a roll now. The emails are flying now. It won't be long before all these pesky water fowl are in linear formations. Go, team!

Because we have labored long and hard over save the dates I won't be sharing the date at this time, but rest assured friends and family you'll see those amoung the junk mail and bills in the next week or so (finally!). I had a good day and checked off some major items on the to-do list, but the best part was when I was signing the contract:
"Go ahead, sign and date. We'll be your witnesses. Your title is bride."
"That's right!"

I Love This

This first group of pictures are from the same wedding on indie bride. I LOVE this wedding! I tried to contact the bride, but the email on her wedding site is no more, so if anybody knows where I could get these bridesmaids dresses please let me know.

I am totally stealing this idea. It's super simple and you can wear them on the honeymoon.
Photo Credit: Leah Rae Photography

Photo Credit: Leah Rae Photography
It's not just an "everybody jump" picture. No two people are doing the same thing. The bride and groom are still and chaos is all around them, amazing.
Photo Credit: Leah Rae Photography
This is pretty much exactly what I had in mind for bridesmaids dresses. Simple black and short with a bit of green. Only I'd want emerald green instead of apple, but her colors sure do pop. I like how they're all slightly different.

Photo Credit: Leah Rae Photography
I'm completely obsessing over comfy wedding shoes. I love the shoes and I love the picture.

Here's another amazing shoe picture from my friend Anne's wedding. She wore neon Converse All Stars with her new last name embroidered on the back. I love this photo:

Photo Credit: Amanda Psenisky Photography

I love the sense of fun all these images convey. Sure it's a serious step to bind your life to another person, but it should also be one heck of a shindig. After all you're only supposed to do it once. In the first wedding they gave guests fake mustaches to wear. A sense of humor about it all is so important. Yes, I want my marriage to be a serious commitment I've made, but I want to start it laughing and keep on having fun. There can never be too much laughter.

I also love this bridal portrait session at Sunken Gardens I found:

For the rest go here.
I bet anybody who wasn't on board with our first choice venue is excited now. So, beautiful. A little natural beauty and good photographer are a powerful combination. Speaking of Sunken Gardens I'm totally heart broken because I called today and my first and second choice dates are booked! I thought a perk of the whole waiting four years deal was that my ideal date was finally a Saturday. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up so far. Expectations can make for unhappiness in this process, or life in general. Not that it matters too much I don't have the deposit to give them today, anyway. On top of which they have all of April except of course for my second choice date wide open. Breath in, breath out, be flexible.

Location, Location, Location

The where and when of wedding planning seem to be very closely related first steps in the planning process. I have both of those narrowed down to a first and second choice. It's incredibly important to the theme that the place I get married in feel like an enchanted forest. It should be lush and green. Guests should feel the fairies hovering over the flowers.

My first choice is Sunken Gardens:

Peering through the plants. So pretty.
Love the bridge.

Of course the stage is exciting. You can take the actress out of Hollywood...Also it has a tree growing out of it, amazing.
The path I would walk to get to the ceremony site.
The ceremony site is a big clearing you can set up any way you chose. That's the arch we would use too.

The other side of the ceremony site. It's so big.
More beautiful flora.
Close-up.

It's beautiful there as you can see, but on the more practical end they have ample parking and an indoor recption venue. Those things aren't easy to come by with outdoor venues it seems. They're owned by the city so they only allow city approved caters, which was the biggest minus on our list when we orginally considered it. In general when it comes to party planning I really like my freedom. The other down side is the cost, but you definitely get what you pay for.

In general we agree it's our first choice. The next step now is to make some calls because until I get some pricing from the caterer we're interested in and add that to the cost of the package we like I won't be sure whether it's in our reach. On top of all that once I have all the pricing tallied up our date has to be available and as you can imagine they're a popular venue.

Our second choice is USF botanical gardens:

Yup, that says "Faery Garden".

The entrance to the gardens.
Ceremony spot, not too bad.
Beautiful bridge and stream. Forgive my hot and grumpy expression.
Good for unruly guests.

This place is smaller it is run by students of the college or the college itself and students are allowed to plant things, something like that. On the plus side that give you complete freedom to choose your vendors and it's much more budget friendly. On the other hand they provide a tent for the recption and you have to hire valets because of the limited parking. Also, it's farther away which is inconvenient to guests, but depending on the vendor might actually be easier.

The first venue would give us until midnight to party, but the second kicks us out at 9pm. The first venue was more restrictive, but they would take care of us. The second venue would be smaller and more intimate, but the bathrooms aren't as nice. Neither venue allows you to hang things from trees or plants (duh), but they offer either an arch or gazebo to stand under that you can decorate. The pros and cons of each are many, but in the end it comes down to the budget. We want a nice venue and a good meal if we go with the cheaper venue, but the food is amazing I'll be happy.