Violet Dude and I are currently on a search for vendors. Since we are still a while away from our wedding and we’re both currently going crazy with school, it’s been a weekend thing for the last couple of weekends. We’ve gone to one venue and interviewed three different photographers.
The venue was pretty awesome, but he definitely wants to go see a few more just to compare before we settle down…which is understandable. The three photographers were all very good, we liked some more than others, but I enjoyed meeting with all of them.
Here is where my problem is, I’m just too nice. We have one more meeting with one more photographer, even though I’m completely ready to sign with one of the ones we already interviewed. I don’t know if I should go through with the meeting and give the other photographer a chance, or if I should just cancel the meeting and go with the photographer we like. I also am getting sick to my stomach just thinking about when I’ll have to e-mail the other two photographers and tell them we aren’t going with them. I absolutely hate the feeling of disappointing people, and although that’s just part of their business, I honestly hate the idea that I have to tell them we aren’t choosing them. With an unlimited budget, I would choose all of them, but that obviously isn’t an option.
So, for those of you who, like me, hate making people sad or disappointed…how did you write your rejection email? Did you give a reason as to why you weren’t going with them or did you just say you had chosen someone else? Put me out of my misery, please!
The venue that Morning Glory Bear (MGB as I will put him for short) and I picked to have our ceremony and reception is a nice waterfront venue tucked back in a neighborhood. It actually used to be a crappy little restaurant/bar and the catering company bought it and completely gutted and remodeled the place. I love the view and it will make for some great photo ops, but I’m worried about the lack of variety and creativity available for pictures after the ceremony. Since 75% of the venue is physically on the water (see below for picture) it’s literally just the docks for pictures. There’s no beach or really anywhere to go on-site to make for different pictures.
 Copyright Cesar Chavez Photography So, basically MGB and I talked about going offsite after the ceremony to take our bridal party/family pictures. Luckily, there is a nice park about 5 minutes away with a beach, pavilion and another dock to take pictures at. I was worried about finding somewhere that was close enough to not take time away from the reception time and was pretty enough to allow the photographer some creative leeway. In my nervousness to make sure everything goes according to plan, I don’t want this to end up being chaotic! I still want to do pictures at the venue on the docks, especially something like this at the end of the night.
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We are nearing the 8 month mark! With each day that passes, I am getting more and more excited. And also realizing all of the things we have left to do. Even with that thought, I still feel like we’re pretty ahead of the game. Speaking of a game, that is the same thing that is putting a bit of a damper on our rehearsal dinner plans. Let me explain…
A few months ago, Christian Morelein, a local Cincinnati beer brewery, announced that it was opening a brand new Lager House downtown at a new riverside development called The Banks. As soon as we heard the news, Apricot Dude and his parents immediately investigated as we are all huge Christian Morelein beer fans, plus the location would be fantastic for a rehearsal dinner. Sure enough, we managed to contact a manager and discuss some options. They will have private dining areas and a full dinner menu. It sounds like the perfect place! Great location, fun atmosphere, good beer and good times!
 Lager House model- coming 2012! Continue Reading
Greetings to everyone! I’m so excited to be blogging for Bridal Buds!
Well Mr. Pom and I have been engaged since the beginning of May and will be getting married early next June. I’m pretty positive that up until a month from the wedding, planning anything with his input will be “too early.” And I will be trying to “plan too much out ahead of time.” Anyone heard those phrases yet?
All joking aside though, we got engaged on Lake Winnipesaukee, where we have been going for three years for a half marathon I run. Since the lake holds a special place in our hearts we decided to also get married there. We picked Naswa resort because it had the perfect combination of laid back/tropical and just enough formal air about it. As an aside, the first place we thought about getting married at was actually to be torn down the following summer, oh the joys of wedding planning!
So why am I telling you all of this? Well, and I’ll get into the dress buying more in a later post but, in my opnion you MUST pick the venue before you pick the dress. If I had been nuts enough, and I was on the verge, and bought the dress that was oh so cute but which weighed 20 pounds and in which I couldn’t raise my arms in I would be pretty peeved because upon seeing our location the dress would not have fit the setting at all.
So here it is, in all of it’s glory, Naswa resort where our ceremony and reception will take place!
Have you experienced any issues with buying a dress BEFORE picking the locaiton?
I can’t believe it’s been a year since Aladdin and I have been engaged! We opted for an extra long engagement, partially by choice, partially by necessity. Right before we got engaged, my wonderful future sister-in-law was proposed to. Unbeknownst to me, it is a Filipino superstition that two siblings cannot be married in the same year, which means Aladdin and I would have to default to 2012. Truthfully, I love being engaged – it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me! In retrospect, I’m thrilled that we’ve had so much time to truly map out the details and how we want this wedding to reflect us as a couple. With what seemed like ample time, I’m beginning to feel the tick..tock.. of the days flying by and our wedding nearing quickly. I’m relieved to say that we have had our venue for quite some time, so that has stress has been alleviated. We fell head over heels for the Spanish architecture of the breathtaking Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. Doesn’t it just transport you from the US to some European Villa?
Alright, so by now you know a little more about Apricot Dude and I. Now- let me share to you where we are at with our wedding plans. After all, this is what I’m here to talk about! Here is a little information on our church and reception site….
Our actual wedding will take place at Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Church. (The church we currently go to does not have the capacity to handle a wedding over 200 people in their chapel.) Here is the catch; I’m not catholic. But I have always dreamed of getting married in a huge church with beautiful stained glass windows, long aisle, etc. I decided to make the choice not to become Catholic so we took our chances and starting looking around at churches. We found some that were too small, too big, too expensive….and then we heard about St. Francis de Sales through a friend of a friend and decided that this was the church we wanted to become husband and wife in.
So you’re probably wondering how we pulled this off…well, all we did was call and ask if it was possible and they said yes. We simply have to provide our own pastor and go through Pre Cana classes. So my advice for those who are not sure if something can be done; simply ask. You never know- they might say YES!
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The other day, I happened to attend a bridal show hosted at the Disney hotel. I’ve been to 6 bridal shows, and this one was definitely the most elaborate. Since I was able to get a chance to attend this gorgeous bridal show, I also got to take a sneak peak of the reception/ceremony areas. The cost/person isn’t as bad as I thought it was. It’s actually more reasonable then having your wedding at a ritzy 5 star hotel.
Disneyland’s Reception/Ceremony Areas
Surprisingly, the cost of holding your wedding at Disneyland isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
#1 The Grand Ballroom
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The day we got engaged the questions about wedding details started coming at us from everywhere. I’m sure any newly engaged woman has experienced this and sympathizes with the overwhelming feeling we had at the beginning of our engagement. Of course I loved, and still love, telling our proposal story and showing off my ring but I wasn’t expecting all of the wedding questions so soon after we got engaged.
Needless to say it got us thinking, so we started off 2011 in full wedding planning mode. Before we started visiting wedding venues I wanted to work out some of the details so Mr. Man and I started trying to answer some of the basic questions. We both want a small wedding so that decision was easily made. Then came the debate of getting married locally or having a destination wedding. Charleston is one of our favorite cities so I started doing some research on venues and of course I found beautiful plantations and so many wonderful unique venues. The problem came when we started to look at the travel costs for every wedding planning visit and for our guests. I just couldn’t imagine not being able to take care of something important right away in person, being that Charleston is about 5 hours from us. So Charleston was out of the question and we decided a local wedding would be the easiest for both us and our guests.
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After 5 different venue visits, lots of number crunching, tedious contract editing, and numerous other important decisions: Olive Dude and I officially set our date (6/9/12) today. Woo!
Olive Dude and I weren’t particular about what date we got – we just wanted something in June. BUT – two cool things about the date we got: (1) It is my great-grandmother’s (who passed) birthday. She was VERY religious so Olive Mom’s side of the family thinks that it’s a great blessing, and (2) I’m a weird person and figured out that 6+9+12=27 … the 27th is Olive Dude and my “unofficial” anniversary date in September, and a lucky number for both of us.
To be honest, I did not find the process of picking a venue to be enjoyable at all. I think that’s mostly because at first, I wasn’t sure what I wanted and thought I liked things about certain places, but really didn’t. I figured that the place didn’t matter as much as the people and the celebration – a thought that Olive Mom was NOT in agreement with (and, to relate to my earlier post about ‘loving’ two places – 1 got nixed due to a lack-luster Plan B, and Olive Mom did not like the other for it’s price)
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After we tie the knot, Apple Sauce and I will make our exit out of the ceremony space and … into the next room. Our ceremony, cocktail hour and reception are all in the same venue. While this is super convenient for our guests — no one has to worry about driving to and finding parking at a second location — it makes it hard for us to get that classic wedding photo op. You know the one: where the bride and groom emerge from the church under a shower of confetti and make their way to the getaway car.
 Credit: sparklersonline.com My week, so far, has been all about finding unique ways to dress up our indoor mini recessional. Here’s what I’ve come up with:
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