Venue Road Block

>>Warning: Venting Ahead<<

Ugh.

Yes, I'm starting a blog post with an "ugh."  Maybe it's the cold weather and the ugly grayish snow.  Maybe it's the lack of sun or having to deal with cheating students.  Maybe it's the fact that I gained at my last WW weigh-in.  Maybe it's that I spent two solid weeks with Jason over break, and now, I just miss him.  But "ugh" is how I feel about this venue search right now.  I feel frozen in all wedding planning until we get the venue reserved.  I can't do anything with decorations until I know what I have to work with from the venue.  I can't reserve any other vendors (caterer, photographer, etc...) until the wedding date is officially set.

I've looked up SO many venues in the KC area, that they are all starting to run together right now.  I've printed off some 20 information/price guides (and looked through another 100 online).  It just doesn't seem like I've found the "right" place (or even something close).


Is it too much to ask to find a place that will let us bring 250 guests for both a wedding and reception, pick our own catering, bring in our own alcohol, and let us keep our reception going past 9 pm on a Sunday for a reasonable price without looking cheap or being in the ghetto?  Heck, you can throw in the food and booze if you're not going to charge me some $60 a guest before taxes/fees! 


I am so frustrated that people honestly expected me to spend some $10,000 just to freaking rent a place for some 8 hours!!!  Really, people?  That's without food, drinks, decor... JUST FOR A BUILDING!  Well, not even the whole building, a room of a building!  UGH!


Maybe it's that I'm such a thrifty person.  I love a good deal!  It makes me queasy to just think about spending that much total on a wedding (let alone on just the venue).  I know, I'll have to get over it, but think about the awesome honeymoon I could go on with 10 Grand!  Or a down payment on a house!

And don't get me started on the "extra fees."  Most of these places have some fine print that includes tax (~8%), tourist tax (~3%), and a gratuity/service charge (~20%).  So I find a place that I think is do-able price wise... but it's not after you add some 30% to it.  UGH!!!


So amid all of my frustration comes my knight-in-shining-armor: (yes, that's right) Jason.  He's been pretty hands-off so far in the planning.  Although he'll give me his opinion occasionally if I throw out an idea, he's not one bring anything wedding-related up in a conversation.  But after my break-down over the venue search a week and a half ago, Jason started looking at places online, even scheduling a couple of tours this weekend.  We went to 5 places last weekend, none of which fit our needs.  But he didn't get down about it like I was.  He's been e-mailing people to get more information, and has been sending me daily links to his favorite finds (along with prices, pictures, and his thoughts).


Just went I was hitting my low, there he was. :o)  I could get used to this!  Maybe this whole wedding-planning thing is more about the upcoming marriage and less about the actual wedding.

So, I could use some positive (and cheap, but not cheap-looking) thoughts sent my way this weekend.  After we get over this hump, I promise to post more happy thoughts.


>>vent over<<

Controversial Topic Tuesday: Guests and a little $$$

Today was Snow Day #3 for this month.  Yay!  It's such a great thing to have a day where I can just veg and rejuvenate for a day without cutting into my vacation time.

After waking up around the usual time (to take Oss-Man out), I went back to sleep until 9:30!  I'm normally done with one block and onto the 2nd by then at school.  I just feel so much more "awake" than I normally do!  It's amazing!

So, to go along with this great feeling, I decided to tackle one of the bigger wedding tasks that I've been putting off... The Guest List.

At first, Jason and I talked about having between 150-200 people... but after talking about it with both our families the past month, we're thinking we might be closer to 250 (These numbers are the ones we think will be there, not just the total number invited).

Part of me just wants to invite anyone and everyone.  I want my wedding day to be a fun and enjoyable experience with all of our family and friends!  The other part of me is looking at the dollar amount associated with each person I add to the invite list (horrible of me, I know).  Since we're pretty sure we're going to have over 200 people there, some of our venue prospects are out (including the 2 parks I blogged about earlier).  Then there's the food and drink charge per person.  I definitely didn't plan for that many people when I first started the budget... and didn't realize how much adding people would affect the budget.

I want to share our big day with our friends and family... but where do you draw the line?  There are family precidents already set, so we have to follow those... but what about friends?  Is anyone who invited you to their wedding automatically invited to yours?   How about co-workers?  I don't want to offend anyone.  What about old friends who you only communication is your yearly Christmas Card mailing?  Or just through facebook?  Is it just the distance that's keeping us from being closer?  I think it would be great if these people could be there... but I need to draw the line somewhere.

So... where do you draw the line?

(and if I've already attended your wedding, I most DEFINITELY did not give you enough of a gift... I didn't realize how much a wedding truly costs per guest attending!)

I Spy, with my little eye...

If you're a kid of the 90's, I'm sure you remember those I SPY books.  You know, those big books that had a ton of stuff on each page... then you had to search for some specific items.  Like this...

I LOVED I SPY's!  They were the way better version of "Where's Waldo?".  This wedding idea was love at first site.  I have to say, this has been a work-in-progress since this summer.  I was randomly looking around online and found some different versions of this, but couldn't find anything that had everything I wanted (and nothing I didn't).  I want it to be a page in my "Activity Book"... something to keep the guests busy while waiting (for the ceremony to start, for their dinner table to be called, for the toasts to get over, for the actual dancing fun to begin...) and to be a conversations starter with people they don't know around them (Hey, what did you get for this?).

My biggest concern: there's just too much on here (seems to be a common problem with me!).  Thoughts?

The color version...

STD's

No, I'm not talking about what you are probably thinking... in the wedding-planning-world, STD's stands for Save The Date's!

I've looked forever online to try and find exactly what I want to do for our save the dates.  I found two ideas that I really liked:

The photobooth:

And "Taking the Plunge":

So I played around in powerpoint for a while on my day off and came up with this combination of the two. 

 
I want the photo strip to have pictures of us with signs that say "Save" "The" and "Date"... and hopefully not wearing red that clashes with the pink.  I'm sure I won't have to talk Jason into taking a picture of us jumping into a pool this summer.

But I'm worried there's just too much going on.  Seriously... What do you think?  Do I need to just pick one idea?  It's going to end up being on a 4" by 6" postcard or magnet.

Help!

Snow Day Fun!

Snow Day #2 today!  After getting my part of the guest list done, I was playing around on the knot and found this.  Enjoy!!!

http://global.theknot.com/sitelets/ritani/ecard/default.aspx?id=1294765932968

Will You Be My Bridesmaid?!?

This BY FAR has to be the post I'm most excited to share.  I've had to wait until after they all received them before posting it on here (I started this post over a month ago when I made them!).  After I saw this idea on Wedding Bee, I just KNEW I was going to use it!  So, here's what all my ladies received in the mail (along with my Christmas card... hey, I gotta save money on postage!):

Hmmm... A small white box with our Monogram.  But what's inside?

A ring box... complete with a ring!

I'm SOOO happy with how these turned out! 

There was also a card...

I'm lucky to have such amazing friends and family!  And I can't wait to share my big day with these ladies!!!  The "Wedding Party" page of the blog is now updated!

...sigh... The not-so-fun part of all "THIS"

Well, I did it.  I started Weight Watchers again last night.  I joined right after college when I was still living at home.  My mom and I used to go to meetings together, and it was great to have someone in your house eating the same things you were.  The best part: I lost some 20 pounds.  It was great!  But within a year of quitting, I had gained it all back.

So I'm back at it, again.  But this time it's the *~*NEW*~* Weight Watchers Plus program.  After my first meeting last night, I'm confident that I can lose the weight... if I stick with the program.  Weekdays will be easy.  As long as I pack my lunch, I'll have no problem staying in the good foods arena.  I can track everything from my school computer (the online method of tracking is amazing!).

My biggest enemy: weekends.  Weekends are my time to relax, rejeuvinate, and spend time with Jason.  And when we are together, we are just so dang indecisive.  It's awful!  We can never decide when or what we want to eat until we are super-hungry and ready to pick the fastest thing possible.  We tend to eat out more than half the time.  This has to stop.  We've talked and decided to try to limit our eating out to once a weekend.  That's doable... right?  I'm also worried I won't track my points carefully over the weekend.  Yes, I have the iPhone app for it, but it's just easier to not do it.  Who wants to track points when you can be facebooking or playing games?

So my goal: my college weight (losing some 34 pounds).  I loved the way I looked and felt then.  I'm hoping to be there by the beginning of summer.  I'd love to be able to go dress shopping this summer and not lose/gain between
then and the wedding.  I know people that have bought their dress, lost weight, and then not liked how they looked in the dress with their new body.  And I'm hoping that dress will serve as some motivation to maintain the weight loss until the wedding.  Maybe I just need to hang dress pictures all over the fridge or snack cupboard!

So in the words of the band Whitesnake: Here I go again!
(wish me luck!)

The Great Venue Search

After the engagement ring, the next big "investment" in the wedding planning process is the venue.  Not very often do I get an opinion out of Jason, but with our 11-ish hours of driving to see both our families for Christmas, I was actually able to get some thoughts out of him about our venue.  We know that we want the ceremony and reception to be at the same location.  And I would like to have an outdoor ceremony (with a VERY easily adaptable place in the event of rain), but it's not a requirement.  So after talking, there are 3 types of places we will look into for our wedding:

1.  A Golf Course.  Some of the golf courses around KC have a part of the clubhouse that you can rent out for events such as weddings.  We could get married on the golf course green!  The wedding party could drive around the course in golf carts to take pictures... How cute would that be?!?  The biggest downfalls: cost and size.  It costs quite a bit and some of the rooms aren't big enough for 200 people.  Plus, there isn't always a hotel close for guests to stay.


2.  At A Theater.  Many of the theaters in the area can be rented for wedding use.  This is such a unique idea that we both love!  Plus, they seem to be right in the mix of the city.  There are hotels, bars, and restaurants within walking distance.  These places too are kinda pricey, and many of them have a bright red curtain on stage that would totally clash with the pink I want in my wedding.  If we go this route, you may see a blog-overhaul from pink to red!

3.  At A Local Park.  Many of the parks in the area have a hall that can be rented out for pretty cheap.  We would be able to have the wedding outside on the patio of the hall and the reception inside.  This option is MUCH cheaper than the others (and they let you pick all your own vendors, so cheaper there too)!  Jason and I went to look at two of these places over break.  The scenery was blah (what do you expect in the dead of winter), but we got the basic idea.

The Lodge at Ironwoods (website)
(147th and Mission)

This was a really nice building.  From the outside, it's a big red barn... but walk inside and you have one HUGE room.  The two-story ceiling makes it seem even larger!  It's got beautiful exposed wood beams and a vaulted ceiling.  

 The patio outside is barely big enough for a 200-person wedding, but they've done it before (207, actually).  There is a view of the lake, but it's though the trees.  

 It really is a nice place.  Some of the downfalls: you can't do any decorating to the place (just centerpieces), and you have to be out by 10 pm on a Sunday (and it would cost $1000 more for a Saturday).  This place fits perfectly into our budget!

Davis Hall at Wyandotte County Park Lake

(a couple miles NE of the Legends)

After a hilly, curvy drive into the park, you get to the beautiful stone building.  When you walk in the main entrance, there is a coat room and the bar.  Then there are two big rooms, one on each side.  This is a long, narrow building.  The outside patio runs the length of the entire building and is GORGEOUS!!!  The lake spans almost the entire patio (sorry, I can't find a good picture online).  

The patio is a little bigger, and we could more easily get 200 people out there.  We could then have the dinner in one of the inside rooms and the dance in the other

The downfalls: the actual building isn't at nice as the other, and it's capacity is more like 150-175 (we may have to cut down on the guest list).  But on the plus side, this place is a whopping $625 to rent FOR THE ENTIRE DAY!  But to get it, you have to go to the park office exactly 1 year before the day you want and they have a lottery to see who gets it.  So, are you feeling lucky?  We are considering reserving another place now and then seeing if we can even get this place.  Even if we loose a $300 deposit, we will still be paying WAY less than any other place!




Have any of you been to a wedding at either of these places?  What did you think of it?  Help!  I need some input!!!

My First DIY

(I've been a bad blogger and haven't posted ALL of break... Hey, I didn't have a computer for the first part, then I was sick.  So I'm allowed to post twice in one night to make up for it... Right?)

I've known all along that I want to do as many DIY (do-it-yourself) projects as I could to save myself some money.

You know my love of stars, so when I came across these, I seriously considered buying them.  However, I couldn't justify spending some $2 (plus shipping) on EACH candle.  Especially since I'd probably need around 50.  And call me anal, but I really don't like the "starfish" shape.  I like the perfect star that is neat, even, and comes to points instead of blob-like curves.

The vision for this project came from a co-worker's (Sarah's) wedding last summer.  I absolutely LOVED the dark tablecloths with the bright pink candles!

(picture from Sarah's blog) Isn't that just GORGEOUS?!?

 I don't know how I ever thought of doing this, but all the sudden I realized I wanted my star-shaped tea light holders (remember?) to be pink instead of clear.  So while watching one of the many bowl games over break, I decided to take the pink Saran Wrap I had and cover them.  Then instead of a candle holder, maybe I could flip it over and put one of those battery-operated lights inside.  I love the idea of a black tablecloth with some glowing pink stars underneath!  The lights were a little too bright white, so I used some pink nail polish to take the edge off of the light (I need a few more coats, I think).  It's not perfect, but this picture gets the idea across:

I had to heat up the saran wrap so it would form to the star shape.  I held it over a candle, then pressed the plastic wrap to the star.  Apparently I didn't do a good enough job.  Jason tried to help while I was out of the room and ended up burning it a little on the back side.  Oops!

But neither of us really liked how uneven and wrinkly the plastic wrap was.  Then Jason had an idea.  Do you remember those Sun Catchers you used to make as a kid?  You know... those things your mom used to buy for you over summer and/or winter break to keep you busy and out of trouble?  You got a clear plastic shape that had the black outlines and you just simply painted in the sections to make it translucent (instead of opaque like most paints would do).

Well, what if we painted all of the stars?  Turns out they make a spray paint for stained glass.  Sadly enough, Michael's only had it in red and blue (no pink).  So I guess I'll just need to order some online and wait for a nice spring day (since you're supposed to spray paint outside when it's between 65 and 95 degrees).

Ugh... I hate waiting.  Oh well.  Onto my next project! 

My First Wedding-Related Purchase!

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been planning my wedding since I was 5.  Of course, some ideas have gone by the wayside in the last 20 years (the Disney World wedding, the destination wedding on the beach, the eloping in Vegas, etc...).

But there's been one idea that's stuck: Stars.

In case you don't know, I have one (and only one) tattoo.  Yes, me who faints every time I have blood drawn.  Here it is:

In high school, I used to wear a rainbow star bracelet.  Everyday.  It never came off.  Never.  And when the elastic wore out (about once a month), I'd go buy a new one.  I saved all the little stars and made myself a belt.

What can I say?  I love stars!  So when I happened to be browsing Craigslist and found these, I just KNEW I had to have them... even if I wasn't engaged yet!  (I bought these back in September or October... well before my November 26th engagement!)

Star Candy Dishes &
Star Tea Light Holders:

I ended up with 8 of the candy dishes and 48 of the tea light holders.  Now I just need to figure out how I'm using them!