So this past weekend, I ran a 5K in Stone Harbor (where we are getting married). Packet pick-up was actually at our reception venue, so Fi & I got to visit it again and see it with people in it. And, my goodness, were we surprised. In fact, I almost had a panic attack. Seeing it occupied by 80-100 people, I suddenly realized it was definitely TOO SMALL for our wedding. Fi tried to calm me down by telling me that the tables and stuff that were in there (set up by the race coordinator for registration, as well as the sponsors and stuff who were giving things away) were making it seem smaller and not to worry- we'd look at specifics when we got home to make sure it'd all work out.
So tonight we decided to take a closer look at the floor plan of our venue. It's a good size... if we only want to do dinner. Dancing in that room is absolutely out of the picture, no matter how we arrange the tables. I felt another panic attack coming on while we tried to find a solution. We immediately considered moving the wedding to a tent. The venue has a nice-sized parking lot beside it. In fact, every other bride I've seen who has used our venue has actually rented it FOR the lot and set up a tent there; I haven't seen anyone else who actually used the ballroom for their wedding. We were planning to have a tent out there anyway for our cocktail hour and the bar. So I look up tent rentals. I find that we'd need a 30x60 foot tent to accommodate our guests for dinner + a dance floor. Look up the price. And realize that a tent that size will cost us upwards of $1,000... not to mention if it's stifling hot or unseasonably cold (then we'd have to add air conditioning/heat as well). Let me tell you (in case you were unsure) that I am with the perfect man for me. While my anxiety seems never-ending, his cool-headed, laid back attitude and reassuring “it will all be okay”'s can really calm me down. Since he can remain level-headed, he comes up with solutions faster than I can. “What if we have the dance floor outside?” he recommends. I instantly brighten- I knew I was marrying him for a reason. So here's our new plan. We will get married on the beach. After the ceremony, our guests will enjoy cocktails and hors d'ouerves in a tent in the parking lot beside the WCC while we take our pictures. About 15 minutes before our “grand entrance,” the DJ will start telling guests to move into the dining room. We'll have our entrance shortly thereafter and have our first dance in the dining room. Have dinner, toasts, and speeches inside. Then we'll cut the cake (cue old people leaving). After the cake has been cut & enjoyed, we'll move the party outside to the tent. We'll start off with the father/daughter and mother/son dances and then go right into high-energy dancing for a little less than an hour. Then we'll have the bouquet/garter tosses, dance some more, have our last dance, then have a send-off. Sound like a plan?? I think we might actually be able to pull this off... The only problem I see is making smooth transitions. Hopefully people will be able to keep up and understand what's going on. Our DJ will be a huge help for this as well. There are three sets of French doors in the clubhouse that lead outside to the lot where the tent will be set up, so hopefully that will aid in transitioning the celebration from inside to outside. We'll keep the doors open (we were planning to do that anyway to let in the sea breeze). We also have to consider adding some seating outside around the dance floor for those who want to watch but don't want to dance. We just have to adjust our budget to include a dance floor (and perhaps flooring for the rest of the tent too...) and some more decorations for the tent. Luckily, our DJ was already planning to set up both out in the lot AND inside the clubhouse because of our ceremony/cocktail hour set-up, so that won't be a problem. Also, when we booked the venue, we paid a higher amount because we were planning on having a tent for our cocktail hour. So we've already paid the “tent deposit” as well and won't need to add any more money to that side of things. We were already planning on having our guest book table and seating card tables on the porch outside (for access during cocktail hour), which I think work even better now that we came up with this idea. The gift table will probably be inside, and I think I'll ask one of my bridesmaids or someone if they can check the card box on occasion to move any cards to the room we'll be using to freshen up and keep our stuff just in case any of my friends have seedy dates. Or we could potentially put the gift table outside too, under the tent. We shall see! I think I actually like this better than the original plan and even if our venue decided to double in size, I'd probably still do it this way because it kind of creates the laid back feel we're aiming for. Also, I LOVE the idea of dancing the night away right beside the sand dunes. Talk about a beachy atmosphere- I'll practically have sand between my toes! After a mild freak out, I'm more relaxed now than I was before seeing the venue all full. I feel like we have a more solid plan that will lend itself beautifully to our wedding day. Yay!
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So I've been gathering ideas and doing research since we got engaged in December, and now that it's June I'm actually starting to put some of that homework to use. I've recently finished the first of five tissue paper poms for our ceremony space. They truly are a labor of love, but I think they'll be so very worth it in the end.  I also started working on my "Mrs. Neal" dress hanger today. It's been a lot harder than I thought it would be. The "Mrs." has looked awesome for both of my trials... but the "Neal" is a PITA. I'm gonna keep trying to get it right though. If not, I might just make an "I do" hanger or a "bride" hanger for sanity's sake. Chris and I also visited our first venue this Wednesday. It's the Clubhouse at Hilltop Farm, which is home to the West Mont United Soccer Association. The Clubhouse is gorgeous, but small. We could definitely make it work. It's also within our budget (so affordable!) and lets us have an outside caterer and is BYOB, so that's also a major plus. It's set up perfectly for making entrances and walking down aisles, so that's another selling point. I have a list of about 5 more venues to look at, and then we'll start dragging our moms out to look at our top choices and give us some input.  (ceremony space... porta potties would be removed!)  (reception space as viewed from upper balcony)  (deck where we'd have the cocktail hour and our bar) Finally, I have asked all of my girls to be in my wedding party. Surprisingly, Britta seems to be more excited than anyone. Mine is the first wedding she's been asked to be in, and she said she's actually gotten online and looked up bridesmaid etiquette. I don't expect any of my girls to do anything except show up, but it's really nice to know I can count on her to come over and help with some of my wedding projects as they come up.
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