Finally!

I can announce our official date!! Christopher and I will be tying the knot on January 1, 2011 or 1.1.11. Neat, huh? Though we had been planning on New Year’s Eve, we fell in love with a venue in which the date was already taken. However, by having our date set in January as opposed to December- by only 1 day later- we saved significantly on our site fee. A tip I recommend to everyone. On season prices and off season prices at certain venues can make all the difference in your budget. And we got lucky in that January 1st is still a Saturday! It also works with most all of our family members, of which I will spare you of hearing all the drama.

Here is our venue! It’s called Asbury Hall and from the moment I walked in I was blown away. You can take a little 360* tour of our ground floor. Make sure to click on the buttons on the top right and see how they transform it for a wedding reception. It’s an old church owned by Ani DiFranco and was renovated to be used for receptions, concerts, and private parties. Our whole event including ceremony, cocktails and reception will be held there. Their are pews in the upper areas on the sides and that is where our guests will sit. They will look down at us as we recite our vows on the main floor in front of the stage. We will then go into our cocktail hour in the basement which has natural beautiful stone and dark wood bar. It’s everything I wanted in a venue. I will walk directly down the center of the amazing wood floors to my awaiting groom. *little squeal of excitement*

Finally having a date, after 6 months of being engaged, makes everything seem more real. At times I never thought we’d actually set a date because I’ve been so back and forth on what I wanted, but now we can move forward and really dive into planning. I have a feeling that even though 1.1.11 is still a year and a half away, it’s going to fly by and be here before we know it.

I can’t wait.

As much as I love to discuss wedding topics, sometimes I just get burned out. I am beyond excited to become a Mrs. and make that forever commitment to my amazing fiance, but occasionally the things in between getting a pretty shiny ring on my finger and the actual big day are just exhausting. I feel like I’m in an endless tunnel of making phone calls, getting prices, picking colors palettes, determining themes, etc. It makes me want to run away! I’m on theknot.com pretty much every day in search of new pictures and ideas that I might be able to use. But my problem is that I have no idea what I want. Let me clarify- I know my big picture, I just don’t know how to make it happen. I don’t mean to be a big whiney complainer it’s just that-

I feel like I’m walking around with my veil on and embroidered in big rhinestone letters down the back is the word: FAIL.

I’m a girl who has dreamed about my wedding my whole life. So how do I have no idea what I want? It’s a wedding- everything is beautiful and there are so many fun and interesting ideas to choose from. There are endless possibilities to create your perfect day. These options are vast and confusing and it’s hard to choose knowing that this BIG day is your ONE day. There are no do-overs. It’s a lot of pressure! It’s also difficult when you’re planning one out of town. Chris and I have decided to keep our wedding in our hometown, since both of our families reside there. This means every decision we need to make results in a 5+ hour drive from Columbus to Buffalo. We’re coming up on a big decision next weekend: deciding on a venue. We’ve seen one that is a definite maybe and we’re looking at a few more before making a final decision. But we are making a final decision. That thought is exciting and terrifying.

I made another decision too. I am totally in love with these flowers.

They’re anemones. I find them to be completely beautiful. I enjoy things that are slightly unconventional. I want a huge bouquet filled with anemones and fiddleheads. Modern, romantic and slightly whimsical. Perfect. The one pictured was featured on Martha Stewart. I also love the polka dot ribbon.

I know this seems like no big deal. But for an incredibly indecisive person, such as myself, these little things are cause for great celebration! And in my world of bridal FAIL, the little decisions are feats of glory that suggest that maybe I’m not completely hopeless.

I have given this topic a lot of thought. I’ve gone back and forth a million times now with the idea of eloping. Simple, to the point, inexpensive and ultimately you end up exactly where you want to be: married to the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. Sounds pretty foolproof to me!

To make it extra special you can always make it a destination wedding and pick someplace you’ve always wanted to go or your favorite place in the world. Get married on your first or second day there and spend the rest of time time having your fabulous honeymoon. Or have a fantastic vacation and end it with a bang by getting married at your favorite spot you found during your stay. Either way it’s romantic, spontaneous, and something that only you two will share and increase your newly-made bond.

Some other positives include: no planning, no stress, no family drama. You also can save a lot of money depending on where you do it. By eloping, the money you spend is only on yourselves and not on flowers that will die in 2 days, a cake that you’ll eat 2 bites of, and an open bar that serves mainly to get you embarrassed by your wasted relatives.

I would, however, advise against eloping if you have parents or future in-laws that would be incredibly offended or hurt by not being able to attend your wedding. You don’t want a lifetime of guilt thrown at you because you didn’t give them the option to attend. You also don’t want to look back and regret not having your friends and family there. It’s all about what you want.

I feel like I’m talking to myself. As I continue to decide what I want, I continue to change my mind and become even more indecisive. Chris is with me every step of the way- he says he’ll be happy with whatever I decide because he doesn’t want me to look back and regret anything about our day. The only thing I know for sure is that I want to marry him. Everything else between me and the alter is just fuss. I just want someone else to plan it for me and I’ll just show up. Anyone know how to make that happen?

So we’ve finally made the decision. No turning back.

As much as I want my amazing Napa destination wedding, I have come to the conclusion that I have a large family and nothing that I do is going to change that. I do want them there and it’s just too difficult to get 20-something people across the country for 2 days basically. So our intimate New Year’s Eve wedding is set. No more going back. I will compensate for compromising on location by taking one seriously kick ass honeymoon. I’m thinking Greece… or South Africa… or Thailand! Ahh the wheels are churning! (However if you’re interested in having a Napa destination wedding yourself, I recommend this website. Chris Andrews, Chris@napaweddingsource.com, is their wedding coordinator and she provided me with some fantastic deals on gorgeous places that were absolutely idyllic.)

Anyway, so I decided to take FozMeadow’s idea and shorten the guest list to around 75-100 people. I’ve narrowed the list down to close friends and family only and no children. As it’s New Year’s and therefore heavy alcohol consumption- we’re trying to get as many people as possible to stay the night and I don’t want kids running around. That also means no flower girl or any of that junk. Not my style. Still waiting on the guest list portion from Chris’s family but mine is pretty set. I’ve also cut out cousins from my list. Some of them I wouldn’t mind but you can’t just invite some and not all, plus many of them are much younger and fall under the category of children and therefore ousted. Sorry guys! Chris’s family might be different because they are older and closer… but there are a lot of them. I also told my future mother-in-law to try to keep her list around 50 so we’ll just see how she decides to handle it. Then depending on our venue- we’ll cut as necessary.