The Location...

The “where” of the wedding has been the biggest, and really only, stress of the wedding planning. The church just did not seem like it was going to work out and there were so many things about it that I was worrying about. Then we went and looked at a bunch of places for receptions and things got even crazier. The first place we went was fine, but the layout was not ideal and it just wasn’t what we thought it was going to be. The second place we went, the Woman’s Club, was FANTASTIC, but would not accommodate the number of people we think we are going to have. Then we went to another place that is managed by Ceruti’s, a local caterer, called The Bergstaff Place. We really liked it, but it was booked for the date we were looking for. We checked out the Coliseum, and it’s a great ballroom and I think they would have been great to work with, but J wasn’t feeling it… he said that it would feel like he was going to work instead of to his wedding.

There is another Ceruti’s location outside downtown called Summit Park, and we ended up going to see it even though it was not originally on our list. It’s nice, it’s clean, the color scheme is black and white (mostly white) so it should work fine with our colors, and it has a courtyard that can be used for a ceremony. Unfortunately the facility rental fee is quite a bit more expensive than any of the other facilities we looked at.

So we went back to the drawing board. We were shooting for July 2, a Saturday. If we switched the date to Sunday, the Bergstaff location that we like would be available AND the facility rental fee at Summit Park would be waived. It took some convincing, but J finally talked me into feeling like a Sunday wedding would be good. So then we talked about whether we should go for Bergstaff (where the facility rental fee is never waived) and still have to find somewhere for a ceremony, or whether we should do ceremony and reception all in one at Summit Park. The idea of it all being at one place was really great, especially for the people who will be coming from out of town. Apparently there are hotels in the area that will even shuttle people to Summit Park for free! So we were all set to book the wedding on Sunday, July 3 at Summit Park and then we figured out that the courtyard is booked on Sunday. There was nothing that was going to talk me in to a ceremony on the dance floor… there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it, but for some reason it creeps me out. So then we had to decide whether or not we wanted to pay the expensive rental fee for the Saturday.

There are two reception rooms at the Summit Park facility and the courtyard is between them. So we went back on Monday before we had to leave for the airport. We looked at the smaller room and it just wasn’t right… the layout was not as good and it just didn’t feel like we would fit as well. So we went back and looked at the other room and the courtyard and it was great. So we went and sat in the boardroom and I asked some more questions, and then I made J decide    :-D

So we booked our reception and ceremony location, so all we need now is someone to perform the ceremony. Most wedding planning guides say that finding your officiant is one of the first things you should do so I guess we are behind now, but we’ll get there.