The Year of the Wedding

Happy 2012 everyone! I could not be more excited for the year ahead! It is officially our wedding year, I have some exciting life changes happening and I really think that this is going to be our year.

That said, now that it is the wedding year, there is a lot to do! Here’s what I have on my mind to take care of in the next couple of months:

Hotels: Blocking hotels has proven to be more challenging than I expected! It is high season in wine country, so it has become difficult to find a hotel that has amenities for our guests, a convenient location and a reasonable cost.

Sources: Santa Rosa Hyatt, Hotel La Rose

Flowers: Flowers are a project for my future mother-in-law and me, so we are going to be tackling finding a florist and flower inspiration soon.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

Save the Dates: You probably saw some inspiration a few weeks ago, but Dan and I have been playing with all sorts of save the date ideas (we are designing our own). We are having the hardest time deciding which direction to go with. We have great engagement photos to use, and a great story to tell, which means too many ideas!

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

Cake Tasting: Something tells me this will be a fun one…

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

Guest List: We need to finalize our guest list. This is one task I’m not looking forward to as much. Any suggestions on the best way to tackle this task?

So, lots of fun ahead! Plus I have all sorts of DIY projects on my list. More on all of these projects, challenges and successes in the weeks ahead. Here’s to a fantastic 2012!

{Help} Narrowing Down the Venues!

I am about to get amazingly personal with all of you, so I sure hope you’re ready for it! I have been so venue-challenged, and I feel like it is only getting worse. It has been almost 8 months and I swear, if I don’t find one soon, I’m giving up! So, I am going to lay it all out here for all of you with the hope that some feedback is just what I need to pick the right place!I started this wedding planning process with the idea that I could do the wedding for $10,000. Now, that may be a very popular number these days for those budget brides, but I never thought that $10,000 would mean giving up my Vera Wang, my fire pit and lounge areas, or all the other million things I wanted. And let me say this in my defense, I never would have had to. I’m smart, resourceful and very DIY handy. I know it could have been done. So, why am I not doing that? Well, because I woke up to the amount of work it would take and the amount of hours I work in a week (well over 100) and I just realized that I would burn myself to the bone. I don’t have the time like I used to.

So, fine. I got over that and I upped the budget. I let the parents and everyone help out and we came to yet another agreement, which sounded fair enough. The only problem is that I can’t get the REASON behind the $10,000 budget out of my head. That’s a lot of money. Really, it is! So, where do I draw the line? That’s the problem I keep struggling with.

Ok, now onto the venues, I have three solid options at this point. Read my pros and cons and let me know what you think!

1. Ventana Inn

I absolutely love this place (remember when I talked about it before), but it is definitely the most expensive! I would get one terrace for both ceremony and reception. The terrace holds 80 people total. This means I am cutting my guest list by 50! (We both have big families). So let’s say I can cut the guest list, those 80 chosen ones are still going to cost $75 per plate for dinner. This is not a bad number, but adding the drinks on is a whole new story! For 2 hours of open bar, it costs $35. 2 hours! OMG, that’s insane. So unless I want to be tacky and make an announcement that everyone needs to literally stock up, I have to pay $10 per hour per person after those two hours. And what about during dinner, during speeches. My 2 hours includes people not being able to stand because of speeches! Lame.Roughly, I will probably end up spending $150 per head for everything including 30% of random dumb extra charges. So, all in all, this wedding scenario will cost me $14,200 for 80 guests. 20 of which are in the bridal party!

Not to mention all of that, the rooms at this place are about $500 per night! I just can’t make my guests do that. So, I would have to research a cute Inn near by.

This one is definitely the splurge and probably my favorite option, if I had the money for it and was comfortable spending that!

1. Vignette Vintage Ranch

UPDATE: Radonich Ranch and Vignette Events turned into a nightmare of a situation and I ended up taking this option out entirely. Read more about the details: {Venue Nightmare} Radonich Ranch and Vignette Events.

This spot is great, but it’s not 100% my style. I am definitely more a fan of the refined, classy, chic look. It’s a little harder for me to think with rustic, vintage, distressed, and shabby looks. Every wedding I see makes me crave a ranch wedding though, which is why this place is in the running. Only Beer and Wine (but it is BYO meaning I will save literally thousands of dollars!) caterer is $86 per person. It is all inclusive with tables, chairs, linens, taxes, etc. etc. etc. That’s sooooo nice! But, I have a feeling this venue just isn’t the nicest vintage barn. But does that matter?? Chandeliers, lanterns, couches and fire pits should handle that just fine! This one would be about $13,000 for 100 guests including everything. Cheaper and more guests, but definitely not as nice.

Photos: Vignette Website

1. My parent’s backyard

You may have heard me bring this up before. Well, its definitely still in my mind! My thought is that I would do WHATEVER I wanted and go a little psychotic on the details and the décor. Heck, I have months to do all the prep work. I would save so much money finding my own caterer and bringing in my own drinks. It would be half the cost roughly. So, I decided the one thing that could make me fall in love with this idea would be to plexi-glass the pool and make it the dance floor!  It would be the splurge of the event, but it would be INCREDIBLE! I would still be spending under $14,000 to do food and everything including the plexi-glass.

The con is definitely that it is not set up for a wedding, so it makes it far more difficult. I would want to find a place for the ceremony that wasn’t the house. I’ll have to research some places around the area. The other problem is that there are no epic photo spots. I want some great photos and the backyard just won’t provide that for me. This is definitely a huge consideration of mine!

Check this for ALL the pictures of my parents backyard!

So there you have it.

I would LOVE to hear thoughts and suggestions, ideas or even other venues you think I must see! I need some help ehre, and I am turning to the people that have been riding this wedding planning wave with me for the past 7 months! I know you guys know what I want, what a great wedding is, and what the best decision is-so go for it!

Thanks !

How to get your Groom Involved

Today we have guest blogger Jeff Kear, who runs myweddingworkbook.com. I was able to take a tour through the site and navigate it on my own for a bit to become familiar with the tools and how it works. Now, I talk about the need for simplicity in the wedding industry all the time, and this site delivered it. Obviously wedding planning is an intricate process, so these type of sites can only be so simple and still cater to all needs. But I loved the fact that I didn't have to sit and think about how to do something, it was all pretty straight forward and simple! I have to say, all of these are incredibly smart ideas. Here you go!

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I'll speak for all guys when I say that most of us would rather pound sand than go look at wedding cakes or shop for centerpieces. However, even though wedding planning isn't naturally in our DNA, we have made a commitment to the woman we love to be her life partner, and this really begins with helping out with the wedding.

Most guys believe it's safer to just stay out of his bride's way and let her take over (and in some cases this is probably better for everyone). But for most couples, the bride-to-be really doesn't want to do everything herself and would love to have help and input from her guy. This is when guys need to cowboy-up and do whatever you can to create an event that reflects you and your bride.

Just a warning to women ... I'd be lying if I said we are highly competent at all wedding planning tasks. For example, don't assign us with choosing the wedding colors unless you like the colors of the New York Giants (or whatever his favorite team is). And don't give us responsibility for the flowers unless you really, really like red roses (it's pretty much the only flower we know).

However, there are a few key tasks that I think would be right up our alley, and they are...

1. Interviewing the bands/DJs - We guys usually know our music, and the great thing is that we usually share the same musical taste with our bride. So assigning your groom to find and interview musicians or DJs for the reception is a great task for us.

2. Keeping track of the budget - Most guys also know their way around a <a href="http://www.myweddingworkbook.com/" target="_blank">wedding software</a> program or spreadsheet, so when you're making purchases, the two of you can consult and he can track what is spent and if you're on budget. That's great teamwork.

3. Picking the cocktails and drink menu - I'm not sure I need to say much about this, but if you're guy doesn't jump at the chance to pick out the types of beverages to be served at your reception and negotiate with the venue, then you may need to check his pulse.

4. Negotiating with vendors - Guys love to haggle, which is why we probably like car shopping so much. So when you're at the point with a vendor when you're negotiating price, bring in your groom to be the heavy. At this point, you've probably built some good rapport with the vendor and like them, so you can be the "good cop" and your groom can be the "bad cop" who is driving to get the best deal. That way, you get a better price and still get to be best friends with your vendor.

5. Interviewing/sampling prospective caterers - I can't think of a better day than one in which I'm visiting nice facilities where people are bending over backward to please me and serving me lots of samples of their best cuisine. Pitch it to your groom this way, give him a fork and get out of the way.

6. Running interference with family and friends - Brides get pressured from many directions (mothers, aunts, friends, etc.) when you're planning a wedding, but you don't want to step on feelings or want people to feel like they're not being heard. So sometimes you need someone to lay down the law, and that's a good role for us.

7. Serving as cheap labor - Need someone to stuff and seal invitations? We've can handle it. Want someone to glue ribbons on your centerpieces? We can do that, too. We've mowed lawns and painted fences for years, so whatever manual labor you want to throw our way, we can take care of it.

Hopefully this gives you a good start, but the best bet is to sit down with your groom when you start the planning process and divvy up responsibilities from the start. Happy planning...

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So what are all of us brides thinking about this??? Pretty darn smart huh? I think the groom honestly does want to help, but I agree, give them tasks that don't involve making decisions that you care more about than he ever will. Tap into his talents and have him handle the stuff he is good at!

What suggestions do you have for other brides, what is your groom helping out with?