Monday, May 9, 2011

Finally....

I just logged in and realized I gave myself almost a month off from my wedding blog. Which also means a month of no wedding planning. Surprise, surprise: exams, graduation, and work took over my life. So here I am, at work, bored to death watching summer architecture students stroll by...leaving me thinking, don't I have a purpose? Don't I have something amazing to prepare for? Why yes, I do. A wedding. How glorious!

So what now?

So far we scheduled our ceremony at St. Augustine Catholic Church. 



Being that I am not Catholic and not particularly religious, the whole process should be interesting. We have our first meeting with a religious counselor in June and plan on talking about the usual topics of marriage-finance, sex, children, communication, etc. Even though my fiancĂ©e doesn't consider this fun, I think these classes might be a good use of our time and prove beneficial in the long run. To be honest, I'm looking forward to be a part of something bigger--the religious community. 

With that said, we are both still considering an outside wedding on his parents' beautiful and remote Shiloh estate, Cracklin' Moose Vineyard. The land is a blank slate for planting flowers and decorating, not to mention it is currently the site for our reception. From what I understand, having a one stop ceremony-reception site has proved time to time a desirable option.

Again...with that said: At first glance, yes, an estate reception appeared to be the most budget friendly. After thorough research of tent rentals in our area, we quickly found the tent alone would eat up about $2,000-$3,000 of our budget. Since my dress, veil and shoes came out to cost well, way too much, were talking big bucks shelled out already. We would like to consider Plan A with no tent and instead plan it under the trees, stars, twinkie lights, etc, BUT since it is Florida and March for our wedding, the weather will be predictably unpredictable.  No matter what, we will have the reception at their estate; even if plan B, C, D, or E must be applied.

All those negative thoughts aside, one inspiration comes from a website I came across on the blog The Sweetest Occasion. These photos are a couple of my favorites.

My main inspiration comes from a vendor website, Karen Tran Florals, who I would love to employ if I could afford her. The gallery is tabbed under Wedding Theme as Vintage Glamour (the theme I came up with before I saw this site), and she does a spectacular setup. Honestly when I saw this site, it was everything I had imagined already, but put into full effect---and it is dreamy.

Until next time, enjoy!