Putting the cart before the forks.

So, on Saturday, we hope to have our venue. I’m not superstitious, but I’m not going to be comfortable announcing our date and our location until the ink is dry on the paper. But, let’s just say that we’re very excited.

Nearly having our venue and date makes me think of new and interesting dilemmas such as the dress! Food! Photography! Forks!

Yes, that’s right, forks.  Depending on the place you rent, in addition to food and drink, you may also have to bring linens, glasses, plates and, of course, forks. To my non-surprise (because after $175/person meal, nothing surprises me anymore) I read that to rent forks, it could be like $100. For just FORKS.

Then, I read the budget saavy bride that had these pretty eco-friendly beauties.

How pretty!

Eco-friendly, and also not that expensive. This is not only a great idea for summer picnics, but also parties at our house (which we have quite a few.) And the napkins and twine are just darling.

My only thought is that our wedding, while smallish, will be still at night. It will most likely be buffet style, but would it be strange to have these eco-friendly forks for dinner?

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Wedding email

I get a lot of really bad wedding-related email.

And, by bad, I mean a variety of sappy advertisements for invitations, for DJs, for giant stretch hummer limos. The worst part, in my opinion, is when I get schmoopy things from vendors (who clearly are also doing their own graphic/web design.)

Here’s part of an email I got from a wedding videographer:

Ick. Ooh yes? *wipes away the wedding sap.*

Ok, so much to say about this one. But I think the weirdest part is calling your future husband a “boy.” Unless you’re like 18, this is a little weird.

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Oh, Canada!

It is gorgeous here.

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Off to Canada!

Hey! J is up in Canada for a conference this week, and tomorrow I’ll be heading up there too. No, it’s not the for the Olympics (although I love the Olympics and I love their adorable mascots).

And no, it won’t be a cozy romantic weekend since he’s at a conference and I’ll technically be crashing in his and Mika’s room.

But, there will be skiing (J’s second time, ever.) And relaxing. And not-work projects. Hooray!

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On a silver platter…

So, if you recall, I went to Indie Wed a few weekends ago and met a fantastic caterer. Shredded pork on a grilled corn bread? Olive oil and lemon cake? The food was amazing. Local! Eco-friendly. Vegetarian options! Delicious! Being a big lover of good food, I was super excited.

Yes, The Caterer was based in downtown, and yes, The Caterer has lots of excellent reviews. But, when he arranged a time to follow up, I figured it was at least worth figuring out how much food like that would cost.

“You don’t know, already?” J asked me.

“Well, I asked him at Indie Wed if he had packages…” I start to say, but I realize that I never got the price range.  I am so awkward.

“Hmm.” J knows that Local, Eco-Friendly, and Delicious also means Very Expensive. And he does not believe for one minute that we can afford The Caterer.  And while I have very strong suspicions that he’s right, of course, I want to entertain that there is a very small possibility that he might be in our price range.

Caterers that partner with our site-to-be run from $50-80 per person, everything included. So, at least we’ve got a baseline to work with.

So when The Caterer finally calls me, I know the goal: find out how much per person. Appetizers, buffet dinner, nothing too fancy. Any estimations on what that might run us? (I grit my teeth. $75? $100?)

“Well,” The Caterer says. “Usually something like that would run $125 to $175 per person.”

“And that includes alcohol, right?”

“…well, no,” he says.

I nearly drop the phone in shock. The most expensive meal I’ve ever had was in Sienna, Italy at a two-star Michelin restaurant. Amazing. At the end, it was close to $175 per person including an 80 euro bottle of wine. (It was a giant splurge). Unless The Caterer is also a two-star Michelin chef, (and I win the lottery) there is no way that we would be serving up $175-per-person appetizers.

I wrap things up quickly, and he says he’ll keep my information on file when i finally seal a location and date. Hanging up, I totally crack up trying to think about how I’d ever justify 12k to 17k on just food.

Good thing I don’t need to worry about it.

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i think we found our place!

For an early v-day, J and I went to visit potential reception places. It was a fun filled tour of southern chicagoland including driving by the Joliet Prison. (their motto: Get locked up!). Apparently this is where they put the mobsters in Chicago back in the 20s.

We got quite lost trying to find the Four Rivers Educational Center, as googlemaps was mistaken on the names of the roads down there, but we finally found it and peeked through all the windows. Satisfied and excited with our visit, we then, we drove up to Lockport for an early Valentines Day dinner at a restaurant on our list. The Public Landing Restaurant is on a historical site in Lockport, next to a cute little brook and in an old building that they share with a small history museum. The limestone walls were very pretty, and the food was quite good. I’m always happy to find a restaurant that does not rely on salt as the primary spice. Even though our dinner was at 4pm and the restaurant was empty, they kept getting calls for last minute dinner reservations and it sounded like they were totally booked.

We toured the upstairs rooms where receptions are held, and it was nice as well. We got some wedding brochures and we were off with much to think about.

And so we talked about what had now become the top three: the KLM lodge, the Four Rivers place and the Public Landing. And as we weighed the pros and cons of each place, we pretty much knew which way we were going to go.

So, this week, it’s about choosing the date and making sure we can have the place at that time. Which one do you think we’re leaning towards?

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bridal mail

I’ve gotten a pretty steady stream wedding related emails as well as old-fashioned mail. Postcards for photographers, limos, flowers, DJs. You name it, I’ve gotten it.

Oh, did you say laser surgery and botox for the bridal party? Why yes, I’ve gotten that too.

It’s so wrong. There’s a special bride package, as well as mothers of the couple. Last summer, I had read a NY times article about how (pre-recession) wedding trends included taking your bridal party for botox shots. Because nothing says prewedding bonding time like needles.

No worries. I’m staying as far away from any sort of needles as possible. I don’t even have pierced ears!

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Surprise wedding reception

As I’m planning our wedding, I sometimes think about the couples that just skip the reception altogether. But, what if your wedding reception was thrown for you as a surprise? By complete strangers?

For this New York couple, they thought that they were just going to get married at city hall with just their families. That was, until an improv troupe threw them a wedding reception.

I thought it was hilarious. And sweet. The couple really was totally up for it.The photos and story of the surprise wedding reception were just great.

They also do non-wedding related things such as no pants subway rides and hilarious MP3 experiments. I love the power of groups!

Hat tip to Keri for sending it along.

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Wedding Dress

Soon, finding the wedding dress will become the next big goal.

I came upon this beautiful sketch on the internet. Check out the girl with the brown hair.

One shoulder. Beautiful figure. Love the detail. Who is that designer and where can I find one?

Get this. It’s designed by Christian Siriano, the winner of project runway season 4. And it’s not a real dress. He was asked to come up with concept dresses for Uma Thurman and Rachel Bilson.

I’ve always been a fan of Christian Siriano since PR. I doubt I’d ever be as lucky as this girl to have a REAL SIRIANO cascading dress. (Love!)

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Are you my venue?

We’ve narrowed our venues down to two main options. How exciting!

First up is one you saw last week, the Katherine Legge Memorial Lodge.

The second one is the Four Rivers Environmental Educational Center.

We drove by the others. The Eaglewood Spa turned out to be a little too gritty and reminded J of a high school (with a golf course.) The Elmhurst Art Museum turned out to be a neat little space with interesting art. But, it seemed like the venue was just a little too small (we weren’t even sure where a dance floor would go) and had strict restrictions on photography. The Danada house, while also pretty, wanted three times the rental fee for the space than the other places, and also had weird space issues. Bummer dudes.

So, we’re down to two.

We’re also down to a four week window in the fall (mid october to mid november). So, hopefully we’ll get to see these places and make a decision soon!

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