The Location

Saturday I met Giggles and Marine Mom and went to meet with the wedding coordinator. This was my first face to face meeting with her so I was slightly nervous. I have talked with her a dozen times on the phone and via email but I still felt as if I needed to make a good 'first impression'.

It went great! We talked flowers (she is also doing my flowers), decorations, etc.

This is what I'm looking at for bridesmaids:

Simple and cute. 

Cause remember this is what I'm having to match:

Minus the hats. I don't think Marine wants to wear the hat. 

What do you think? Think the black dresses will look ok?

I think so. Originally I picked black instead of red because we hoped Marine's brother who is in the Army would be able to attend and his dress uniform is green. He's currently in Afghanistan and the chances of him getting leave is pretty slim. But at the time we weren't sure. And you never know. 

After getting an idea on the details we headed out to look at the place she had found. 

I loved it. 

I forgot my Canon so these pictures were taken with my small Nikon and really do not do the place justice in the least! (also may camera may or may not have still been on the snow setting causing the photos to be slightly washed out...... tried to fix that though).

This is what you pull up to:

It is a 19th century cabin that was moved here from Pennsylvania. The back portion is from another 19th century cabin from Tennessee. The placed soothed rustic charm. 

To say the place was elegant may not be the right word. But jaw dropping would be an accurate term. The owner would rent out the entire cabin as well as the grounds for the wedding. On the main floor of the cabin is a spacious living room, a kitchen, a bathroom and the groom's suite (with adjoining bathroom).

Grooms Suite (much larger than pic portrays)

Stairs leading up to bridal suite

Large Master Bedroom that serves as Bridal Suite - this is half the room

Other side of Master 

Outdoor Fireplace

Now for the back area......

Of course it looks bleak now but by May everything will be in bloom and beautiful! I saw pictures of a previous wedding held here and all the natural beauty was overwhelming.

And best yet...... the owner is totally cool with me using Miss B. 

Miss B

The downside was it was a little out of our price range......  Of course it was! I mean isn't that kinda how my luck goes?

Saturday night Marine and I sat down (over the phone I guess I should add) and wrote down our entire wedding and the cost for each thing. 

If we booked this place we would be maxing out our budget and would have no wiggle room for extra expenses that might come up at the last minute. 

We tried tightening the belt a little; we cut back a little on the menu, we downsized the favors, cut the DJ back an hour, etc.

This total looked better, but still seemed a little to close. We felt like we were going to have to make to many sacrifices in other areas to have this location.

I wasn't ready to give up yet though. 

Our most expensive cost so far was the photographer. This fact had led to some debate between me and Marine (and even me and my mom).

Examples of things I've heard:

Marine, "we are paying more for a photographer than we are for food for a 100 people....."

Mom, "That seems awful high. Don't you just have a friend that could do it?" (My mom is totally clueless!! And at this comment I seriously had to bite my tongue).

This list is endless really. All subtle hints. 

I've held strong and by my belief the photographer is going to be worth it...... even though I've had my doubts after seeing pictures from the last wedding she did.

"Even if we have the wedding at the barn, we really to need to make some cutbacks. This is starting to get out of hand." Marine says.

I agree but I really love this location.

So I used the only bargaining chip I had. "What if we cut the photographer. We will loose our deposit and I totally understand that. But it will give her enough time still to maybe book something else. And it will save us a LOT."

Cancel the photographer! Are you Crazy?!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Let me explain. Marine's best friends wife has worked as an assistant photographer for about the two years. The photographer she worked for is wonderful but was way out of our budget! Friends wife stopped working for the photographer a little over 8 months ago due to different reasons. 

Marine calls to see if she would photograph our wedding. 

She enthusiastically agreed! She said if we buy a memory card for her camera, she will take the pictures and at the end of the night give us the memory card. I'll edit them myself, which is really the most expensive part. We will pay her of course and I think we now owe them some free baby sitting time, but it will still save us a lot of money. 

Even with that though the place is a little high. I call the wedding planner and try to bargain. 

While we were at the place the owner mentioned wanting to start marketing his place as an event venue. Him and I talked briefly about a website.

So I offered the amount we would be able to pay and then said I would design him a website for the place to make up the difference.

The wedding planner said she would speak to him and get back to me. 

Of course the waiting was hard. 

Would he say yes? Would he say no?

If he said no I needed to get to work at the barn. 

Maybe we should just elope and avoid all this!

Then I get a text message......... "He said yes! Call him to work out the details. His number is....."

So we have a location! 

***HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF***

Monica: I read an article the other day that said you're not supposed to throw rice at weddings, because when pigeons eat it, it kills them.

Richard: So that's why you never see pigeons in sushi bars.

~ Friends ~