Damask it is! (...I think...)

I've been trying to keep things simple. It's simply not working. With every planning step, there are so many mini-steps and things that need to be considered. I loved the idea of the love birds theme, and fun colors...but the more I try to stick to a not-so-common theme with hard to find bird stationary that i like and dresses that aren't quite the right shade of blue, grey, or purple, the more irritated I get. Then to try to find the right shade bridesmaid dress AND the style that I like...oh just forget about it.

SO...to keep it super simple (KISS)...I'm going with black and white damask pattern accented with baby blue. I've seen the theme a hundred times, and while I don't like the idea of doing what's been done time and time again, I like the thought of maintaining my sanity. There is damask EVERYWHERE and it always looks great! There are tons of free or inexpensive invitation and stationary items online. Black dresses for the bridal party make me feel a lot better than asking them to buy a sky blue getty-up that I'm sure nobody will ever wear again. And I've yet to see a damask event that I didn't like. Damask is also a great dramatic theme for a fall wedding. Grey, baby blue and purple is more springish I believe.

I am planning on using this free download for my invitations http://shop.mujka.ca/freebies/free-damask-wedding-invitation-set-black-version/prod_348.html. I mean FINALLY something is budget friendly in this operation! JEESH! I can use this for save the dates also. One stone. Two birds! YAY!

So...the best way to KISS is to ditch the complicated theme and go with what is easy, tried and true, and looks great.

Now I just need to figure out how to NOT spend $300 on pochette envelopes...

Bridesmaid Dresses: The endless search

So...the search for bridesmaid dresses has begun. I have seen many approaches to the bridesmaid dress over the years. The long, short, tight, loose, a-lined, two-piece, whimsy, formal, unique, off the rack, handmade...I've seen them all. The one thing I do NOT want to do is put my bridal party or myself through a bunch of rigamaroll.

The thought years ago was that having a seamstress sew all the dresses for the bridal party somehow comes out cheaper and nicer, because it's custom fitted for each girl. I've seen that turn out to be a nightmare. I don't know if pieces got mixed up or if measurements weren't taken accurately or what, but the end result was a frantic call to the seamstress in the 11th hour BEGGING her to high tail it to the church because NOBODY'S DRESS FIT!! We ended up having to safety pin here, and tuck there...and nobody probably noticed, but we knew and the bride knew and it was just enough to cause a little bit of additional stress on a day that stress already was a-plenty.

I have never been in a wedding where the price of the dress was outrageous, and I'd like to make sure the same is true for my wedding. I don't know how my cousin did it, but she managed to pick a nicely priced dress that I could definitely wear again, should I ever need a long black formal dress, and didnt' require me to get any alterations at all. I would like to do the same for my bridal party.

Here are a few dresses that I really like.

Seneca Creek Lodge: Runner up for venue

First Runner Up (...for now...)

The Lodge at Seneca Creek!!

Here are some pictures of our outing to The Lodge at Seneca Creek in Boyds, MD. Unfortunately when we got there, nobody was there to let us in. There were actually caterers waiting outside had arrived to cater an event being held that day. They were hoping I could let them in and I was hoping they could let me in. It wasn't a good impression...

...the view is just spectacular...

...we made the best of it anyways...

...it started to rain

aunt and cousin under the umbrella...

...mom trying to get in the front...

...me trying to get in the back...

Rockwood Manor...more pictures

Here are a few more pictures of Rockwood Manor.

These can be found on Rockwood Manor's website at http://www.montgomeryparks.org/event_centers/index.shtm

...kissing along one of the paths on the property (not us!)...

...setup for a ceremony on the brick pation...

...picture of the gazebo and front of the manor,

another possible ceremony location...

...side entrance of the manor...

Rockwood Manor

AND THE WINNER (so far..) IS!!!

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My mother, aunt, cousin, and I headed out for a girls’ day to look at two wedding venues in Montgomery County. One, I knew was a long shot, and I was only going just so I could say I looked at it. The other, I swore was THE PLACE.

So we get to Rockwood Manor, the long shot, and I FELL IN LOVE! Lots of beautiful trees, plenty of parking, beautiful grounds, and a fantastic building! After doing the tour and seeing all of the space and options that the venue had to offer, I knew I’d be hard pressed to find a place that I loved more. Unfortunately, the price tag was far beyond what I anticipated paying for a venue.

When we got to The Lodge at Seneca Creek, aka THE PLACE, I just couldn’t get excited. Pair that with the fact that whoever was supposed to be there to give us the tour was NOT there, I was immediately OVER IT. Not to say that The Lodge at Seneca Creek was not beautiful, because it was. The grounds were encompassed by hills and hills of trees. The lawn was very well manicured, and I could just imagine the set up for the ceremony. But it was no Rockwood Manor. Seneca Creek was a “day-of” type venue. Get in early (the day before if you are lucky), set up, have ceremony, cut cake, dance, take down decorations, leave! And don’t forget to say many many prayers that it doesn’t rain. Rockwood Manor was a retreat-style venue. Arrive on Friday, mingle with relatives, have rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, decorate, play games, wake up the next day, get ready, have ceremony and reception, linger and mingle, and take down decorations and pack up on Sunday. Ahhh…wasn’t that nice…?

At Rockwood Manor, the Plan B options made me happy. At Seneca Creek, though I couldn’t get in, a peek through the windows let me realize that Plan B was probably going to be to squish inside the reception area and make it work.

Seneca Creek looked like it wasn’t quite handicap-friendly. It’s set on a huge hill. The ceremony would be down the hill on the grass, and the reception would be inside, up a lot of stairs, and it didn’t look like there was any way to get from one place to the other for people that were elderly or unable to walk. Rockwood Manor had lots of pathways that could facilitate a wheel chair, and also had an elevator inside.

Ultimately, I am leaning towards Rockwood Manor. I’ve tentatively reserved my dates and am doing some last minute re-budgeting and planning to make sure that I can use Rockwood Manor and still slide in within budget.

The Battle of the Budget

So…it’s looking like our less-than-$10k wedding is turning into more of a no-more-than-$12k wedding, which…I guess is still on the not-too-expensive side. And though I was dead set on not letting things get out of control, I feel like this increase is pretty justified.

I had two goals when I first started planning my wedding: (1) to be cost conscious and (2) to be stress-free. After a little vendor hunting and working out a few scenarios in my mind, I realized that these two goals may not quite go hand-in-hand like I initially thought.

Here are some of the issues I encountered:

• Many of the less expensive venues had strict capacity restrictions, which would have meant cutting a lot of people from my guest list, which would have led to stress.


• Or, some of the budget-friendly venues that I loved were fantastic for outdoor weddings, but didn’t really provide you with a good Plan B option, which would have led to stress.


• Another twist for the cost conscious venues was that these places offered their site at some great rental rate, BUT…you have to use their caterer, which had some outrageous per person rate that it would have eaten my entire budget.


• And finally, a lot of places would offer a low rate for renting the facility, but everything from chairs to linens to tents had to be handled by me, which meant the stress of coordinating set-up and take-down of these rental items AND an increase to the budget. One place even told me I would have had to hire a police officer to be on the premises if I served any alcohol.

From a time perspective, you can only have these facilities typically for a seven hour period, which included your decorating (unless they were flexible and didn’t include it in your time), your rehearsal (again…unless they were flexible), your ceremony, reception, and packing up. I can just imagine watching the clock and sweating bullets trying to make sure I stuck to the strict timeline so that I would avoid any fees, penalties, or forfeiture of my security deposit.

So, I had to weigh a lot of pros and cons when I discovered a place that I absolutely LOVED, that offered tons of flexibility, that even offered an overnight accommodations package, where I could have the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, ceremony, and reception, and not have to watch the clock, for a price that was beyond what I budgeted for. It became a matter of budget versus stress, and it looks like stress won out. Especially since I think that in the end, the budget really won’t be blown all that much. A lot of things that I would have had to piece meal together at any other venue already come included with this one.

So I’m really excited, and it looks like my quirky, cheap, yet chic wedding may have taken a little twist.