Getting married at a private residence
Ever since I can remember I have always wanted to get married at my Aunt Jean’s and Uncle Mitch’s house (this link is to the blog I started just before Bill and I were engaged). I think about 5 minutes afer I said yes to Bill’s proposal – I ran over to my Aunt and Uncle and said “Can we get married at your house”? They graciously said “yes”.
Now, I am thrilled to be getting married here I don’t want anyone to think differently. It is 1,000 times more work than I expected. When you get married at a hotel, restaurant, country club, there is usually an events coordinator. Someone who guides YOU the bride through everything. That is not the case with private residences. I AM THE EVENT COORDINATOR. I have had to manage and figure out everything from portable bathrooms (yup) to coffee mugs. Just the other night I woke up from a dead sleep and thought “salt and pepper shakers – who gets those”?
Should we have eloped? Nah. I can handle this. I am an organized control freak. I love xcel spreadsheets, numbered bullets, lists, catergories and checking things off those lists! Check out how we are sorting out the YES and NO responses:
Bill is convinced I am nuts and that’s ok. I am in better shape than I thought I would be. Here is a peek at my to do list for the past month and on going:
- Address invitations
- Buy wedding shoes at www.unforgettablemoments.com
- Call Crescent Moon for bathrooms
- Get Bill’s suit tailor
- Pick up Bill’s suit
- Finish programs
- Make puff balls for aisle
- Get vases from friend Robin
- Pay Mary Corcoran (the best photographer ever)
- Email caterer for final $$$
- Buy hot pink tissue paper and circles from Paper Source
- Get mason jars from Sharon
- Rig up mason jars
- Bill – shoes?
- Birdcage – spray paint pink
- Garbage cans
- Call valet parking service
- Take table number pictures
- Start making table place cards for guests
I could go on and on and on and on – you get the picture.
I guess what I am trying to get across is – you have to be super duper organized to do an at home wedding, unless your budget allows a wedding planner.
By the way, I am over the salt and pepper shakers. If our guests need salt they can ask my Grandma. She probably has some in her purse.
Are you having an at-home event?
good for you! if you’re organized anyway i actually think wedding planners get in the way : )
and if no one sees salt, they’ll just eat without salt
What does ‘Make puff balls for aisle’ mean?
I was also surprised at how hard it would be to organize a wedding at a home — and I wasn’t the bride, I was just the decorator! You never realize how much you like the set spaces of a hotel’s banquet room until you have all sorts of funky corners and spaces to work with at someone’s home.
Puff balls are from good ol Martha Stewart. They are the tissue paper balls that you can hang from the ceiling, tree, attach them to chairs – they give that extra pop of color! I am attaching my puffs to the chairs so they line the aisle.
I’m getting married in my grandparents’ backyard. I’m nowhere NEAR as organized as you are. But at 2 months out, I’m really wishing I was…
Kristy’s most recent blog post: Brasil! And Updates.
