Hey everyone,
Hope you’re having very happy Saturdays. I’m currently off on a cake tasting with my Dad and Andreas! More on that to come.
Thanks again for the warm welcome last weekend. I have to say though, I’m glad we got the introductions out of the way! I’m ready to get you guys caught up on all my planning.
The very first thing we had to figure out after we got engaged was where the wedding would be. We knew we wanted to get married in the fall, and after having been together for almost seven years, we certainly weren’t going to wait until fall of 2010. That left us with just about nine months to plan the wedding, which is a perfectly suitable amount of time… but we did need to get moving.
I always knew I wanted to get married in Boston. Even though most of our family is in the D.C. area, Boston is the place we live and have come to call home. As Andreas said, it’s where we grew up together. I also wanted to be able to plan my wedding first hand. Plus, I’ve always felt that Boston is just such a classy and charming city – perfect for a wedding.
Photo from author’s collection
So Boston it was! But where in Boston?
Well, here’s what I knew:
-We wanted some place unique. I didn’t want a function hall or what I call “wedding factory.” One of those places that turns over two or three weddings per weekend and has a tidy package deal all tied up for you. Not that I haven’t seen amazing weddings at those types of places but to us it felt somewhat impersonal and unromantic. The same went for hotels (though I know there are some lovely hotel venues floating around out there). I couldn’t really get comfortable with the idea of getting married in the same place board meetings and conferences take place.
-We needed to be able to have the ceremony and reception at the same place, since we weren’t getting married in a church.
-We wanted to get married in the city, preferably downtown. After visiting some lovely garden-type places outside of Boston, we realized that what we were really dreaming of was a classy, night-time city wedding. But, we didn’t have the biggest budget in the world. So that ruled out a lot of otherwise perfect wedding venues (like the Boston Public Library… sigh).
(Photo credit: Allegro Photography (our photographers!) with Critsey Rowe Photography)
We were also hoping for some place with a cultural tie, an historic place (shouldn’t be too hard to find in Boston, right?), and, if possible, some place where our money would be going to a non-profit organization.
Enter the historic Wang Theatre in Boston.
Andreas being silly in front of the Wang Theatre
It, quite literally, fits the bill perfectly, and is stunningly gorgeous to boot. We’ll be getting married in the lobby, then having cocktails in the Metropolitan Room downstairs (wood paneled walls, built in bar – very Boston), then coming back up to the lobby for dinner and dancing with our band. Eee! Just talking about it again gets me all excited.
Up next week: Locking in all our vendors. Once we had the venue in place, we had to move quickly to book our photographer, caterer, band, and officiant. Hear how I elbowed my way into some great deals – and almost lost my mind in the process!
For now, more pictures!
Here is the lobby set up for a ceremony. Photo credit: Wang Theatre.
And here it is set up for dinner and dancing. Photo credit: Wang Theatre.