I’m curious and I thought maybe the answer would lie out here on the internets with my dear friends. Have any of you ever used a decal on the walls or dance floor of your reception space. I’ve been eyeing up the decals at Ten23 Designs for a while now:

They’re supposed to be easy to pull off, but I wonder how they perform in real life. Do they stay stuck for the whole evening and not get pulled up as people walk on them? I’m not sure if our venue allows them yet but I plan on asking. Can anyone weigh in on if they are worth it?

Thanks to everyone who commented on my little rant last week. It felt really good to just get that out of my system. I knew when I started planning that this kind of stuff would happen, but I didn’t quite realize how much it would get under my skin. I’m doing my best to move past it, and will keep repeating my new mantra: “Not your wedding, too bad. Not your wedding, too bad….” 

So, with that being said, I’m thrilled to announce we’ve booked A Touch Of Class Catering at The Golden Palace our October 2010 reception. YAY!!

The banquet coordinator there has been so patient with us. After I reviewed The Golden Palace, we had to reschedule our trip back with both sets of parents due to NEPA Groom’s encounter with some broken glass. Ouch:

He’s doing much better now, thank goodness!

In any event, I’m so relieved to have this booked, since it also takes care of finding a florist and a baker. We were nervous about taking our parents down there together, and there was a bit of tension, but I think it worked out in the end. They’ve gotta get used to each other at some point, right? The banquet coordinator has clearly been through this before… once we committed she pulled me to one side of the desk and made a point of saying “Ok, now you’ll sign the contract right here, etc etc”. I am in control.

Next up, I’m tackling a more in depth budget spreadsheet. I made a quick version to estimate our total cost, but I think this will help eliminate the tension I mentioned. If all the parents are working from the same playbook, we’ve gotta score a touchdown (woo hoo lame football analogies).

Our next stop was at Alden Manor in Nanticoke. This is definitely a more budget option for NEPA brides who are watching costs. The staff there is very helpful and was open to any of our suggestions or questions. They were also really confident about the quality of their food, which is a good thing. They suggested we come out some night for dinner and just see how we liked the food. I have no doubt we would enjoy it.

The only real negative I have about the site is that it is a little dated. It’s a common thing to see in Northeast PA. This is what I’d probably call ‘vintage NEPA’. I snapped a few pics while we were there:

The bar area, which was pretty nice.

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FH and I started visiting potential NEPA wedding venues last week, so I’ve got a lot to dish about. Our first trip was to the Apple Tree Terrace, at the Newberry Estates in Dallas. Apple Tree doesn’t have it’s own website, but they are run by the same company as the Highlands at the Newberry Estate.

I’d say they are at the higher end of our price range, but not completely out of reach. As I expected, the room and the surrounding areas are very lovely:

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So I have a general time frame I want to be married in (October 2010) and I probably have a church (deep breaths, it’s only been a day since they came back from vacation). The next logical step is to book a reception venue. And that’s where I totally flip shit.

When I first started thinking about my Northeast PA wedding, I didn’t see a lot of reception venue options out there. There were the standard hotels everyone goes to, and a handful of country clubs. Most of them weren’t for me, though if I can get a good deal at one or two country clubs I would be happy to entertain the idea… But the point is, I was wrong! There are more wedding venues in NEPA than you can swing a dead cat at (I am nothing if not classy).

We’ve narrowed down our list of places to visit based on a few major factors:

• Price. The boy and I are on a budget. Our parents will help us as much as they can, but we’ve gotta be economical. We’re looking at more affordable options, as well as those that throw in things like the wedding cake and some basic centerpieces.
• Location – again, since we’re looking to keep our spending under control, I’m not expecting to be hiring a limo or any sort of driver the day of. This means that our families will be driving themselves around the day of. I don’t want to make them drive to Berwick or anything crazy like that.
• Party minimums – since our wedding is going to probably be around 100 people (please God, no more than that), we need to make sure our location can 1. fit that many, and 2. doesn’t require a minimum higher than that.

We have 2 visits scheduled for next week. I’ll report on them after we’re done, so wish me luck! If anyone has advice on good questions we should be asking while we’re there, I would be much appreciative. I can pay you in cookies and smooches.

Don’t be alarmed! Despite what some people might think, my wedding will not feature these:

At work today, I was telling one of my friends about some of our plans and how we are visiting the church next week. One of the guys in our department overheard us and he came over. He’s offered his “wedding planning and DJ” services once before and I politely declined, haha. He made the offer again and asked me what kind of ideas I had. This conversation ensued:

Me: “Well, I was looking at a lot of butterflies.” *points to picture of Martha Stewart cake*

Co-worker: “I’ll do you one better. Forget butterflies. Picture this – HORNETS.”

Me: *slowly backing away* Suuuure………

Yeah… it’s funny and has made for a good joke, but what scares me is if I told him yes, he would totally go through with it. Then my ceremony would end up looking like this:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqUZvKwsZTs]

Did you ever get some really funny suggestions for your wedding theme? How did you handle them?

I first reached out to our potential ceremony venue about 2 weeks ago, then called 1 week ago. As of today I’m still waiting for a response. Now, I know my wedding is not the number one priority for everyone else on the planet (though honestly, why not? ). But after 2 weeks I was really starting to worry – did they not want to marry us? Did something bad happen to the priest I reached out to? He was very kind to me when I was still in school, so that thought worried me the most.

Well… I called another number at the chapel today and there was a message on the main line that explained everything. Due to classes being out for the summer, the college chapel was closed from June 1 – July 6, then operating on a limited schedule until classes began in late August. PHEW! I’m so relieved to find out why I didn’t get a call back, though it is a little frustrating that they didn’t change their individual voicemail messages as well. Since it’s July 3, I think I can hang on for these last couple of days.

Did anyone else ever get married at a college or university and run across this? Or did your ceremony venue ever go on ’summer vacation’?

I really love looking at purple decorations for the reception. It’s kind of hard to find the right shade of purple -  you know, NOT lavender. But I ran across quite a few today so I want record these ideas for when the time is right. Also, I’m not sure how people feel about renting vs. buying some of the bigger decorations. It seems like you can get chair covers and table runners for fairly cheap. I’m surprised, but it might be worth it to do this and then try to sell them (sites like WeddingBee.com have a classifieds section just for this kind of thing).

Can’t you just imagine chairs wrapped in this with a matching table runner:

Then have a cute little favor boxes filled with, um, something tasty, lol, at each setting. I wasn’t sure I was really into the polka dots until I saw those boxes. I like the idea of using them sparingly with the purple and black theme. The rest of the table would be pretty simple, maybe some tulips in a small square vase with some tea lights around it.

And then (get ready, I’m almost foaming at the mouth over these), I’d scatter these around the table:

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I was talking with my Maid of Honor (MOH) the other day, and she told me a story that really got me hot under the collar. I ended up maaaaybe making a small scene in the shoe section at Target.

She is attending a wedding this summer with her boyfriend. His uncle is getting married and he is in the wedding party. Apparently, the bride and groom are making everyone in the wedding party, and their dates, pay for their own dinner at the reception. It’s $100 per plate!

I guess what really gets me, is this isn’t a couple of kids fresh out of college trying to get by. The groom is lawyer and I’m pretty sure the bride also has a good job. They’re both in their 50’s, and the groom has been married once before. I don’t think it’s an issue of not being able to afford to feed the wedding party.

I was digging around to see what I could find on the subject, but Google is not being my friend today. I’ve mentioned it to a few engaged friends and they thought it was outrageous. Even FH gave me the suspicious eyebrow when I told him the story. Emily Post did sum it up pretty nicely in a section on dating, however:

“Whoever does the inviting does the paying.”

Am I wrong?