Wedding Woes

[memoryanddream]

Since Love surprised me with an engagement ring this past Christmas I’ve been getting into the excitement of planning the wedding.

I’m really crafty and creative and I don’t want some overdone event nor the price tag that goes with it. I want to do a lot of the personal touches myself and am excited for the design of it.

Now, we don’t want a formal

Comments

[annaonthemoon]

A few things...

1 - Join weddingplans IF you haven't yet. LOADS of great advice, and I bet there would be other Tampa area brides.

2 - What about disney? I know the actual disney full-packages are pricey (My friend Anne is getting married at WDW and theirs is $2000), but what about trying just someplace on Disney property?

3 - Tim and I got married at a JoP (as you know) with just parents and witnesses, then had a self-catered party at a public park (in an indoor pavilion) with around 40 people. The location cost us $180 and the food was all DIY. Including dress, invites, fodo, etc. We spent less than $1500: http://community.livejournal.com/weddingplans/18127642.html

Anytime you need to bounce ideas off me or want to rant - just ask! We can Skype anytime!

[memoryanddream]

1. Just joined!

2. Obscenely expensive. Their "small" weddings are no more than 20 people - including the bride and groom. Love doesn't want a Disney wedding either.

3. Love did a park wedding this first time around and hated it because it was so hot. So...I'm trying to find an indoor location (the parks here all are open-air pavilions) and I'm trying to plan it for sometime in the relatively cooler months like January or maybe early March.

edit: I got my webcam now too so I need to join skype and we can video chat!

[annaonthemoon]

eep, yeah that's no good!

*thinking.....* and tell me to shut up if you want --

What about the aquarium we went to? Do they do weddings? It was a nice place and ooh, you could get married surrounded by the tanks in that tunnel! LOL

The local ballpark, hockey arena, etc. probably all have function rooms.

Local Universities? Sometimes you can even get low-cost catering through a school's hotel/restaurant management school or culinary school

In PA, a lot of people haev their wedding receptions in fire halls. I don't know if that's an option for you. Even in a church hall (not so much the church itself, but their halls are sometimes for rent to non-members for receptions).

if I think of other things, I'll let you know.

[memoryanddream]

Ugh, the Aquarium. Yeah I looked into that. It's really cool but man, they want some serious cash. http://www.flaquarium.org/userfiles/files/Wedding%20Packages.pdf... )

[annaonthemoon]

I don't know...you could get creative with a "wedding brunch" or something like that to have it that early. Does your local Kiwanis club have a lounge? I'm trying to think of other places...oh, Moose Lodge? (yeah), The secret society people...what are they called? OH, Masons! Rotary?

I can ask my cousin if she can think of anyplace to look, but she's in Orlando, so that migh tbe "too far"....

....and I better be invited! :P Provided I could swing airfare, you know I'd be there (and Tim too if we could afford it for 2)

[annaonthemoon]

Does your apartment complex have a clubhouse? That was going to be an option for us for our reception, and we used my mom's complex's clubhouse for my aunt's party...th ebonus was it was FREE since we lived there.

If you want to get married in PA, I have an aunt with a large basement....LOL

[memoryanddream]

We do have a clubhouse and we've considered it. It's only $125 fee to rent it but...it's not very big. And it's a weird L shape which would make it hard to decorate. Plus, it has couches in it which we'd need to have them move out of the way so there was enough open floor space for us to set up some alternate seating/small tables. (Because no couch is going to hold 40 people! LOL)

So we're keeping it on the list but....I was hoping to find a more open space option with more room if possible. It'd be a tight squeeze.

The other downfall would be I'm not sure where we'd do the actual ceremony. We'd need another location for that for sure. So, it is a possibility but not ideal. (Though budget may win out if I can't find something that's not $2k just for the space!)
Te