Happy Halloween!

Here are the Mister and I last year as Fred and Velma from Scooby Doo. I'll have pictures from tonight's debauchery to share tomorrow.

Also, I had my first two venue visits this week, so I'll share reviews over the weekend.

Art Deco

Pink Pretty

It's been a pretty stressful weekend - I'm stuck working nights and trying to prep for midterms, and I just needed something pretty. Hopefully it perks your day up, too.

The Venue Search

I had a definant favorite long before the venue search began, but being the practical-minded engineer that he, the Mister wanted to make sure that we looked into all feasible options. We started with a list of rentable spaces on the Bloomington Vistor's website, and narrowed it down to about 15 based on our list of venue criteria:

• able to hold at least 125 people comfortably
• space for both ceremony and location
• non-generic menu options
• ample parking (parking in Bloomington near the IU campus is a nightmare. We wanted to make sure that there was parking close to the venue, and if the only close lots were pay lots, that we could buy vouchers and pay for the parking for our guests)
• pretty! Small midwestern towns have a lot of "wedding venues" that are more like pole barns

What criteria did you use to come up with vendors to visit? Anyone know of good Bloomington locations?

Reading Inspiration

"Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog" by Taylor Mali

First of all, it's a big responsibility,
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you're walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain't no one going to mess with you.

On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn't like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.

Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.

Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.

But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

Springtime Preppy

The Big Wedding Decision Part 4: Our Choice(s)!

I told you we picked three of themes to keep in mind, with plans to make the final choice after we secured our venue. The winners are: Alice in Wonderland (my favorite), Chocolate (the mister’s favorite), and Dinner at JFK’s White House (shared 2nd favorite). I am really falling in love with idea of a Wonderland Wedding in red, hot pink, blush, and black, with “Eat me” signs on the candy buffet, a white rabbit on the response cards . . .I could go an on about this (and will! I have a second set of boards for each of these themes coming soon). With these ideas in mind, we set out to find a venue that was both budget-friendly, practical for our guests, and able to be transformed into something themed and magical.