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.

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?

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.

Before we go any further . . .

Before we go any further, I feel the need to share something with you, dear readers.

When the mister and I began searching for a wedding venue, I came in with a lot of knowledge, and not simply because I am one of those women who have been planning my wedding “my whole life.” The truth is that this is not the first wedding I have planned, not the first ring on my left hand.

I met B when I was a senior in high school. He was in his early twenties, a computer programmer and musician. We met playing for a community summer band, and soon I was head-over-heels in love. We got engaged a little over two years later, before my sophomore year of college.

But a few hours distance and a few years of maturity greatly changed things, and by the time I was a senior in college it was over, and there was someone else in his arms. I learned more about communication and acceptance through that process that I could have imagined, but I also emerged scared to trust, skeptical of romance, and cynical of the whole engagement-wedding “thing.”

When I met the mister a year and a half later, it took a lot of thinking and a huge leap of faith to let myself get into a relationship where I could risk getting hurt again. I couldn’t be happier - and I partially have B to thank, for teaching me not to settle, and for setting me free to find the mister. As Miss Cheese says, the mister is the “first love of the rest of my life.”

The Big Wedding Question Part 3

Now that you've seen the boards for the themes we were thinking about (ok, so a couple got omitted - namley, Grease and Across the Universe. I felt like if I couldn't easily make a board for a theme, there was no way I could make a wedding around it.) A few things stood out to the mister and I as we went over them: first, that some themes only seemed to influence color and food, like strawberries, cherries, and chocolate. Second, some ideas are really hard to convey, like Jackson Pollack or Warhol. We then had the hard choice of narrowing it down.

The criteria we used:

• Can influence many different aspects, like invites, favors, and linens
• Unexpected, but not over the top
• Fun!

Since we don't have our venue secured yet (the venue saga is coming up next), we decided to choose our top three, and look at venues with those in mind.

Before I tell you what we decided, let me know what your favorites are! Are you using any of these themes for your wedding?

The Big Wedding Question Part Two

The next step for the mister and I was to make a list of theme possibilities. We each took a piece of paper and wrote down anything that came to mind. Then I divided them up by categories. (Have I mentioned I'm a little obsessive about list-making?).

• Food themes: Strawberries, Cherries, Chocolate
• Movies: Alice in Wonderland, Across the Universe, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Walk the Line, Grease
• Art: Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollack
• Other: Kitsch Hawaii, 1960s picnic in the Hamptons, dinner party at JFK's White House, 1950s clambake, Studio 54

As you can see, the mister and I are a pretty eclectic pair. Some themes are pretty easy to image (kitsch Hawaii) and other are much more abstract (Jackson Pollack, no pun intended). From this list, I did what seemed to make the most sense for me: make inspirations boards.

Up next: Strawberries and Cherries.

The Big Wedding Question Part I

You know how when you read wedding books, they tell you to consider a few key items first? Usually, these include budget, season, location, and guest list. All valid concerns, I agree. But that was not the first big question for the mister and I.

If you can't tell by earlier entires, I am a sucker for a theme wedding. Not nessecarily a costume-wearing, exact-detail replica of an event (not like a Star Trek wedding in Vegas - good for you if that's what you want, though!), but I love a cohesive wedding, like Mrs. Shortcake with her 1950s details, Mrs. Lovebug and her "Sweetest Type of Love," and my most-beloved Mrs. Petunia and her Monopoly theme (If you don't read Weddingbee, go there. Now. You can catch up and come back to me later.)

We both knew we wanted something like that. But what? That became our first big concern.


Are you having a theme wedding? What themes have you seen, and how did you decide?

Who is the backyard bride? Part 1

I guess I haven't properly introduced myself yet. I'm a twenty-something alumni of Indiana Univeristy, and I work as a project manager for a major automotive company. I have four great loves: the Mister, our two dogs, design, and fancy shoes. Vintage cars, 1980s pop music, and thrift store shopping round out my list of favorite things.

The Mister is a thirty-something mechanical engineer, a Purdue University alum, and is addicted to his Playstation 3. He adores Colts football, obessess over having our lawn perfect, and would eat cupcakes for every meal if we could.

Next up: how we met