day-of coordination!

i think i have a day-of coordinator lined up.  she is AWESOME, but a bit new to the industry, and thus appropriately cheap - $600.  that $600 includes unlimited calls/questions leading up to the wedding, as well as everything day-of i'll need - and the rehearsal the night before.

i haven't totally decided/signed anything, but we connected really well and (i think?) $600 is a great price.

another venue lead

box eight.

looks awesome, right?  it's a bit pricey though - according to their wedding packet, $3500 for a saturday plus some extras including $300 for security (for 100 people), and unlisted 'extra' for parking lot rental.

it's outside my budget, but i think it's likely negotiable.  at least worth a visit?

barn weddings

i just. don't. get. the barn wedding thing.  i don't mean to single out this lovely couple, but it was their photos that finally made me write this post.

PROS OF BARN WEDDINGS:
- inexpensive
- nature
- cute rustic details

CONS OF BARN WEDDINGS:
- dirty
- smelly
- bugs
- you're getting married in a god damn barn

honestly.

more venue madness!

yesterday we checked out the armory center for the arts.  it had some really neat features, like a big engraved 'CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD' above the door, high ceilings, and a weird little 'bunker'-style thing in the floor under glass near the entryway, complete with a robot drinking a bunch of beer, and cool old typewriters and other mechanical things.  i didn't get a good photo of that (too much glare) but here are some of the outside as well as the studio space that we would rent:

it's located in the middle of pasadena, just a couple blocks from colorado blvd, which is lovely.  across the street there's a park that MIGHT work as a ceremony place, but i wasn't able to walk around it and see.  it's also quite close to pasdadena city hall, which is GORGEOUS.  so gorgeous, i wouldn't mind a ceremony in their parking lot...a quick, standing-only, unauthorized wedding.  then we would escape...to the armory.  how cool does that sound.

the price is right - rental of the studio is only $200/hr.  plus some extra stuff, as always, but still - not pricey.

i'm also still totally in love with the idea of armory-themed things - save the dates, invitations, menus, etc.  that would be soooo cool.

now, on to some problems with it.  first, there's no reserved parking.  there's a public structure nearly adjacent to it, but it was full when we visited on saturday afternoon, so i'm not sure if it would be helpful.

second, the galleries themselves would be closed unless we pay to keep them open, at various rates.  i wouldn't necessarily need them open i suppose - actually this brings me to my next downside:

the art that was featured was TRULY terrible.  case in point: a 3d exhibit, of a bunch of ducks in military uniforms, with breasts for eyes, which shoot colored paint at each other through little metal penises.  the coup de grâce?  one duck, shooting paint INSIDE another duck, from behind.  yeesh. 'the absurdity of combat' indeed.

but, if i want a gallery wedding, awful art is kind of a given - galleries with really nice art are probably outside my budget, tbh.  plus i need to reserve so far in advance, i won't know what art will be on display.

finally, the studio looks...unfinished.  that's something i can talk to the events lady about, though, to see how well we could make it reception-appropriate.

WHEW that was a lot.  i really like the armory theme, but i like the eagle rock a bit more i think.  of course, these are the only 2 places i've actually seen, sooo...i have some research to do.

art galleries as reception venues?

we're checking out the armory this weekend.  how cool would a weapons-themed wedding be?  i also emailed a bunch of galleries on gallery row downtown, but i think most will be too small.

i find it strange how long it takes people to reply to emails.  even in the general workforce (before coming back to school), i would always reply within 24 hours to EVERYTHING - even if it's just to say 'this will take me a few days.'  obviously weekends aren't included in that 24 hours.  ha.

i've noticed lots of venues - who really want my business! - are hard to get hold of.  is it so hard to get a form email with details and rates attached?

selecting a wedding party

i had a bitch of a time picking my wedding party.  i had this feeling that i needed to pick the BEST POSSIBLE PEOPLE for the job, people i had known a long time (which is very few), people i thought were just exactly the 'right' people from my life (whatever that means).  i've since realized that that was silly and misguided.  i totally changed my attitude about it and just expanded to include a lot of the people closest to me - 6 on my side, 5 on the fiance's.  almost all of these people are my closest friends, including his side.

one person may be removed from my side eventually.  it's an uncomfortable situation.  we had sort of been drifting apart when i got engaged, but i still considered her one of my closest friends.  in the 6 intervening months, i've made serious efforts to see her and talk to her, but i haven't seen much in return, and although it's great when we see each other, i'm not sure i can rely on her to be a bm.  then again, i love her, even if we're no longer as close as i'd like, and the last thing i want to do is make her feel like shit by taking her out of the wedding party.  it's also a very...political decision.  and i hate personal politics.

the fiance recently decided to remove a groomsman because he expressed some bigoted thoughts on facebook.  i think it was the right choice.  my bm doesn't share any offensive opinions like the groomsman did.  really, she's great.  she just hasn't been a good friend to me for about the past year (we've been friends for about 3).  is that enough?  since we've never really fought or spent time apart like this before, it feels like a permanent separation.  telling her she's out would definitely be a 'permanent' move though, and a harsh one.

i've been thinking about it a lot lately.  i would love your thoughts!

'wedsites'

i think it's weird that people say 'wedsites.'  is 'wedding sites' really too long?

they seem like a pretty practical idea.  i've been meaning to set one up for a while, but since i don't have a venue, i don't really have a set 'style' yet.  and i think the wedding site should reflect the style of the wedding.

i found some neat templates on mywedding.com, which i found through offbeat bride.  most have links to vistaprint and minted to make your own matching invitations, save the dates, etc.  some of them are pretty cute.  i'm not sure if they'll be high quality, though.  etsy has some pretty cute invitations as well, but they tend to be more expensive.  and they aren't designed to exactly match the wedding site templates i was looking at, either.

how important are cool invitations?  and save the dates?  i was thinking of doing a cute photo postcard for the save the dates.  the fiancee and me doing something important to us, like drinking wine or high-fiving.  or posing with a sign that says 'save the date!' in front of our (yet undecided) venue.  wouldn't that be cute?  and informative.

back to the topic at hand.  what kind of stuff goes on wedding sites?  i've only seen one (i know, right?!  INVITE ME TO SOCAL WEDDINGS PLEASE), and it had a really cute 'our story' section.  it didn't seem cheesy or out of place at all, but do others find that kind of thing...too much?  we don't have any engagement photos to share.  i was thinking of getting them once we find a photographer for the wedding.  which i haven't made any progress toward doing.  le sigh!

is there even a point to setting up such a site until we have more information, like ceremony/reception sites, a set date (lol), etc?