Happy Birthday!

Today is my future hubby's 28th birthday!  Happy Birthday, Mike! 

Today is also exactly 10 months from our wedding date!  Ahh... this is flying by so fast!  we've been engaged for 4 months already?!?!  Doesn't seem possible.  For my own sanity, so that I felt like I was actually on task and could take a breather, I decided to do a little run down of everything we have done and what all we still need to do. So much of this I am going to talk about in future posts too.

Checked off the list:

1. Venue-You all saw our venue search!  Done and done!

2. Dress-Oh yes, I have it and you will definitely be hearing about it soon (sorry though folks... no pictures of my dress will be gracing the blog until after the wedding.  Have to keep something a surprise :) ).

3. Decor

4. Cake!

5. Personal Flowers (all of the bouquets, bouts, corsages, etc.)

6. Photographer

7. Videographer!!!

8. DJ

9.  Groom and groomsmen ties

Still left to do:

1. Save the dates

2. Caterer-even though we have it narrowed down and should be booking VERY soon.

3. Bridesmaid everything

4. All of our paper products (Invitations, Programs, etc)

5. All of the little diy crafts I want to do.

6. Accessories for my dress.

7. Mike's suit

8.  Anything else I can think of that I am totally blanking on now.  

Ok.. well I feel a bit better about backing off wedding stuff for a while now.  We are starting to enter a time when there really isnt a lot left we can do.  Am I forgetting anything on my list? Anyone else feel there's not enough hours in the day to get everything you need to do done? 

Are you our venue? Yes you are!

If you have been following our venue hunt here and here, you know we first looked online and then we went to view The Central Center.  None of the venues were our venue though.  We wanted something unique, inexpensive, and us.  I wanted a venue that could stand on its own, but be inhanced by whatever decorations we chose to do.  I didn't want to worry about having to completely design a space, which I knew would be horribly expensive. 

Enter The Broadway! 

Source

Oh my goodness, the moment I found it online, I was in love.  The pictures looked so classy and unique.  I knew instantly we had to go see it in person.  Plus, it is about half a mile from the church we are getting married in which means an incredibly short commute for guests!  Bonus!  So Mike and I made an appointment to go look the last week of May.  We were getting ready to go on a long vacation the next day, so we decided to go look at the location, take our vacation to think about it and then make a decision. 

We walked in the door and saw this!

 

Were those twinkle lights already attached to the exposed beams?!    I was already convinced this was the place for us before I was even completely inside.  Then I took a closer look around.  The exposed brick and hard black floors added to the urban but romantic feel of the space. 

The owner/coordinator had strips of fabric put up for a different event that I really liked.  It added even more texture to the space and really upped the romance factor.  I instantly invisioned what our wedding reception would look like in there.  Our Purple and Gray color scheme (more on that later) would definitely blend well.  I also wanted to use a large number of candles on the tables, and it was allowed at this venue. 

Luckily for me, Mike loved the space just as much as I did.  A couple of days after we got back from Chicago, we put down our deposit and had a venue! 

Granted there are some negatives we will have to deal with.  The space only holds about 130 people, which means we really are having to watch our guests list.  Second, while they supply table linens, I'm not a huge fan of what they offer.  I think we will have to end up renting some of those.  Also, the venue only has seating for 100 people, which means we will have to rent a few more chairs and tables.  All of these negatives though, pale in comparison to the positives of this venue!  Now, I just need to figure out all of the decorations we want to incorporate, and we will be set! 

Are you our venue? Part 2

Well, I am happy to report my macbook is officially back in business!  My wonderful fiance ordered me a new cord, and it is now charging as I type this!

When we last left our venue search, we had pretty much just been doing a bunch of online venue hunting.  We had shot down one because of price and one because of distance and lack of communication skills.  Others weren't even in the running longer than it took me to look at their website. 

I'll be honest and say I was beginning to get a little frustrated and worried we weren't going to find what we were looking for.  We wanted something unique and inexpensive.  Not easy to come by here in Tulsa.  Luckily, after scouring the internet for days and contacting multiple venues, we narrowed our search to two that we wanted to see in person.  We made appointments for the next week.

First, the place we did not choose: the Central Center at Centennial Park!  

This place holds a special place in my heart.  It is the site of probably my favorite wedding reception of all time, the Myers's (is that even proper grammar?  I'm a teacher! I should know this). 

I was so excited to go to this venue because I knew it would bring back wonderful memories!   It also had so many of the elements we were looking for in a venue. 

I love the high ceilings.  They make the room look so much bigger!  Plus, look at those beams!  Christmas lights would look so elegant hanging across those! The stage is a great place to put some things we may want out of the way a bit.  Potentially putting the dj there, or the wedding party is a great space saver.

 We loved how much light came into the room.  It just felt very open and big in general.  We could fit as many people as we needed to.

The outdoor area is beautiful and I loved the idea of putting bistro tables out there for guests to enjoy. 

With all of these positives, you'd think it would be a no brainer right?  But of course, it can't be that easy.  There were several negatives we had to consider as well...

1. After inquiring about decor, we learned my ideal design dream (to hang lights from the ceiling) was just that.... a dream.  We weren't allowed to place anything on the beams or the walls. 
2.  We are getting married in JULY!  After the insanely hot summer we just experienced, I knew the bistro table idea probably wouldn't pan out.  Its just too hot, even at 9 o'clock at night.
3. No open flames!  I have always dreamed of a candle lit, romantic reception.  That just couldn't be possible here.
and the biggest one of all....

4. I would always associate it with my friends wedding.  The moment I walked in, all I could do was reminisce about Ashley and James's wedding.  It was their venue, and while I loved it, I wanted to find "our" venue. 

So the search continued.... one more stop on our journey to find the perfect venue!