My wedding date is no longer tentative and some additonal thoughts
Posted
Monday, January 07, 2008 3:35 PM
After months of telling people: "well, it'll probably be the first Saturday in August, but we can't make our reservation until the first business day of the year" I have official confirmation from Gov Dodge State Park that we have reserved the amphitheater and shelter for August 2nd!! Yippie!!
Of course, after I receive the confirmation, my fiance points out I forgot to reserve it Friday night for the rehersal... lol... I'd better send that one out today. I also think I'll send a letter asking if we can have a band. Neither of us is dead set on a band, and I'm not even sure we can afford one, but the state website said you could have them with prior permission but the paper from the state park says no bands at all, so I think I'll write a nice letter and ask them what they would let us do.
I've started researching caters in the area, I've started a spreadsheet with cost per person and delivery charges and the like. I'm not certain we can afford catering, but I'm also not sure how else to provide food for the reception, so I figure I find out the costs of catering and work from there. If we do end up with catering, it'll be a "picnic" which sounds like what I'm aiming for any way.
My fiance still hasn't asked his parents to contribute to our wedding. I'm not sure if it's just because the moment has arrisen or if it's because he doesn't think they can afford it, I don't care which one it is, I just want to know what the budget is. His father told us on Saturday night (we had my parents over to his parents house for dinner, ah the fun...) that we should find a resturant in Dodgeville for "uh, I think they call it a rehearsal dinner." He seemed taken aback by my 6 bridesmaids, but 3 of them are sisters of me and my fiance, so there's really only 3 outside family.
Yeah, one thing I learned this last week is that my fiance's family really doesn't know anything about the wedding, sigh. His father said, "oh, you have a date now, I've just been telling people August" Ok, we've been saying the 2nd for at least a few months now, and the first half of August for the couple months before that. And I'm sure we've told him that. But he has, how do I nicely say, a drinking problem, and doesn't remember much I guess.
His mother, when we saw them over the last weekend, started talking about a botanical garden in our area. "It would be so pretty, with all the flowers" Uh, no, says my fiance, we've already picked our location. "But the location you've picked is so far for your grandparents." Sigh. My grandparents are coming at least as far, farther I think, and they changed the dates of a trip to Ireland for it (after a date miscommunication with them as well). I don't know, I just figured people don't mind going wherever a wedding is, it's like 45 mins from Madison, not like a destination wedding or anything. But, in my future MIL's defense, she's from another culture... and she's already disapointed that we aren't being married by a priest, of all the people I thought we'd make unhappy with that, I didn't realize it would be her. (Although I don't think my grandparents know yet.)
All right, I'm off to continue filling up my spreadsheet with caters and maybe start one for honeymoons. Man I love spreadsheets. If you read this far and would like a copy of any spreadsheets (set up for caters or whatever, minus my own data, ready for yours) just let me know, I can e-mail you one :-)