Picking A Wedding Venue

My week is still feeling all crazy and weird. Monday felt like the longest day ever somehow, Tuesday felt like Monday, and now today just feels strange. I guess the whole week is gonna feel a little off, until we get to the weekend and everything gets reset back to normal. And to make it even weirder, I'm not doing my typical weigh-in Wednesday post today. Sure, I'm still going to share what the scale said this morning, but then I'm moving on and today is going to be Wedding Wednesday instead! Because I have some wedding stuff I feel like sharing and updating y'all on. And I only worked out once in the past week (1 mile run & Zumba = 883 calories burned) so that's all I've got for my weigh-in today. And hey, I'd rather stay the exact same than have to report a gain!

Initial Starting Weight = 227

January Starting Weight = 217

Last Week, May 22 = 189.2

Today, May 29 = 189.2

So now let's move on to some wedding news! As some of you may remember, we were planning to do our wedding at the beach, on St. George Island. We searched high and low to find the right house to rent, and once we found it, we started making plans to rent it. But it turns out there were a TON of extra fees, that shot the total price through the freaking roof. And we just couldn't justify paying as much as it was going to cost, just for the venue. The house included nothing additional, but it was already over half of our intended budget. We have made sure to search everywhere and exhaust all potential beach options, but we couldn't find anything suitable, and within our budget. So just this last weekend, we sadly had to nix that idea of a beach wedding.

So we've started looking around town to see what we can find here! We are still wanting an outdoor wedding, so that's what we're focusing on. And so far, we've already found a really great option! I had done all the research on it, and then we went to check it out further on Monday evening, and we both loved it. It's Maclay Gardens State Park here in town. So let me just show you some pictures of the place...

This below is where the ceremony would be. We would stand right there where I am, with chairs set up from where the picture is being taken, so everyone is looking out on the reflecting pool, to the lake in the far background. And we want to build a little bamboo arch thingy for us to stand under, that will be centered right there framing the pool.

The pictures below is what's directly behind where Jeff was standing to take the picture above. It's a beautiful little walled garden with a tiny fountain in it, that would be great for portraits of the bridal party, and of course Jeff & I too.

And the reception would also be at Maclay, at the Gardener's Cottage on the back end of the property. It's just a cute little house, that's empty inside, and can be set up and decorated however we want, provided we don't mess anything up of course! And we would set up a big white tent in that grassy area to the left of the house, because the house itself isn't big enough for everyone. What you can't see from the picture though, is that there is a giant row of beautiful flowers that surrounds that whole little lawn area, and is so pretty!

We hadn't made an appointment, so we couldn't actually go inside the little cottage, but we peeked in the windows, and it's really cute inside. Definitely want to make an official appointment so we can go inside and look around and get the full run-down of how they do weddings. All-in-all though, we really liked the whole idea of the wedding and reception at Maclay, and it's a really great deal. Not only is it wayyyy more affordable than our beach house option, but this also includes some tables and chairs that we would obviously need as well.

There are a few other pro's to having the wedding here in town, and so even though we're bummed we're not doing a beach wedding anymore, we're actually getting really excited about the direction things are going in now. We've come up with a new theme, but we'll be keeping the same color scheme as before. We're also coming up with lots of cute ideas and DIY projects that I'm sure we'll have to get started before too long! And of course I'm definitely excited about doing some craft projects :)

Today on our lunch break, Jeff and my Mama and I are going to look at another option here in town, so we'll see how that goes. I believe it's roughly the same price as Maclay so it's still really affordable. I can't wait until we finally pick a venue, and we can start planning out all the cute little details and things! Hopefully that'll be happening soon, because we have got to get a move on. October 12 is just about four and a half months away, and we've got a lot to get done in that time frame! Ahh!

So here's to a crazy summer of wedding planning up ahead! Oh, and I'd definitely still be open and willing to accept any and all advice concerning planning a wedding, especially on a budget. So feel free to share any tips you may have or leave links to other bride-to-be bloggers!