Russell completely surprised me by proposing on my birthday back in March! I was quite happy to say yes and just love our engagement ring; it's white gold with diamonds and a cobalt-blue sapphire in the center (he knows me so well). We decided to wait until after Orion was born to further the wedding plans, since we already had quite enough going on with moving and having a baby, etc. We've begun talking about it in order to settle on some basic things, like the date and where we'd like to do it, and we can't seem to make a decision about any of it! I think I may have burned out my wedding-planning abilities when I was engaged before. Though I'm partially joking, I think there is some truth in that, since I sort of 'used up' some of the ideas I had and don't really want to do the same things for our wedding.
So here are some of the ideas we've been kicking around:
We both would really like to get married at Burning Man. This, of course, presents a lot of problems. The main one being that most of our friends and family wouldn't be able to attend; it's too expensive and too difficult for most people to get out there. We'd be limiting our guest list to brave 'virgins' their first time to the playa and our trusty dusty Burner friends. Though I'm sure our good Captain Squid would officiate for us, I'd hate to leave everyone else out. We'd also have to wait until at least 2011 to do it, and wouldn't be able to include Orion, who would still be too young to attend.
However, I'm sure we will do a commitment ceremony at the Burn at some point, since it means a lot to us and wouldn't be hard to pull off.
Russell would like to have the ceremony on Cape Lookout, off of Beaufort, NC. This sounds kind of cool, but also would require a lot of work. We'd have to book up space at one of only two local inns (expensive). Then we'd have to ferry all of the guests out to the island. Once on the island, there would be no access to bathrooms. Besides that, I'm not sure it's legal without permits, etc. Then ferry everyone back into Beaufort for a reception, which we'd have to rent out a space for - likely in one of the local restaurants. And we'd probably have to get a caterer or have the restaurant provide food (also expensive). There's also the problem of what to do in case it rains, which would likely require us to do the whole thing at the reception site. So it sounds like fun, on one hand, but also like a lot of logistical planning and moving people around, which doesn't sound like fun.
There's also the (very small) issue of my dress and the general 'what to wear' question. I already have a gown - it's a beautiful A-line strapless number that I got years ago and never had a chance to wear. I tried to sell it numerous times with no luck and have just been hanging on to it in hopes I'd someday get to use it. I'm not stuck on wearing it, but I'd like to - however it wouldn't really work for an informal beach wedding (especially one that requires me to jump out of a boat and wade to shore). I certainly don't want to plan the whole ceremony around this one formal gown, but it has been on my mind.
Another idea is to take a page from Missy and William's book and just rent a beach house somewhere in NC and have the wedding and reception there. I'm most keen on this idea, but we don't know where in NC we'd like to do that. We'd prefer to avoid over-populated built-up 'touristy' spots, but when you're talking beach rentals, what else is there?
In my searching for ideas I hit on something I think is fabulous: the NC aquariums (all three sites) can be rented out for weddings and receptions. I really like this idea! I'd love to have a ceremony in front of an ocean scene, and from the pictures it looks pretty stellar. The question here is cost; but I'm thinking maybe we could do the ceremony at the aquarium and rent a beach house for the reception... I'm just not sure what will work best for us.
We could also shift focus completely and find a spot in the mountains here. There are certainly a lot of untapped options in that direction.
At this point we haven't even set a date yet. There are some financial reasons to go ahead and do it in the 2010 calendar year, but we're not going to be ready to do it this fall and I'm not sure how we feel about doing a courthouse wedding just for tax purposes, though we have discussed it. I think it'll likely be late spring or early summer 2011, especially if we still want to do the beach thing once we make a final decision.
I'm somewhat surprised that we're having so much trouble figuring out what to do, but as Russell pointed out "it's really important" and we want to make the best decision for us as a couple, for our families and baby, and financially.
Anyway, I'll keep you posted if we even manage to settle on anything - I'm sure we will at some point!
3 comments:
You can do what my brother was planning: Get married at PR (or in your case at the Burn) then just throw a huge party when you get back for all the people who couldn't make it out there! ^_^
I promise to try and make it wherever you decide to have it. The only place that is iffy is at the Burn. Not sure that is my scene or William's for that matter. I love me some festivals, but that is a bit different. I hate that this is so stressful for you. Once you figure out the where and when the rest will fall into place. I feel like you guys will have the same results we had. Once we told people where and when they all started volunteering their services, either via help, money, music, loaning us stuff, or whatever. I love you both and am eager to see you again (and meet Orion of course) Love you!!! Missy
All great ideas! And I LOVE that you and Russell are planning it together!!
I know an inexpensive place for a reception with fab food in Beaufort. We had Jordan's Rehearsal Dinner there.
How do you feel about altering your formal dress? You are so very creative! You could really make it yours and to suit the setting of your wedding when you decide where.
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