Our wedding was last Saturday night 7/18 at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA. It's about 10 miles northwest of Boston, just south of Woburn and north of Arlington.We had 75 guests with 2 bridesmaids and 2 groomsmen. We rented a PA / speaker system from Beantown Audio and our friend played music from her lap top. Our friend photography friend Brandon Tridle shot the wedding. We hired the fabulous Green Olive to cater the event and Pond View florist to make the bouquets. A friend made us cupcakes and we got a few items from Trader Joes the day before. My mother-in-law brought the flowers and collected vases and made the arrangements that day. It was the most magical, amazing, wonderful night. My cheeks were hurting from smiling so much.I have a few pieces of advice for brides in the planning stage. First, delegate delegate delegate. My friends kept offering to help so I let them! But make sure it's advance help, you don't want to have a whole bunch of your guests running around sweating on the day of the event. I was lucky enough to have a friend who was willilng / eager to be my wedding day coordinator. She was the touchstone for everyone with questions that day.Second, choose which items you are unwilling to compromise on and which ones you would like to happen but are willing to let go. The things you aren't going to budge on should be maybe 1 or 2 and everything else should be flexible. You will feel so much better if you let yourself bend a little. For us, we were unwilling to compromise on our food and beverage. We are both vegetarian and neither of us drink. We had a lot of pressure from our parents to serve meat and alchohol "for the comfort of our guests". It seems an odd thing to argue back saying "no, this day is about celebrating our love."Third, consider every single thing that people tell you is a tradition. Why do your bridesmaids have to wear matching dresses? (I went with it because they look in photos.) Why do you need to carry a bouquet? (Again, it looks good in photos.) Why do you need to serve a meal? (We had a lot of guests from out of town, about 60 out of 75 and it seemed weird to ask them to fly in just for crackers and cheese.)"Traditions" that we passed on: 1) the big wedding cake (waaaaayyyy too expensive and for what??)2) seating chart, (sit where you want to, this isn't middle school)3) wedding favors (easy expense to cut from the budget), a garter and garter toss (kind of creepy when you think about it)4) the wedding DJ (sweaty, overweight dudes playing music you don't want for way too much money)Remember, relax, relax, relax. and enjoy it! If there are things you want to say at the wedding (maybe during the reception) consider writing it down. The day will go by so fast. Everyone told me that but I still can't believe it. The night was over and I was heading to bed and I could barely believe it was already over! Enjoy the ride.venue:
http://www.griffinmuseum.org/caterer: http://greenoliveco.com/florist: http://www.pondviewflorist.com/photos!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandon_tridle/sets/72157621687487943/with/3753444524/