Wedding Help!

Re: Wedding Help!

• saacjw member

  

  February 2012

  Congrats on the pregnancy!

  
  

  First word of advice: it's typically in really bad form to have a reception with guests that you don't invite to the wedding itself. I know a lot of people would be kind of insulted to be invited to a wedding reception, but not to see the actual wedding, because the wedding is the important part, not the party. 

  
  

  Since you aren't doing the wedding until next summer and spring, you have some time to do research. First thing first- figure out a budget and a guest list number (ish). If you're looking ito a small wedding (like it seems), you have ton of good options for venues, especially outside. Depending on the kind of formality you want, you can go anywhere from MetroParks to country clubs to someplace like the Franklin Park Conservatory (I know that's really popular for weddings). I've seen small weddings on campuses (OSU, OWU, Otterbien, etc), but typically it's if the couple has a connection with the school (still could be worth looking into even if you don't). Also, if you want a religious ceremony talk to your priest, pastor, rabbi, etc and make sure that they will perform ceremonies outside. I've seen a lot of people on The Knot get very disapointed when they find out that their religous officiant of choice will only do weddings in respective house of worship and not in the couple's chosen location. 

  
  

   If you want to just do dinner somewhere after, no dancing type reception stuff, I strongly recommend looking at Polaris Grill or Bravo- my mom and stepdad did theirs reception at Polaris, my dad and step mom did theirs at Bravo and they both had small, kind of private rooms that really worked for the weddings. I'm know there are other places, those are just the ones I have experience with. 

  
  

  It's hard to give advice on flowers and cake and details until you know more. Don't jump the gun with details, things tend to change when you evaluate budget, location, guestlist, etc. All of that can be DIY if you want and there's a lot of resources to help around here (check the specialised pages). As for the dress, wait until after you have your baby to decide what you're going to wear/go shopping, since you'll have some figure changes between now and then. I'm going to put a plug in for Trumpington Bridal in Westerville as that's where I got my dress, but I've also had good experiences for things like bridesmaids dresses at Wendy's in Dublin, Henri's Cloud Nine (near Polaris), and the David's Bridal at Easton, and the rest of the commenters on the board will have other advice as well. Don't rule out department stores or places like J-Crew and Ann Taylor, some of them have great dresses and also might make excellent options for your bridesmaid, especially since you're only planning on the one.

  

  Report0 Reply
• cassiecasey2012 member

  

  February 2012

  Thanks so much for the advice! I never thought about people being upset, ect. I'm glad you said something! Is it okay to ask people to take time off of work though?

  
  

  How much would you say is a "fair" budget for a wedding of 30-50 people? I don't need centerpieces, or anything like that. I was thinking (including my dress, my bridesmaids dress, and my fiancees tux and his tux for his best man) around $3,000. Does that sound about right to you?

  Report0 Reply
• saacjw member

  

  February 2012

  It's pretty typical to invite people who might have to take time off. You can't exactly ask them to take work off, but you can invite them and allow them to make that decision for themselves. For our wedding, I would say something like 80+% of the people we're inviting are from out of town, meaning most of the ones that come will have to take a day or two off work (my fiance's family and my non immediate family are about 12-15 hours from C-bus). If they can't do it, they won't, and might join you later, it's simply best to invite them to come. 

  
  

  I'd say that it's definately doable. There are people around here doing weddings for 100 or so on about $5000 and from what I've read, they're very nice sounding. Figure out what your priorities are and be good about shopping around. DIY is your friend as well.

  
  

  Just a few things to keep in mind: most photographers in the Columbus area run $1000 or more (generally more). Some of the girls on this board have found ones for less, if you go here http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_ohio-columbus_help-needed-photographeralterationsinvitations people list some of the more inexpensive photographers they've found (assuming this is a priority, I have a friend that's not having one). Dresses can get out of control expensive and remember to account for accessories and alterations in your budget. When you start getting into the details, check out the budget wedding and DIY board, they have tons of resources and ideas.

  
  

  

  Report0 Reply
• greerandjoe2013 member

  

  February 2012

  congrats!

  Report0 Reply