Monday, January 31, 2011

Wedding Venue Booked!

I found and booked the perfect wedding venue!  Well, by "I", I mean my fiance did!  The credit goes 100% to him as I sat on my ass and didn't do a thing.  When we first got engaged we had talked somewhat jokingly about having a little destination wedding in Lake Tahoe, but after thinking everything through, it really sounded like the best idea!  So we just went with it.  What we really wanted was to get a nice beach front home for the weekend where we can stay and party with our friends and family, as well as have the wedding there on one of the nights.

It was looking gloom for a while because I guess private estate weddings are a bit tough to pull off, with insurance and noise ordinances, permits, etc. that you have to deal with.  But he actually found the perfect house in South Lake Tahoe, right on the California/Nevada border.  It's right in the middle of everything, all the casinos, and steps from the famous Heavenly ski resort.  The house is actually a part of the Edgewood golf course that holds lots of celebrity tournaments.  It's got a cute name - The Beach House @ Edgewood Tahoe.  The house is about 3500 sq ft, sleeps 8 people, has an indoor swimming pool and hot tub, and has a private beach attached to it!  It's basically everything we wanted, and the price is really good as well.  We got it for 3 nights, including the wedding there and taxes, cleaning fees, etc. it came out to be about $5000.  Some places charge more than that for just a couple hours usage!  Tahoe is still hurting, that is one good thing about the bad economy I guess.  The pictures of the place look great.  I wish we could have gone and looked at it in person, but we just don't have the time, and since the wedding is in September, we figured it would be best to get the place secured as soon as possible.






September will be a nice time in Tahoe too.  The average temperature is in the 70s.  I think this house will be perfect.  We don't want a traditional wedding at all - I'm thinking of more of a classy cocktail party type.  So I want to rent some little high cocktail tables and chairs vs. tons of big round tables and chairs.  The wedding will be small at around 60 people tops, though it's proving hard to do as our initial list is already around 100.  The ceremony will be a quickie and will most likely be in the backyard / on the beach.  We will get caterers to provide hors d'oeuvres, I'm thinking indoor and outdoor bars, and lots of partying and socializing.  The place is so beautiful that it doesn't need much flowers or decorations, save some table top decors.  And maybe we will string some cool looking lights around the trees for when it gets dark.  Since we have the place for the whole weekend, and plan to have the wedding on Saturday afternoon / night, people can stay as late as they want.  The night before, instead of the traditional rehearsal dinner, we can just invite everyone over to the house for a BBQ cookout.  

Basically I want it to be hassle free and FUN!  I don't want to stress about any details of the wedding itself.  I'm not a planner, and I don't need everything to be perfect.  I just want everyone to have fun!  That is another reason for choosing Tahoe.  Neither of us is from there, but most of our family would be coming from out of town anyway even if we had the wedding in LA.  LA is so spread out and congested, if we had the wedding here we probably wouldn't be able to see many people for more than just one night.  Tahoe is the opposite, there's so many little hotels next to each other, all very good rates.  September is kind of the in between season so I'm sure we can get people lake front suites for very reasonable prices.  Everyone could have a mini-vacation there together and we can actually see people the whole weekend.  Plus I think the pictures will turn out to be beautiful with the lake and mountain back drop. 

I guess this is the hardest part which is over!  I now need to find a good beach wedding dress and some hot shoes!  I don't know which should come first.  I keep wanting to get shoes (but I always want to get shoes) so I can try on dresses with the right shoes, and I'm thinking it's either a satin royal blue color, or a more muted champagne color.  But I don't want to get shoes first without knowing the style of the dress.  Hahaha.  I guess this is the fun part of the planning. 

The next big things are probably to lock down a good caterer and photographer.  I don't want to spend too much money on the wedding, as I think a lot of times people go overboard and it turns out to be a waste.  And I'm going to avoid the word "wedding" when talking to vendors.  People jack up the price when that word is being thrown around!  Plus I feel bad having my parents shell out lots of hard earned cash for just one night.  But I will splurge a little on a good photographer - good photos will last forever.  And then the other little wedding details will hopefully just come together.  I guess what I really meant is, hopefully my fiance will take care of the rest!  Hehehe.  I'm such a bad bride that I don't want to plan anything other than trying on dresses!  So yeah, if anyone has any tips about wedding planning, he would really appreciate it...  =)


7 comments:

  1. The only advice I have is don't sweat hte small stuff! No one will know if flowers are not the exact shade of pink/purple/yellow/whatever you planned, just roll with everything!

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  2. I wanted to elope when hubby and I got engaged, he wanted the 'big' wedding. The reason I didn't want a big wedding is because I didn't want to be the one planning it all. Well, he got his wish, I ended up planning it. It will be 15 years married in June.

    I don't regret it, but if I had to do it over again I would insist that we go away just the two of us.

    Weddings can be stressful!

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  3. We did a destination wedding, too. Not in a beautiful place like Lake Tahoe (your fiance did great!), but it was fun nonetheless. We had ours in Florida. We didn't have a nice hotel, nor did we have a nice hall or really nice anything, but from what everyone tells me it was a really good time for the guests. I'm really low maintenance. I probably didn't even need to have bridesmaids because they made up 20% of the guest list!! I guess what I'm trying to say is that you'll have a wonderful wedding that everyone will love and you should just focus on fun and convenience, only you will care about things like napkins and centerpieces (or your mother-in-law, like in my case). Your location is so beautiful that you don't need to waste time and money on decorations or stuff like that. Like I said, your fiance did awesome. Congrats. I can't wait to see pictures of your dresses. . . .

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  4. I would elope too if I had the choice! But unfortunately some other people (ah hem) want the whole thing and pictures!

    I'm not having any bridesmaids, at least not formally. I told my friends they can all wear the same color dresses and I will tie a sash around their waist or something. I don't want to deal with it! And yes, with such a good job my fiance did, we can save a lot on flowers and other decorations. =)

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  5. It looks amazing, and what a great deal! And i agree, low stress all the way - BF and I want to get married in the Bahamas, vacation and wedding in one low stress place but seriously, Lake Tahoe looks beautiful!!!

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  6. Bahamas would be amazing too! So it would just be you two or are you inviting your family and friends?

    If you change your mind about the Bahamas, you can steal my Tahoe idea and get the same house! It really is a steal. I was checking out a wedding gown designer's showroom the other day and started talking to another bride-to-be and her mother. They liked my idea so much that they decided to do the exact same thing! LOL! I already have my dates booked with them so it doesn't matter to me. =)

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  7. Graduation is a festive occasion - and one with surprisingly few rules when it comes to how you dressevening wear sydney or what you wear. While thinking what dresses you wear

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