Hiiii lovely readers can you believe there are 354 days until we say “I do”. When we last talked I gave you the first installment of Wedding Chronicles. Now I’m going to elaborate on some of those tips and refer back to see if I’ve been taking my own advice lol. I promise to be honest guys!
So for starters, I definitely think we began planning early. Over a year in advance to be exact. We have our date, venue and our bridal party. Now before I tell you how big our bridal party is, just hear me out lol. Originally, we were fine with having 5 maybe 6 standing by our sides in our wedding, but when we thought about our love journey we couldn't leave out those who have been there supporting us from the beginning.
Justin and I met in 2003 and were on again, off again, on again off again AND on again off again for the next 9 years. During this time I had my G4L crew who were there when I would cry, need a drink, or needed a passenger to ride shotgun while I did drive bys on him. Yea, I was…..am….was crazy about him. (Ok I still am, and if ANYBODY everrrrrr tries to come at my boo it’s….going...down!) lol But while I had my girls keeping my mind off of him, I’m sure his guys had him “outchere in these streets.” But throughout it all, everyone knew we were made for each other. So here we are 20 people later lol. 20 people who have literally been there for us at significant moments in our lives. I have several of my closest and best friends, linesisters, cousin and sister in law all ready to help me during this journey.
Actually as I sit here thinking about these ladies, I must say my bridesmaids proposals were pretty clever. I created my own DIY version of this.
I wrote short poems for each lady and put that inside of a gold balloon. I then tied a note to the string of the balloon with a safety pin that said “Pop Me”. I put the balloon inside of a box with red and gold tissue paper and wrapped the box with a red ribbon. (Our colors are dark red and gold...or merlot and champagne as I like to say) After all of my hard work there was no way any of these ladies could have told me no.
So as I’m rambling on, I see I’ve gotten off task. (I hate when that happens lol). But back to the important stuff. The venue and food.
During our search, my fiance and I went to at least 10 different venues before picking a place and paying our deposit. Although, I knew that the second venue we visited would be OUR venue, I entertained his wishes of seeing other places that he was interested in. We went to venues that ranged from $3500-$6200, some of which did not include food. One place charged $200 per plate and $24 for top shelf open bar per person!!!!! Who in their right mind would pay $200 per plate for their guests to eat some fancy shamsy food that they probably can’t even pronounce. And $24 per person for drinks...my guests better drink up before/ after my wedding or sneak a flask in their purse. I REFUSE to go into debt over a wedding. Yes its one of the most important days of my life, yes it’s supposed to be my fairytale but NO I’m not about to start my marriage off by stressing over wedding debt. Nope, I have enough student loans to stress over.
So Regal Ladies…..and gents, I’ve come up with some things to consider when trying to find the perfect place for your special day.
Are you having the ceremony and the reception together or will your guests have to travel for the reception?
Is there a bridal suite or holding room?
Scenery for pictures? Inside vs outside?
Can your venue accommodate the amount of your guests? Seating? Dance floor?
Time of day? Weekday or weekend? (Prices increase for evenings and weekends)
Can you bring in outside catering? (Most places require you to use their services or select an approved caterer from their list)
Buffet or plated? Cash bar or open bar?
Do you need extra decorations?
Destination Wedding?
So as Justin as I continue this journey of ours, I will do my best to keep everyone updated and give suggestions along the way. If you have any tips for our other Regal Brides out there feel free to drop them below!
Xoxo The Regal Lady