Venue Location - Part 2

When I first started reading Weddingbee, the posts I had the most trouble reading were the posts about venues.  It wasn't that the posts were boring - it was just that I couldn't identify with 1. the location and 2. the search itself.  But when I started researching for my own venue, I scoured the web for any glimmer of Boston venue posts.  I really hope that this can help someone with their Boston venue search!

I know at this point Brian and I had only visited 3 places but it was 3 venues within a week and a half and I was starting to get tired.  It really felt like we were apartment hunting again - only way more expensive.  But then I watched a couple episodes of Say Yes To The Dress and REAALLLY wanted to start searching for my wedding dress.  But I couldn't get a dress yet until I knew the setting, right?  So that meant we had to keep on going or I wouldn't be able to get a dress.

On we went!  A venue hunting we will go!  Onward and upward!  I think that's Willy Wonka's glass elevator but it's a good mantra to have in life.  Sheraton Commander in Harvard Square was our next destination - also in Harvard Square but a few more blocks set in.  This was also a location that offered a GREAT wedding package.  Their wedding package was very flexible, inclusive, and affordable.  They had a ballroom that was spacious and great for a larger wedding.  But, once again, it just wasn't for us.  Our wedding would have felt cavernous in the ballroom and it just didn't have the type of light/openness we kept obsessing over.

Next we moved back to Boston proper and looked at The Westin Copley.  I honestly really liked this venue while Brian was a little more mixed about it. If I could describe it in one word, it would be modern.  It had very clean lines, open ballroom (you can see it in the picture - the window right below "The Westin" sign).  It overlooks the Boston Public Library as well as Copley Plaza.  The price was a little more expensive than what we wanted but the coordinator was very open to negotiation.  Ultimately, it was a little too modern for us an it didn't quite have the warmth we wanted for our celebration.  I could definitely picture this venue for

I hope I don't sound too much like Goldilocks (too hot/too cold) but we really wanted something just right and we didn't want to feel like we were settling.  If Brian has taught me anything, it's not to settle.  If it doesn't feel right, move on and be patient.  Something right will always come along.  Thanks, lovie.  :)  (gag, right?)

FINAL TWO VENUES!  Home stretch, guys, you can do it!

I tried to quickly find a picture of a lighted tent at night at The Commandant's House but they're all on photographer's blogs so this pic will have to do.  Honestly, my heart skipped a beat when I saw these pictures and I just imagined a night outside with tons of candles, music, dancing and laughing. I really thought I would have my wedding here at The Commandants House out in a tent but for people that live in New England, then we all know how rainy this whole summer was.  We wanted to see how the inside of the house looked also in case we needed to hold our wedding indoors.  It's a very intimate place that gives possibly the greatest views of Boston.  Located right in the Charlestown Navy Yard, the front window looks into Boston and it's magical (or as magical as the Boston skyline can be).  However, if we went with this option, then we would need to coordinate with the tent rental company, the caterers, and get insurance on everything and it was just too much for us to organize.  Also, I really am not an outdoor person - I don't even like walking on grass barefoot.

The last place we visited was the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center - located one block away from Cambridgeside Galleria.  How amazing is that photo?  We both LOVED this place.  It had huge ceilings, charm, and a wonderful outside courtyard.  As a BIG plus, they hold the cocktail hour in a gallery on the first floor and the exhibition for next summer is "Paris at Night".  How romantic and perfect!

We really liked this option because it offered us a lot of flexibility and control with the price.  Our main concern with The Charles Hotel was how expensive the liquor was.  At CMAC, we could bring in alcohol for a fraction of the price.  Also, we thought that by having caterers, we would be able to save some money in that aspect as well.

My only concern with CMAC was the size of the room.  I loved the size, but it also meant we had to do a lot in terms of decorating to make sure it didn't feel too empty since we weren't having that many guests.  As you can see, lighting can do a ton to a room.  While CMAC does provide very good lighting options, we would definitely need a lighting specialist to help design the lighting, which was an additional cost.

SO at the end of this long journey, Brian and I narrowed our choices down to CMAC and The Charles!  We agonized over the decision and did a LOT of number crunching.  I'm not lying, I can send you my Google Spreadsheets of all my venue calculations (10 tabs!) if you want proof.  Ultimately there were a series of events which lead us to our decision...dun dun dun!  Stay tuned!

I Want Your Address! (No Stalking, I Promise)

I think it's pretty typical for people my age to move around a lot and, quite honestly, I don't really need anyone's address since I only contact with people through email, gchat, or facebook.  However, my love of paper and pretty has forced me to not send out electronic save-the-dates (STD's ...hehehehehe).  However, the thought of emailing all of the guests and getting each individual address back, and having to copy-and-paste everything into one spreadsheet nauseated and exhausted me.  The solution?  GOOGLE DOCS (how I love thee).

I love using Google Docs spreadsheet for my wedding related items because I can work on them at home but also work on them during my lunch breaks at work.  When I was playing around with the spreadsheets, I noticed a "form" option.  I then a found great solution to just send out a form to my entire guest list for them to send me their address and Google Docs automatically places their address into a spreadsheet.

Step 1
Google Docs
You must already have a google account for this.  Create New: Form

Step 2
You need to then create the fields for the user to fill out.  I only had two fields for them - name and address.  That way whoever fills out the form will be always remember to add their name so you do't have to guess who lives where.  Here's how my form fields look:

You also can choose the theme of how the form will look to whoever you email to.  Just click: Theme

Here's how my form looks to whoever I emailed it to:

Step 3

Email the form!

Step 4

View responses.  Here's how all the responses will look

Then you can sort the spreadsheet however you like!

The only thing I wish I could change is a better way of keeping track of how many people responded out of who I sent it to.  I forgot who I sent the form to and really had to dig to find the list I originally emailed the form to.  But other than that, I love this form!  Nice and easy to get addresses!

Pretty Maids All In A Row

I knew Brian and I would be having a small wedding party so I automatically knew I'd be asking my 3 cousins to be my bridesmaids.  My two older cousins will be co-maids of honor.  I was g-chatting with my oldest cousin Alice when she asked who my maid of honor would be.  I then realized I had never officially asked anyone and just point blank asked her then.  So much for the plans of hand-making pretty cards...next best plan = gchat  :)  She then immediately asked if her sister Virginia could be a MOH as well which I hadn't thought of but said yes anyway.  The more the merrier!

I then started combing through the web for bridesmaid dresses that all 3 could wear.  I was a little concerned about finding a dress that would also be appropriate for my youngest cousin who will be 15 at the time of the wedding.  I also wanted to find the typical cliche wish for BM dresses: affordable and re-wearable.  That's why I by-passed the traditional BM dress designers and immediately went to Nordstrom.  I found a couple of choices I liked and turned to my trusted Google Docs to create a slideshow for my cousins.  (P.S. More on how much I love Google Docs to come)

I was REALLY relieved when they all said they liked the 2nd option the best by DeLaRue since it was the most affordable and also the one I liked the most.  As a surprise, I bought the dresses for them and gave it to them as a Christmas present.  Luckily, the sizes I bought for them just fit them perfectly but I have since forbidden any of them to lose/gain weight (KIDDING for anyone who thought I meant that - I don't care if they switch sizes with each other, as long as I don't have to buy a new dress - KIDDING again).  But here are their reaction's to the dress which I thought of as a positive reaction.  P.S. Please don't kill me for posting this pic!

Venue Location - Part 1

Brian and I set a budget of $25K for a 100 guest wedding to be held in the city. We're really trying hard to stay within the budget but it's been hard. Given the current economy, it's hard for us to justify spending more than that. Brian's comment when we started setting the budget was, "Do you really want to spend more than you would on a car?" Considering I drive a 1999 Kia, I probably spend more at Whole Foods than I did on my car. ;)

The first place we visited was The Langham Hotel in Post Office Square. I have to admit, when I first saw pictures, I was completely enamored with the thought of having our wedding here. The pictures seemed to make the venue seem modern, chic, and the price in their package seemed to be the best deal around. However, when I visited the venue, I was a little disappointed to learn that there was a $25,000 food and beverage minimum (not including taxes and tips). I did like the main reception room with its floor to ceiling windows; however, the rest of the hotel is very traditional and did not quite have the vibe we were looking for. The main reception room overlooks Post Office Square which is amazingly cute and makes you forget you're in the middle of the financial district. As another bonus, Bond is the hotel bar which recently opened. It's a very swanky bar that will be sure to get your guests talking. But the price minimum was just too much for us and we moved on.

Next up was Le Meridien (formerly known as The Hotel @ MIT). They just recently renovated their lobby and it's very sleek and contemporary. Our contact at Le Meridien was very friendly and experienced in the we

dding catering business and she gave us a tour while in the middle of setting up a wedding to give us an idea of how everything would look. I have to be honest and say that Le Meridien had the best prices out of all the places we looked. They have a cute courtyard area in the back hidden from the main view which can serve as the ceremony location. However, I found that their ballrooms just felt a little cramped for my style but it would be great for anyone who is having a smaller wedding. Ultimately Brian and I felt the style of the ballroom and courtyard just wasn't what we were looking for but it was definitely an option for us.

Within that same week, we visited The Charles Hotel in Harvard Square. Brian had been to The Charles Hotel before for brunch at Henrietta's Table which serves an all-you-can-eat brunch buffet. Someone else had recommended The Charles Hotel to me as having the best food also so I had high expectations. When we arrived, the coordinator Alexis gave us a full tour of the hotel. She not only showed us around the main ground areas(including the outdoor ceremony space), she was sure to give us a tour of all the different rooms available in case the weather prevented an outdoor ceremony. We were able to view the hotel rooms available for the guests (the bathroom mirror is fogless and has a built-in tv - OMG!). However, what really impressed us was the main reception room. The space she showed us was not the ballroom but the Regatta Bar, the room they use for jazz performances. I walked in and was immediately in love - it had floor to ceiling windows, was the perfect size for dining and dancing, and had the open feeling that Brian and I were looking for. I could tell that Brian and I were on the same page and we walked out feeling elated. Alexis was very prompt in getting to us a quote and that was when we discovered that there were rental fees involved with the ceremony space and also The Regatta Bar. Unfortunately this was something we had not anticipated. In addition, the taxes and fees pushed the total price way past our maximum amount we had budgeted for the reception. So the search went on for us....very sadly....

Let's Get the Planning Started

After years of reading Weddingbee, I was confident that I was ready to begin planning a wedding that was going to just WOW everyone. I mean, come on, 4+ years of Weddingbee stalking MUST mean I was an expert. Just take a little idea here, and a little idea there, add a lot of alcohol for my guests, and I was going to have the perfect wedding. But right now I feel like I have a midterm paper that's due in a week that I haven't started yet.

Brian and I hope to purchase a place to live this year and our priority is definitely the house before the wedding. As much as I would love to take the money I've saved for a downpayment to book Still Motion today, I'd be broke, homeless, and probably without a fiance. To be honest, most of our savings will be gone with the house and Brian and I will be paying for the wedding ourself. With that being said, I'm in favor of having a longer engagement and having the wedding in the summer of 2011. Brian's argument against that is that he'll be gray and bald by that time - which is completely illogical since he can only be one or the other. ;-) But I understand his point, two years is a long time. Right now we're just taking one step at a time and doing a mix of house hunting and wedding planning.

The one thing we HAVE agreed upon is a rough idea of the wedding budget. We agreed the location is definitely something we're willing to spend a little bit more on. As an added plus of us being semi-recluses, our guest list is sitting under 100 right now. Of course, since I'm Asian, my family is about half this guest list. Having a smaller guest list means we can spend a little bit more for the nicer places so we're on the hunt for reception venues.

Right now I've been doing most of my research for venues online but I realize that I'm going to have to meet with actual hotel vendors soon to get prices. But for anyone interested in the listing I have as of now, you might find this helpful:

Royal Sonesta - http://images.sonesta.com/CateringMenus1.pdf

Hyatt Regency - http://regencycambridgeweddings.hyattemenus.com/

Langham - http://boston.langhamhotels.com/en/pdf/tlbos_wedding_packages_tlbos_en.pdf

Omni Parker - http://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/weddings/20/OmniParkerHouseWeddings.pdf

BU Castle - http://www.bu.edu/castle/weddings/packages/index.shtml

Le Meridien (Cambridge) - http://newengland.destinations.starwoodhotels.com/LeMeridienCambridge/Weddings.htm?EM=VTY_MD_3253_CAMBRIDGEWEDDINGS_WEDDINGS_NEAST

Marriott Back Bay - http://www.marriott.com/hotels/event-planning/wedding-planning/bosco-boston-marriott-copley-place/

Hotel Marlowe - http://www.hotelmarlowe.com/mlw_weddings.html

So I started this post 2 months ago and just have gotten around to finishing it but next post I can talk about the venues I've visited so far!

The Engagement!

My first tip to anyone who has just gotten engaged - be prepared to tell the engagement story - a LOT. I wish I had known this because the first day back at work after the engagement - it took my a REEEAALLLY long time to get the story out and it was definitely not in chronological order. So I should have enough practice to just whip out the story for my first post but it's been 3 weeks since I first started writing this and I haven't even started the story. BUT! I'm feeling oh-so-inspired now that I've downloaded all the Glee songs off itunes and I'm riding a musical high so maybe I can finish. (p.s. GO GLEE!)

I had brought up the topic of marriage a while ago just to make sure Brian and I were on the same page. I believe my exact words were "do you want to marry me someday?" Thankfully the answer from him was "I think so" because it might have been slightly embarrassing if his answer was a flat out no. But it wasn't until sometime in May until we seriously talked about it and that's when we started looking at rings. I made him promise me that he would do it within 6 months because:

• It's a lot of work looking for rings - especially if you have no clue where to begin. I went into a couple of stores where the sales people would say "hi" and wait for me to tell them what I wanted...which is no good when I had absolutely no idea what I wanted.
• Once he said the word "ring" that's all I became obsessed about. It gets tiring just waiting!! I was already anxious waiting for the moment after a week and I really regretted giving him 6 months to do it instead of 6 days

We had taken a trip to NYC in August and I was honestly expecting a proposal during that time so every time we went out, I was just holding my breath for that moment. I was really sad when we got back on the bolt bus back to Boston and just kept thinking "Well, I guess I know it won't happen on the bus."

But luckily I didn't have to wait much longer. The last warm Saturday of the summer, we planned a day trip to the Cape. The night before, Brian keeeept insisting he had to buy a photo album for his mom that Jenny was going to put together. Then we went to the Paper Source where he got the album and he asked me if I wanted to stay there while he went to CVS to print the pictures. I was SOOO in heaven when he said that because I love me my Paper Source. The next morning we got a really late start to the Cape which irked me to no end because I was worried there'd be traffic and it wouldn't be worth going if we waited any longer. To make matters worse, Brian was also adamant about dropping off the album at his sister's. But we got to the Cape and spent an amazing (yet chilly) day on the beach and watching the sunset over the ocean.

Brian had made reservations at Scampo which is a restaurant part of the Liberty Hotel. We realized around sunset we were never going to make it back before the restaurant closed. This was fine with me because I was exhausted and just wanted leftover meatballs in my pjs. I was completely clueless as to why Brian was wasting my iphone battery finding restaurants that would still be open at 11. Once we got home, I dropped my bag and announced I was ready for dinner while wearing my hoodie and jeans. At that point, Brian nonchalantly said, "You might want to dress up and pack whatever you need for overnight" and the blood rushed to my face and I blurted out "NO, I'm home already" before I realized what was happening. I tried to keep it nonchalant as I cleaned up but I couldn't stop grinning.

It turns out the original plan was for the hotel staff to slip him the room key underneath the check at Scampo and he was going to whisk me up to our room for the night. His sister had decorated the room with orchids, roses,

and a bottle of champagne. On the bed was

the photo album that Brian had bought the night before and in it were pictures of us. I was flipping through them thinking "ok, I'm here...now what?" when the last pict

ure was of hm holding the ring. The next thing I knew he was there in front of me getting down on one knee and nervously asking, "Lovie, will you marry me?"

I had been preparing for this moment for all through dinner and basically all these months. Yet I was just blown away by the emotions that swept through me when he asked me that question. There was something just so humbling in that moment - to think that he loved me enough to spend the rest of his life with me. And he thought I was special enough, worthy enough for his love. I am not the most emotional person in the world but I felt loved, humbled, special, and overwhelmed by the whole moment. I hope I never forget that feeling. I am lucky and I love love love the man I will marry.