Getting started again

My fiance's family rocks. I have barely had time to breathe lately, let alone plan a wedding. They came in this weekend and gave me the boost I needed. And when I say "gave me the boost," I mean they started coming up with ideas and a game plan while I just sat there and nodded my head.

I told the fiance later on that many brides may have gotten annoyed at his family's hands-on attitude, but not me. Work exhausts me and the thought of planning this wedding by myself makes me want to curl up in ball and cry. I am so blessed to have them jump in head-first. And I tend to not care about details. I just want to get things done already.

I kind of assumed my future mother-in-law would be helpful and involved because it fits her personality. She's very detail-oriented and likes to get involved and solve problems. The somewhat surprising contributor is the fiance's brother. He sought out a notebook and started putting together timelines and lists of things that need to be accomplished.

God bless my future in-laws because they rock. They've given me the energy to get the deposit in on the house my future hubby and I will stay in the week we're in Florida. I've been sitting on that task for two weeks. The funny thing is my family has barely taken notice of my upcoming nuptials, except to complain that I'm making them travel all the way to Florida to attend the wedding.

It's good to have support.

We have a plan ... again

I know, I know. You've heard it before. But, no, really this time I think this is the plan we'll be sticking with.

I'm back to planning our nuptials in Florida, only this time we're looking at getting married in May. Luckily, I don't think this idea will require too much planning. There are several outfits in Cocoa Beach that will prepare your site right by the ocean. We just need to choose one. And if we keep it simple, I don't have to worry about cake, flowers, decorations, etc.

Also, the fiance and I will be renting a house for the week. It's as cheap (in some cases cheaper) than a hotel. We'll tell all our family and friends where the house is and if anyone wants to go, he/she/they is/are welcome to find a place to stay nearby and attend the event.

The event itself will be very low-key. Like I said it will be a simple ceremony on the beach most likely followed by dinner at a local restaurant.

We'll also go to Disneyworld, which I am also excited about because I've never been. Briefly over the weekend we considered moving the wedding to Hawaii; however, the fiance wasn't too excited about that, and said: It's just a bunch of beaches with water.

He's so lucky he's cute.

So that's the plan in a nutshell. I've contacted a few places to see what dates they have open and hope to put a deposit down somewhere with a month. Then, it will really be official. I'm so excited!

Now to find the right dress ...

At a standstill

There are two questions that everybody seems to be asking me lately: "How's the wedding planning going?" and "Have you set a date yet?"

I hate those two questions. Since Editor Diana Fuentes took a leave of absence, I am serving as the quasi interim editor as well as online editor and my life is hectic. I have had absolutely no time to even daydream about the wedding.

At this point, I'm begging the fiance to give in to a simple JP ceremony in March when things have settled down; however, he's convinced that I'll regret not having a bigger ceremony. I really don't know if I'd regret it. It's completely possible I would. Obviously, I'd love for my friends and family to celebrate with us. On the other hand, I hate having this whole wedding thing hanging over my head. I just want it done.

The ceremony has never been as important to me as being married to the most handsome man in the world. I just want to be Mrs. Dennis Lee Silva II already.

And no joke, I know of two couples who started dating and got married just since Den and I got engaged in March! It's not that I want to rush things. I like that we've taken things slowly, and we both feel comfortable with our decisions.

But I would just like to have a set date already.

Which way is up again?

The fiance and I have been up and down and around so many different options for the wedding that I don't even remember what option we're on.

A few weeks ago I almost had him considering the really simple JP ceremony, but that soon became a slightly less simple ceremony at a tiny bed and breakfast.

Somehow that became a ceremony at a bed and breakfast in Florida.

We both really like that idea. We'd get married in Florida and then stay a week for the honeymoon. Then, we could come back and throw a party in my hometown and a separate one in his hometown to celebrate with our respective friends and family. When the fiance called his parents to let them in on our brilliant plan, they loved it so much they said they're going. Now, if his parents are going, I have to invite my very good friends. So then we're talking about having a small entourage (about eight people) head to Orlando with us for the week. Oh, and maybe we could move the wedding up to March because we wouldn't need as much money and we'll all rent a big house together.

I still like this plan and I still think it has potential. However, I don't think we'll be able to pull it off by March and I definitely don't want to be in Orlando during the summer (we originally planned to wed in July). I started talking with the fiance's mom yesterday and we revisited the whole ranch wedding. My aunt knows a family close to my hometown that will let us use their ranch for free. That rocks! We also talked about pushing the date back to September, a much cooler time of year.

Basically, where we're at in the wedding planning is a place where I have no idea when or where this wedding will take place.

Disappointment

So I just found out today that the people who own the house I've fallen in love with don't allow weddings. I don't know if I can explain to you how much I love that house and how great it would have been to have our wedding there.

The house is by Lake Conroe and is on a gorgeous property. It would have been great.

I don't even know what else to say. I have to keep looking I guess.

The new plan

After a lot of thought and reflection, well, actually after a suggestion from the fiance's mom, I became inspired. His mom had seen a billboard for a ranch that hosted events and weddings. Brilliant! Surely, we can rent a ranch for a weekend, right? And then the wedding could almost be like a big family reunion. We'll do a cookout Friday night; chill together Saturday before the wedding that night, and do a brunch Sunday before everyone drives home.

I'm thinking it will be a lot more laid back than originally planned. Like, I could maybe pull off a dress like this one from Casablanca Bridal:

Since we've had this brainstorm, I've been incredibly inspired looking at other ranch weddings. I wish I had saved the picture, but one of the ideas that I loved was actually planting flowers down the little walkway leading to the arch in the middle of the field. Awesome!

And I haven't figured out how, yet, but I am determined to incorporate newspapers somehow into the wedding.

Here's one of the properties I love. It's huge! We could fit half the wedding party there for goodness sakes.

And I love this one almost solely because of how much I love the Hill Country.

OK, OK, that's enough for now. I have all weekend to obsess more.

Finally!!!

It has taken me forever to post this blog, and I have no idea why other than the fiance was my photographer and had all the pictures. In March, the fiance, his mother and I took a trip to San Antonio to check out potential wedding sites. We had it narrowed down to four.

We actually only looked at three because when we drove to the other one, I told his mom to keep on driving because it looked a lot better online than in person.

The first facility we looked at was Castle Avalon, which just looks really storybook fairytaleish. (Yes, I just made up a phrase.)

The ballroom is really pretty as was the garden outside.

While the property is great, I realized as we were touring it, that it really isn't mine or my fiance's taste. Here are more pictures:



Our next stop was the Doubletree Hotel. My favorite feature of this location was a glass elevator where the bride can come down. I liked the overall feel of the hotel. The only thing here was that the staff seemed a tad unorganized.

This is a part of the ballroom where we would host the reception:

This is the courtyard where the ceremony would take place:

And this is the aforementioned glass elevator:

Our last stop was the Hilton Palacio del Rio and the Little Church at La Villita (which is right next door). I loved both. We had several options. First, for the ceremony, we could do it at the Little Church or we could do it on the rooftop terrace at the Palacio. I had reservations about doing it on the rooftop because we're planning to get married in July and I worried about it getting too hot.

Pictures of La Villita:




And a shot of the rooftop terrace:


There are also two options for the reception. One is the Mirador-Condesa Room, which features windows stretching from the ceilling to the floor and a fantastic view of San Antonio.


The other option is the Stetson Room, which is on the same level as the Riverwalk. A glass wall allows for a great view of the boats floating by. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo, but you can see it on the virtual tour through the link above.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our options because right now it looks like we're not going to do ANY of them! We are totally rethinking the concept of the wedding and I'll tell you more about it later. Just know that I am very excited!