Map it…

Spent the evening addressing invitations last night with both my mom and stepmom. The process went surprisingly fast once we got started. Who knew there was so much etiquette to follow? We debated for a long time to put a map with the invitation or in the program at the ceremony. We finally decided to do both! We did not put the address of the church on the invitation. Those non-Kansas City natives might have some trouble. So here ya go — the beautiful map!

The After Party…

Traditionally after the wedding ceremony comes, what most consider to be, the best part of a wedding… the reception. To me, this is the part of planning that I want to pull the hair out of my head. There is so much that goes into a reception.  Holy moly. I’ve asked Kris multiple times if he is sure he doesn’t want to go to Vegas but he continues to reassure me how much he hates Vegas. Needless to say, I’m not very good at this reception planning and I have nightmares of having the average, forgettable reception. I want an epic party.

Before we were given a budget for our wedding we went to visit our first reception venue appointment – Terrace on Grand. This place is phenomenal. It was obvious the guy we met with had shown the place to a million brides-to-be. He spoke so fast it was hard to keep up and he waited til the very end to tell us that the average reception at Terrace on Grand costs about $17,000. Are you kidding me?

Next stop on the reception venue hunt – The Mission Theatre. Talk about one extreme to another – this place was, well, not as nice. Infact, really dirty. The average reception price with everything included – $4,000. Yes, that includes alcohol.  And believe me you got what you were paying for.

As I began to spend a lot of time combing the internet for Kansas City reception venues and making a whole lot of phone calls I started to pick up on a common theme – the price of a venue for a Saturday night rental is a whole lot more expensive than a Friday night rental. Like we’re talking thousands of dollars cheaper at some locations. People like to party on Friday nights too, right?

Now, do not misunderstand. I am not being cheap. If I were cheap I’d go with the Mission Theatre. I like to call it creative. Using my creativity, I narrowed my choices down to two – 1. The Vox Theatre and 2. The River Market Event Place. Both venues have a lot to offer but once The Vox told us we could bring in our own alcohol we were sold.

You can imagine my excitement tonight at dinner while Kris was watching football and I was reading The Pitch and what they consider to be “The Best of Kansas City 2011” and I stumble across this…

Ecstatic! I gave Kris a high five over the table and then of course tweeted it. It even got a retweet by The Vox. I was proud.

What’s the best reception venue you’ve even been to? I’ve never been to Boulevard Brewery for a reception but I remember eliminating them pretty quickly from my list because they could only hold around 150 people for a reception. Not because it wouldn’t be a stellar place to have a reception. We’ll definitely be making sure that we have some Wheat and Pale Ale going on at our party.

If you have an exceptional reception planning tips you’d like to send my way, I welcome all ideas and will take anything that makes this process a little easier.

A new love…

I think Karen (that’s my mom) would tell you that from a young age she knew I was a very visual learner. I’d rather draw a picture than write a paragraph. In fact, she’d probably tell you how much I loved to draw and she would tell you all of the things I loved to draw ON.

What does this have to do with planning a wedding? Great question. Glad you asked.

Pinterest.com

There isnt a thing I don’t totally love about this site. I have been nothing but inspired since it was introduced to me by my good friend Becky. The idea behind the site is that people virtually “pin” pictures on a “board”. Sounds so simple. Why didn’t I think of that? I’ve created a board for my wedding. Placing ideas all together to visually invision what the big day will hopefully look like.

Here are a few items from Pinterst that have caught my eye.

Item #1

What isn’t to love? I’m all about creative but simple and that’s exactly what this is. Don’t be surprised if you see something extremely similar when you walk in the door to our reception.

Item #2

Becky sent me this photo on Pinterest because she knew I had just purchased two large similar doors at a garage sale last weekend for this very purpose. I’m not usually the garage sale type but with remodeling a house and a wedding I have been lately. I didn’t even actually buy the doors. The guy saw me eyeing them and told me just to take them because his wife wouldn’t know one way or the other.

Item #3

Ironic that I was in Hobby Lobby just the other day and passed the felt aisle and thought to my self “Who uses felt besides a Sunday school teacher?”. And I’m not exactly sure if this will work it’s way into any of my creative plans but I think it’s super creative, simple, and low budget. Which, of course, I love!

Check out Pinterest. It won’t let you down.