It's a date!

I have been planning this day for what feels like forever, even before he asked me to marry him. When you've been together as long as we have and have been to as many weddings as we have you start to get an idea of what you want.

We had discussed wedding dates. I wanted Memorial Day weekend 2010. It's the weekend after our 10th anniversary. I thought it would be romantic. It would also be easier on our out of town guests because it would be a long weekend and there wouldn't be a rush to get back to work. When we looked at a calendar it kinda freaked Gordon out. May was only 8 months away. We weren't financially ready to get married that quickly. We went back and forth about it. I did not want a long engagement. We settled on Labor Day weekend 2010. It was still less than a year but it was in a more doable time frame.

I spent 2 months looking at venues on line. There were a lot of really awesome places but they wouldn't have worked out because they couldn't hold enough people, were too far away, were way too expensive, or were already booked. Some of the venues at the top of our list included:

A New Leaf
Byron Colby Barn
The Redfield Estate
Salvage One
Cafe Brauer

While we were home for Christmas we looked at three possible venues.

• The first was the Cheney Mansion. It was great. It had a homey feel. We could have the ceremony on the lawn and it was close to the city but still in the burbs. There were a lot of positives to this space. The negatives were that our guests would be spread out over a few different rooms for dinner and dancing would be on the 3rd floor. Unfortunately, the only way up to the 3rd floor is by stairs which would be difficult for some of our older guests.
• The second place was Prairie Production. My friend Kathryn had been interested in this space but it wasn't large enough. The space was great. Big, open, blank canvas with a nice court yard with a view of the sky line and free parking (always a plus in the city). The problem was that it was a big empty space and it would take a lot to decorate it. There was also an Adult store right on the corner.
• The third place was Gallery 1028. I found it by sending an email to someone about another space. She wrote back saying that they didn't manage that space anymore and to check out this space. I love it. Its a loft space like Prairie Production but it has a much warmer feel. Its in the middle of the city with easy access to the highway and free parking and they take care of all of the rentals (big plus since I'm far away and it eases the stress of long distance planning). Down side is they have an exclusive caterer so they are a little expensive.

We decided to go with Gallery 1028. I am hoping that they can work with us on the expense of the catering. I'm going to be doing a lot of things myself to try and save some money. When we made that decision it really hit Gordon that this was actually happening. Not that it wouldn't but now there is a space and a date. Yay!

So kids, we are getting married Labor Day weekend 2010! We talked about Save the Dates today. Hopefully we will have them out by the end of the month so that all of our guests from out of state can start planning.