Venue visit

Today I did my first bride-related thing (other than being proposed to, and planning the entire wedding before the proposal, of course).

I went and looked at a venue. More importantly, I went and looked at the venue.

The James Monroe Museum is a quaint little museum located in downtown Fredericksburg.  It's full of Monroe-related history, and has an adorable walled in garden.  I found it by doing a general google maps search of the city of Fredericksburg (I literally moved the map around reading all the places of business looking for venues). I was surprised to see that it was owned by the University of Mary Washington (where I work).

Based off the pictures and the price alone, I was sold.  This is the place I based my Intimate Ceremony/Reception around, which is the option Mike and I eventually chose.

So I set up an appointment with the Event Coordinator there, Adele. The fact that her name was Adele was an excellent sign, as I LOVE Adele the musician.  My mom, my best friend Cara, and I got there a little early for the appointment, so we wandered around the museum while we waited. I played with some old school dolls in the 'kid center'.

Adele was super nice! She has a quirky cool flare about her, and seemed really excited about us wanting a wedding there (it's only been open for weddings since this summer).

All three of us were absolutely smitten by the entire place by the time we left. I think we may have planned the rest of the wedding while standing outside after the meeting. (You know, everything besides what I already have planned)

Here is the space:

The ceremony will be in the grassy area, and the dinner/reception will be under the tent on the brick patio.  It's perfect for the intimate setting we want.  The only downside is that the beautiful crape myrtle won't be in bloom at the time we want the wedding. But, as the flowers are apparently bright fuschia, they would clash with my colors anyway.

Bonus: the museum will be open to guests during the event!

Double Bonus: one of the walls is shared by an old Fredericksburg cemetery! Some may not think this is a bonus, but this is old town Fredericksburg after all. Plus, I was originally planning on having our ceremony at my mom's place of work, which used to be a funeral home. It's decked out with body vaults, a coffin sized elevator, and some rooms even have tiled walls (for the blood splatter, of course). So I really like this aspect.

Next post: no idea! Maybe about our photographer.

The Many Weddings of Jill

My engagement fever probably started 3 months before Mike proposed (approximately).  That’s when I started planning my “options” as I like to say. Each one was different, with a different guest list, and a different price tag. I figured when we got engaged I could just pick one and adjust as I saw fit!  So here were the options:

Justice of the Peace
Super simple, easy ceremony by a JOP. Maybe our parents would be there, maybe not (depending on how spontaneous we wanted to be). I would probably pick up a cute white cocktail dress and he’d wear a polo. We might have rings, maybe not. I was attracted to this idea because it was simple, it was inexpensive, and it focused on the two of us.

Elopement
My first elopement idea was to go big: a cruise.  I could not imagine a more romantic wedding/honeymoon.  We’d be married out on the open sea by the ship’s captain. We’d find a couple on board to be our witnesses. It’d just be us, and we wouldn’t have to share our honeymoon with our friends/family. It sounded beautiful, but it was also expensive.

Planned Elopement

This was my second elopement idea. There are a number of places in the state of VA that have elopement packages, and many of them let you have a small number of guests. One B&B in Luray caught my eye because their elopement package was cheap and included a lot (like champagne, and dinner gift certficates) and it was only 2 hours away! Very easy for our few guests to get to, and they could leave the same day while we stayed for a mini honeymoon.

Intimate Ceremony/Reception

My next idea was to have a very intimate (30-35 people tops including the Bride and Groom) ceremony and reception. I loved this idea because it would include everyone that was important to us, but it wasn’t over the top. It would be about us, and about joining our two families. And it wouldn’t put us at the center of 100+ people’s attention.

Traditional Wedding/Reception
My guest list for this one was 120+ people! I didn’t even know I knew that many people. Some people I didn’t know because I subbed in ‘friend’ and ‘friend +1’ for Mike’s work buddies (he just started a new job where he is incredibly close to his co-workers). By the time we were engaged and getting married who knew which of these guys would be there! This wedding would go all out, with the big pretty ceremony and a crazy reception. I liked it because a wedding is something I was only planning on doing once in my lifetime, so I should do it right! 

My first thoughts after the proposal was to start planning for the Traditional shindig.  That night while on the way out to my mom’s house to show her the ring we tentatively said we’d tell people we were thinking of a Spring 2013 wedding. That meant we had a while to think about it anyway, but to me, it also meant we had a while to save up money.  Like the kind of money it would take to throw a big party of a wedding.

But we weren’t just having a wedding. The plan wasn’t: proposal, wedding, the end.  It’s: proposal, wedding, marriage.  The marriage is the end goal, and sort of the point. So why save up a whole bunch of money, throw a big party, then have to start re-saving after we are married?  We have lots of things to save for other than a wedding. A house. A 55” LED HDTV (Internet Connected, for anyone who wants to give us the best Christmas present ever). And heck, college for the children that we will have someday far, far down the road.

So we made our choice: the Intimate Ceremony/Reception. It feels the most like “us”.  It will include the people who are closest to us and who we love. It will be special and it will be right, for us.

Next post: Venue visit

Engagement Fever

Hi! I’m Jill, and this is my wedding blog.  Before you get the wrong idea, Bully Bride does not mean I am a bride-zilla, or that I like to push other brides around. (Like, “hey, you bride, give me your bouquet!”)

I am a Bully Bride because I love bullys (the dog kind).  Specifically, I love my bully pup, Ace.

Isn’t he cute? Here’s another one.

 What on earth is he staring at? Probably nothing. He’s probably just

like “duuhhhhhhhhhh I'm eating my foot”.

After my fiancé, Ace is my one true (doggy) love. We are (doggy) soul mates. Sometimes we stare into each other’s eyes for no reason but to express our… ok, I know I sound like a freak. But my mom has 7 dogs who she loves dearly, so I’m doing pretty good just having the one. We are (doggy) soul mates, after all. 

Anyway, onto the Bride part!  Last Saturday (Nov. 26) my then boyfriend Mike proposed to me.  I was and am still so excited! Now I get to act on all of the plans that I planned out already months before being engaged!  My mom said it perfect just today, that I had Engagement Fever. I imagine it’s a lot like Baby Fever, maybe even Bieber Fever, but essentially: I could not stop thinking about being engaged. And part of my way to cope with that was to plan my wedding.

Next post:  The Many Weddings of Jill