Cakes and Catering and Venue...Oh My!

I drug Mike to a wedding show Sunday. I think he enjoyed it more than I did...I got a little defensive when people assumed I wanted to spend 2 months worth of paychecks so I could have a certain type of chair at my reception...

I don't remember what they're called...but apparently there's a hot, new chair trend happening in the wedding world.

So anyway, I had to be reminded to not snap at people, "We're having a small wedding!" "We're on a budget!" "Do I look like I want to spend $2500 on photography?!?"

"They're just doing their job...just nod and smile and move along," Mike says.

When I first met him 3 years ago, I thought he was scary. Now he's the little angel on my shoulder. A very handsome and manly angel.

Anyway-sies...Sunday was productive. We tasted the most delicious cake ever...ever! It probably means that we may have a more traditional looking cake. The electric guitar confection may have to wait until Mike's 30th birthday or something.

Ugh. I'll turn 30 before he will.

Celebrations By Sonja is definitely who we want to make our cake. They use buttercream icing, no fondant, and real fruit filling. The one we sampled had strawberries! Since we are such food network geeks, I figure our cake has to taste out of this world. I hope we can find some way to make it our own and rock 'n roll.

I thought I wanted to have our short and simple ceremony and fun and loud reception/dinner at the Springfield Brewing Company. After the wedding show and seeing how these venues that usually host weddings want to accommodate the bride, I'm looking elsewhere. From talking to the BrewCo, I think I might be an afterthought to them.

So, we are going to go look at the Santa Maria Lounge at the Knights of Columbus Diamond Room. It's really affordable on a Friday. I talked to the caterer there. She's from Simply Delicious. Trying to decide what kind of food to serve will be hard! I think the spinach artichoke dip with the manicotti and a salad sounds good.

And $4 a bottle champagne.

I want to leave all this wedding talk with something fun. I have some really cute pictures of my puppy, Cash, sitting on the couch with the remote control in his paw, but haven't uploaded them yet.

So I'll encourage you to check out this blog my friend Heather showed me...speaking of cakes! Hilarious.

Loves!
The future Mrs. Winchel

Websites I Am Loving

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great easter weekend! I definitely did...BBQ on Friday night that turned into a surprise double date when we ran into a coworker and his super sweet fiance. Then on Saturday Mike and I took a nice walk downtown and had lunch at Maria's. Sunday was busy: Church with my parents followed by lunch times 2; my family first, and then with his.



Even though I am impatient and want to get married NOW...and wear my dress now, I am glad to not be rushed and am enjoying just looking around and getting ideas. Here are some sites/blogs that I am enjoying looking at and aren't stressing me out:



One website that I am checking every day and loving is http://www.offbeatbride.com/. This site features all kinds of different weddings on all kinds of budgets. The weddings featured are all very different and inspiring. There are also articles about different aspects of wedding planning. Totally my favorite!



This morning I just found http://www.apracticalwedding.com/. I haven't had too much time to look through the posts, but some of the things I read are great. The author of this blog acknowledges that a wedding is just a party to celebrate the beginning of a marriage! I'm looking forward to exploring the advice and articles on this blog.



On the more traditional side, I also like Glamour's wedding site, www.glamour.com/weddings.



http://www.hifiweddings.com/ is pretty cool too; this blog features brides' wedding playlists and music themed weddings. It makes me happy there are other people who are very intentional/borderline obsessive about the music played at their weddings. This blogger also features music themed enagement shoots...which is super as I'm looking forward to my own!



One site I'm not using as a resource/inspiration is the knot. It hasn't changed in five years, and basically stresses me out. We don't have to take out a $10,000 loan to throw an awesome party.



I'll be posting some of my own ideas soon! This week I think we are going to be looking at venues.

Carrie