Goin to the Chapel…

Travis and I have talked about marriage and the wedding for a while now and my stance on the whole thing is to keep it simple.  I never wanted an extravagant wedding.  I think that many people put so much focus on the wedding that they lose sight of the important part – the marriage.  And although I want the wedding day to be one I remember forever, I don’t want to be stressed out, I don’t want to have a lot of planning to do, and I want to really focus more on our honeymoon, which will be the true start to our marriage.

We previously talked about having the wedding at Travis’ grandmother’s house – she has a little courtyard – and at the dinner after I got engaged Travis’ Mom brought up their lake house, which was also an option.  Either one would have been fine, but out of curiosity, I googled cheap wedding venues in my area.  After looking at a couple of forums, I found out that there was actually a free wedding chapel where I live.

I googled it, and it’s the real deal.  It’s a $100 deposit, you get three hours (1 hour to get ready in the bridal dressing room) and when you get there for your wedding, you get a check back for your $100.  I looked at the calendar, and there was a free date in October.

And the chapel is BEAUTIFUL.  It’s out in the hill country, and I can’t wait to see it in person because I’m sure it’s even more breathtaking in person.  I just can’t believe it’s Free!

Here are a few pictures:

Lovely, right?  Small, simple, seats 12 people, tranquil… exactly what we wanted.  So I booked it. 

Wedding Chapel … Check.

After that it was time to find an officiant.  So I looked at the vendors that work with the chapel and one of the ladies stuck out to me.  She looked really nice and the people who left reviews on her page just raved about her.  She’s an author, and has done the “Dick Monologues” (A play off of the Vagina Monologues), and she seems fun and laid back and just perfect.  So we met with her, and she was even better in person so I put the deposit down right then.  She’s $300 altogether.  Now all we have to do is work out the script for the wedding.

Officiant … Check.

Travis and I talked about the cake, and he suggested that his Mom make the cake.  She’s a wonderful cook and her cakes are always great.  I asked her and she said she’d love to.  I love this idea – we already have so much love in the rings.  Now we’ll have love in the making of the cake too 🙂

Cake … Check.

Since I want all of the women in the family to be involved, I decided to ask Trav’s Grandma to make the bouquet.  She made all of his Mom’s flowers so I figured she

would be perfect at this.  I haven’t heard back, but I’m sure she’s going to say yes. 

Flowers … Check.

As far as my hair, my friend Tish will be doing it, and she always cuts me a good deal so I wouldn’t imagine it would be much to do my hair for the wedding.

Hair … Check.

We wanted to have a dinner just for those at the wedding (which will only be immediate family) and decided on Ruth’s Chris downtown.  I reserved a private dining room, and the only requirement is that the tab be more than $600 (which won’t be hard with 8 or 9 people).

Dinner … Check.

So what’s left… a photographer, who I have an email out to.  And makeup… haven’t broached that idea yet but I have some options.  And a musician (probably a guitarist or a violinist), who Trav’s half-brother is looking into.

And last of all, the dress.  I’m going shopping with my Mom in January.  She’s planning on springing for the dress, but I don’t plan on getting one more than a few hundred dollars so if she can’t financially handle it I should be able to.

Anyway, most of it has already “planned” although there wasn’t a whole lot of planning.  And I’m happy about that.

The fun part is yet to be planned… the honeymoon.  We’re thinking California.  Wine country maybe…

Okay Okay I guess I’ll get back to work.  Just figured I’d do my part and share some of the wedding details.  Sorry for all of you big wedding gals out there, there won’t be many more entries like this 😉