Jan 22, 2020
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10.14.2019
Although I already signed the contract to block rooms for the hotel/inn down the street from our reception I felt I should tour it and meet someone in person to ask any questions and see with my own two eyes which I’m glad I did because the pictures on their website are very confusing.
Anyways, Olivia the woman I met with is super nice. Unfortunately both her and Chris the dude are very slow at responding to emails and I called the Inn twice to talk to Chris and whoever tried to transfer me failed twice so I just emailed him. 4 days later he responds telling me to contact Olivia.
Olivia and I met, she was super sweet and showed me the 1st floor suites. It is just those two suites (across from one another) on the entire floor with the breakfast room.
This whole room blocking thing has been a pain in the ass. The original contract was with this guy Chris who made a “courtesy contract” blocking 5 rooms on Friday, 12 on Saturday and 12 on Sunday but from my understanding it doesn’t matter if those numbers change unless its for a larger portion of their rooms so for example they have 48 rooms total. I panicked because Reed wanted 30 rooms and I didn’t really understand total that was 29 so the guy instead updated to a non-courtesy contract with 10, 30 & 30 and it was no longer a courtesy contract and we would have to fill 80% of those room nights (52) or pay the difference which is a lot of fucking money if we don’t get enough people to stay. We don’t know who is going to stay on what night! Some are coming out of state but I don’t know what their jobs or time off looks like and how long they need to get here. Reed & I plan to have a little after party at least with our bridal party but our cousins would probably be interested too so if they want to stay they could but I’m also not trying to have a rager and get kicked out...
Reed had to work yesterday so he couldn’t come with me but I did ask him if he wanted me to do it on a weekend so he could come and we could go together...he has the engineering mind that I need and he calculates and asks great questions so although we brainstormed some questions to ask her I still am a little lost on numbers. Our big concern is if we need more rooms they say they might be able to accommodate but if another wedding is the same weekend or there are travelers or whatnot what if the rooms all fill?! So now we are back to a courtesy contract which is a block of 29 room nights total over the course of Friday - Sunday. I’m going to just email her with the few questions we have remaining and hope for the best...the good thing is its still a year out.
Lastly, we also have to pay for the shuttle if we have under 20 guests. If we have over 20 they do two round trips then we are charged $75/round trip after that. Like come on dude its down the street really? We are kind of bummed also because we want to have like a fun party weekend with our friends and family similar to our friends wedding but there is not much nearby where we can do that. We looked at airbnb and I asked Olivia if there was a bar or fire-pit...anything to hang out at? She said we could rent the breakfast room for $75 and she would check on bar tending and catering but I’m not trying to pay MORE money when we can drink and order pizza to our suites...lord help us.
There’s something so empowering (especially as a young professional woman) about making a large purchase for myself.
I really want to buy a set of pearl earrings because a lot of my jewelry is just cheap crap I wear for fashion (with the exception of a few pieces) & I have never had a true set of real pearls.
For accessories for my wedding I’m keeping it simple. I would love to wear my moms pearl necklace she wore on her wedding day as something borrowed if she will allow it and then buy these pearl earrings to have for my wedding day and hopefully if I take care of them, the rest of my life!
Some women drop money on shoes, some on purses and although I do love both of those I feel like slowly collecting some nice jewelry to pass down in my family would be cool. Now to budget this while also trying to pay for our wedding...HA wish me luck!
8.5.19 - Photobooth
Hi friends,
So we had a little hiccup and panic last Thursday...we heard our photographer was no longer going to buy this amazing photo booth she was thinking of getting because there weren’t enough of her clients/couples for the 2019 wedding season interested! Which is sad because this is exactly what Reed and I were looking for! We wanted a photo booth that no one had to really run & our guests could just take photos themselves! Plus it was within our budget too so having our photographer be able to set up and not hire another vendor was KEY!
But its ok because our photographer is amazing and asked around for other photographers in the Boston area with the same exact photo booth and we found one! She charges the same amount our photographer would have charged us and also is super quick with responses! We don’t have to pay for travel because its under 50mi woot woot so I am so relieved and happy about that! We can stop searching now phew!
Now I just need to get the ok from Reed tonight to book her officially. It’s $300 down and then another $300 a few weeks before the wedding day or we could pay up front. That would be for 3 hours which I think is plenty of time! She is one of two professionals who has given us the courtesy of soft booking us until the payment which I think is so kind!
7.1.19
On our drive to vacation Reed & I decided to go ahead with The Frugal Flower because she was super timely and professional with her communication, offered everything we wanted & more and made several changes to the proposal/quote each time I asked and I know how annoying and tedious that is. She also answered all of my crazy specific questions. She seemed to be the only florist who could give us everything we want for a decent price. It is a bit over what we originally budgeted but I think once we get some final counts that will change and to be fair every florist I met with with the exception of one couldn’t meet our budget so we would have had this issue most places. It should be official by the end of this week with the 20% deposit and contract signed.
I’m actually writing to share another thing that’s going on in my life and I think it’ll help to write about it because I’ve got some anxiety and writing always helps. So I took a sick day today to have a consultation for a spot on my chest that may need to be removed. I hate how much we aren’t told or don’t know about the health system. I am never sure what to expect so I wore a lose fitting shirt thinking I probably won’t change into a robe. The doctor is a guy and so as a female that was another worry. He’s the only dermatologist in the department so the nurse took me in and asked me to change into the robe. I never know what to do so I kept my sports bra and panties on and prayed she would be in the room too. She stepped out and said to have a nice day so I was like oh shit she isn’t coming back so as I wait all these rape scenarios go through my head and I know I should feel safe but this is how I feel as a woman in 2019...luckily she did return with him but it was still awkward he looked at my entire body, looked at my freckles, moles and birth mark.
He agreed the one my doctor and friends who are nurses have noted needed to be removed but I asked him before we started if he knew how much any of that would cost and what the procedure was like. He said they would numb the area and shave it off...the thing that sucks is that it isn’t raised so it’s going to leave a scar and they will probably have to scoop it out. Ugh I fucking hate this stuff. At least that is the only one...anyways he was kind of a jerk...he commented on the acne on my face and I explained I just returned from vacation and was rubbing suntan lotion and aloe and moisturizer over my face and that it only flares up when its close to that time of the month which it is. I’ve also been eating like crap so it could really be anything. He ignored all that and changed my birth control without asking and said this would help my acne which is rude since I am not concerned about it...I’ve been on the same birth control for 6 years I don’t think changing now is going to be a good thing for my cycle, myself or my system. Different birth controls impact women in different ways and since I know Junel Fe works well for me I really don’t want to change. I’ll give it a go but if I feel different or it makes things worse I’m going back to Junel Fe.
He was also kind of a jerk because I told him I wanted to get the codes and call my insurance company because if he doesn’t know the costs I want to know if they cover some or all of it before getting it done and being surprised when I have a bill in the mail. He was trying to get me to do the procedure today saying that the schedule is changing and it would be months before he sees me again. I could always go somewhere else...but I really had a bad feeling about the $ so I stepped out and said I would reschedule an appt and called the insurance company. Luckily they said they could cover it all so instead of rescheduling and paying another $50 to meet and do the same thing I asked the nice lady at the front desk if he had any other openings today to come back and luckily he did.
So now I have to go back for 4 p.m. to get it done and although I’ll be happy to have it done I can’t wait for it to be over. He said it’ll take 2-3 weeks to heal and it will scar. I told him I am getting married in Fall 2020 and he said it shouldn’t be super noticeable with my fair skin. I hope he’s right because my dress is off the shoulder. I guess I could always hide it with my hair if it is bad but man this wedding really has me adulting. In the fall I’ll be trying contacts and I’ve been nervous about that too. Wish me luck!
Last note: We just have the officiant to hire now and then the big stuff is done :) save the dates and engagement photos to come and then maybe finding a photo booth.
6.11.19
On Friday (6/7) I met with 2 more florists & on Saturday I met with the last one for now. I haven’t heard back from two others who said they would get back to me so I don’t really know if I want their business (it’s been about a month now since I’ve heard from them).
On Friday morning I met with Allison from The Frugal Flower in the same town as the venue and has worked at/with the venue many many times. She was so nice and neutral wasn’t overpowering her ideas/my ideas with what she wanted to do or what was more expensive. She truly understood the image and flowers I wanted and was able to even offer advice on reusing my ceremony aisle markers at the reception which I love because those would all be thrown out or go to waste with any other florist. I definitely think I’m going to go with her but I’m waiting to see some final numbers/details from her and one other florist then I’ll decide.
The 2nd florist I met with had me meet her at a coffee shop which is fine except another florist who met me at a coffee shop said hey let’s meet in the middle and this one was like hey let’s meet here (40 min drive for me) not a huge deal I’m all about a new coffee shop but kind of odd she wouldn’t try to coordinate something halfway but maybe she wasn’t really thinking about where I live.
Anyways, she was nice and came recommended by my photographer and has the most beautiful flowers but she doesn’t have any experience at our venue and I hate to say this because I am also a young professional but she seems really young and kind of put her foot in her mouth. She ended up emailing me saying she was working on a quote but I want to keep it under $2,000 & with everything she said it was already well over $3,000 and she also said “I know you were talking to some florists closer to you who could work with your budget” so she basically doesn’t want my business? It made that decision easier for me I basically said thanks you’re right let’s not waste each other’s time and so she’s off the list.
The last woman I met with on Saturday is super busy the next few months and could only meet on the weekend. She also does not pay for advertisement so was curious how I found her similar to the first florist I met with so I explained I just did a ton of research on local florists and narrowed it down and she was one of the florists that got back to me with a quote so I decided to set up a meeting!
So the other women I met with had forms or questions for me and this woman really seemed confused and was just taking random notes on a blank sheet of paper (different strokes for different folks I get it but it was odd). Other florists asked me things like what color is your dress, what are the girls wearing, what are the guys wearing and really good questions I didn’t think of but I was doing most of the question asking with her. She did send me an amazingly detailed list for the prices which I really liked but she is also over our budget and didn’t seem to think we could move the aisle markers to be reused for the reception unless I used mason jars which is so not the theme I’m going with...very nice lady but looks like its between The Flower Pot and The Frugal Flower which if I had to choose I’d say The Frugal Flower in a heartbeat. I really liked The Flower Pot for the way she worked with me on my budget but she doesn’t have dusty millers and basically told me we would have to have someone else move the aisle markers from the ceremony site to the reception and I’m not sure who that would be? She also is kind of a firecracker and a little pushy with her opinion or ideas so I feel like I know who I’m going with but I just want to wait for the official quote! Thanks for reading :) I know that was long!
5.13.21
We finally pulled the plug & chose the suits for the guys! We chose Joseph A. Banks & we’ll be paying for the shirts and ties for the guys. They can rent or buy and if they buy they can make it custom with a cool lining!