The Wedding: And so it Begins

Last December I got engaged to Hubby-To-Be. It was a great moment surrounded by cows in the middle of a farm. It was just perfect for us. I was happy, so very happy, to be connecting myself to this amazingly patient, funny man. I spent the day in contented bliss staring at the sparklyness of my ring finger. I loved the attention I got from friends and felt like I glowed each time I related our amusing little engagement anecdote.

And then people started asking about the wedding and all I could think was "yuck."

I've never been one of those girls who planned their wedding from their first Barbie and Ken. I didn't even have a Barbie, let alone a Ken. My parents had a wedding of ten people three weeks after they got engaged. They sent telegrams to their parents that they were betrothed. I grew up thinking weddings were silly and maybe marriage too.

Eventually I came around to the idea that marriage wasn't such a bad thing. You get to spend your life with someone totally cool who thinks you're totally cute and funny. I kinda liked that idea. So I found me a man and we decided to marry.

Problem was I never wanted a wedding. I thought I was the perfect bride. My groom wouldn't have to deal with the whole bridezilla-wants-a-ginormous-wedding fiasco. We could just elope off into the wilderness and come back happily married. Sounded good to me.

But of course Hubby-To-Be had different ideas. (Why did I pick someone who had to have OPINIONS?) Hubby-To-Be wants a "real" wedding. Hubby-To-Be wants something fancy, maybe even tuxes. Hubby-To-Be wants a country club location with dinner and dancing and decorations. Huh. Who woulda thunk it from Hubby-To-Be.

So here I am now. Planning a wedding. Hubby-To-Be is playing an integral part in the planning since, well, it's really all his idea after all.

And so this weekend we went to look at LOCATIONS. The first stage in the extravaganza of wedding planning. After a good eight months of completely ignoring the wedding we seem to have come to a decision to get married here in the Bay Area somewhere natural, hopefully outside, that's not too too fancy. Luckily there's a few places that fit the bill.

A few weeks ago we checkout the Marin Arts & Garden Center which seemed pretty nice. Not too extravagent, a good place to take pictures, a small venue for our small-ish wedding. It was nice but it was our first one so we thought we needed more options. (Ok, Hubby-To-Be thought we needed more options. I was happy to go with the first one and be done with it but I am trying to be a good sport about it all.)

We went to a friends wedding that weekend in Santa Rosa at the Annadel 1880 Winery & Gardens and that was gorgeous. It was a nice secluded venue which was totally beautiful and had a great amount of space. It actually made me glad we didn't decide to go with the first place we saw - not because it was bad but just because there may be other options that fit us better.

Then yesterday we trekked out again to check out some places in the East Bay. First on the list was the Brazilian Room in Tilden Park in Berkeley. Here is where I fell in love. It is a beautiful building in the middle of a beautiful park. You could get married on the lawn and then have the reception on the patio or inside. It was perfect - a little bit fancy, a little bit rustic, a little bit hippy. I was done. There were more on our list though so we trekked on.

Next we went to see the Hacienda de las Flores in Moraga. Hubby-To-Be was in charge of making sure the locations were available to see. We get to this one and the gate is locked. You can't even see in to get an idea. I am cranky. We drive around to the other side and luckily I see a gate for the "Hacienda Trail" going through the property so basically, we sneak in. Again, this place is gorgeous. Sunnier than Tilden Park and more flowers. The hacienda is really pretty. Hubby-To-Be of course loves it. It's a little bit secluded, a little bit country club. I'm thinking "How fancy is my dress going to have to be for this?" It's gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but I'm worried it's a little fancy.

We then go to location number three which, frankly, doesn't even worth a mention. It's definitely not the one.

And then we go home and are stalemated on what each of us likes. And it begins...