Congrats to my wonderful friend Jennifer Twedt, who got engaged last night! It will be fun to bounce wedding planning ideas off each other :)
I spent yesterday researching lodging in Clear Lake, as well as things for our guests to do. I reserved a block of rooms at the Heartland Inn, right on the water. I had originally called to book 50 rooms, but they only have 30 rooms, so we've got the entire hotel! Typically they don't allow reservations more than a year in advance, but the girl was very helpful (gotta love Iowa hospitality!) and called her manager several times to confirm that she could complete my requests. I'm going to finish reserving blocks of rooms at two other hotels next weekend. The nice thing about Clear Lake is that since it's on a lake, there are a lot of cabin options for those who don't want to stay in a hotel.
For more information, make sure to check our wedding website @ http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/BriAnneHilpipre&JeffHiatt. I try to keep both this blog and the website updated, but more details can be found on the website :)
Have a happy Saturday!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
rock star wedding
Lately (and against Jeff's will), we've been discussing wedding invites, save the dates, and random things we'd like incorporated into our wedding. Since we're having our ceremony and reception at the Surf Ballroom, I'd like to incorporate a rock star, music theme. I've always loved music and have considered myself a music snob for quite some time, so it just makes sense, right?
I'm not going to post my ideas until we've designed the save the dates, so then everyone can get a visual; to describe it sounds silly :) I do think it would be cool to have a star with my name on it on my dressing room door...
We're also going to have a live band, since the Surf can accommodate this. We've wanted to have a live band since we started talking about getting married, so we're super excited that this is a possibility. I'd like to have two live bands, but we'll see if that's in the budget. More to come on that once it's official (i.e. when we have the signed contract).
Our engagement pictures will be taken at the farm the 3rd weekend in September. Our good friend, Kristina Marshall, will be taking the pics and I am over the moon to be working with her! She's based out of Minnesota, but will be making the road trip down to the farm for a day of fun :)
Also, any thoughts on photo booth rental? Kristina will be at the reception taking pictures for roughly the first hour (we decided that we didn't need professional pics of our drunk friends much later than that!) so I thought it would be cool to have an old school photo booth. I've gotten an estimate from a company based in DSM for $1400 for 4 hours, including travel to and from the venue, set up, unlimited pictures, and an attendant. If anyone has a recommendation, I'd be happy if you shared :)
Much love,
Breezy
I'm not going to post my ideas until we've designed the save the dates, so then everyone can get a visual; to describe it sounds silly :) I do think it would be cool to have a star with my name on it on my dressing room door...
We're also going to have a live band, since the Surf can accommodate this. We've wanted to have a live band since we started talking about getting married, so we're super excited that this is a possibility. I'd like to have two live bands, but we'll see if that's in the budget. More to come on that once it's official (i.e. when we have the signed contract).
Our engagement pictures will be taken at the farm the 3rd weekend in September. Our good friend, Kristina Marshall, will be taking the pics and I am over the moon to be working with her! She's based out of Minnesota, but will be making the road trip down to the farm for a day of fun :)
Also, any thoughts on photo booth rental? Kristina will be at the reception taking pictures for roughly the first hour (we decided that we didn't need professional pics of our drunk friends much later than that!) so I thought it would be cool to have an old school photo booth. I've gotten an estimate from a company based in DSM for $1400 for 4 hours, including travel to and from the venue, set up, unlimited pictures, and an attendant. If anyone has a recommendation, I'd be happy if you shared :)
Much love,
Breezy
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
eternal optimism vs. realism
i often wonder if i could wiggle my nose like samantha on "bewitched" and have this whole wedding planned already...
setting the date was fairly easy; we just consulted the calendar, factored in RAGBRAI, the iowa state fair, summer music festivals, and the beginning of college football season and came up with August 27, 2011. at that time i was thinking, if it's this easy, we're set!
our first choice (which was the only option i was willing to consider) was to have it at the family farm in iowa. i had expected some stress about this decision since we live in colorado, but as an eternal optimist, i was unwilling and unable to see that there might be some issues, such as:
we decided to move the location of the wedding and the reception to the Surf Ballroom in clear lake, iowa. it's air conditioned (huge bonus) and they will take care of set up and clean up. fortunately, my great aunt phyllis has worked there forever, so mom called her to check our date. i held my breath until she called back and said that they had two dates left for next august... and our date was one of them!
changing the location seemed like a huge setback, since i had already crossed that off in my wedding manual, but it will definitely be for the best :)
setting the date was fairly easy; we just consulted the calendar, factored in RAGBRAI, the iowa state fair, summer music festivals, and the beginning of college football season and came up with August 27, 2011. at that time i was thinking, if it's this easy, we're set!
our first choice (which was the only option i was willing to consider) was to have it at the family farm in iowa. i had expected some stress about this decision since we live in colorado, but as an eternal optimist, i was unwilling and unable to see that there might be some issues, such as:
- it's HOT and HUMID in iowa in august
- it's pretty much rained all summer there, so who knows what next summer will bring
- bugs
- the cost to set up tents, dance floor, chairs, etc...
- the time it would take to get the farm wedding-ready
- HEAT and HUMIDITY
- lack of lodging options
- lack of transportation options (who really wants to fly into DSM, OMA, or MSP and rent a car?)
we decided to move the location of the wedding and the reception to the Surf Ballroom in clear lake, iowa. it's air conditioned (huge bonus) and they will take care of set up and clean up. fortunately, my great aunt phyllis has worked there forever, so mom called her to check our date. i held my breath until she called back and said that they had two dates left for next august... and our date was one of them!
changing the location seemed like a huge setback, since i had already crossed that off in my wedding manual, but it will definitely be for the best :)
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