Planning A Wedding: The Beginning

All of my life, planning a wedding seemed like the most exciting thing I could ever do.  Now that I'm engaged, planning a wedding is still super exciting, but it's also super stressful :-(.  People tell you a wedding's supposed to be all about YOU and that you can get whatever YOU want...not the case.  Especially with my mother.
I dreamed of having a rustic, vintage venue.  So that's immediately what I went for when I got engaged.  Barn venues, brick lofts...things that looked off-the-beaten path.  Unfortunately, my mother rejected all of those venues, she thought they looked "not nice" and they couldn't accommodate the size of a wedding she was looking for either (~200 people).  At least, not the ones that fit in our <tiny> budget.  It still makes my heart sink a little to think about it.  I think all of wedding planning goes like that...at least for us girls with budgets.  You have what you dream of, you go after it and then the price tag jumps out of nowhere and it's like a police blockade.  No way around it. Weddings are crazy expensive-I think the average cost is between $25,000-$27,000.  And that's for an average wedding.  No girl wants an average wedding.  But somehow, I got stuck with an average venue, and now I'm trying to make the most out of it.  On the brighter side, the food is rumored to be superb.  We are going to a tasting on Sunday-so excited!

The dish I'm most excited about serving as an hor d'oeurvre-the Redneck Martini.  That's pulled pork topped with a hushpuppy posing as an olive. Welcome to the south, y'all :-).

Our venue! It's hosting a prom here. Not horrible. But not super unique. I have a lot of decorating to do to drop jaws...


Which brings me to my next problem...centerpieces, centerpieces.  I wanted mason jars, but I don't think they'll be enough for this venue.  Mason jars was for my barn venue.  So, wanting to keep a vintage theme, I've been going back and fourth between vintage tins and milk glasses.  Either way, I'll adorn the table with doilies.  Right now milk glasses is winning out...I'm thinking formal may be better.  What do you think?

My initial plan...

But now leaning towards this. Thinking it may be more timeless.

As for the colors, similar to the first picture, I've been pretty set on cream, pink and peach.  I'm not sure on linens yet.  Sky blue, light pink or mint green.  I'm sure I'll change my mind a million times between now and next April.  Decisions, decisions!


Update: At the moment (June 2012), I'm going to do a mix of the two the two for centerpieces :-)