Weekend Wedding Update #6

▽

We went on a scouting mission to the site of our rapidly approaching wedding. The venue we have chosen is in a park in the city of St. Charles. We rented a large wooden pavilion on the bank of the Fox river, which if you recall, is the same river beside which we got engaged. Our mission: Suss-out the area in order to see what kinds of decorations are possible and what sort of lighting accommodations are located in the park surrounding the pavilion so that needy guests can sneak off and pee without having to wander in the dark. We brought a picnic and our special Wedding Binder ready to do serious wedding stuff!

△

The Findings From Our Mission

Regarding Decoration - The pavilion is beautiful in its own rite. With scalloped, wooden arches and the view onto the river at sunset, which is when we would like to have the ceremony, we think that it will require minimal decoration in order to look festive. But we want to have pretty lights dangling from the rafters. We measured the length and width of the space in order to see how many hundreds of feet of twinkly lights it would take. The answer is upwards of 400. Yikes. Where does anyone even get that many lights? Have to figure that out...
Sheldon has a vision of tall, leafy plants scattered around the beams of the pavilion. We also counted the beams, windows and steps of the building. We even made a diagram of the premises so that we can plan from it.

Regarding Lights Leading to Toilets - There are plenty of lights leading to the nice, outdoor bathrooms. Yes, the toilets in the park are actually decent! Very clean. I used them myself. Twice.

Regarding The View - Sheldon had a stroke of genius--Stage a fireworks show right after the ceremony from the other side of the river. Doesn't that sound awesome?! Unfortunately I seem to recall that the laws on fireworks in Illinois are pretty rigid.

Regarding The Random Ideas We Had - This whole mission was like a big brainstorm session. We had all sorts of random ideas. Some great. Some ridiculous. I had the idea that we have a bunch of boats so that people can punt up and down the river for fun. I also suggested that Sheldon and I get sent off in a canoe at the end. Sheldon thought it would be a good idea if  we performed the ceremony at the top of the large look-out-tower attached to the pavilion. The guests would be allowed to stand on the spiral staircase leading up to the tower in order of their level of friendship to us. He also thought it would be cool for my grand bridal entrance I were to make a long descent down the hill in the park leading up to the pavilion. He had a vision of me trailing my long white skirt and coming closer and closer. The effect would be very cinematic.

After these findings we ate a picnic of strawberries, cheese, cucumbers, salami covered in herbs and fizzy lemonade. As we watched the sun set and clutched at our paper bags which were trying to escape into the wind.

Wedding planning may be a little side-lined this upcoming week. Finals are upon me. I am starting a new job and my mother is coming to visit. things seem to have all converged into one single week. Yikes!