When Bridezillas Attack: The venue

Folks. I'm officially in bridezilla mode. Send warm wishes Sean's way, because bless his heart, has he got a whiner talking his ear off.

So, when I imagined my wedding, here is what I pictured: ceremony under the trees, reception in a magical garden with white lights, a dance floor with cafe lights and people dancing under the stars. Not too hard, right? Right?

The perfect place exists, but was out of my price range. When we saw the Mariners Museum, it seemed like the right place for both. But then I slowly started going crazy.

I couldn't fathom how to have the ceremony AND the reception, back-to-back, in the same location. How would the event staff be able to set up for the reception? How could the caterers do their job without disrupting the ceremony? What would the guests do while event staff move stuff around?

And what about standing under the trees? What happened to that part?

Friday was my pre-one-year anniversary (yes, crazy I know), so in honor of that, I made a decision once and for all. Here's the plan:

The reception will still take place at the Mariners Museum, but only the reception so we can make full use of the space. The plan is for the dance floor to go in the grass there, with the DJ table on that little bit of patio.

Hopefully the bar setup will go over here, near the fountain.

This picture is from around the hour the reception will begin. Gorgeous, no?

And the reception will be just outside, in a little grove of trees next to the Peninsula Fine Arts Center. Is it crazy to have multiple outdoor venues? Yes. But will I sleep better at night now? Hopefully yes.

The rows of chairs (with aisle in the middle) will go here, bordered by the trees.

Yes, I am crazy. Let's all pray we don't have to put the rain plan into effect!