Archive for the ‘The Venue’ Category

Originally we were going to be booking the All Saint’s Parish hall until we found out the Parish Priest wasn’t going to be around to confirm or provide booking information until the end of Summer.  Seeming with the MADNESS down in the GVRD / Vancouver over selecting the Reception Halls, ceremony locations and all the other funness we couldn’t risk being unable to get the particular locations we wanted.

The options were, a Hall In Queens Park New Westminster, In Burnaby’s Deer Lake Park, In Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam.  I will post the names as a update to this post later.  The only important item is that it looks we booked the last and best hall!

As it turns out, the Theater was due for maintenance the weekend we wanted and they were holding it for this purpose instead of renting it out.  The technicians will only be in the Theater for a couple of hours.  As it happens, we’re not interested in the Theater and only want the Grand Galleriea.  With this in mind, the wonderful staff at Port Moody City Hall Parks and Rec were able to speak to them, confirm the maintenance requirements and rent us one of the most beautiful locations we could find, oh how Wonderful!

It sounds like Port Moody is our reception location and we’ve already picked the location / date / and apparently colours too (Sarah).  Anyone with thoughts or comments on the Reception Venue is more than welcome to post a comment.  Is there anything else that we can get – equally as good?

So, how can you tell I am planning to marry a nerd. I have been asked to blog about the wedding fiasco, and planning etc.  Where to start….

The engagement was a total surprise. I was shocked.. I kept teasing Sean saying I couldn’t believe he had finally asked me, I mean it had only been 4 and a half years!! So it was shiny rings and hugs all around and then reality hit. I have to plan a wedding. I have absolutely NO idea how to plan a wedding. I have only ever been to three weddings, how the heck am I supposed to figure everything out; not to mention do it from a city four hours away from the festivities. Oy!!!

Its been about three weeks, I have found a spot for the reception after far too many long distance phone calls, and around 6 different decisions that needed to be re-evaluated because the places had already been booked ( crazy go getters!!) All the pictures I’ve seen of the Inlet in Port Moody, have been beautiful, and I am probably going to send my friend in Vancouver to check it out for me, but I am satisfied. An added bonus with the location is we can hold the ceremony there if the church falls through.

Now, its a re-evaluation of the theme colours, because it is a summer wedding and as much as it was be semi-formal I refuse to have it be dark and dreary.  Silver and Yellow anyone? I’m going to try to setup a meeting with the wedding planner Monday, and tackle the catering nightmare- I mean who wants to spend $6000 on food!!!

As I go through all this the words of my mother echoing in my head, ” take the crazy amount of money you are going to spend on 1 day and put it on your mortgage.” Sound advice… but I’m old enough not to HAVE to listen to my mother.. aren’t I?

We were working on putting this day together ourselves (oh who am I kidding, this is all her).  After a period of time, um, a short period of time it became apparent that just like all Weddings, we were going to have some major cost overruns and other related Wedding – issues -. 

A Dream Away Wedding Planning in Kamloops stepped up to assist and provide knowhow, decorations and ongoing assistance.  A little later we’ll describe our thoughts and details for how we went through the planning and selections process for “our” big day.  Right now, just know that we have selected them for a great many reasons, the main one being, they do Weddings – the right way.  Experience always helps.

So, it was decided that All Saint’s Parish was the place to be.  It turns out there’s a caveat – the parish priest isn’t back from Africa until the end of August!  Oh oh, can’t set a firm date or anything really until we know we can get the permission we need for our ceremony to be held there.  That isn’t even the big problem.

The issue remains with the hall, we called must have been 15 different locations in Vancouver, Coquitlam, New Westminister, Port Moody, and Port Coquitlam.  This isn’t an issue, but apparently if your in the GVRD, you start planning for a date two years from “the day”.