Wedding Blog

So, as my earlier post mentioned, we’re have a liiiiittle bit of an issue deciding on our overall Tenting Vision. Namely, that just to the left of where the picture with my superartistic drawing ends, there is a GIGANTIC bush-type-thing maybe 30 feet in diameter, smack in the middle of the only real flat area near the house. There are flat areas all around the bush-type-thing, but none of them is more than 10 or 20 feet wide, so there is no place to put a big wedding tent for our reception. Our tentative plan is to use 2 or 3 long narrow tents around the bush, hopefully set up in such a way that most people could still see each other (but I’m not sure if that’s possible).

You may be wondering how my brother solved this problem but, sadly, the answer is that he didn’t! They just had their ceremony at this house and the reception at nearby house with one gigantic tent. This is of course, still possible for us but (a) have I mentioned enough times that I don’t want this to be exactly like my brother’s wedding? and (b) I always dreamed of having it at the house itself, people wouldn’t have to drive, tons of people in my family have gotten married here and it’s been fine (but most of them have had fewer guests and only one had a tent contingency plan, but the couple doesn’t remember how big or how many).

Another option is having a single big tent in the field by the barn. This is large and fairly flat and, you guessed it, does not have a gigantic bush! But it’s also the only place near the house where people could park their cars, gets obscenely muddy if it rains, and there’s no electricity or plumbing down there. People would have to trek up the hill 5 minutes to go to the bathroom and they wouldn’t be able to wander in and out of the house at will. ~~~DREAM VISION: The dining room would be cleared out for dancing/mingling, people could hang out in the living room, and on the big porch with the view…~~~ There is also no view at all in the barn field.

And the (hopefully final) issue: If we decide to go the several long narrow tents around the gigantic bush route, we may or may not have space for all the tables to look “right.” (As in some people might be hidden behind the you-know-what.) One option our caterer gave us is that instead of having a set entree course, we could have a buffet table with only limited salads and snacky foods, and then have waiters pass appetizers (and small entree-like-servings) for hours on end to fill up the guests. This would allow us to have fewer seats than guests, as a number of people would probably be inside the house, sitting on the porch, or standing as they mingle. We sort of instinctively feel like there should be an Official Entree Course, but I can’t quite tell if it’s something I care about or just what I assumed would happen. But if we did this it would simplify our tent issues a little bit.

Which brings us to POLL #2!

Any additional comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

[Disclaimer: We will of course discuss this with our tent people to see what exactly they can and can't do, and that conversation will likely direct us to our final decision. However, our caterer assured us that their tent people can work magic with any space but he hasn't seen the space himself yet either.]