Weddingbee Blog

So, as I have blogged about several times before, the gigantic bush-type things outside my family’s summer home, where we’re getting married, have been a huuuuge hindrance to our reception set-up. We were hoping to set up several smaller/skinnier tents in a square AROUND the bush like so:

However, our caterer and tent guy went over to the house yesterday to meet with my mom for a tour of the grounds. And it turns out…their collective expert opinion is that there is “NO POSSIBLE WAY” for us to fit that many people there for the wedding.

AAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, now let’s start breathing again. Innnnn…ooouuuuuuut……

So my mom was grasping at straws trying to think of any other place that might work. She suggested the barn field. The Caterer and Tent Man excitedly asked to check it out and…..CATERER AND TENT MAN FELL IN LOVE!!! No, not with each other, that would make this a very different type of story. (man, being sick really makes me sound like I’m on crack. And I haven’t even taken the Nyquil yet.) But they both LOVED the barn field, thought it was gorgeous, thought a nice big normal shaped tent would fit in it perfectly AND still leave enough room for some cars to park! TA DAAAA!

Mr. Bluebell and I had discussed the barn field as a possible reception site way back and ruled it out for 2 simple reasons. 1) No power. 2) No easy access to the kitchen/bathrooms. But Caterer & Tent Man said those weren’t problems at all! We can rent a super super quiet unobtrusive yet powerful generator for about $200 to run everything, including the portable stove, oven and grill the caterers can bring in! They also insist that we have 2 porta potties right near the tent (well, not TOO near) but we’ll also light a pretty pathway to the house for anyone (like the bride in a freakin’ wedding dress) who might not wish to venture into the porta potties.

And now a brief chart of pros and cons!

CONS:
- Porta potties. Um, ick. But they say they can get “nice” ones!
- Parking. We’ll probably have to do some car-pooling and shuttling, but we did that for my brother’s wedding due to the MASSIVE amounts of mud (please don’t let us get as much rain as “the most rain ever on record” they had last year!) and it was surprisingly easy. Also, at least 80% of the guests will be staying in houses we are renting out from other parts of the family so carpooling will be super easy to coordinate.
- A little more of a hassle in terms of power etc and moving things up and down the hill. But it’s not that far.

PROS:
- Everyone will be in the same tent! And able to see each other! And hear toasts! Our original plan had people in the mini-tents isolated from each other and hidden behind bushes and some people inside the house, etc, and just seemed less like a unified “party.”
- Okay, seriously, JUST ONE TENT. That is a big deal. I may have to list it again later in the pros list, so be forewarned.
- It’s actually super pretty down there too!
- We won’t have to have everyone drive from the ceremony site to a different reception site which was a big deal to me because I wanted the “family party” feel. Plus we won’t have the reception at the same place my brother did last year, so we get to be different!
- We will still be able to have a cocktail hour (with a bar and passed hors d’oeuvres!) up at the house itself!! So my lifelong dream of mingling with a glass of champagne in the parlor in my wedding dress (yeah, I don’t know why that’s my lifelong dream either) can still come truuue!
- It leaves a ton more room for the ceremony because there won’t be edges of reception tents all up in our business. Woohoo! And we can think about an actual tent or some sort of tarp up there JUST for the ceremony in case it rains. And everyone can see the view better with no tents in the way.

This is getting very long, so I leave you with…a picture of the barn!

(Yes, I realize you can’t see much field here, but that’s the best pic I could find!)

Is anyone else having unexpected fairly last minute changes? Or having your reception in a slightly unusual spot?