Weddingbee

Looking back, it’s kind of funny how out of touch with reality I was when it came to wedding venues. Actually, I was out of touch on all things “wedding”.

Right after Mr. Cream Puff proposed, I remember his sister saying ominously, “I guess we know what YOU will be doing for the next year. Weddings are a lot of work.” Mr. Cream Puff and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes–we both thought she was being dramatic (even though she’s not a dramatic person at all!). “A YEAR?!” I recall saying to Mr. Cream Puff, “Come on!”

Then I called around looking for wedding venues the following September and was practically laughed at by multiple venues for even SUGGESTING that they would still have availability. I also remember being totally out of touch with the COST of a wedding. I actually thought it would be humanly possible for us to get married at the Conservatory of Flowers or the Ferry Building. Time for a wake-up call.

Mr. Cream Puff had a few weeks off from work before he started a new job, so we spent the time wisely–we toured a bunch of different wedding venues. From gardens to banquet halls, we saw a LOT. At the end of it all, we were left feeling a little shell-shocked–mostly because the venues were either very expensive or very BOOKED. And by booked, I mean booked SOLID. In the beginning, we thought it would be easy to pick a date, then find a venue available on that day. So we picked September 6th. And then we changed it to August 30th. And then we changed it again when we found the perfect venue for our reception and they only had one Saturday available. We are really excited about our venue, which is called the Green Room. It’s a hidden gem: because it’s owned by the government, they do no advertising…so hardly anyone knows about them. Plus, the rental fees were totally cheap by San Francisco standards.

The outside of the War Memorial/Performing Arts Center:

Believe it or not, for only $25, you can have those lights on the building changed to whatever color you want! I joked with Mr. Cream Puff that I’ll have them turn the whole building pink and hang a huge sign on the building that says “Mr. and Miss Cream Puff: EVERLASTING LOVE” or something equally cheesy. He looked like he wanted to barf. Too bad he knew I was kidding.

Here are a couple of pictures of the inside of the Green Room (OMG I am so excited!):

This is the view from the patio. It’s the back of City Hall (which, oddly enough, looks like what you’d expect the front to look like):

So we’re very excited about our reception location. However, we still needed a ceremony location. You see, Mr. Cream Puff and I love nature, and we really wanted to get married outside. Our reception venue is in the middle of the city, and the only place to have the ceremony is inside–which we really didn’t want to do.

Then one day we were at Crissy Field and we decided to take a little walk down memory lane. On May 8th of 2005, I (like the cheesy 8th grader that I am) asked Mr. Cream Puff if I could be his girlfriend right under a tree at Crissy Field. As we were reminiscing, I suddenly had a thought: “Why don’t we have the ceremony here?!” Turns out, it’s only $400 for a permit to use the little amphitheater right next to the tree, and I think with a little bit of decoration it will look totally awesome. Plus, you can’t beat the location OR the sentimental value.

This is where we’ll have our ceremony. It’s the Crissy Field Amphitheater:

Just so you get an idea of the amazing surroundings (I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO!), this is the view from one direction (that’s me and Lulabelle):

And this is the view from the other (okay, this picture is really small, but that’s basically the entire city. You can see the Palace of Fine Arts/Exploratorium and the Transamerica building if you look hard enough):

So yeah. That’s where we’re having our wedding! We are really, really excited. More details about the actual wedding to follow (and I promise the next entry won’t be nearly as wordy!)

• Part V: The Procession
• Wedding Year Valentines