Weddingbee Blog

After spending about two days in Freak-Out-Ville, I have returned to Reality-Land. I am feeling much better. Thank you for all of your supportive comments! A few things we’ve decided on:

1) I need to forget about the crowds. I knew they would be there–I just hadn’t thought about them being disrespectful or having off-leash dogs. I can handle people taking pictures of us and watching the ceremony. That’s fine. We will have at least one Day-of-Coordinator to keep people from being rude, so I think I can let this go.

2) That being said, I think we will be making signs to let people know that they should be quiet and not set up their picnics inside the amphitheater.

3) We don’t have enough shepherd hooks, even if we spaced them 8 feet apart. However, I was very grateful to find the website of a wedding coordinator named Shannon Berry, who organized a wedding at Crissy Field and posted photos (click on “Debbie and Arun”). Their aisle was made by pushing flowers into the ground. I took a wild shot in the dark and called Shannon, begging her to take pity on me and tell me how she dealt with the bathrooms, the crowds and the transportation. She was kind enough to write me a very long and helpful email.

We’ve decided to use fake white daisies in the ground to make a little aisle leading up to the shepherd hooks. The shepherd hooks will then be connected using white silk to match the chuppah. Here’s what their colorful flowers looked like:

Our guests, like this couple’s guests, will actually be seated in the amphitheater–we’re not renting chairs–so it’s important to create an actual aisle, methinks. I think the flowers will make a cute segway into the actual aisle.

images courtesy of Shannon Berry. Photography by Paul Sanders.

4) I called the people at Crissy Field to ask about where our trolleys can drive, and they still haven’t called me back. They are really, really difficult to deal with. I guess this is one of the (many) annoying aspects of getting married in a place owned by the government. If they won’t help us out with the trolley situation, we’re going to have to get creative about blocking off parking spaces.

5) We’ve decided to make our first stop after the ceremony at a place with ample public restrooms. We definitely can’t afford a port-a-potty. I haven’t figured out where we will stop, but according to Shannon (not Shannon Berry, but the wonderful Shannon who commented on my last post), East Beach has public restrooms and it’s really close to the amphitheater. So maybe we’ll do that.

6) We’re going to be getting parasols. We can’t afford 150, but I don’t think everyone will use one. I found cheap plain white ones on Oriental Trading Company’s website, but I’m also looking into the possibility of renting them. We shall see.

Overall, I am surprised by how much the ceremony stresses me out! From having to write the ceremony to figuring out all these little problems, it’s been a pretty big pain in the butt. I’m sure I’ll feel like it’s worth all the hassle in the end, but MAN! I wish it wasn’t such a hassle! Anyway, thanks so much for all the help, you guys. All of your comments made me feel better.