Wedding Blog

One of the first major decisions Mr. Powder Puff and I made after we got engaged was to book the reception and ceremony site. Now, for those of you who don’t know me, I am not a calm, relaxed person. Oh no, my friend. I am basically your typical Type-A, anal-retentive freak. Naturally, given my crazy temperament, this was not a calm, relaxed process. I knew enough about weddings and venues (or lack thereof) to work myself into a frenzy over the fact that our dream date would be booked already at every single venue in town, therefore we needed to find a place rightthenandthere!

There were two important factors we were looking for in a venue. First, that it had a ceremony site. The church that I attended with my parents when I lived at home is… well… ugly. Straight out of the brown, wood-loving late ’70s, the church is not what I pictured us getting married in. It was obviously not built with weddings in mind.

The second feature we were looking for was proximity to Lake Michigan. What is the point of getting married in Western Michigan if you’re not going to be near the lake?

Mom and Dad Powder Puff, Mr. Powder Puff, and I scouted three reception locations before making a deposit on “the one”. The first was a country club in a beautiful little town on Lake Michigan. Gorgeous. Unfortunately, we were less than impressed with the gazebo, and the interior of the ballroom was very dark. I’d rather have the decor work with us rather than against us. Next!

The second I fell absolutely in love with. It was right on the lake, had huge windows (and I mean HUGE, all the way up to the top of the 18 foot ceiling), and a marble floor entryway with a grand piano in the corner. It was all around fabulous… IF we were inviting 500 guests. Our 120-person wedding would have been dwarfed in that room. Sniff. So with tears in my eyes, we moved on to venue #3.

The day before, I attended one of my close friend’s weddings at this beautiful reception hall. It has a gorgeous entryway, is close to the lake, and has a beautiful gazebo… this was looking good! There’s a patio that will be perfect for our cocktail hour, it has nice big windows, is brightly decorated, and best of all, there’s a “starry sky” ceiling above the dance floor that twinkles while you dance—awesome!

Unfortunately, this venue was booked for our dream date. Oh no! My nightmare came to life!!!

Luckily, my parents are well acquainted with my crazy self. They told me to take a freakin’ breath already (in a nicer way, of course). Everything would be fine. We would just move the date back a couple of weeks. Wow. Sanity is so logical and… sane!

So with everyone calm and happy, we booked the date.

And now, here’s a few photos for your viewing pleasure.