Weddingbee Blog

I promised to tell you more about the tent in the street, didn’t I? After the bridal fair, I finally got around to dealing with the “where shall we seat people” quandary. See, while we have almost two acres of land around and behind our house, much of it is wooded, and none of it is level. Okay, some of it is level, but it’s only 10 feet wide… and 60 feet long. No, thanks.

In a not-so-mature moment, I lost my sh*t and cried all over my loving fiance, who flexed his problem-solving muscles (you know, the ones that get bigger when girls cry) and suggested that we put a tent in the street. Um, what? Hey, that just might work! Because of the odd configuration of our street, the fact that we live just at the apex of the hilly street, and the fabulousness of our neighbors, it actually seemed like a viable option.

After a quick call to the city’s Special Events Department — a quick laugh at our plan and some delighted voices made me feel better about it — we were just about set.

The fabulous Jeff at All Occasions Party Rentals was kind enough to come out to our house to take a look, and after gamely holding back his shock at our plan, helped me figure out how to put an 80 ft by 20 ft tent in the street.

And thus it was settled.

If there were a tent set up, it would be right smack in the middle of where I’m standing to take this picture. Oh, and in the spring, not fall. Whateva. You get the picture (wocka, wocka!).

I dropped by their showroom the other day to confirm that our plates and flowers worked well with the linens he recommended (in this wacky color called poppy that is surprisingly versatile). See for yourself:

Check, check, and check (tent, tables and chairs, linens).

For those keeping score, we’ll be renting one 80×20 ft tent, 3 four light globe chandeliers, 12 six foot tables for seating, 3 six foot tables for food and “other”, one round table for cakes, and 72 chairs. Give or take. We’ll use our own furniture for the bar and gift table, and provide our own twinkly lights and luminarias. Ballpark rentals estimate: $1800. Add in $200 for tableware, $200 for my dress on eBay, plus an extra $100 for random things I bought and probably won’t use, and we’re somewhere around $2300 so far. I’m not counting the extra wedding dress because I’m hoping to sell it.

Not bad. Not bad at all. In fact, I’m feeling pretty good! Next up: a food plan is created (yup, still planning to do it ourselves), and invites are purchased (at a great deal).