Weddingbee Blog

That’s where the FI and I have been recently, and it hasn’t been fun. With 9 months ’til our wedding and no definite location, I was in a bit of a freak out mode. Why, 9 months is plenty of time, you say? Not when I was expecting to have everything—that’s right—everything done six months before the wedding. Maybe I was reaching a little bit, but… ’tis the curse of being Type-A.

When the Mister and I first got engaged, I already knew exactly where we were getting married. No if, ands, or buts about it! I wanted to get married outdoors, under a big oak tree with Spanish moss, and I had already scoped out the perfect location thanks to Brides Magazine. Yeah… that was until I visited the location and got the quote for said wedding. $4,000 for a Sunday, and that includes… well, the location and not much else. At almost a third of our budget, that place was out the door faster than I could say “bankruptcy”.

What I want! Source

The next day our DOC suggested a garden overlooking a canal. Granted, she made it very clear that it was not as “grand” as the other location. We went to check it out and, yup, it was definitely not as grand.  Not a sprawling oak tree in sight, but there was a gazebo. I preferred the oak tree to the gazebo.

Cute, quaint, but not for us. Source

However, at $2500 LESS than the other location, I was pretty sure we weren’t going to beat that price and I tricked myself into loving it. We put down the deposit and a few months later were informed about the INSANE prices they have for extras. This is how the conversation went:

Me: “Hey, I have a quick question for you. I was just curious about the cost of renting the fabric for outside.”

D: “$1000.”

Me: “For tulle fabric?”

D: “Yup, mmhmm.”

Me: “The same tulle fabric I can buy online for $50 for 25 yards? Hmm, I think I’ll just order the fabric and put them up myself.”

D: “Oh, there’s a fee for putting up the curtains.”

Me: “Oh, hmm, okay. How much?”

D: “$1000.”

Me:”… uhm…”

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What?! So basically I settled on a location that, with all the “extras”, would really end up costing almost the same as location number one. Let me be your PSA, people: do your research! We thought about cancelling, but we would only be able to get the money back if they were able to re-book our date, and I really didn’t want to risk just throwing $700 in the trash can. After much thought, we decided to bite the bullet, cancel, and risk losing the deposit. The cost of the location with all the additions just wasn’t worth it for something we weren’t in love with, so it was back to searching high and low for a beautiful, yet affordable, location…

Once we canceled our location, I e-stalked their website to see if our date had been re-booked, as they didn’t really impress me as the type that would be honest and let us know if and when it had happened. Determined not to be swindled out of $700, I checked their calendar religiously for two weeks. On day 14, like a shining beacon, there it was—someone else’s name on our date. A week later, we had the check in our hands.

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Clearly someone up there was working in our favor. Feeling renewed and refreshed, we decided that no matter what, we’ll be getting married under a big oak tree. We settled once, and look where it got us? No where! I asked our DOC for suggestions, which yielded nothing fruitful. I said “nothing tropical, we want oak trees” and she pointed me in the direction of a “bamboo garden”… ookay, apparently I was on my own for this one. I Googled like a mad woman. I wanted something Southern, sprawling, green, non-Florida. I’m just not a palm trees kind of girl. And there it was…

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Antebellum mansion, 16 acres, with tons of green, gorgeous oak trees. It was my kinda place. I could already see our reception tent on their grounds, the ceremony under the beautiful oak trees, the gorgeous white mansion in the background… I didn’t even WANT to call and ask about the cost. As the last surviving plantation house in southern Florida, I could only imagine how expensive it would be. But I couldn’t let my fear crush what little hope I had left. I called for information and… jaw met floor. Not only was it my dream location, but they would basically let us do whatever we wanted, and the fee was ridiculous—as in, ridiculous amazingly super under budget. As in, 3 digits for the reception and ceremony. As in, where do I sign?

Haaaaaallelujah! We have a location! source

We’ve all experienced the dreaded, “how much?! You’ve got to be kidding!” outrageous wedding costs, but have you ever been pleasantly surprised by the cost of something for your wedding?