Here’s a little teaser for my next few posts.
Last weekend, my parents came down to visit. And for the entire duration of the weekend we were wedding planning.
If anyone has family who live far away, I have found that weekends like this are absolutely brilliant. Not only does it mean that your family can still be involved in the planning of the wedding in person (as opposed to just looking at things online!), but it also means that things have to get done. There can be no procrastination!
That weekend, my diary looked like this.
Friday
11:30 AM – arrive at dress shop, try on dress, decide on veil, and BUY IT
1:30 PM – meeting with florist
2:30 PM – go to hotel to look at rooms and discuss breakfast options
3:30 PM – see venue and test bunting; decide on length of bunting to sew
6:00 PM – cake-tasting party
12:00 AM – watch band perform locally
Saturday
1:30 PM – visit one caterer for tasting and to discuss menu
4:00 PM – cake tasting and discussion at a local cake shop
Sunday
10:00 AM – wedding fair at hotel on seafront
1:30 PM – visit another caterer for tasting and to discuss menu
That is a lot to get through in just one weekend.
Friday was…exhausting. But the other two days were pretty easy going in comparison! We managed to do everything we set out to do, made decisions on lots of things, and have given ourselves questions that we need to think about.
Do you have family who live far away? How are you managing it?
I actually have a big weekend coming up…. my parents are about 5 hrs away from us and we our venue is in the middle (so about 2.5 hr drive)
On saturday we will:
9 am – in the car
1 pm – meet potential florist #1 @ venue
2 pm – FIL join for first visit to site
4 pm – go to hotel to check rooms, understand their remodel plan and re-sign contract (the hotel was unfortunately sold so we need to re-do these steps)
5:30pm – tasting at our caterer’s restaurant – finalize wedding menu and decide on welcome reception menu
9 pm – visit wine bar to evaluate as potential rehearsal dinner spot
sunday
10 am – brunch at second potential rehearsal dinner spot
12:30 pm – meet potential florist #2 @ venue
2 pm – visit golf course/ spa that some pre-wedding events will take place (and potentially set up another appt for a hair & makeup trial)
I wish that we could stay up there long enough to see our almost official ceremony musician (I still need to get the contract back with a check by the end of the week) but he doesn’t play till around 8 pm sunday and thats just too late for us
Sounds just like how my parents’ visits would be. They live 3000 miles away so they only could visit twice during the time that we were engaged. You can bet that we were busy running around town on those weekends!
@littlemisshostess: Wow! What a weekend!! you’ll have an amazing time – and it’s so great when everything is ‘go go go!’ because you really do have to make sure everything is done!
@Mrs. Wallaby: three THOUSAND?! wooooah – that makes their 300 mile journey look easy!
I had a very similar weekend about a month and a half ago, but I was the one visiting. I’m having the wedding near my parent’s home. I will be having another similar weekend over Easter to finalize some things. It’s less than 300 miles but it involves a border crossing which add anywhere from 15 minutes to over an hour depending on lineups.
My family lives really close to my wedding – I’m the one who lives far away!
Right now, I’m 800 miles away from my wedding, next month (after we move again), I’ll be 1400 miles away!
So whenever I go home, we have weekends like this! I love that I can’t procrastinate, but I hate when the wedding planning bug bites and I can’t do anything because I’m too far away still!
My parents are 1000 miles away & my fiance is 800 miles away so I totally get it! The first time my parents visited we did three venue visits and an engagement party plus let’s of planning in a day and a half 
In my opinion, the best part of those busy jam-packed weekends is how accomplished you feel afterward. Win!
My parents live 16,000 km away so I definitely sympathise! I will have seen them just twice throughout our 18 month engagement. I’m with them right now in Australia and it’s so nice to finally have someone with me when I’m shopping for shoes, getting my dress hemmed etc.. !
I had a very similar weekend about a month and a half ago, but I was the one visiting. I’m having the wedding near my parent’s home.
I on the other hand, had a fiance that lived OOT and had to get things done when he was in town. But my mom was a great sport and will go with me to a lot of meetings when Mr. T couldn’t make it, it was great.
Miss Jackrabbit, Brighton, UK Age and Occupation: 26, Office Manager Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Songwriter Engagement Date: October 5, 2012 Wedding Date: September 2013 Venue: Fabrica Gallery, Brighton About Me: I honestly thought I'd go all Monica Geller when I started planning our wedding, but in truth, things couldn't have gone much differently. I am working my way through this venture, figuring things out as I go, and adopting a 'Que Sera, Sera,' approach to making decisions. When I'm not organising the biggest day of my life, I can usually be found drinking a glass of wine, crafting up one thing or another, or stopping my cat from head-butting me in the face.
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