THE PLACE

hello again!
So, I want to share my experience with finding a Wedding Venue....
Let me just tell you, it was NOT easy. But it was fun!!

1. Will Rogers Theater
Man is this place beautiful. It's classy Art Deco awesomeness. They're an all-inclusive place, which means they provide the food and drink (that is to say, you have to use their catering service and bar or you can't have your event in there), the linens, some minor decorations, tables, chairs, etc... Pretty much all you have to bring are the people and the music. They even have a sound system you can hook your sounds up to. They have lots of different menu options, ranging from multi-course sit down dinner to piles of finger foods. Coffee, tea, and punch are also included in the price of the food. The bar is of course extra, but there are options with that as well. They do charge a security fee.
BOTTOM LINE: Gorgeous, classy, stress-lowering (because they do a lot of the setup for you), freaking fantastic....but not economical for a party with 200+ guests. So, therefore, not for us.


2. The Farmer's Market
Wowie wow wow. This place is divine. It's one GIANT ballroom with old hardwood floors, paper lanterns and twinkle lights strung all over the ceiling, huge windows with beautiful views of the downtown skyline, paint peeling off the cement walls giving it a perfectly vintage feel....... Someone please invite me to your wedding or party or something in this space. The event coordinator is very sweet and easy to work with. They allow outside catering, but you have to use their bar services. There's a charge for security and bartenders, plus an extra cleaning fee if there is an event the next day. The room rental includes tables and chairs, but the chairs are NOT cute, so one would need to rent covers or even different chairs altogether. But did I mention it's really a neat space????

(we spied on a wedding setup)

BOTTOM LINE: it was just more dollars than I wanted to drop for essentially just a space......


3. Festivities at The Old Post Office
SWEET! Original hardwood floors, golden-bronze radiators still on the walls, ceiling fans, walls covered with windows!!! It's fantastic. The building was built as a post office over one hundred years ago. It's kind of a funny shaped space; lots of little nooks and crannies. I LOVE IT. It was the most unique place we looked at by far. There is a charge for outside catering, but it's only $100. They require the use of their bar services, but have lots of options. PLUS, they keep all the alcohol in an old mail safe! So neat! It's not meant for tons of people, and parking could potentially be an issue. So car pool and wear comfy shoes!
BOTTOM LINE: We'll take it!!! See you there April 18th!!










140 days and counting down!!!!!!

W & E

THE DRESS, PART I

My first stop on the dress train was J.J. Kelly Bridal. For those of you that are familiar, I'll simply tell you that I didn't have an appointment and you can guess how my visit went.
I walked in and told them I just wanted to look around. The Woman In Charge told me there was no point in looking if I wasn't going to try anything on. So I asked if I could try a few things on. She huffed and puffed and asked me to fill out an info card. Then she of course asked about my budget for the dress...... and refused to show me anything that cost more than that amount. I appreciated her time, but not her attitude, and so I will NEVER go back to that store. Kudos to any of you that can get them to treat you with respect.

The saga continues,
W & E

THE DRESS, PART II

Finding a dress has, thus far, been very frustrating. Freaking dresses. I only get to do this once, so it has to be a good one. But I'm not really willing to pay half my yearly income for 5 feet of fabric and lace.
Again, I'm picky.

The first real dress-trying-on excursion was fun at least. I took my 3 besties, Kaleigh, Lori, and Meagan, and we headed up to our nearest David's Bridal. I tried on 8 (I think?) dresses, Lori and Meagan took a bunch of pictures, and Kaleigh wrote no less than 3 pages of notes. What good friends I have. In the end, none of the dresses were just right, but the experience was the best I've had so far.




This one is pretty close, except I feel a bit like a dollop.....whipped cream anyone?





okay, not so bad.....





except I'm a cupcake.....





Pretty stinkin' close.....I love this fit and this neckline, but perhaps it's a little fussy-looking?





















Discussing the finer points of a sweetheart mermaid with a trumpet skirt and circle-cut train...



Come back soon for more fun!!

W & E

THE RING

I'm picky. Let's just start there.
I tried on gobs of rings. Little rings, big rings. Diamond rings, gemstone rings. Rings with rocks as big as my face that cost more than my life, rings that were imitation everything that probably came from a gumball jewelry dispenser at CiCi's.....
On the first round of ring shopping, I took Laney. She's a good friend. We went to every jewelry store in the mall, and at the end of it I still wasn't sure of what I wanted. I found one at Kay Jewelers that was lovely but was one that cost as much as my life, and then I found a more reasonably priced one at Zales that Rob said looked like a football stadium (thanks again for that...). But then I was trying on rings with aquamarine as the center stone, not sure if I wanted a diamond. And that was just the first day.
Pretty much every time I was at the mall after that I looked through most if not all the jewelry stores. Diamond? Quartz? Square? Round? Matching diamondy band?
Finally I decided I wanted a vintage-feeling diamond ring that would go with a plain and simple band. So on that fateful day E said, "So, do you want to go look at rings?", I was ready with a plan.
But, I'm picky. We went to Kay and Helzberg, but didn't get very far. Next we went to Zales. The first thing I said to the person helping us was, "I'm very picky. I want something with a vintage feel that I can wear with a plain band. What have you got?". About ten rings and half an hour later, we're running out of options. Our darling sales lady says, "Hmm. Okay, I've got one more that fits your criteria. Let's try that.". And lo and behold, the heavens opened and the light shone down upon the sparkles radiating off my left hand. It was pretty magical. I looked at E and told him it was THE ring. We freaked out for a while before deciding to take a walk and talk it over. No less than 15 minutes later we were back in the store, handing over our credit cards to put that beautiful baby on layaway (thank you, America, for making that possible). For a while I seriously considered sending our sales lady flowers.


And now for a note about money and rings.....
E and I split the cost of the ring. We did this because:
1. Rings are expensive. I didn't expect or want him to fork over serious cash so I could just sit there and wear it.
2. I'm the one who gets to wear it, so I felt I should chip in.
3. We were and are against starting our life together in debt, and with combined funding, we could get a bigger ring sooner!
4. We're a team! Therefore, we are equals. We are each capable of earning a living, so why should it be his sole responsibility to foot the bill?
All that being said, that's just us. I think it's just as lovely for a man to save for months and secretly buy something wonderful (see: David and Meagan; Kaleigh and Austin). So no judgment on how you and yours went or will go about this issue, but I wanted to share where we stood.
So that's my story.





Stay tuned.
W & E

First things first...

So, first of all, welcome to our blog. We're so happy to have you here, reading about the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of planning a wedding. But before we start talking dresses and place settings, you should know where the story really started.

One night in January 2009, WE (this stands for Westin & Eugene. clever, right?) were each just stumbling around the internet, minding our own business. Then W stumbled across E's website, E noticed, and sent W a message that simply said, "Hi!!". What resulted from that tiny word (it was really the multiple exclamation marks that got me...) was a whirlwind romance including trips back and forth between Oklahoma City and Eufaula, lots and lots and lots of long-distance phone calls, and three words written across a poster board. We then decided we couldn't live without each other, which resulted in some relocating and ring shopping. Some months later, E totally surprised W with THE ring and pretty much the sweetest proposal that ever happened. And now here we are, planning a wedding.
(and that's the short version!)

So thinks again for reading. We promise to tell you lots of neat things about us and what to expect at our wedding, and maybe we'll even make you laugh a little. Or at least smile?

Come back soon.

Love,
W & E





P.S. All posts from here on out will be written by me, Westin. So no more of this cheesy WE stuff.... ;)