Weddings, Weddings, Weddings
Well, after the engagement, follows the wedding. And so starts all the hard work!
We thought it best to do it before my current visa runs out, which is the very beginning of April, as renewing that again without being married may not be straightforward, and apparently once we are married my visa status changes and I should get one that matches Gordon’s in length of time. We decided against March, as we would love to get some photos with the snow, and we thought by March that would probably all be gone. So we opted for February, as any earlier than that would be too much of a rush.
We looked at various venues. You can get married anywhere here, the place itself does not have to be licensed, only the person who marries you has to be licensed. We originally thought of going up into Wisconsin as there are some places there that do sleigh rides, and their websites said they also cater for weddings. Also, going that much further north would mean more likelihood of snow. In actual fact, when I called them, they all said the only weddings they have ever done were summer ones, and they seemed to think I was a bit mad to request a February outdoor wedding! But it sounded magical, as they would do a bonfire and sleigh ride, and the ceremony could be held in a barn. So we went one day to check a couple of places out. But the reality of it was that it was at least a 3 hour drive, which could be hellish if the weather is bad, and one of the places only had port-a-loos, and there is absolutely no way I am using one of them on my wedding day!!! This being our first winter here, it has been difficult to plan, as we just don’t know what to expect weather-wise at all, and we have heard wildly varying tales from locals of what we could get. So we decided it was safer to stay closer to home.
So after looking at a few local venues, we narrowed it down to 2 places: Independence Grove Forest Preserve for an outdoor venue, where we would have the ceremony in a pavilion by a lake, and stay for photos which would look stunning if there was snow and the lake was frozen. Then we would have gone to a local restaurant for a meal.
The Country Squire in Grayslake for an indoor venue. This was the old Sears mansion which has since been converted to a restaurant and has several function and banquet rooms. The whole thing, ceremony and meal, would be indoors but they have lovely gardens with a gazebo for outdoor photos.
Again, not knowing what the weather would do, and having tried the food at the Country Squire, which was fabulous, we opted for the indoor setting. So we booked for February 18th, and have since had our lives taken over with planning. It is going to be a pretty small affair, since we do not know that many people here yet, and there is only a small number of people coming over from the UK for it, since cost and timing is an issue.
So far we have booked the minister, a lady called Reverend Patty, ordered the cake, started talking flowers with the florist, set up gift registries at several stores, chosen the menus for the day, sent out invitations, and started planning the table decorations. The biggest thing still to do is to buy an outfit for me. Until then the colour scheme cannot be totally set, and flowers cannot be chosen. I am going shopping tonight for that with Hazel, so fingers crossed!
We thought it best to do it before my current visa runs out, which is the very beginning of April, as renewing that again without being married may not be straightforward, and apparently once we are married my visa status changes and I should get one that matches Gordon’s in length of time. We decided against March, as we would love to get some photos with the snow, and we thought by March that would probably all be gone. So we opted for February, as any earlier than that would be too much of a rush.
We looked at various venues. You can get married anywhere here, the place itself does not have to be licensed, only the person who marries you has to be licensed. We originally thought of going up into Wisconsin as there are some places there that do sleigh rides, and their websites said they also cater for weddings. Also, going that much further north would mean more likelihood of snow. In actual fact, when I called them, they all said the only weddings they have ever done were summer ones, and they seemed to think I was a bit mad to request a February outdoor wedding! But it sounded magical, as they would do a bonfire and sleigh ride, and the ceremony could be held in a barn. So we went one day to check a couple of places out. But the reality of it was that it was at least a 3 hour drive, which could be hellish if the weather is bad, and one of the places only had port-a-loos, and there is absolutely no way I am using one of them on my wedding day!!! This being our first winter here, it has been difficult to plan, as we just don’t know what to expect weather-wise at all, and we have heard wildly varying tales from locals of what we could get. So we decided it was safer to stay closer to home.
So after looking at a few local venues, we narrowed it down to 2 places: Independence Grove Forest Preserve for an outdoor venue, where we would have the ceremony in a pavilion by a lake, and stay for photos which would look stunning if there was snow and the lake was frozen. Then we would have gone to a local restaurant for a meal.
The Country Squire in Grayslake for an indoor venue. This was the old Sears mansion which has since been converted to a restaurant and has several function and banquet rooms. The whole thing, ceremony and meal, would be indoors but they have lovely gardens with a gazebo for outdoor photos.
Again, not knowing what the weather would do, and having tried the food at the Country Squire, which was fabulous, we opted for the indoor setting. So we booked for February 18th, and have since had our lives taken over with planning. It is going to be a pretty small affair, since we do not know that many people here yet, and there is only a small number of people coming over from the UK for it, since cost and timing is an issue.
So far we have booked the minister, a lady called Reverend Patty, ordered the cake, started talking flowers with the florist, set up gift registries at several stores, chosen the menus for the day, sent out invitations, and started planning the table decorations. The biggest thing still to do is to buy an outfit for me. Until then the colour scheme cannot be totally set, and flowers cannot be chosen. I am going shopping tonight for that with Hazel, so fingers crossed!
2 Comments:
Ill have the Steak Please! :)
OK, just tell me who you are and I will sort it!
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