Lets Talk Wedding: Photographer, Date and Venue

These were the first three things that were priority on my list: Photographer, Date and Venue. I had to pick the date first because I needed a date to give the photographer. I have always wanted to get married in September, but this year my Alma Matter had a home football game EVERY Saturday in September...so, September was out. Yes, I'm that girl who schedules my wedding around football...get over it!!! :) I looked at the last weekend in August, but that would have been pretty stressful b/c Ken and I were in Minnesota two weeks before the date. I knew that wasn't fair to my mom to not be around. So, we went to October. I really wanted it to be the first weekend, but now that we had a month we started talking to our pastor. We knew we couldn't do it without him! We absolutely LOVE him!!!! Because of a family vacation my brother was taking, it was between two dates...October 3rd and October 24th. I so badly was hoping it would be the 3rd, but at first we thought that was the weekend the Men's retreat was scheduled for. Fortunately, we found out the Men's Retreat at church that our pastor was teaching at was on the 24th....so we had our date!!!! October 3rd!!!!

Next? Photographer!!! I had found my photographer a long time ago (well, maybe 6 months to a year before the engagement) and called them first. I love photography and I love looking at different sites online. And of course, I always knew God would bring me someone and I would need a photographer. :) I had looked at SOOOO many different photographers in Oklahoma. There are many good ones. BUT, Storybook Wedding Photography was far superior to any that I had seen. Now, the one thing that I noticed what that the photographers who do not post their prices online are WAY over-priced...so I discarded them immediately. And, the pictures at Storybook were so much better than any of the photographers that didn't list their prices anyway....so, I got the best in all areas!!! Another thing I just love about Storybook is that they give you a CD with copyrights to all your photos! I LOVE that!!! I don't have to pay a fortune from those photographers that print their own pictures...AND, I can order whenever I want. I don't have to worry about them getting rid of my negatives. I called them and they had my date open!!! They were amazing to work with!!! They gave me references to help with finding a venue...which we were having a really hard time with!! Throughout the entire process they were so helpful! Two days before the wedding, my photographer (Sarah) called me and we went over everything...and she even called Ken to talk to him about some details so I didn't have to worry about it. Not only were they helpful and easy to work with, they have AMAZING talent!!!!And, then on to the Venue! This was a MUCH bigger issue! I thought this would be the easy part. There are PLENTY of places that we could have had it! It seems that even thought October isn't considered a busy "wedding" month, its busy for other things like reunions. We booked the church immediately and were excited b/c my parents' church was building a new building and it was looking beautiful! The reception was a little more work. I really was hoping to have it at this place called "The Barn." I thought this was PERFECT for us....but it was booked....every week until October 24th (of course). I still see these pictures and just fall in love with it!!! However, I LOVED our reception! And, we would have stressed A LOT b/c there was rain everyday up until the day of our wedding! So, God was very good to intercede. From here, we tried anything we could think of....from hotels, the zoo, the aquarium, the air and space museum, golf clubs, chapels, garden center, German society and even my parents' back yard! We called EVERYWHERE we could think of!!!! Our final choices (and seemed like our only choices that weren't booked already) were the Renaissance Hotel and The Zoo. I was really pushing for the zoo because it was fun and different (and would have GREAT photo opps), but my mom was worried about how far we would have to walk in our dressy clothes and "what if it RAINS?". We had appointments with both places. Before our appointments, Ken and I had some errands to run. While running these errands, it was POURING!!!!! My first thought was, "I really DON'T want my guests to have to walk in this kind of rain....or any rain!" If it rained, people don't want to have to walk in their fancy clothes through it!!!! Plus, rain takes away from all interesting, fun photo opps. And, the biggest reason, I didn't want people to skip the reception due to rain. As all of this was on my mind, one of the errands we were running just happened to be in the same area as the zoo. In a BAD area!!! Then I started thinking that it really wouldn't be good if any of our guests got lost after dark in this area. I was starting to lose hope on the zoo. The Renaissance appointment was first. As we were exiting off the highway, you can almost reach out and touch the hotel. It made me realize how EASY it was for our guests to get there and it was SOOOO much closer to the church than the zoo. Yet, again, it made me think, "I don't want our guests to skip the reception because the zoo is so far away." Ken and I (and my dad) walked into the Renaissance and we immediately made up our mind. Ken and I both thought it was PERFECT!!! Plus, we got a free room on the wedding night! We cancelled our appointment at the zoo. And we signed a contract with Melissa (at The Renaissance)!!!! Our favorite wedding coordinator!!! When my mom got there, she was excited b/c they have a Starbucks at the hotel!!!! Here are some pictures of The Renaissance and their wedding receptions:

A few months later, my mom, Ken's mom, and I ate lunch there. It was really good!!!! I was hoping the catering for events was as good as their restaurant. We didn't get to have a taste test, but they were working with our budget so I wasn't going to push for that.