This past weekend brought lots of wedding planning, and with it lots of upcoming blog posts. I am so excited about everything right now that it’s hard to imagine we didn’t have a place to get married a month ago.
Where to start - food, hotel, transportation, new events for a wedding weekend that have been planned, food, save the date cards?
I think I’ll start with the schedule of events. As I have mentioned before,
I love reading other people’s wedding blogs. One of the new trends in indie weddings is the weekend wedding and most of the blogs I read are written by indie brides.
I should point out that the weekend wedding is not an indie concept. Traditional weddings often have events that stretch on for days. But indie brides have not traditionally gone that route because, frankly, it can all be very expensive. Destination weddings are perfect venues for weekend weddings because everyone is away from home and it’s nice to have a built in group to socialize with when you want that, and time to be alone with your family when you want that.
So is a weekend-long, indie wedding on a budget is possible? I hope so, as long as we’re resourceful. If the
$2K bride and groom can do it on their budget, I think we can, too.
Enter, our weekend wedding.
On Friday evening everyone is invited to the home of our good friends Jim and Annemarie Dickerson (on the same property as Annemarie’s mother who happens to be my mother’s best friend) for a welcome picnic hosted by Don’s parents. The property (click the picture above to see an enlargement) is located about 3 miles or so from the hotel where we have reserved a room block (also owned by the Dickersons). The house is located on a river with really beautiful sunset views and it was built for hosting parties (complete with a row boat ice cooler for beer, an outdoor fireplace, a huge grill and and a tiki bar). And Jim and Annemarie, along with their three kids, are some of my favorite people. Annemarie was my very first friend; she and her mom were waiting at the house the day my parents brought me home to live with them. An Eastern Shore picnic is not just your standard hamburgers on the grill, by the way. Expect steamed crab and shrimp and corn on the cob - as long as we can easily get them at that time of year (it’s a little early).
Saturday’s main activity, of course, is the wedding and the party that follows.
Sunday morning - not too early - everyone is invited to the hotel’s Caribbean Key indoor pool for a bagel brunch to say goodbye. Toss back the the hair of the dog that bit you with a spicy bloody Mary, grab a bagel and smear, or just relax in the indoor hot tub. Everyone is invited, even those who choose not to stay at the hotel.
It should be a really fun weekend. I can hardly wait for the next six and a half months to pass.
On Friday evening everyone is invited to the home of our good friends Jim and Annemarie Dickerson (on the same property as Annemarie’s mother who happens to be my mother’s best friend) for a welcome picnic hosted by Don’s parents. The property (click the picture above to see an enlargement) is located about 3 miles or so from the hotel where we have reserved a room block (also owned by the Dickersons). The house is located on a river with really beautiful sunset views and it was built for hosting parties (complete with a row boat ice cooler for beer, an outdoor fireplace, a huge grill and and a tiki bar). And Jim and Annemarie, along with their three kids, are some of my favorite people. Annemarie was my very first friend; she and her mom were waiting at the house the day my parents brought me home to live with them. An Eastern Shore picnic is not just your standard hamburgers on the grill, by the way. Expect steamed crab and shrimp and corn on the cob - as long as we can easily get them at that time of year (it’s a little early).