Weddingbee boards

Okay, I'm extremely type A. I like things to be organized and neat and proper and in their respective places. I'm high-stress. All the time. And that part of me feels compelled to be traditional and hold my reception in a large banquet hall with elaborate decorations where I can control every last detail. Plus, FI comes from a large Italian family and that's what they're expecting.

And then there's the other part of me. The part that loves the fluidity of water and the wind and the absolute escape of nature. And that part of me really, REALLY wants to have an outdoor wedding with a few strands of white lights strung from the trees and a beautiful lake as the backdrop.

Enter situation: We've found a few venues that meet the traditional hall criteria. They cost between 20-40 per person. And those are the cheap ones.

We've also found a beautiful lake park that will give us the entire park to ourselves, with a beautiful wedding deck over the lake to have the ceremony and a reception hall for dancing. I don't have any specifics on the price yet, but my friend who works there says it's, "WAAAAYYYY less than that."

So. Convince me that controlling every little thing isn't worth it. Show me rain isn't the end of the world. Please post your photos of your outdoor wedding ceremony or reception!

@His Barista: Thank you so much! Everyone looks so happy!

Keep 'em coming, ladies!

Mine was on the beach, but here you go:

@NotYourTypicalBride: I'm pretty much in love. I LOVE the paper lanters and the lights! Did you have to buy them or did the venue provide them? And beach weddings are awesome and totally work for the puposes of this post, since there's still the water/trees element. Thank you! 

We had an outdoor ceremony and partial outdoor reception (some guest tables were inside some outside). Here are pics...

@Tonya2010: That's BEAUTIFUL! How did the semi-outdoor reception work? Because the reception hall at the outdoor venue is not quite large enough for my whole guest list + dancing... did it all flow well?

@Miss Fish: The lights were already there - the resort keeps them up all the time because they host a LOT of weddings. I brought the paper lanterns and they hung them for me. I SCOURED the web for the best prices, and found the cheapest ones here: www.paperlanternstore.com

@Mrs.tobe: Thanks!! It really was a perfect day!

@creativeplannertobee: Love your dress and birdcage veil! Any problems with a longer dress outside?

 @kingytobe: Your venue. *swoon.* That is going to make for some amazing pictures!

@NotYourTypicalBride: Thank you so much! I was actually just looking for them... haha!

@Miss Fish: Thanks! It went great. The majority of tables were inside, but we had all of the doors open (double glass doors) to the outside because the weather was great. The bar, pub tables, additional guest tables and music were outside, so no one stayed inside after dinner.

@NotYourTypicalBride: love love love your wedding! BEAUTIFUL!!!

@Tonya2010: Thank you! And I'm in love, love, love with your dress!

@NotYourTypicalBride: Thank you!! =)

@MzMarzipan: Gorgeous! I'm gonna ask you the same thing I asked NotYourTypicalBride- did you buy the lights, or were they there already? I'm kind of obsessed. And I love your shoes :) Any problems with them sinking into the ground though?

@bakerella: Ahhh, those are so gorgeous!! I love your red shoes and bolero! How many people were you able to fit under the tent?

We had an outdoor ceremony on the deck of our venue, which is a huge open floorplan with huge picture windows and doors so people spent a lot of time outside during the reception! Here's a few pictures - I couldn't have loved it more even though it was so windy :)

@artbee: I love your dress! Beautiful pictures! I agree that it would be a lot easier to have an indoor option... the reception hall on cite is able to hold somewhere around 350 people, which is what we are expecting actually (yeah I know, massive wedding!!!) But it's on 2 levels. There's the bottom floor and then a sort of loft type thing above it. I feel like people can deal with it, though. It wouldn't be the end of the world, right?

@MrsWrangler: Your venue is breathtaking; it sort of reminds me of the one I'm thinking of actually! And your dress is awesome!

@bakerella: Is the cost of the tents relatively affordable in comparison to renting a hall? And do they make them any bigger than that?Just brainstorming about possibilities here... the reception hall would probably work just fine but I'd like people to be able to be near each other without the separation of two levels, you know?

Lol this is what I get for marrying into a huge Italian family...

@Asparagus: That is going to be so unique and personal! I love that you get use of the fireplace! It has a lot of character, it's awesome.

@AnnieAAA: You are such a beautiful bride! Paper lanterns are my new favorite thing. Do you know what size those are? All the sites I've been on offer tons and tons of sizes, and I'd like to have some kind of reference as to how they would look, if that makes sense... I also really like the covered dance floor idea, maybe something like that could work for us.

@bakerella: You are officially the best. The venue we're looking at offers pretty much everything- tables, chairs, food, drinks, linens... pretty much the whole shebang. So I think all that's lacking is the tent and the dance floor!

Keep the pictures coming, ladies! FI is really excited that I'm obsessing over the outdoor photos!

@Miss Fish: FYI, I also used different size lanterns - 10" (blue), 12" (green), 16" (orange) and 18" (white)... I think if you have enough of the larger ones, and you can hang them close together, you can get away with some smaller ones and save some $$ that way. The larger the space/the higher they're hung, the more you'll need of the larger sizes.

@AnnieAAA: and @NotYourTypical Bride- Thank you so much! I have no idea what sizes I'll need or how high they'll be hung, but I have TONS of time to figure that out. I love all of these pictures! You're doing a really good job of convincing me... now all I'm waiting on is an estimate from the owner...

In case you were wondering, I have some pictures of the venue! Unfortunately it's just the deck and the hall though, no good pics of the potential outdoor reception area. (Sorry the pics are massively huge!)

@Miss Fish: It's beautiful!!!!  By the way, keep in mind that when you use outdoor space, you usually don't need to decorate nearly as much...  saves $$ and time/effort!

@NotYourTypicalBride: Thank you! I love it, too... just waiting on a price estimate haha. But for corporate picnics and such they're somewhere around 15 dollars per person, and that's for a WAY bigger menu than we would ever need (like over ten items!). Hopefully they'll work with us and make it happen, because I'm really into the idea now! And one of my BMs works catering there... so fingers crossed!

Oh, and did I mention it's 104 acres rented exclusively to the individual party?!

@Miss Fish: I just noticed you're from Youngstown. My husband is from Warren, and he wants to know where the venue is?? :)

Haha, wow, small world! It's not actually in- or really around- Youngstown. It's in Novelty at Weigand's Lake Park, which is about an hour from here. But pretty much all of our guests live between here and there, so it wouldn't be more than an hour for anyone! Except out of town guests, but they would need to get a hotel anyway so it doesn't really matter.