Weddingbee boards

@goldie602 Bummer about the park.  We had ours there 1.5 years ago on Saturday.  It's a beautiful location.  We loved it and so did our guests.

For any other Bees looking at mellon, I have a few tips.  First we opted not to do the PCA as it was way out of our budget.  Instead we rented the Westinghouse Rec Center now called the Forest Hills Lodge.  It was in our budget and didn't have any restrictions.  You can also look into local hotels for conference/banquet rooms.  In the immediate area you have the new one in Bakery Square and the one near Shadyside hospital.  I also know that the Holiday Inn in Oakland has a banquet room.  And all are within 5-10 min away.  Plus if it rains on your wedding day, those places could be your backup plan.  =)  You could also check into what the Carnegie Library has by way of room rentals or the museum.

Renting the walled garden of the park was around $125 when we did but I don't doubt if it's $150 now.  And just because you have rented it doesn't mean that you might run into someone else in the park that day.  I don't mean another wedding but we had Shakespeare in the Park there the day of our wedding.  And didnt' know they were going to be there until a few nights before when we happened to notice it being advertised.  We called the theatre group organizer and she was more than happy to perform at the far edge of the park away from our wedding.

Get yourself a microphone system.  The street traffic and the normal issue of people being afraid to sit up close means that most people won't hear a word you said.  But there is more than enough beauty for them to take in if they can't hear you and loose attention.