jotting jennifer

I love me a cardigan. Nachos and I share a serious passion for the fabulous piece of clothing that is a cardigan.  I have them in dark colors, bright colors, long sleeve, short sleeve, cropped, boyfriend cut, embellished with sequins, featuring crocheted detailing. I may even be wearing one right now.

Enough about my cardigan obsession… The wheels in my mind were still spinning as the wheels on my car began to make a return trip to my office. With a March wedding, how perfect would cardigans be? They could help keep my favorite ladies warm in potential cold weather plus bring gray to the girls’ colorful dresses. That way the girls would be color with a pop of gray and the guys could be gray with a pop of color.

I’m not surprised that Mrs. Cardigan incorporated her namesake into her wedding. And in gray nonetheless! // Source: WeddingBee

Love the gray cardigans in different shades. // Source: Style Me Pretty

Sold! Sold! Sold! I was all about it. One of my bridesmaids who shall not be named (proof how much I love you) was not a fan of the idea. I kept trying to sell it to her “But it won’t be like a Mr. Rogers cardigan, think Kate Middleton wedding dress No.2 angora cardigan” “You only have to wear the cardigan for the ceremony and the pictures, throw it in a trash can at the reception.” She wasn’t buying it but I decided that was my first “I’m the bride!” moment. I wanted cardigans and cardigans I would get!

Well, after I put my foot down on that, I proceeded to have my first “OMG am I really obsessing over this?” moment. Ya know, that moment where you are so deep in wedding thought about something so absurd that you kind of want to punch yourself because you’re being THAT bride? Yeah, mhhmm, that moment. Mine? Fuchsia vs. Begonia.

I will not bore you with all the details of said struggle, but it revolved around the available colors of bridesmaid dresses to fulfill the pink quota in our palette. Turns out that fuchsia was the color I was looking for, it has similar undertones to the purple and blue that was available. Unfortunately, David’s Bridal, where I figured I would get the bridesmaid dresses from, doesn’t offer bridesmaid dresses in fuchsia. (But they offer prom dresses in fuchsia. I tweeted my dismay at them but they merely suggested begonia to me. Grrrrrr!) Seething with frustration, I decided finding the right shades of each of the three colors for the bridesmaid dresses would just be too difficult. So, after all my hemming and hawing over the different options, I was back to my original vision with a slight twist.

Long, chiffon gray dresses with cardigans! (But maybe in jewel tones… still undecided) // Source: Style Me Pretty

Did you state your authority as the bride on a decision that others didn’t like? Did you get caught up on something silly that you just decided to circumvent?

Things were beginning to line up with the where and the when of things. My brain began to go into overdrive and dream up ways to have non-naked bridesmaids. I mean, hey, if you’re into that thing, that’s cool but I prefer to have things left to the guests’ imagination.

Back in the day, in the very early planning process, I dreamt of charcoal gray dresses and jewel tone accessories for the girls. I knew I wanted long and chiffon, probably strapless with a sweetheart neckline.

This gets a thumbs up but didn’t have the neckline I was hoping for. And the price tag was double what I hoped. // Source: Loverly

Getting closer… but still expensive. // Source: Beauty and the Groom 

Then I started thinking and I was afraid if the girls were in gray and the guys were in gray then the whole wedding party would look like a big rain cloud with only a little bit of color. I may have to deal with real rain clouds on my wedding day, I don’t want to create one inside too. I want bright! fun! cheerful!

As previously Pinspired, I loved the idea of putting the girls in different colors, showing off the jewel tones and bringing brightness to a March wedding. I sought out additional inspiration posts to make sure my vision was something that could work.

Fun and bright bridemaids (and a touching moment with the flower girl) // Source: Beat Beat Heartbeat

I was sold on the brightness and boldness. But I got to thinking… if I have two MOHs, four ‘maids, a junior bridesmaid and two flower girls, that’s nine ladies and I have four jewel tones in our palette. I could pick and have one color more than the rest but that would bother me. Ahhh, must think more! Lucky for me, I used to do a lot of driving for my job and that proved to be the best time for brainstorming. One day, while passing some open fields in the middle of nowhere, a light bulb went off – change the palette! If I take one color away from the jewel tones, that makes three and the last time I checked, three went into nine quite nicely.

Now what color to lose… Blue is my favorite color so I wouldn’t get rid of that. If I removed pink, it would leave a peacock palette and I’m more of a zebra girl. So it was down to teal and purple. As my drive continued, I realized that flowers naturally come in purple, whereas teal doesn’t span across many blooms (if any). So there it was, our new color scheme. I quickly shot off texts to Homegurl and Sharpie, figuring I would ask them what colors they would prefer to wear and that would help dictate the order. Homegurl’s favorite color has always been pink so it was no surprise she chose that and Sharpie has amazeball blue eyes so she decided to complement them with blue. No thinking necessary by this bride, the palette was adjusted and organized thanks to my MOHs.

Ohhhhh, ahhhhhh, gasp! // Personal piece of art photo

My heart was going pitter patter now that the colors could be spread out evenly. There technically will be more maids in pink seeing the flower girls will represent two of the colors through accents but all in all, the colors were evenly dispersed. Joy!

The only problem… I kept thinking…. Stay tuned!

As you began to think about details, did you change your palette? Anyone else overthinking EVERYTHING?

Months were going by and we still hadn’t officially signed a contract with any vendor. I still wanted to see the reception venue around the future wedding date so once March rolled around, I was getting anxious. I was having issues remembering the feel of the venue. After having fallen in love with the open space of the Main Street Armory, every time I thought of the Webster Golf Club, I felt like the room was closing in on me. In my head, I could touch the ceiling flatfooted and it was only a couple of steps from one side of the room to the other. Pretty soon I was envisioning the Webster Golf Club smaller than a bathroom stall.

Mr. PB and I went back to Webster Golf Club in March with Mr. PB’s parents. This time I remember to take more photos to help convince me I was crazy about the size. (Which I definitely was) I may have even taken some videos just in case I needed additional reassurance. Note to brides: Never be shy with taking photos, especially seeing so many of us have smartphones.

Look how big the bar is! Somehow I still don’t think it will look empty at all during the night. // Personal photo

The club had just wrapped up a baby shower in half of the space so the retractable wall was up. We will have the entire space for our reception. Side note: those chairs are DYING for chair covers. // Personal photos

The host of the baby shower went out of her way not once but twice to let me know how great the food and service was. It was the icing on the cake and moments later, I was in the office with Mr. PB signing the papers. We officially had a wedding date AND a reception space!

Later that weekend, I contacted the chapel to make sure they were still available. Elizabeth sent me the policies and forms once again. But this time, they looked different. And the price increased. By about 30 percent. I couldn’t believe it.

I quickly called Elizabeth and asked her what had happened and how the pricing changed in five weeks. She was super kind and graciously offered to match the pricing we were originally quoted, even if we hadn’t signed a contract yet. Another note to brides: don’t be afraid to ask, you can’t get an awesome answer without posing the question first.

After the price was fixed, I found out all four time slots on our wedding day were still available so we could have whichever time we pleased. We chose a late afternoon time slot and I quickly sent in the deposit check!

A weight was definitely lifted off my shoulders once we had a definite time and place for our ceremony and reception. We were all set! Well, at least with these two items. There’s a couple hundred other items to take care of…

Did you have a misconstrued memory of a venue that a visit to the space helped fix? Did you feel like a huge weight was lifted off your shoulders once your spaces were settled?

Mr. PB and I were pretty sure we had found our venue but it’s lack of a good indoor ceremony space created a new problem for us.

With having my aunt as the officiant and the fact that neither Mr. PB or I are affiliated with a church, I had to start hunting for ceremony options. I began to do some research and after finding many dead ends and places I just didn’t think would work, the U of R Interfaith Chapel was discovered.

Hopefully the sky is that blue on our wedding day. // Source: University of Rochester

I contacted the chapel to inquire about contract information and pricing and Elizabeth, the contact, was very responsive and informative. Our date was completely open (the chapel schedules up to four weddings in a day) and we were able to get discounted pricing thanks to our March wedding. I quickly scheduled an appointment to meet with a wedding coordinator and see the venue.

 The altar and the beautiful stained glass. // Source: Chris & Luke

The only downfall to the ceremony space is that there is a short walk uphill from the parking lot to the chapel. Mr. PB, Mr. PB’s mom and I visited the chapel on a brisk January day and I couldn’t feel my nose by time I made it into the chapel. I’m concerned about the walk being too much for guests if the weather is not good.

Did everything about your ceremony space on the inside fit your vision but something outside unsettle you? Aren’t those windows up top to die for?