totally lost mind and found wedding site!

[firebirdgold]

Ok, I''ve gone crazy, I''ve found the perfect place to have our wedding and we''re not even engaged! Please hit me!

But I''m really excited about it so I just had to share.

It''s an inn next to the beach on the Oregon Coast. It''s a perfect oregon sandy beach complete with a big rock in the water. The inn is perfect with fireplaces and super classy decor, and.... It''s all Craftsman style! My favorite! It''s right next to a, get this, micro brewery/pub with craftsman style banquet rooms with perfect views of the ocean. My bf is from Oregon and he''s a beer fanatic (In a good way), so he is always going on about the great oregon microbrews we can''t get here.

The pub specializes in fish dishes fresh from the ocean and the menus sound very satisfactory. Everything from beer-battered fish and chips to salmon with soba noodles! I know fish and chips are not most people''s idea of reception food, but I think it sounds fun. ?? Any howls of objection?
And it would be a good way to combine casual and cosy with elegant. I know he doesn''t want anything fussy or formal, and I''d like some classy touches.

I can already picture the banquet tables with lanterns etched with original craftsman style designs with greenery and a few flowers swirled around the bases. Maybe richly colored morris fabric table runners.

Food and drink combined would probably only cost about $60 a person! I can etch the lanterns myself, while my mother can sew the table runners from the fabric. The room is so lovely it only needs minimal decorations, mostly greenery. The pub works jointly with the inn to create a seamless wedding, the perfect beach is right outside the door, and they have beautiful spaces for an emergency indoor ceremony in case of wind. (There is nothing scarier than the budget planner on theknot!)

In a word... Utterly perfect!

Argh! And I''m not even engaged! What on earth am I doing looking at wedding sites!

 

[E B]

It sounds absolutely perfect. Like you, I adore the craftsman style.

 

[sleeping beauty]

Hi Wren,

I dont think there is anything wrong with looking for wedding sites and not being engaged yet. Maybe that beacause i also did the same thing. I''m not engaged and i''m almost sure it wont be soon either. I''ll be a LIW for a while. Anyways, I already have my wedding site picked out have a rough draft of guest to be invited, a pretty good idea on the decorations for the site and church Yet NO RING!!! I just keep waiting and waiting and waiting but nothing. Hey my thoughts are that i need to keep myself occupied in something else besides the ring, so what better thing than start thinking about wedding details since i have heard its soooooooooo much work. Of course i have only shared this with you guys my fellow PS''s, if i told any one else they might take me to the nut house LOL. So my point is keep dreaming till it comes true.

 

[monarch64]

Hee hee, I say "who cares" if you''re planning already!!! You hear plenty of brides say they''ve been dreaming of their wedding day since they were little, so I don''t see anything wrong with it. If anything, you''ll be two steps ahead when you actually start planning WITH your fiance!

Just remember: no paper plates, and no cash bar...they are TACKY! LOL! (Yes, of course I am kidding!)

 

[sunkist]

Wren it sounds fantastic! I love the Oregon coast

And I think it would be cool to have fish and chips at a wedding too!

I think you will be able to pull this off beautifully! There''s no such thing as planning too far in advance, I think... BTW, so when do you think the engagement is coming?

 

[decodelighted]

I really can''t think of anything better! It sounds a) perfect b) different c) almost DONE!! Now I''m craving fish & chips!!!

 

[firebirdgold]

I''m so nuts about the craftsman style that I live in one of only twenty craftsman houses in my city!

Crossing my fingers the engagement should happen somewhere between May and late September. The good news is that he keeps making casual references to our engagement.
He should have his phd before May but I have a sneaking suspicion that he may not want to get engaged until after his little sister''s wedding in early Sept. (the dynamics are a bit odd).
Of course I would really really love it if we got engaged before my big sister''s wedding in late June. I just think that I may feel a bit blue being in Tuscany watching my sister get married without him and no ring or official engagement.

Oh great. I hadn''t thought of that before. Or being at his sister''s wedding meeting all of his family with no ring.

Ok, I''m putting my foot down before September, and I don''t care if..... *Deep breath* never mind.

Talk about having your wedding planned out! Ms. "I-don''t-believe-in-Marriage" finally admitted that she dreamed of getting married at this villa in Italy. Ahhhh! my sister''s getting Married!!! I don''t know what shocks me more, that she''s getting married, that she''s getting married in Tuscany this summer, or that she''s marrying someone the same age as my f-il''s! Oddly the fact that she''s getting married 9 months after meeting her fi doesn''t bother me in the least. Sorry, I''m really happy about it and it just happened last weekend so it hasn''t sunk in yet.

Anyway back on track, one of the best parts of this inn and pub combo is that I just know he''ll love it! We both will.

hmmm. speaking of fish and chips, I wonder if I can get them to make sweet potato chips? I discovered them in Maine last year on a business trip. Anyone ever had them?

 

[E B]

Date: 2/18/2006 1:16:08 AM
Author: Wren

hmmm. speaking of fish and chips, I wonder if I can get them to make sweet potato chips? I discovered them in Maine last year on a business trip. Anyone ever had them?

I get these chips at Whole Foods called "Terra Chips", and I think some of them are sweet potato chips (there''s a variety). If so, they''re amazingly delicious.

 

[anchor31]

Don''t worry, I''ve been looking at venues too!! And freaking out because I can''t seem to find "the perfect place", even though the wedding won''t be before 2½-3 years...

The venue you found sounds fabulous!! I would love to find something like that.

 

[Selkie]

Wren, sometimes after reading your posts I wonder if we were separated at birth! The sapphires, ring styles we like, etc. I ADORE craftsman style stuff. I''m in the LA area, where there are quite a number, and every once in while we''ll pass one that makes me leave nose prints on the car window. And that place in Oregon sounds amazing. Fish and chips, and microbrews, yum! I''m thinking of a lobsterbake myself, since we''re probably having both the (informal) ceremony and reception on a schooner.

Selkie

 

[firebirdgold]

Date: 2/18/2006 12:15:03 PM
Author: Selkie
Wren, sometimes after reading your posts I wonder if we were separated at birth! Selkie

Heh! It does sound like it.

I''ve been wracking my brains trying to find someplace we''d both love, but I''d been limiting myself to beaches that are warm in the winter. January 07 is the earliest we could get married (housing issues, complicated) So of course that''s when I wanted to get married! ASAP.
Anything foreign is out. Anything east of Miss is out. Hawaii would be immediate family only and 8 people plus us just doesn''t seem like enough of an event to make it ''real''. San diego is a) scrubby IMO and b) all the places I like are too posh for him. Malibu is a) still scrubby, and b) my mother would turn into Momzilla and take over the wedding. Santa Barbara is still too close to my parents for comfort.
But once I discarded the season as a limiting factor, the Oregon coast was the clear choice. So I went online friday to frommers and looked at every single hotel on the coast. (And now I have to work all weekend to make up for it!) This one just jumped out at me! http://www.innatcapekiwanda.com/home.html
It''s so perfect that I can hardly restrain myself from telling him.

Now my only problem will be my parents. Well, I just won''t tell my mother about the fish and chips and most especially the beer until it''s too late.

You''d never know I was 33!

Oh, in context of fish and chips, I meant sweet potato french fries! I wonder if it''s a Maine thing? My knowledge of the east coast is a bit... vague.

 

[Cailet]

ooo - your place DOES sound perfect!!
I''ve been looking at EVERYTHING already and we haven''t even gone ring shopping yet.

So I don''t think it''s too weird. Just don''t let the folks on the Knot know - they will tear you apart! I browse around there every once in a while but I will never post there until it is offiicial - that''s for sure!

 

[Selkie]

Wren, too funny, we''re even the same age.

I''m from Massachusetts, and spent a fair amount of time in Maine on vacations, but I don''t know that the sweet potato fries are particularly a Maine thing. What area were you in when you had them?

Cailet, what''s the deal with the Knot? I have avoided that site for the most part, but from the sounds of it they''re a little high maintenance, or something?

 

[firebirdgold]

Date: 2/18/2006 9:11:19 PM
Author: Selkie
Wren, too funny, we''re even the same age.


I''m from Massachusetts, and spent a fair amount of time in Maine on vacations, but I don''t know that the sweet potato fries are particularly a Maine thing. What area were you in when you had them?


Cailet, what''s the deal with the Knot? I have avoided that site for the most part, but from the sounds of it they''re a little high maintenance, or something?

Well, that''s one way we''re different. I''m LA born and bred, whenever I visited family on the east coast I always thought it was like visiting an alien planet. So green. Heh, the first time I saw a maple changing colors I thought it was diseased! Sad to say I was 17 at the time.

Portland, Maine. At the couple of places I ordered something with fries, I got sweet potato fries automatically. So I figured it was a northeast kind of thing. Very yummy.

Yes, I''m curious about the knot as well. I''ve poked around some but not into the forum parts. Are they unfriendly to LIW''s? I like some of the articles and the pictures, but I find it a bit... commercial, and lacking in any depth for local resources. Granted, it''s not like New Mexico has any resources.

 

[Selkie]

I just checked out the website of the Inn. It looks amazing, sort of secluded and rustic, but with all the amenities. If he doesn''t love it he''s nuts.

Hah, I still think of LA as being an alien planet, and I''ve been here six years now. It''s so BROWN! You know what they say about autumn in LA? It''s when the birds turn colors, and fall out of the trees...

Speaking of microbreweries, did you go to Gritty MacDuff''s Pub in Portland? If you go again you should check it out. Awesome beer and food.

 

[firebirdgold]

Date: 2/19/2006 11:57:23 PM
Author: Selkie
I just checked out the website of the Inn. It looks amazing, sort of secluded and rustic, but with all the amenities. If he doesn't love it he's nuts.


Hah, I still think of LA as being an alien planet, and I've been here six years now. It's so BROWN! You know what they say about autumn in LA? It's when the birds turn colors, and fall out of the trees...


Speaking of microbreweries, did you go to Gritty MacDuff's Pub in Portland? If you go again you should check it out. Awesome beer and food.

LOL! I'll admit LA is seasonally-challenged. But after 6 years in New Mexico, it seems nice and humid!

I'm sure he will love it. I hope.
Although I'm starting to think that he's really an alien. There is no way this man is the same species as us. Right after saying that my sister with her, er, minimalist approach was the 'right idea' and he'll "limit me to some sanity lest I drive him insane with a theatrical production" (me?!?), he said that he had better taste than fish and chips for a wedding. Sushi. ookay. Don't get me wrong, I love sushi, it's a great idea. But how did he go from agreeing with my sister's no flowers, no lighting, no music, no dress, no decorations, no special vows, no priest, no food other than antipasto and wine, no sitting down, etc.. wedding.... to 'I want sushi'? Ok, technically it's finger food, but still a bit of a gap from the 'less planning than my last dinner party' method.
I keep getting this dreadful feeling he's going to turn into a form of groomzilla! LOL. And in case anyone is wondering what a groomzilla looks like, they have really really long fuzzy ears!

Anyway, I don't think we went to MacDuff's, but I have a dreadful memory. Mostly old haunts and Mcm... Great, I can't pronounce it, I can't spell it, but it's the chain that makes the amazing ruby beer. YUM.

ETA: In case you're wondering why I sound rather grumpy about my sister's plans (other than my bf saying he's marrying the wrong sister), it's because I have been delgated to squashing our mother's enthusiasim and attempts to transform the event into something more traditional.

Personally I've voting horse valium in her oatmeal.

 

[sumbride]

Can you take him there? If you show him how awesomely wonderful it is, then say... they do weddings here... wouldn''t this be perfect for our wedding.... maybe it would sort of inspire him.

of course, my bf is totally cool with looking at venues, but still not quite THERE yet.

 

[firebirdgold]

Date: 2/21/2006 10:24:23 AM
Author: sumbride
Can you take him there? If you show him how awesomely wonderful it is, then say... they do weddings here... wouldn''t this be perfect for our wedding.... maybe it would sort of inspire him.


of course, my bf is totally cool with looking at venues, but still not quite THERE yet.

I have it all planned out. We''re going to one of his best friend''s wedding at the end of August near Bend Oregon. His sister''s wedding is about 2 weeks from that up near Portland, and he was thinking of staying the whole time. I can''t stay the whole time, but I should be able to swing enough time to convince him to take a mini side trip to the coast. At that point he''ll either have a full blown case of wedding-phobia or be nicely mushy. So hopefully it''ll work out perfectly.

 

[sumbride]

That sounds awesome! Sometimes they have to be shown things! And you know what, he''ll probably think it''s his idea to have it there.