This is where we say "I DO"

I mentioned before that our ceremony will be held in a park. Pelham Bay Park to be exact. It is 2766 acres making it New York City's largest park. It's more than 3 times the size of Manhattan's Central Park. Visitors to the park enjoy miles of bridle paths and hiking trails, Orchard Beach, the Bartow-Pell Mansion, two golf courses, and a breathtaking 13-mile saltwater shoreline that hugs Long Island Sound.

Our ceremony will be at the Victory Memorial which is a beautiful winged statue memorial to the fallen war veterans.
TTFN (ta ta for now).The Bronx Victory Column and Memorial Grove, along Crimi Road, honors servicemen from the Bronx who lost their lives defending their country. Built in 1933, the 75-foot-tall limestone column supports a bronze statue of Winged Victory.

The statue at the very top

I plan on having the chairs for guests on the lower platform on two sides forming an aisle. The wedding party will be on the stairs on a diagonal and we will be on the top step with the officiant at the very top.
This is my little man modeling for us.

it's kinda hard to see, but this is the side view I found on their website. This is where the wedding party will be walking in from. We will all be in the back of the monument (it's very, very large) and the guys will come out from the left and the ladies from the right. When spring starts and the grass and other plants are green and lush, I will really get some great pictures. I think we'll also do our engagement shoot there. These were taken a few days ago. I will tell you how we'll decorate in another post.

Is anybody familiar with this park? Tell me what you think...

So we signed the contract (PT 2)

So where was I? Oh yes, so Mr. Muscle told me not to worry because he was certain the man would call me back as he seriously doubted that there was any "other couple willing to pay full price". Of course he was right because about 10 minutes later the man called back, still trying to explain "his situation". I told him to put himself in our shoes and even if he had meant to say $1750, he had actually said $1650 and it just wasn't in our budget to go any higher.

Would you believe what the man who is also a Bishop said to me? He said that my guests would be bringing us money so we could cover the cost. After I picked my jaw off the floor, I said what?!!! "Sir this is certainly not why we're inviting people to our wedding, we want our family and friends to come and celebrate with us". The SOB said, "weddings are big business , maybe you should have different friends". Among many other things like God will provide the money. I told him that God could also provide us another place to have our reception. Can you believe that? This is a bishop who leads a congregation and whom people look up to. I was done. I said there was no way in hell I would do business with this guy. Well he kept calling me back and even offered to give us the price we had first told us, (even if he still denied it).

Mr. Muscle said we should just take it since he knew how stressed I was about not having a venue at 5 months before our wedding. To be honest, we really love the place. It's exactly what I wanted our event venue to look like, but just dealing with this guy who was so unchristianlike was so - for lack of a better word 'disheartening'. In the end, we took the place but I let Mr. Muscle handle the contract and deal with this guy. I still don't feel 100% good about it but I am relieved that we got a venue, since everything else can now be decided.

Just thought I would share my story with you. I'm exhausted now.

TTFN (ta ta for now).

So we signed the contract...

for our venue. As you can see from my post title, I'm not as happy as I had expected I would be and that's all because of the negotiation process. I swear it left me with a dirty feeling. First of all, I prepared a list of questions and called the "man in charge" yesterday. Most of my questions were answered as I was hoping he even said that we could have wine, just no 'hard' liquor like whisky or vodka etc. so I told him we would come to make our first deposit today.

Lo and behold, when we called him to tell him we were on our way, he asked me what price he had quoted me. I told him it was $1650. That does not include anything but the banquet hall, and tables and chairs, no linens or anything else. We also get to use the kitchen for heating things up and organizing food service etc. We thought that was initially high considering our budget but we kinda moved things around to accommodate it because we really loved the place. It doesn't need any decorating except for our table decor. Well the esteemed gentleman said that he didn't remember telling us that and the price he remembered was $2000. You can imagine how stunned I was, here we had tried so hard to move things around to make this happen and this swindler was changing things on us.

Anyway I told him there was no way we could make that. He tried all kinds of tricks saying that it was costing him XYZ and he had to provide us with AC for the entire time and that he had another couple come to see the place the day before who were willing to pay full price. I was so mad, Mr. Muscle was even more pissed. So we told him to let the other couple have it since weren't going to pay a penny more than $1650 and hung up on him. I was seriously distressed at this point. I'm sorry to leave you hanging at this point but my DOC is here now and we have to go over a few things. I promise I will continue this story later.



TTFN (ta ta for now).

Venue Part 1

I FOUND A PLACE! I FOUND A PLACE! well, sort of (ha ha). My FH works with the health department and as part of his job, he goes out counseling and testing for stuff (eeww) no not really just like diabetes and high blood pressure and stuff like that.

Anyway, to make a really long story short, on Valentine's day, yes Valentine's Day, they went to this church for testing and he texts saying "I FOUND A PLACE". Of course I immediately went into question mode, texting back all kinds of questions until he had to turn his phone off cause he really couldn't get any work done. Well he initiated it, so...

Well, it turns out that the church owns a building that is just for hosting affairs. So we called them up on Tuesday and made an appointment for Wednesday of that week. We went to see the place and I was not overly optimistic but I just really wanted to get the venue booked. Any venue at this point to get the ball really rolling. Only 5 months to go. I'm rambling, aren't I.

It turns out the place is gorgeous. Gorgeous I tell ya. I mean there's a ginormous chandelier in the center over the dance floor, and some amazing light sconces on the walls. This place has something like a 20ft ceiling or something with fantastic drapery.

I found one picture on their website but if we decide to take it, i'll take some and post them for you guys to see.


But here comes the downside.
1. Because it's a church building, there's to be no alcohol at all. Bummer cause I know most of my guests like to throw back a little sum sum.

2. The other thing is that now the ceremony is 11 minutes away by car.

3.Again because it's a church building I feel that my guests will somehow be restricted or limited in their dancing. Since I guess our DJ won't be able to play certain songs, not dirty songs but just real dance songs.

4. It's a lot more than I would have wanted to pay.

We are yet to sign a contract since the price kinda threw us a bit, so we'll see. For now our date is still open. Wish us luck.

We have to see just one more place and and if that doesn't do it, we're going to have to bite the bullet and go for it.


TTFN (ta ta for now).

8 Months left and still no venue.

I live in NY and I haven't been able to find a place to have our reception yet and I only have 8 months till our date. I know, I know that was the first thing we should have done after we set a date but i'm working on it now. I need a place that will allow me to do everything myself. I need a blank slate so I can paint my masterpiece exactly as I want. I did find a few places but they were either too expensive, they insisted on catering, or the place was just plain wrong. Oh well, the hunt continues...

Where in the world?

I have a little over eight months left and I still haven't booked a place yet. I've always wanted to have an outdoor ceremony and I had the perfect place. A friend of a friend offered me her home in Connecticut. She had over 2 acres of land, an outdoor pool for hosting cocktails around and everything just seemed to fit perfectly and the best part is that it was free. Well since the hated economy pulled the stunt that it did, she now has her house on the market, so that's out. So then I started calling up country clubs or other wedding sites, I couldn't believe the prices they were asking to host an outdoor ceremony and a reception indoors. It seemed crazy to spend that much money on a five hour event, even if it is my wedding. I realised that it was pretty much the same thing every where I called or visited. Apparentely when vendors hear the word wedding, their prices suddenly quadruple. It's ridiculous.

I kept seeing a park as a good option on many websites or blogs, so I called up my park and recreations city office and was told that I could have my wedding there for only - wait for it- $25 for the permit. That's it, that's the only cost, and I can take all the pictures I want after or before the ceremony. And guess what, I have just the park, it's so pretty. My FH and I are going to drive there in a few days to see where the best spot would be for us. I'll take some pictures for you.

There are a few issues with that option though, for instance I can't use any flower petals or anything that will cause any damage like stakes in the ground or anything like that. Honestly, that's not a problem for me. The park has such pretty flowers and well manicured grass that I wouldn't need to do that much anyway. I also have the option of having a beach wedding since the park borders the beach. I may get seats for our grandparents, but I figured the other guests won't mind standing for a 30 minute ceremony. I could rent chairs but I think it would be a really big hassle since they would have to be delivered way in advance and because it's a public park, someone would have to be there to watch over them and that's just too much. It would take hours to set up and deliver and pick up and clean up for a 30 minute ceremony and I just don't want to give that hassle to anyone. It should be a happy day for everybidy especially us. I don't want to have to worry about anything.