I honestly have never planned a wedding before, so I didn't know all the things that go into it. I mean we've got wedding books, magazines, and brochures for days. All of these different vendors wanting our business. It's pretty crazy really. One place to gather all these companies together in one place is at a bridal festival. Now, I had never been to one, and I didn't even want to go to this one but I could tell Monica wanted me to go. So last Sunday, Monica, her mother, and I all headed back up to the city of Loveland to attend their bridal festival at some ranch out there. This festival was one we wanted to attend because we wanted to know what kind of vendors Northern Colorado had because we're getting married right there. I was pretty surprised that I wasn't the only guy, but there was no question that this event was directed toward the ladies. Our mission was to find a florist, photographer, a bakery for the cake, and just whatever else we came across. Our budget has been increased from when I initially posted last year due to the amount of people we're expecting. And I'll tell ya, a lot of these vendors didn't want to help us keep our costs low!! We're spending a bit more on the photographer for the wedding, but we decided that this is going to be the only way we can remember the wedding, so our budget needed to be increased for that portion. The company we're rolling with actually will provide us two photographers for the entire day, full access to all the pictures, three photo books, and a few photo mosaics (Google the word if you don't know what it is). All in all we're getting a very good deal. Monica fell in love with another flower, a blue dendrobium orchid, and I have a feeling we'll be seeing some of those at the wedding. If you don't know what one of those looks like, check the picture from my blog posting on Tuesday. It has a picture of one.
One of the cool things about these festivals was all the prizes they give away. We didn't happen to win any, but Monica was VERY close to winning us a free honeymoon! She was selected with seven other brides to dig in a cake for one of six keys. They then all took turns attempting to open a lock box. Whichever key opened the box, won the vacation. Monica's didn't open it. Ah well. Check the video out at the bottom though, and you can see the cake madness, hehe.
It was a good trip up to Loveland, and we now have a photographer, florist, and a possible place to do the cake, although we have to go back up for a tasting. All the decisions to make for one night is just crazy. Happy Friday all!
