doodlenoodle

A very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our resident smartie, Tankgirl!!! I hope you have a wonderful birthday tomorrow :)

So lately I've been thinking about shifting the wedding venue from Atlanta to Charleston (where my parents live). The whole idea of getting married outside on the water sounds so nice. Sam seems to be up for whatever and doesn't really have a preference where we do it. So I've been looking at venues and stuff but I really just can't tell what's going to work for us. Why is everything so expensive? I mean the one place was $5400 just to rent the reception site! And then they estimated it was $75-$125/head for the food/drink. I mean seriously - do they think we are made out of money?

SO anyways, I've found 2 places I really like - one is owned by the town of Mt. Pleasant (next to Charleston) and my parents actually live in that town, so we could snag the venue for $950!! And the other is right on Shem Creek in Charleston and I don't know how much it is yet, but it seems pretty reasonable from the reviews. The plus of both of them is that we would bring in everything - food, drink, etc., so we could save a lot on the mark up that the other places charge just for the alcohol and stuff. But the downside is that we have to DO everything, like bring in all the chairs, tables, etc. And I feel time pressured because the place in Mt. Pleasant books up early, and even the month we are looking at (October 6, 2007) is already half filled for that venue. Who books this early? Crazy people.

I haven't even told my mom yet that I'm looking up there because I didn't want her to get upset if we decided against it. But I really think that's where I'm leaning now. I just hope we don't book some place and then I have a change of heart!

Oh and I actually called a wedding planner! I know....so not me. But I feel like it would be smart to talk to someone in Charleston to get some good ideas for venues, because after all they do this for a living. I just don't want to book a place that is too big for our reception. I think with it being an out of town wedding we'd only have like 70-90 people, and I don't want to be in some big place that feels like it's swallowing us up. So the planner is going to call me back - I just have no idea how those things work, like if I pay her for a conversation on the phone, or if she gives some free advice and then pay, or what. Guess I'll find out!!! I just wish I had the money to hire someone to do the whole thing for me!

I've had the biggest struggle with suits for a while now. My body just isn't cut right for the suits that they make where the waist comes at your actual waist. To me that is WAY too high for me. I like it when pants come right below my belly button because that is right below where most of my fat is, but apparently no deisgner is on board with the low waist suit idea. I mean you'd think in a world where jeans keep getting lower and lower and now there is not only low rise but ultra low rise and "show your ass crack" low rise that deisgners would realize that we all don't like wearing our pants right below our boobs. So anyways, I hate suits. But unfortunately for me, I've picked a career where suits are a necessary evil. So I generally go with skirt suits, even though I hate wearing pantyhose, especially in the summer in the south, because they are at least somewhat comfortable. But pant suits are just a big no because I feel like I'm all crammed in at the waist but then it gets baggy in my lower hip area.

So what's my point? I have one - I promise. I went to Banana Republic on the advice of a friend, and they have THREE (count them THREE) types of pants for suits. There is the traditional cut that comes at your waist, there is the slightly below your waist cut, and there is the contoured cut that curves at the hip in addition to being low-waist. I am in love. I was able to sit down in a pair of the pants without feeling like my circulation was being cut off and they weren't too baggy in the lower hip area! Hurray for Banana for finally making a suit I will wear. Now if we could just negotiate the price....$200 bucks for a suit jacket is a little high, but the pants and skirts that go with are about 80 each, so if I get the matching pants and skirt for the suit jacket that means that each suit is $200, which is still higher than what I'd pay for a nice Tahari suit at Filene's, but I'm comfortable and can breathe and it actually looks like it fits me, so amen to that. Oh and I can buy a different size in the jacket than the pants - what a novel idea!!!