Feeling the ceremony spirit

It's October and in Phoenix that means it is the beginning of Wedding season. Wedding season. That's a phrase I hadn't even thought about until recently. I'd always thought of May/June as the wedding season (April showers, May flowers, June weddings) but I should have realized that we aren't the only Phoenicians who like the idea of having the ceremony without the sweltering heat. This means we will be competing with tons of other folks for the same locations since we are looking to have the ceremony in October or early November at the latest. With childhood memories of "knowing" that you are supposed to begin planning everything a year out, we've been looking more and more at the everything that makes up the details of the event. Like a firm date. And a location. Pretty important details, right?

Last week I did something unexpected - I bought my first bridal magazine. It was gigantic, filled with pretty pictures to give me tons of expensive and unrealistic expectations, and most importantly specifically based on the Arizona bride. That's important to me as I don't want to be bombarded with images of brides at Irish castles or in lush forests when I'm in the middle of the desert and don't have any real access to a castle. The magazine is called Arizona Weddings and they also have a pretty robust web site. I'll admit, I've only made it about 20 pages into the magazine in the last week as it all gets a bit overwhelming. At about page 15 there was a list of what you should be doing or have done at the 12 month, 9 month, 6 month, 3 month, etc point down to the day of the wedding. I must have re-read that about 40 times. Every time I felt like we were further and further behind.

But - the show must go on! So, as of tomorrow we are going to a local spot called Venue at the Grove for an open house. This spot is close to our house and not too far from the church which is a huge plus. The pictures on the website look beautiful and almost make me wish we were doing a location ceremony as they have such a great spot for it - but nothing beats getting married in our own church. The big question is going to be - how is the reception area and what are our options for really using that beautiful outdoor space. And the biggest question - is this going to be our reception location???

Scared, excited and more than a little bit "OMG! OMG! OMG!". :)