Wedding Planning: The Date & Venue

Photo by Christie Graham Photography // Styling by Best Day Ever Vancouver

The evening of our engagement, Adam revealed to me that he had one rule in exchange for the ring: I wasn’t to talk wedding planning for exactly one week.  He wanted us to celebrate and really soak up the moment rather than drown ourselves in venue hunting and budgeting.  Though it was more of a challenge than I’d expected, I’m glad we did it this way.  Especially since things have a way of happening for a reason, don’t they?

We began our planning with the luxury of time.  After much consideration, we both agreed that we’d wait until 2015 for the big day.  Most of our friends really enjoyed the planning process and we figured we’d just extend that since we’re not in a big hurry.  This put me at ease, as this industry can move fast with venues and photographers booking up really quickly.  Though I’m not someone who put a lot of previous thought into my wedding day, one thing I knew was that I didn’t want to get married in Vancouver.  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with getting married here, I just want something that feels like a mini escape.  On the contrary, I hesitate about making a destination too far, as I still want a large number of our guest list to be able to make it.  It’s all about finding what’s best for you as a couple, and for us that was a local destination.  Something a few hours away but easy enough for our friends and family to travel to.  As for numbers, our guest list was, for the most part, completed months earlier.  I’m here right now to admit to you that I’d already made a Word Doc of our hypothetical wedding guests, sorted in categories and listed by number.  Before we were even engaged, I knew that there was no way our list would be less than 150 people.

That brought us to the usually uncomfortable subject of money.  Since I knew little to nothing about wedding costs, it helped talking to a few close friends who were okay disclosing some numbers.  I also researched and found that the average Vancouver wedding costs about $30,000.  Explains why a lot of couples are eloping, doesn’t it?  The last piece important of the puzzle was to determine what kind of wedding we wanted.  There’s so much inspiration out there (shoutout to Pinterest) and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by options.  Besides pinning and browsing magazines, we also looked at a few of our favourite wedding photographer’s blogs.  This helped us come to the conclusion that we want something rustic and outdoors.  I’m totally picturing a long table meal outside with overhanging lights and beautiful views. Lucky for us, our search wasn’t far at all.  There was one particular possibility that stood out above the rest for us.  We arranged a visit as soon as possible and the second I saw it in person, I knew right away that we’d found it.  Just a few hours away and so us, we know it’ll be THE ideal spot for us to say ‘I do’.

And as of just last night, we have our wedding venue BOOKED for August 15th, 2015!  Feels as though a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders and I’m so excited to get that portion of the planning process out of the way.  Next will be an even tougher decision for me, and that’s photographer!  There are so many talented photogs around, it’s not going to be easy – wish us luck 😉