Holiday Weekend Wedding?

With Memorial Day weekend just ending, I've got holiday weekends on the mind. What does everyone think about having a wedding (or attending a wedding) on a holiday weekend? We're thinking of having our wedding on Labor Day weekend of 2010. Before you call us jerks, hear me out...

You have to keep in mind that it's tough for Jews because we can't get married on Saturday unless it's like an hour after sun down. SO if you do that, then you're getting married at like 8pm, having a cocktail hour from 8:30-9:30, then starting the reception. Many places we've looked require music to be cut off at 10pm. So, there goes the party.

So we want to get married on a Sunday. But then it's tough for family/friends back east. They come out here, have to take a Monday off work.....so a holiday weekend is what we're thinking.

I know it makes travel a little more pricey...but it may be our only option to have a wedding people can attend. What does everyone think? Are Holiday Weekend weddings okay?

Possible Wedding Venue #1

Last weekend we took a mini road trip up the California coast to take a look at a possible wedding venue. Initially, I'm completely sold. No painted swastikas on the front of the building! Sure they've never had a Jewish wedding there, but I can't completely hold that against them. The chosen people just haven't wandered to the venue yet.

Anyway, we had a great day. Without telling you guys exactly where it is (I don't want to jinx it - if you really want to play Carmen San Diego I'm sure you can figure out where the place is), I'll tell you about the place.

So, the venue is about 3-4 hours north of Los Angeles. It's a drive, but it's actually a really cool drive. We passed the hills that the Santa Barbara fires destroyed. It was pretty devastating.
We finally got to the small beach town and were happy to see that it has so much charm. It feels like what I'd imagine Hermosa Beach or Manhattan Beach used to be like back in the day. Don't get me wrong, it's not dated and old, it's just a little more laid back and less "scene-y".

The venue is directly on the main and only street that runs through the town and pretty much directly across the street from the pier/beach. The gardens at the venue were gorgeous, and would probably allow us to save a lot of money because we wouldn't need flowers. However, my first concern is if we get married where the venue usually has the ceremony (in the front yard) the main street of the town will be right behind us. Before we call that a deal breaker - remember that the town is super small and "traffic" may be 4 cars passing by per hour.

(that is a picture of the venue...it's from a low angle so you can't see the street - I think with proper photography composition, you could frame the street out of the pictures and it wouldn't be an issue)

The people at the venue are completely laid back. Every answer for every question we have is the same: "We can really do whatever you guys want!". Seriously, they have a 5 star restaurant at the venue, and when we asked for their wedding menu they said "Oh, we just have our chef make a menu based on everything you like or request." It's great, but we're totally new at this and it would be great if they presented us with options! The woman that gave us the tour said that a recent reception asked for goat, so the venue went to a local goat farm in the morning got a goat, and that night they had a delicious goat dish. I happen to love that. While we most likely won't have goat at our reception, I love restaurants that have fresh, local, inspired cuisine.

So, the venue only has a license for beer/wine/champagne. We can't have liquor at the reception. Not a huge issue, but it's something to think about. Anyone ever had a wedding at a venue that couldn't have liquor? Are there any rules about bringing your own? Anyone gotten around that? Maybe our wedding gift could be flasks w/ certain alcohols in them! Kidding. Maybe.

Our major concern with the venue is getting to/from it. The town is small and the closest airport isn't exactly a hub like LAX or O'Hare. It does, however, have several flights that get to/from it. Flights aren't that expensive, just not the most convenient time wise. Leaving the area is much more difficult than getting to it . There are basically 3 flights that every one of our out of town guests will have to get on. It'll just be important to get on one of them, or you're stuck leaving at 6:30am the morning after the reception. I know if we book this venue, they will come... I just don't want to be labeled a jerk (too late, right?) because I have the most difficult wedding to get to.

All of that being said, anyone that comes to this wedding would have a blast of a weekend. There's the beach, there's wine tastings/vineyard tours, there's the Hearst Castle. The majority of our East coast family and friends will most likely be going through nasty fall weather and would love lounging out at the beach. There are FIRE PITS on the beach for bbqs! There are great little bars/restaurants. We ate lunch outside and could DRINK BEERS outside even though the restaurant didn't have us sit inside an enclosed patio. A freedom not experienced since I lived in Vegas! (it's the little things that make us happy, right?)

Also a major notch in the pro column of this place is that there are plenty of options for where our guests would stay. The most exciting option, to me, is Vacation-Rental-By-Owner beach houses. We looked online, our friends (who love vrbos) could rent a beach house that sleeps 8 for $250/night. It'd be a great affordable option for everyone.

Anyway - it was just a great day, if nothing else. We walked Ernie for the first time! He loved the beach. Ran right up and took a big gulp out of the Pacific. Rolled in the wet sand, then ran down the pier... he just LOVED it.
Well, leave a comment, and help me with this decision!! Wage in! What do you think?!

Traditions - Who needs em?!

"What's the worst wedding tradition" poll results are in!


I can tell you one thing I'm not having at my wedding - the bouquet & garter toss! Wow, a whopping 21 (or 41%) of you think that it's the worst wedding tradition there is. I agree with you. I don't mind the bouquet toss, but the garter toss is a little hokey to me. One reason I would definitely leave the toss in is to possibly score $10k on America's Funniest Videos, but the bouquet toss falls rarely ever (IF ever) win the money.

Here are the rest of the poll results:

#2 - Wedding party announcements/parade - 12 votes; 23%
This was my second choice! I've always thought it was a little silly to introduce everyone in the wedding party while guests sit and clap. As if the 8th bridesmaid REALLY deserves applause as the groomsman on her arm raises the roof. It's just silly.

#3 - Father/Daughter & Mother/Son Dances - 7 votes; 13%
Which of you cold heartless people voted for this one? I don't think it's the BEST tradition, but certainly there are worse options on this list. I mean it's just a special moment for the immediate family to have a nice moment. I'm not saying that you need to have a 45 minute slow dance, but it's just a nice picture opportunity.

#4 - The Cake (having to have one + cutting ceremony) - 6 votes; 11%
I would have put this #3. I think the requirement to have a cake is dumb. I think the ceremony is dumb. I think the fact that people have to gather around to watch you cut a tiny piece of cake and feed it to your new spouse is dumb. 85% of people even MISS this part of the wedding. I can't tell you how many times I've come from the bar or the restroom and had this conversation with my parents:

Me: oh shit, did I miss them cut the cake?
Parents: yep. you want a piece of cake?
Me: nope. I'm gonna go grab another drink.
Parents: you've got one in your hand that you just got.
Me: so what?

#5 - Other - 3 votes; 5%
Those of you who voted for "other" please comment and tell me what you were thinking! What'd I leave off? I did hear that one of you thought it should be the "dollar dance". I'm happy to say I don't really know what that is, because it already seems stupid.

#6 - Old, new, borrowed, blue - 2 votes; 3%
I don't get why this is even a tradition. Do people really follow it? I think it's pretty dumb, but perhaps the least offensive on the list!


Thanks to everyone for voting! Leave a comment. Why'd you vote the way you did?

There will be posts...

Hi everyone!

I'm back and feeling a bit better. I was in bad shape last week(end). We think I may have an ulcer. To cap it all off, when I took my pup to the vet on Thursday some woman scraped the hell out of my car. Thankfully she left a note! But not before she did $1600 worth of damage to the back of my car! How do I know it was that much damage? She made me go get multiple quotes yesterday before deciding she was just going to get her insurance to cover it. So I've been running around pretty sick and busy.

I'm back though. Sometimes this will happen. Sometimes I'll get busy, or sick, or both, and disappear for a little while. It doesn't mean that I don't love you though. You need to know that. I. will. always. be. here. for. you. Just KNOW that.

That being said, I've gotta split... but only for a few hours. When I get back we're gonna talk all about the venue that we saw this last weekend, and you guys can wage in whether or not I should have my wedding there! Be back soon!

Sorry for the lack of posts!

I've been a little under the weather... What are you doing this weekend?

We're going to look at our first wedding venue! That's fun. Also, we're hopefully taking Ernie (our pup) for his first walk. Other than that we'll most likely lay low, which is what I do best! Anyone rented a good movie lately?

Well, have a great weekend and I'll be sure to hit the posts hard next week.

The Diet's Back

Ahh... it was a real good run off the wagon... a real good run. Sure there are things I wish I had eaten when I was off, but I can't really look back. I just need to look ahead, maybe play it a little more cool next time - instead of a 3 week frenzy of shoveling food into my mouth, maybe make a list of the items I need to eat. That way I won't get back on the wagon with regrets longing for what could have been.

The diet I'm on, if anyone cares, is the Belly Off diet invented by Men's Health. I know you're already rolling your eyes and thinking that diets don't work. You're about to comment "dude, you can't diet, you need to change the way you eat. Diets don't work, a different lifestyle does." Well, guy, don't tell me how to live my life. Belly Off is kind of great. It tells me what to eat, when to eat it - and I even get a pdf of recipes and my grocery list for the week. It's teaching me how much to eat, and when to eat it, and what kind of stuff to eat for each time. So, look, it's good for me.

ANYWAY, while we're on the subject of food, what are your favorite "fall off the wagon" meals? This last go around for me was the 8piece chicken for $4.99 @ Popeye's. That was awesome. Notable mentions were: Rocket Pizza (the other night I successfully shoved an entire slice in my mouth at one time), D-Town Burger bar (burger and a chocolate shake), and Mike's homemade bread pudding. I know I'm leaving something out. Maybe Ms. Temple of Groom will remind me what I'm leaving out. Comment with your favorites!

Wedding Location Questions

This weekend Ms. Temple of Groom and I will visit our first potential wedding venue. That's pretty exciting! I think the location looks great, but I seriously don't want to get my hopes up. There's gotta be a deal breaker we've yet to discover! How could we have missed the giant painted swastika on the front of the building?! Damn it.

Anyway, I'll tell you the location after we put in the deposit because I don't want to jinx everything before we even see it! Even if we hate it, at least we'll have fun taking our newly immune pup on a mini road trip (Ernie gets his last shot on Wednesday!).

So I want to head to the location looking like a pro. Therefore, I need everyone's help! What do I need to know when location shopping? What are some good questions to ask? What were some mistakes you made when you venue shopped? What do you wish you had asked? What did you ask that saved the day? I obviously know to take a million pictures, but what else am I missing? I don't want to get in the car and head home wishing we had looked at something we missed.

Answer for the DIY Brides/Grooms:

I'm back to answer my Gocco question I posed to the DIY Brides! I did some real hard-hitting, nose-to-the-grindstone research, and now I'm considering making my first wedding purchase/investment. Before I do, I wanted to get your feedback/opinions.

A Gocco (pronounced go-cko) is a Japanese toy that has quickly become an essential tool for print making of all types. People love to use it for invitations, customizing notepads, printing on fabrics, etc. Basically it looks like the equivalent of an easy bake oven, but it actually can be used professionally. (side note: it'd be hilarious if you could actually use an easy bake oven in a professional way) You design an image on your computer, print it out, insert it into the Gocco to make the screen, then print the invitations with real ink on the Gocco. The advantage of using the Gocco instead of a regular high end photo printer is that the invitations will feel extremely professional with the ink sitting on top of the paper.

Here's are some invitations I found online that used the Gocco:

(all invites except for the bottom right corner done by 'Things Are Better With A Parrott')

And here's a great Gocco tutorial video I found:

So there's your answer! What do you think I should do? It's possible to find used Goccos on craigslist, ebay, and some retailers sell them. My guess is after all is said and done the unit (with inks, bulbs, screens, etc) would cost around $200-$275. Additionally, after we use it, we could resell it. Is that too much for DIY invitations? Should we stick to photoshop (consider printing prices here too though!)? Has anyone attempted to use a Gocco? What do you think, what should I do?

Question for the DIY Brides:

What is a Gocco, and do I want one?!

On so many wedding blogs I see women going nuts because they just got their new gocco. I've even gone to the Gocco website and looked at them - all I understand is that it's some kind of Japanese printing machine.

Help me! What's it do? How do you use it? Do I need it? How do you pronounce the name?! What makes it better than using photoshop/illustrator and printing on a high end printer?

Don't just send me the wiki link, I want to hear from you if you've got one! Do you like it? Did you use it?

Teach me your ways! I feel left out of the loop on this one!

Down goes Pie, Down goes Pie

After 8 days and 60 votes, "Wedding Cake" was the clear winner in 'Temple of Groom's' first poll.

Here are the Final Results:

28 votes (46%) - Wedding Cake
17 votes (28%) - Wedding Pies
15 votes (25%) - Could go either way

If you were a fan of pies there is, however, a positive spin to put on this poll. 32 of you (or 53%) agree on something OTHER than wedding cake. Perhaps the "could go other way" people forgot about the variety of pies out there (sure there are fruit pies, but there's also peanut butter pie, coconut cream pie, key lime pie, pecan pie, chocolate satin pie, pumpkin pie, etc etc). Even if they didn't forget, the majority of you agree that you don't HAVE to have wedding cake at a wedding. That opens up the realm of possibilities for a wedding.

I don't want to take anything away from "Cake's" hard fought victory. It put the stomp on the competition. While it started out slow, it realized that it was a marathon not a sprint. Congratulations to Cake and all of its supporters.

Say Yes to the Dress

Hopefully the majority of my guy friends won't realize the title of this post is also the title of one of my favorite Wedding shows on TLC. Oh, I typed that out loud, didn't I? They can read this?... um.... just kidding, my fiance TOTALLY makes me watch the show during the commercials between UFC fights, football, Girls Gone Wild infomercials, and other man stuff on tv.

So, guys, I have a question for you.. Do you ever wonder about your bride-to-be's wedding dress before your big day? Do you care what it will look like? Girls, do you ever consider asking your groom's opinion before you buy the dress or walk down the aisle in it? You ask us whether your normal everyday clothes look nice on you every time we leave the house... Do you ever consider taking us with you to try on dresses to get our opinions on essentially the most important dress you'll ever wear?

I completely trust Ms. Temple of Groom's tastes in clothing and I know she'll look stunning in whatever she decides to wear.... HOWEVER, I'm extremely curious what dress she'll pick. Because of the fact neither of us can keep a secret, and we're perhaps two of the most indecisive people on earth (at times), I'm quite sure I'll know what her dress looks like well before the wedding. Is that okay? Additionally, if she decided to keep it a complete secret from me, I'd be totally fine with that too. I don't want you all to think I'm demanding to go dress shopping!

So, my final question to everyone is this: Do you think the guy should have ANY input on the wedding dress?

Input can be anything from a comment just thrown out there (ie "I think you'd look great in a casual wedding dress") to actually taking your groom to try on dresses. Should the groom be left out of this wedding task?

Idea: Dueling Pianos?

Yesterday I came up with an idea, and now I want to get some feedback. What do you guys think about having dueling pianos as the wedding band/entertainment?

If you've never been to a piano bar and seen dueling pianos, basically it's two piano players facing one another, taking turns playing a mixture of songs. They normally try to outdo one another by getting more crowd participation or by making the performance more enjoyable. They usually play mostly anything that's asked of them, and they bring the fun. Any piano bar I've ever been to, I've never left sober, and I usually leave thinking it was a blast.

Keep in mind we're thinking of having a more casual wedding. We aren't very formal people, so it kind of seems fitting. People would most likely drink their faces off, join in singing with the piano players, and dance. Not sure if the piano players would ever let one of us take the mic - but everyone knows my love of Karaoke, so it may be a possibility.

What do you guys think?