Location: the rose garden

A few weeks ago a friend suggested the Rose Garden in Allentown.


PRO:

• Its a popular place for wedding pictures - understandably, June is when roses (generally speaking) bloom so the garden itself would be lovely.  

Paul

• Not to mention, exchanging vows under this awesome statue would be the highlight of our wedding.

 CON

• uh, its right by a river.  there isn't enough open space to set up a tent on the rose garden side, and the opposite side is mostly baseball fields.  
• The pavilion is a significant distance from the rose garden
• The bathrooms were absolutely disgusting.  SO...this place was out of the question.

Still, it is a really gorgeous little park.

Not only that, there is a downloadable form on the website that states you can't have receptions there, no more than 25 people attending a ceremony and a bunch of other rules and such.

So, sadly, the rose garden is off the list.

Location, Location, Location

First of all, allow us to say that we have been thoroughly contemplating the location of the ceremony and the reception for months.

The wedding will be somewhere in Pennsylvania, probably in the Lehigh Valley, and most likely both ceremony and reception will be held at the same location.

Here are some of the options and the pro's and con's.  Feel free to comment!

Jasper Park:

PRO:

• This park is great, its shady, secluded, pretty...
• there is a bangin' playground, 
• the bathrooms aren't disgusting, 
• price is reasonable. 

CON:

• Pavilion is 30X40. that is enough room for MAYBE 80 people.  There can't be a dance floor nor a DJ.  This obviously won't work  
• We contemplated getting tents but there isn't any level ground to set up
• If the weather is perfect, (which nobody can guarantee) it would be fine.  But we are erring on the side of caution.

VFW in Emmaus:

PRO:

• Airconditioned
• Bar
• In-house caterer 
• Weather doesn't matter

CON:

• Parking.  there is limited onstreet parking and that is all.  
•  They offer no table linens, decorations, nor any other temporary wedding stuffs.
• ONLY disposable cutlery and dishes.  So my ideal was a "Green" wedding.  Not landfill fodder.
• Rentals are more expensive then buying, so we will have 20 huge tablecloths, countless yards of tulle all forms of decoration...ugh
• I would rather die than get married AT a VFW.  sorry.  The reception would be fine but there is absolutely no way I'm exchanging vows at a bar.  So we would have to find a church/minister/or other location outside/rent a tent/etc...

So there are two of the dozen locations we have looked into.  More coming soon!

What we want...ideally

The vision is as follows:

An outdoor, eco-friendly, cost effective wedding. 

We want a short and simple wedding ceremony, a buffet style meal, some drinking, some dancing, and some good times.  Nothing over-the-top and crazy. 

We want our guests to have a good time. 

We were seriously just going to elope and forget about the rest of it but we have been procrastinating for the last 6 years and we feel kind of obligated to have a 'real' wedding to thank you all for your patience.  :)

And totally out of character for either of us, we honestly want to share our day with those we love and care about, (and our families - hahaha).

Regardless, we figured that instead of explaining ourselves and our reasons for different decisions we make, a blog would be the right thing to do.

So journey with us through the next year and witness the insanity!

Love,
Paul and Alexis