wedding planning woes...

since Bryce asked me to marry him in October, we are asked almost daily about our upcoming plans for the wedding... have you set a date yet, how 'bout a location...? it's just so daunting the job that lays ahead of us to plan this wedding.

I guess most women know exactly what they want, and where they want to get married... fact is, I'm not one of those women... and not being a native Californian, I just don't know all the places to look.

my family is all in Australia, and his family are all in Oregon - so we thought we'd do one wedding here in California and then another in Australia at a later time, for those who couldn't make it all the way across the ocean... when I say wedding, it is a quaint gathering of the people we love, to come together, watch us tie the knot, then party till the wee hours with us.

so I set off scouring wedding blogs for inspiration, and collecting pictures and ideas to show Bryce. we decided that we want to have an outdoor wedding, and I specifically want to get married under a big old tree (as I have mentioned before) and we like casual and fun - I didn't think that was too much of an ask... I am not talking high maintenance production here with 10 bridesmaids, 10 groomsmen, in matching outfits and a formal 6 course meal...

I have contacted 3 different places that I found online, that are around California to see how much it would cost for a garden wedding under their big old tree, and I have to tell you was stunned by the prices! to rent the site only (which 1 included chairs, and tables etc), no food, no drinks, no decorations or anything... we are looking from between $US7000 to $US11 000!!! and I'm not calling any fancy golf clubs, or hotels -well maybe one was a bit of a reach when I found out it is in Los Gatos (an upper class neighbourhood around here). So to rent a piece of grass with a lovely tree for about 8 hours is apparently more than the cost of my car... I mean think of all the home renovations I could do with that money!

so the search goes on to find the perfect spot and this weekend Bryce and I are jumping in the campervan heading south to Los Olivos, California where we found this rustic farmhouse set on 150 acres of land that we can rent for the whole week, for less than the price to rent some of these places for 1 night!

and they have availability at the end of July... so I'll let you know how that goes...