Meat and potatoes

Not really.  But back to basics, as it were.  To have a wedding, you have to have it somewhere, right?

Our first hurdle was where and when to have it.  Since we got engaged in December 2008, and midwest winter weather doesn’t really bode well for weddings and wedding-related travel, we knew our options were April-October 2009 or 2010.  (We didn’t want families getting snowed in and not able to make it.)  Since we graduated in May 2009, and taking the bar the following July, we opted for 2010.  Plus, this would give us time to save up money and get our feet under us financially.  T didn’t really care when we had the wedding, so long as it was legally binding, so he left it up to me.  For some reason, May sounded good.  I like spring, and I’m not a big fan of sticky, muggy summer weather.  So, we decided on May 2010.

The next issue was picking a state.  T is from southern Missouri and I’m from the general Chicago area.  We basically determined that people would probably have more fun/an easier time traveling to Chicago, so, Chicago it is.  In May. 2010.

My family doesn’t really belong to a church, so the next hurdle was what kind of ceremony we wanted.  We both knew we wanted a religious ceremony, so a church was a must.  A friend of mine mentioned the gorgeous chapel at my alma matter and I was sold, instantly.  It’s completely breathtaking.  See?

The chapel would only allow us to book one year in advance, so we wanted to book our reception venue and find out what dates they had open.  This was surprisingly easy.  Since we’re planning from a distance, we looked up lots of venues online and narrowed it down to three that we checked out in person on a visit.  The venue we liked the most was also the most inexpensive per person, so we took the last date they had available in May 2010–May 8.

Our reception venue is an Italian restaurant.  We knew that we didn’t really care so much about having a ‘pretty’ location so much as we cared about having awesome food and drinks.  It’s not exactly epically beautiful, but it’s certainly not ugly–lots of mirrors and wood, leather couches, old Italian photos, and a very Rat Pack kind of vibe.  I like it.  But the food. is. INCREDIBLE.

We are going to have a five course family-style menu, meaning large platters of everything will be brought to every table and passed around (and refilled if need be).   There are tons of options, so I’m VERY much looking forward to the tasting.  We’re going to have two appetizers, two salads, two pastas, two entrees, and two desserts AND a wedding cake.

Here are our dessert options.  What would you pick?  (Keep in mind our wedding cake will definitely be chocolate.)

• Chocolate cake
• Lemon cookies
• Profiteroles
• Spumoni
• Cheesecake
• Vanilla Ice Cream
• Fruit plate
• Tiramisu
• Toasted pound cake
• Warm apple dumplings

Pick two!

(Note: I’ll be out of town tomorrow, so I’ll be back on Sunday.)