Bridal Show

We went to the Patriot Center today for the Bridal Showcase. Several other women had dragged their fiances, too, so I didn’t feel too badly about bringing Andrew along.

We picked up brochures from several hotels reasonably close to the Arlington Planetarium, though it’s difficult to find much that’s, say, walking distance. If we don’t get a list from Devri soon, we’ll start doing site visits at a couple of these places. One is a Holiday Inn in Ballston and another is a hotel (can’t remember without my notes which one) near Tyson’s Corner. Both have some good-looking all-inclusive wedding reception packages including an open bar (which we don’t really want), champagne toast, seated or buffet dinner, coat room, a bridal suite, and discounts on rooms for out-of-town guests. The one at Tyson’s is actually very close to our budgeted amount, though with gratuity and taxes, we may have to do some scrimping.

We also talked with a baker who is just getting into wedding cakes. Her goal is to work with brides on a budget. I liked that….I *am* a bride on a budget. I was also impressed that when I told her my theme, she seemed to get excited and started spewing ideas for how to incorporate stars and moons in the cake.

There were loads of photographers there, too, though most were way out of our price range. We did find a few, though, that were more reasonable, and we will definitely be contacting several of them.

The show, though, has gotten me worried about all the planning that is involved. We are at t minus 8 months, and we don’t even have a reception site locked in. Usually that is taken care of at the one year mark. And several of the photographers were already booked up for the Saturdays in September, and some in October. We need to get on the ball!