Are you there venue... it's me, bride!

We haven't been out to our venue (3 hour drive away) since New Years, and like my dress, I have been missing it lately. With all the wedding planning that has been surging through our heads/bodies/and home, really all I want to do is curl up in front of the gorgeous picture window where we will be having our ceremony... and RELAX!! BUT, no rest for the weary... this PhD has some serious momentum, and wedding to-dos are getting checked off the list as efficiently as possible. So until I feel even remotely confident that I will in fact finish this PhD on time, for now, well, it's just day dreaming about the beauty that is our wedding venue... the Elk View Lodge!!



Well, our boys over at 6:8 have done it for me again... pictures that will, at least for the rest of the day, inspire my daydreaming, have popped up on their site. They did a whole blog post on our venue, and answered my question... are you there venue, it's me bride?! Yup, she's still there, in all her glory... check her out!!

from the driveway:

... where the magic of the ceremony will go down

yup, this is part of the dining area for the reception... we will be using rectangular tables, and will have the room to the left of the window (shown below) for extra space...

This is the second room. This will be our chillaxin zone for the rest of the weekend when we don't need to fit 120 people for dinner... gorgeous right??

Check out my master bath people... holla!! Can you say pamper me dear hired help?? YUP, I will be soaking in the star treatment in this beauty! Might need to wake up a few hours early to accomplish all the pampering I plan on accomplishing!!

And finally, the kitchen!! I am MAJOR into cooking, so it is safe to say that the day before the wedding, I will be getting my nerves-killer-cookin on!! The kitchen is my safe place in times of stress... cut, fry, bake, saute, slice, grate... oh yeah baby!! This is definitely gonna see some magic over the weekend!!

So, there you have it... my venue-spiration for today!! I hope thinking of your venue puts a smile on your face as big as mine is now!! Thanks Kevan and Duane for these little treats on this otherwise grey and gloomy day!!

When Opposites Attract

image originally posted on jenessilver.com

For all the non-brides out there, or at least for the non-bride in me, it is excruciating to hear brides talk about their wedding being "so us"! "We did golf tees for favours because we both love to play golf", sounds more like "what do you mean you and your fiance don't share all the same hobbies?". "Our wedding menu was just perfect because fillet Mignon is OUR most favorite dish" sounds more like "maybe you should start cooking new things cause it's strange that you and your fiance don't like the same things...". "We both felt so enamoured with our venue the minute we saw it, we knew it was just PERFECT for us" sounds just a bit too much like "if you can't find a venue that is representative of the two of you together, you might as well not have a wedding!".

Of course I know I am being a bit dramatic, but the truth is, Ian and I are opposites in so many ways. He drinks beer... and only beer! I love to try new wines, champagnes, and martinis. He likes t-bones and ribeyes, and I am a tenderloin snob. He golfs with his buddies and watches Formula 1 by himself on Sunday mornings, and I water ski with my friends and work-out in the early am Monday-Friday. He plays Sudoku, I read wedding blogs. He thinks a potluck wedding would be awesome, and I think... "are you kidding me?!?!". So needless to say, picking a wedding style and venue was a bit of challenge for us! In reality, we weren't completely sold on the idea of having a wedding until we saw this:
It's completely "us". Sorry frustrated-brides... all I can say is, they were right. All those brides who claimed their venue was perfect, just perfect. They were right. I know it can feel like they effortlessly found their perfect, representative, meaningful venue, but hear it from me, it can be difficult, demeaning, down right frustrating, but your venue is out there. Ours is the Elk View Lodge in Fernie, Canada. Ian and I have enjoyed the mountainous wonder of the Elk Valley together for the last couple of years. In fact, it was the first place we 'vacationed' to together... a 4 day mini-vacation, but our first one together nonetheless. The Lodge will be our ceremony and reception location, our rehearsal BBQ venue, our hotel, our B&B for our family and bridal party, our late-night hot-tub location, and probably our photo location! This means no limos (I LOATHE the idea of spending good $$ on wedding limos!), no travel for our guests between ceremony and reception, no corkage fees or cake-cutting fees, no 'closing time', no scheduling of rehearsals... this means one family filled weekend in the mountains where we, sidenote, get married!!

Check out the splendor:
the view from the hot-tub deck (found here)
ceremony location: image originally posted by 6:8 photography reception set-up idea (found here):the master bedroom (found here):I hope you love it as much as we do! It resonates with our passion for family, casual entertaining, outdoor fun, and if you can believe it, allows us to create a weekend wedding on a budget! Happy shopping to all you new brides, and good luck on stumbling upon "the one"... after you found "THE one"!