Last-Minute Dress Decision(s)

Today marks the two week point for the Ferris Wheels, and I gotta be honest that it feels crazy-making to know we're so close yet there's still so much that needs to get finished.  Some of those last-minute tasks make sense:  escort cards (because we're still trying to finalize our guest list), seating arrangements (because we're still trying to finalize our guest list), and baking stuff for the dessert buffet (because there's only so long that a baked good will last).

Then there are other tasks that I really wish had been completed earlier, but for one reason or another they're still up in the air like the videographer (because we didn't decide until the last minute that we even wanted one) and wedding party gifts (because of various snafus in the production process).  But perhaps the biggest last-minute project(s) has to do with my dress.

When I bought the dress, I didn't pay much attention to the train because that just wasn't on my priority list.  Well, now that I'm having to make final alterations decisions, apparently I have to decide whether or not I want to keep it.  My primary concern about the train is how it will fit with the limited amount of space in our ceremony venue.  If you don't recall, the ceremony room looks like this.

{Mr. FW and I will stand in that window along with our wedding party, the area leading to the window will be the aisle, and limited chairs will be squeezed in there as much as possible.}

And now here's a picture of how the original train length looks on me.

One thing's for sure: the train as it is will absolutely not fit well in the space.  For.  Sure.  Plus the alterations woman told me that, no matter what, she recommended reducing the length of the train because it's currently disproportionate to my height.  This is not something I'd ever considered before, but I suppose it makes sense.  

So I think my options are thus: 1) reduce the train, hope it fits in the ceremony space without looking stupid, then bustle it for the reception; 2) leave it bustled throughout the day, no need to worry about whether or not it fits in the ceremony space; 3) chop it off - no train, no bustle, no hassle.

For your reference, here are some pictures the seamstress took of a potential bustle for this dress (not necessarily the one I'll go with, but it's an option).

I feel torn, Hive!  If I'm being really honest with myself I can admit that I kinda like the idea of chopping off the train.  But as soon as I think that I tell myself this is probably the only time in my life when I'll get to drag around a bolt of extraneous fabric attached to a garment I'm wearing, and I question whether I'd actually want to give up that experience.  Plus - the bustle is just 'meh' for me.  I don't necessarily love it.  

So I'm looking for the invaluable insight that only a group of similarly wedding-obsessed people can provide!  Given what you know about me, my style, and our ceremony space, which train option do you think I should go with?

(insert poll)

Option 1: Let it flow then tuck it in.

Option 2: Bustle me all night long.

Option 3: No bustle, no problem.

Can't wait to see what you think!  Have you given any consideration to train changes you might want to make for your dress?

(And also, in case you were wondering, the other last-minute dress decision has to do with whether or not I'll be wearing a shrug with the dress.  I really want to, but as the days tick by without a good option on the horizon, this decision might just be made by default.)

Unexpected Venue Choice

Whatever aversions I had to hotel ballroom weddings (and thanks to being in wedding blogland for a while, I had a lot) fizzled pretty quickly when we realized that their wedding 'packages' would mean a little less planning for us and a lot more convenience for our guests.  Those things are hard to definitively put a price on, but when we did the calculations as best we could we figured that having our ceremony and reception at a hotel (depending on the specific hotel, of course because I'm not talking the Ritz Carlton here) might cost us $1-2000 more than another venue.  And we decided that was worth it to us. 

When we went to visit the Parc 55 Hotel we were already impressed with some of their package perks (free suite for the wedding night, free hour of open bar, etc.).  We toured some of the typical ceremony spaces on the lower floors when, on a whim, I asked the coordinator whether they had any spaces with unbelievable views, even if the room wasn't technically an event space.  She led us up to the Club Lounge on the 30-somethingth floor.  The room is small and awkwardly laid out, not all of ours guests would be able to have a seat, and there are some elements of the room we would definitely need to camouflage. 

That said, ohmystars - the view!  Just... breathtaking!  We were there in the daytime, so with all the windows around the room there was a gorgeous view of downtown San Francisco and the bay.  Mr. FW and I were floored.  We stood there quietly staring out the windows together, soaking in our unspoken agreement that we really wanted to get married in that.very.spot.  We didn't need to see anything else, because we were clearly sold.  This was our venue!

In my mind I was trying to picture what those windows would look like at night, full of city lights.  Going back to the site many months later, here is what I found:

{Forgive the terrible quality.  But even with it, you can see the awesomeness, right?}

Ah-mazing!  We love, love, love it!  Of course, like any space, it has its challenges.  The view from the entry door is strange:

{ceremony location on the other side of this built-in marble table}

There are some cabinets, a tv, and a breakfast prep area that I'd like to conceal:

{Any idea how we could cover these?}

And... the thing I didn't give all that much thought to when we booked the place, the lighting:



{Oh hello strange lighting scheme, uninvited reflection, and washed-out city lights.}

If you notice in this picture, you can see that the lighting scheme consists of overhead recessed lighting (not on because it's bright) and several floor lamps (awkward for a ceremony, yeah?).  Also, and this is the dealbreaker for me, the lamplight is being reflected in the window!  Yes, in the window that would be our ceremony backdrop!  I want pictures of us in front of the city lights, not us in front of reflections of floor lamps.  So we're going to send some of these pictures to our photographers and ask for their input about how to tackle the lighting in the room. 

So that's the unique little space where we're going to hold the ceremony.  Then everyone will traipse downstairs to the ballroom, where we will use 2 of the 3 ballroom sections.  Here is one of the sections set up conference-style:

{let's just keep this set-up, shall we?}

As you can probably tell, I am not a person who is generally compelled by pictures of traditional hotel ballroom receptions.  I blame this almost entirely on blogland, but I also have to take some responsibility for it.  See, we're not having flowers.  And we're not going to use round tables.  We're not going to have a multi-tier wedding cake.  And we probably won't have a dj.  Ya know, all the things that are usually associated with hotel ballroom receptions.  There's absolutely nothing wrong with those things, of course.  We're just not going that route, which means that we are absurdly committed to finding ways to have a nontraditional wedding in a fairly traditional hotel setting.  The first step for us was choosing an offbeat ceremony location at the hotel.  The next step is to successfully decorate the ballroom in a way that conveys our laidback-chic DIY-craftastic style.  We have lot of ideas, but of course it's the execution that counts!

Did you include any hotels in your venue search - why or why not?  And if you've ever seen a nontraditionally-styled hotel wedding, what did it look like? 

The (Affordable) Venue Hunt

I don't know where this thought came from, but I'm acutely aware than when we first started looking at wedding venues in San Francisco I honestly believed that for $10,000 we could have a November wedding and get a conveniently-located city lights view and/or waterfront venue for no more than 100 people that would include site rental fees, equipment/furniture rentals, open bar, food, lighting, audio, dance floor, music, wedding day coordinator, decorations, and a photobooth (and those are just the requirements I can remember right now).

Let me just say for the record, I was W-R-O-N-G wrong.

You can absolutely have some of those elements for that cost, but you can't have all of them.  And trying to decide what to leave off the list felt to me like trying to decide which of my two front teeth I'd rather live without.

So instead of finding things to strike from our "want" list, we began by simply trying to minimize the costs of those things we saw as necessities for our ceremony and reception: site rental fees, food, and alcohol.  After seeing a few places and ruling out those that were too expensive, we were left with 4 options.

First up, The Box SF. 

all above images from The Box SF Yelp page

The overall style of this place was such a good fit for us.  It had that open and airy loft feel and big windows with cool views.  The long table is made from 300-year old antique village gate doors from China, and in person it is simply spectacular!  The size of the space, though, would definitely have limited our guest list to no more than 75 people and we'd have to leave the space in between the ceremony and reception so they could turn it over.  Also, it's located in a fairly gritty part of town.  With the public transportation options around there, our guests would definitely have to walk through several blocks of a less-than-splendorific locale in order to reach the place - and then do it not once, but twice if we had to come back for the reception.  The deal-breaker for us?  Lack of air conditioning.  Pack 75 people into this tiny space, and those pictures are for sure going to look like they were taken at a water park rather than a wedding. 

 

Next up, Blue Sky Rental Studios. 

above 3 pictures from the Blue Sky Rental Studios website

This place just looks cool, right?  And they're ridiculously affordable, in SF terms.  I didn't bring my camera here either, so I apologize.  ( Wasn't a blogger yet.  I'm better now, I swear.)  The building is located right next to a MUNI train line so it would be super easy for our guests to get here, and the neighborhood is not that bad.  All in all there was tons of space and they seemed really open to letting us do whatever we wanted with it.  There were a few scratch-your-head-in-wonder type moments, though.  First of all these studios are located inside a massive, massive building that houses what must be hundreds of other businesses.  Getting to their front door was an epic adventure (like, I'm pretty sure we passed a sweatshop on the way - no lie), and I wondered how in the world we'd come up with enough signage to direct our guests so that they wouldn't find themselves lost in an industrial warehouse.  On that note, the warehouse vibe is crazy cool but also kind of intimidating when you're trying to figure out how to disguise the random kitchenette or hanging cabinets, how to conceal the shower in the bathroom, or how to dampen the echo off all the concrete. 

Next in line, the Fort Mason Center Firehouse. 

above 2 images from the Firehouse website

photography by Robert Domondon Photography

picture found online via a website that no longer exists

As you can see, this place is pretty tiny as well.  But it was adorable, and so affordable!  Right on the water, secluded from the other buildings of the Fort Mason Center, and a lot of nearby parking.  It had several separate rooms so that we could create a lounge area or a photobooth area if we wanted to.  They allow you to use any caterer you want, including caterers who will let you buy your own alcohol for them to serve.  Major cost saver!  Loved loved loved the high ceilings.  It's such a blank slate that it would need a fair amount of DIY decoration to make it what we wanted, plus there are some weird, umm... architectural? features, such as the old water fountains attached the wall.   The size of the space means we would again have had to leave the space after the ceremony to turn it over for the reception, but at least this venue was in a great part of town for some sightseeing. 

Right down the way from the Firehouse is the Fort Mason Conference Center. 

above 4 images from the Conference Center website

I wish I had taken my camera to this space because we really, really liked it.  The rules for catering were the same as the Firehouse, making this another good deal.  At this space there were again several rooms available to us, all with windows looking out over the marina full of sailboats.  I haven't actually been on many sailboats in my life, but it seems romantical, no?  There was a room large enough for a wonderfully-intimate-but-not-overcrowded ceremony space, and then we could adjourn to a reception space large enough for all the tables plus a bar, photobooth, and dance floor.  Another small room was perfect for the caterers to set up in, and there were restrooms in this suite of rooms so that everything could be self-contained.  The price for all-day rental was higher than the Firehouse, but we wouldn't have to leave and come back, which would save us money on transportation for our guests.  Everything was a total blank slate, and they seemed really willing to work with us to allow us to create whatever vision we had in mind.

While we were here, we were looking at each other like, "this is it!"  Even after our appointment was over we hung around outside the building, peering in through the windows talking about where we would place everything and how great a location it is.  We were *this close* to ending our venue search...


Did you come close to picking a venue, only to change your mind?