Here’s the scoop…

Most of you know the story of our engagement. If you haven’t read or heard how Josh proposed to me, I would encourage you to read his blog; he does a great job of capturing the emotions of that adventure. Please allow me to share the second adventure: booking the building.

I’m not exactly sure how people decide where they are going to get married, but for me and Josh, we approached it like any Type A couple would: we wrote down our expectations for a wedding, called a meeting, and compared and discussed our notes. Much to our delight we found many similarities and agreed that yes, getting married is definitely a good idea for us…ha! In order to make all of our other hopes and expectations come true, we needed a location…ahh, and the search begins.

We agreed that an outdoor wedding with a suitable rain-day plan was the way to go. Flipping through a local business brochure, my eyes wondered to a picture of a wedding with a lovely background. I read a little more and discovered that the ceremony was taking place at a bed and breakfast. What a wonderful idea! I called Josh, searched for the name of the place I saw in the picture, and after a few emails we had an appointment. I should take this opportunity to note that the wife-half of this savy business couple was adamant about NOT releasing the price. Okay.

Josh and I realized that withholding of the price most likely translated to out of our price range, but we thought we’d entertain the idea and gather some new ones. Well, we loved the place. I’ll spare you the details because the end result is that we didn’t choose the place. We started adding up the cost to rent the place (i.e., walk on the yard), tent, chairs, food, and tables and realized that we needed to slam on the brakes and fast. We were learning that people in the wedding business were not about making it your “special day”, it was about making their purses fat. Well, I told Josh that we simply could not pay 1/2 year tuition for one day. Sorry, friends and family we love you, but it’s one freakin’ day so it’s back to the drawing board.

Josh suggested that we check out the Civil Engineering Lodge (C.E. Lodge). The C.E. Lodge is owned by Penn State and administrated by Stone Valley which is across from Josh’s place of employment. Our first stop by the lodge was an impromptu arrangement and some Penn State football fans were renting the facility for the weekend but were very nice because they let us wander around the grounds. It was a rather gray day so I wasn’t able to really visualize our ceremony and reception until our second visit. However, I told Josh that it was definitely an option. The lodge itself could serve as a rain-day plan and tables and chairs came with the facility…bonus in the wedding world!

So, our second visit to the lodge occurred on a sunny day (the kind I will be praying for on June 9, 2007!) and it was quite easy to envision our ceremony and reception. To make it easier, the lodge was arranged for two events: (a) a banquet inside and (b) a wedding under a tent outside. We toured the grounds and gradually the pieces of the wedding started to come together. As Josh enthusiastically described an idea about arriving in a canoe, I looked off into the distance and chills ran up my spine as I thought about walking over the slight hill with my dad toward my groom (who hopefully didn’t fall into lake while getting out of his canoe). Ahh…okay, this was the place!

Now, it gets interesting…in order to reserve the lodge for our day, we needed to be as close to first in line as possible on the first business day of October to ensure that another couple or group did not snag our date. Not a problem…we love to camp so bring it on! We happily suggested July 7, 2007 and excitedly told our family and friends. I was hopeful because surely I would be able to remember that date! I’m really bad with dates! Anyway, our backup was July 14. So, last Friday, Josh placed a phone call to the “delightful” woman who makes the reservations, and she told us that Penn State group events are an exception to the reservation rule. What?! Yep, you guessed it, 7-07-07 thru 7-14-07, the place was booked. We frantically searched our planners…when were we going to fit our wedding into our summer?! Each date we gave her seemed to met with: Such and such group from Penn State has a program that day. What a nightmare! I was so angry. Josh was angry too. What were we going to do? Then a ray of hope…the receptionist shares with us that June 9 is free. Okay, Josh is available, I’m available. Let’s do it.

This past Sunday evening Josh and I camped out on the porch of the Stone Valley Recreation Administration Building. We were the only couple and in our true fashion, we photographed the event. We laughed, read the newspaper, and talked about the stories we would have to tell our children . About 11:45 pm the phone started to ring, and I couldn’t help but think to myself…sorry, we’re the first ones! I made a sign-up sheet in case we were sleeping when people started to arrive. As we buckled down for the night, I zipped my mummy bag and smiled to myself, we were definitely going to get the date.
People started rolling in about 5:00 am and they were both shocked and impressed that Josh and I camped out. At 6:00 am, a man who I think was the custodian (I’m still not sure exactly who he was), opened the door and almost took poor Josh’s head off. He grabbed my note and I groggily explained what it was, in a huff he took the note, and threw it away (so we think). Thanks.

At 8:00 am the doors opened and there she was…the receptionist with bluetooth earpiece in her ear, phone ringing off the hook, and shouting “JOSH. Here is your paper work, what dates do you need.” Josh confidently announced dates and times and there you have it…June 9! We were so happy. I was in such a frenzy, I left my glasses in the lobby and we had to go back. In two minutes our adventure was over and we were triumphant. I should note that two couples behind us were asking for the lodge for wedding purposes. The first of the two took the other couple’s date. There were some unhappy faces, and my heart did go out to them.

So there you have it: we booked the location and confirmed the date! The next great adventures: food, music, pictures, gown, shower, bridal registry…crap, where’s my chocolate?! Just kidding–seriously, I love it all (okay, most of it) and I couldn’t ask for a better partner to share it with! More to come…