changes

 

First things first - we came through the hurricane just fine. The storm went well south of us so we got a little rain and wind but nothing scary. One huge tree branch came down, unfortunately it landed right on Chris's fixer upper truck smashing the windshield, breaking the dashboard and denting the driver's side door, which isn't great but at least it didn't come down on our main vehicle. Chris is pretty sad and it's going to cost a fair amount to repair but it's so much better than a tree coming down on the house.

We never lost power so basically all we did during the hurricane was eat snacks and watch TV. Chris tried to get us to do a cleaning project but I informed him that was not how hurricanes are done, it's a time to goof off and eat and so that's what we did.

And now for some really exciting news - big changes coming to the wedding! Yes, we've got less than 4 weeks to go and yes, the original ceremony site is all set BUT it's no secret that I was less than happy about having the after party at our house. It's completely safe to say that I was most UNhappy about it until I got a great idea to check and see if there were any REALLY inexpensive places here in town where just the space could be rented out and we'd provide decor, food and music.

And by inexpensive, I meant CHEAP. There was one rental space owned by the town, near the park and it was ugly, just a plain conference room/community center but the price wasn't bad at all. I called this morning and was told it wasn't available because of early voting but then the city clerk said "we do have another rental space in town, it's new so I'm fairly certain it would be available on your date." 

And then she told me the space was the old train museum, a 1927 restored depot with brick walls, old wood flooring and a huge deck overlooking a park. OMG, every word of that screams Jonni, it's exactly what I would have gone looking for if I'd known it existed. I mean, I knew about the museum but had never been there and had no idea it had closed down a year ago and they decided to rent the space out. It rents for half of what the community center does (which was already a good deal) and it's just the perfect size for our group.

I had to pick Chris up from a doctors appointment so I figured we should run over to the museum (which isn't too far from our house) and peek through the windows although I had already decided we were moving the party there, sight unseen.

But when I looked through the windows I literally did a little dance because it oozes charm and character. It's my perfect wedding space and it'll be easy to make it a little spooky for a Halloween themed party.

The huge deck is perfect to put up our inflatable Jack, Sally and Zero (from Nightmare Before Christmas, our wedding theme) and we can plug in our fog machines too just to make it extra creepy.

After we looked at it Chris wanted to go right down to City Hall to ask a few questions and get the whole thing under contract. I had thought we'd rent it for 4 hours but Chris wanted to add a couple of extra hours in there for decoration.

Chris's oldest daughter has expressed an interest in doing the food and I'm going to let her roll with it. She is already baking our wedding cake and she's uber talented. I'm hoping she can use pictures from our wedding to market her own business doing party favors and cakes.

Now the big question is - should we skip the ceremony up in Orlando and just have a simple ceremony at the train depot? It would definitely make things easier from a logistical point of view because we wouldn't have to drive almost 90 minutes to and from. We could have the ceremony on the big deck, it would be gorgeous and then go right into the party. We could play music from our speakers and there are plenty of Halloween playlists to keep the music going all night and it wouldn't even be all night because we have to shut everything down by 9pm. LOL

No matter what we choose, I am SO much happier not having to worry about getting the house ready for a party!