Fly Me to the Moon... and say vows on the way?

I am an astrophysicist... so when this article from Brietbart.com was sent to me I was intrigued! How cool would it be to be married in space?! And where do you get the marriage license from? :)
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Fly me to the Moon: Japan firm offers weddings in space

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A Japanese firm on Tuesday began accepting reservations for couples who really want to make the big leap -- by blasting into space to exchange their wedding vows.

Each happy couple will spend 240 million yen (2.3 million dollars) for the ceremony in a small space vessel, which will shoot up 100 kilometres (60 miles) into the sky.

During the hour-long flight, the couple will spend several minutes in zero gravity during which they will exchange their vows with up to three guests present, said Taro Katsura, a spokesman for Japanese firm First Advantage.

The couple would perform most of the ceremony before takeoff "so that they can say their vows and look out the window," Katsura said.

The firm is offering the space marriages in a tie-up with US-based Rocket Plane, which will conduct the flights from a private airport in Oklahoma.

From the spaceship, the couple would probably be able to see the outline of the Earth although they will not be far enough into space to allow complete floating, Katsura said.

Despite launching the offer in Japan, the company said it expected most of its customers to be from China or Arab Gulf nations. There are currently no plans to start the space weddings in the United States, Katsura said.

Space tourism has been seeing a boom of sorts since 2001, when American millionaire businessman Dennis Tito paid 20 million dollars to Russia's space agency to become the first person to pay his own ticket into space. ***************************************
So this strikes me as funny for a few reasons. Most rookies in space (even those who have gone through intense NASA training) get ill in zero-g. The KC-135 (big airplane) that they use for zero-g training and filming (Apollo 13 filmed in one - in 45 second intervals!!), is also "lovingly" referred to as the vomit comet... you can just imagine how this could be bad for a wedding!

Setting this aside, I emailed this article to some of my friends and family. And this (from my Maid of Honor) was the best response I have ever heard!

"space mountain is a much cheaper alternative ... and there's mickey mouse there"

I was rolling on the floor laughing - she knows me too well!!

Anyone out there have 2.3 million dollars worth of change floating in their couch that wants to cash it in for a space-age wedding?

Adventures in Wedding Venues: Location Locked!

Wow - just a note - I never intended for my location scouting information to extend this long! But here's hoping that someone else found my info useful! (If anyone else has questions or needs info about the Panama City area availabilities feel free to email me.)

Without further ado.... our venue... The "Pearl of the Gulf Coast" Bay Point Marriott!!

"As the breeze sweeps across the scenic St. Andrews Bay and washes over the surrounding wildlife preserve, you could forget for a moment that you're in the midst of the Bay Point Marriott Resort. This newly renovated Panama City Beach, Florida Gulf Coast vacation spot is a sanctuary for golfers, boaters, and those simply in search of a soothing escape. Our natural setting provides guests with countless ways to relax. With 316 guest rooms - including 78 deluxe villas - you'll enjoy select comfort amid an array of onsite recreational activities and fine dining."

Details will follow the pro pictures of the resort (courtesy of the Bay Point Marriott website)...

The beautiful lobby with friendly staff!

Their PRIVATE beach!! (No drunken Spring Breakers wandering through this wedding or trashing the beach before we get there! This place is out on the end of a peninsula with nothing else on it, but close enough to the nightlife of PCB that guests can go out for some fun too. How wonderfully secluded is that?)

Aerial view of a portion of the property.

The long dock that leads to the beach. (Yes I realize its odd that you have to walk on a dock over water to get to the beach. Just chalk it up to another one of the fun ironies of our wedding!)

oooohhhhh... aaahhhhhh....

Oh yeah - remember how I said I wanted it to be like a destination wedding? Our guests can rent hobie cats, jet skiis, play volleyball, lay by the pool, go to their choice of restaurants and bars, or get pampered at an award winning spa without ever leaving the property!
Oh, and did I mention the 36 holes of championship golf, featuring two courses - the Meadows Course & the Nicklaus Design Course , the only one in North West Florida?

Ok. Now we enter the not quite as fantastic world of MY photos. Needless to say, I am not a pro photographer. But here are a few pics I snapped while touring the grounds and the areas specific to our wedding.

Out on the beach, where we will hold the ceremony.

There is a great little covered deck that can be set up as a drink bar and shade for guests who arrive early. (And I'll be fibbing on the info that the wedding will start 15 minutes prior to actual start time due to most people underestimating the loooong dock walk.)

Dad and Mom standing at the end of the dock. So I'm gonna have an uber long aisle. See how far you can see down the dock? Yup, same distance my guests will be able to see, and that only gets me to the end of the dock - still gotta get through the sand to my man!

This is the view from the beach of our reception venue. Just too the right of center of the picture is the covered Grand Lagoon Terrace.Walking in from the dock and to the covered deck (reception location)

Getting closer! And walking through big trees and passed the pool and ponds to get there...

Sorry for the bad lighting that makes everything look pink. But thats it! That is the Grand Lagoon Deck that we will be partying on.

Oh you thought the lighting was bad before? Ha.
There are fans to keep air moving if its warm, and they bring out heating towers if its too chilly.

EEEK! I am excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh yeah - and get this - for each venue booked (we laid claim to the beach and the deck) they automatically reserve a back-up ballroom at no extra cost! We'll have a late afternoon ish wedding, so by noon on the day of, we have to decide if we want to move things indoors. How accommodating is that!!? Oh - and their ballrooms... gorgeous too!

I want to be outside, I really do. I love being outside and its just more "us" and the feeling we want. I also realize however that I do not control the weather. And since we'll be getting hitched in early April.... "April showers bring May flowers!" its really nice to have a back-up plan that wont break my heart or my bank or destroy all the fun plans. Oh, and the wedding coordinator is a doll. She couldn't be more sweet and great at responding to my bizarre emails. Some of which have included things like... "would it be feasible to have a volcano cake?" That idea got vetoed in a heartbeat, but the Marriott replied emphatically that it was very doable. I'll share more of my crazy ideas that got vetoed in the near future. I might even make up some inspiration boards for 'em! I'll also share with yall the other great aspects of the Marriott and how great they are, from unbelievable room rates to a vendor audition day! Stay tuned! (Man alive I use a lot of exclamation points!!) :)

Adventures in Wedding Venues: Destination Wedding at Home

Welcome back! So we left off with having ventured for venues on Panama City Beach, and deciding that Carillon just didn't quite fit in flexibility or budget style. But now, we were sold on the ceremony and reception at one location. And now we have come to grips with the first irony of our wedding:

We wanted to plan a destination style wedding, in my hometown.

The remaining options in venues are resorts on Panama City Beach. We could hold the ceremony, reception, and accommodations all in one place! We quickly started our mental venture into the world of a weekend wedding and the fun extra activities we could plan and invite people to. To us, there are 2 MAJOR benefits of having a destination wedding at home. First, with it being treated as a destination wedding, people are more likely to take a few days and make it a mini vacation with a wedding to celebrate in the middle. Secondly, we get to spend more time with our guests. When the wedding rolls around, we will have moved to LA where we will be close to 2 of my friends.... and no one else. Also due to being in LA, we won't be able to make some of the trips we normally make to see friends. A long weekend to visit my girls in Orlando usually happens a few times a year. Every Memorial Day weekend, we drive up to Indianapolis for the Indy 500 and see a plethora of people that we don't really get to see anywhere else. Notsomuch for either of these drives happening from LA! So we want to be able to see these friends and family and spend lots of quality time with them, and not just a "we are so glad you're here!" moment at the wedding.

Ok, back to the options. First up, the Boardwalk Beach Resort. They are know for the beautiful ballrooms, and they are right on the water. They have also just added a condo building with beautiful interiors. This could be great because it would give a variety of price ranges (standard hotel room to deluxe condo) for guests to choose from for their "vacation". They have an on-site wedding coordinator, and a few venue options. Of these options we were interested most in the outdoor ones (with indoor as back-up). They don't do weddings on the beach, but they are in a gazebo (pictured) looking out over the water. Along the side of the building is a very large covered deck that can be used for the reception. Sounds great. None of us (my family and I) had been there in several years, so we went to check out the details. That picture of the gazebo looks very nice... from afar and as long as you don't turn around. Attention to detail is not the name of the game here. Rusted edges and corners, paint in dire need of a touch up, and - best of all - if I were standing in the gazebo facing the camera in that picture, I would be looking at the back of a motel 6 style hotel also in need of some TLC. Same thing goes for the covered deck. (Which is right next to the property dumpsters which smelled.... bad planning!) Don't get me wrong, many a beautiful wedding has been had here, but I was let down a bit. Here came the actual downfall of this option. The wedding coordinator, who was less than forthcoming with personality or information (we had to ask to see photos of past weddings - not good), made the fatal mistake of pointing out that the disarray and lack of upkeep was due to Spring Breakers. Remember me pointing out how KEY spring breaker havoc avoidance is? (If not - scroll down and read my last post.) The Boardwalk is literally next door to La Vela. Oh yeah - not kidding. Spring Break Mecca of Mtv madness and mayhem. For those who don't know - Spring Breakers descend on Panama City Beach for nearly a full 6 weeks every spring and DESTROY everything in sight. (As a whole they do. Don't be insulted if you were a PCB Spring Breaker - you weren't here for knitting class!) Anyway, the property was a classic spring break mess! She pointed out that they have the property cleaned up again by May.

Enter me taking my guests into consideration. Those not from the South cannot stand the heat and humidity. To me it means summer! Break out the Popsicles and lemonade. To everyone else however, it means sweating and sweltering heat, dehydration and oppressive humidity. So as to avoid the melted puddle o'guests, we were leaning towards a late spring wedding. Say April-ish?

So while this means Boardwalk is off the list for us, I don't want to give everyone the wrong impression. It can be a nice place. Especially, when it comes to events in their ballrooms. So that I leave this on a gripe style post. I'll end it with pictures (courtesy of my parents) from a friends wedding who's reception was held in a Boardwalk ballroom. Next post - Our Venue choice!

Adventures in Wedding Venues: Panama City Possibilites

Panama City has a limited amount of possibilities for wedding related activities. We've already been through the church idea and have moved on. In figuring out what we really wanted in a venue, we went back to the basic aspects that we knew we wanted.

Lessons learned and ideas that we want to steal...errr... incorporate: In the fall of 2007, we attended the wedding of a couple of friends and learned a few things that we decided we wanted to incorporate. The key thing being - it was a true party and no one needed to worry about driving! The bride and groom planned it so everyone could walk from the hotel (where everyone, bride and groom and families included were staying) to the church (though, this should not be done in new heels!) and then there was a bus (with mini champagne bottles on every seat) to get everyone to the reception, and then back to the hotel afterwards. There was no worrying about a designated driver, no looking at others and being concerned about how sober they thought they were and who might get in the car with them, and then the best part: At the end of the reception, we loaded the bus with the leftover alcohol, and the bride and groom rode back to the hotel on the bus with us! We all got back to the hotel, unloaded the remaining kegs, changed into comfy pjs, and hung out in the lobby with the newly weds! It was really the best wedding we've ever been to. Every guest and friend from near or far really felt like we were a part of the celebration. The night before the wedding was the welcome BBQ (i'll get more into that in another post), all the guests were included in a group photo (not an easy task with 175 guests!), and then afterwards we all were invited to hang out in pajamas and recap the fun of friendship and then stories of the day. We want that feeling at our wedding.

Buses aren't cheap. So we started tossing out the idea of having the wedding and reception in one location, and just bus everyone to and from the hotel. (Again, I state the hotel because I really want there to be just one... enter lesson learned 2)

Lesson Learned - a $10 a night savings is not enough reason to have a second hotel option. A different wedding that I went to this spring (Adam couldn't join me, so I traveled with my Maid of Honor, who happened to be the MOH at this wedding too!) had 3 different hotel options. We never ran into another guest at our hotel. It was $10 less per night than the hotel that the family was in (where we spent much of our time coincidentally), and the bride , who told us not to bother with a car, had to shuttle us everywhere and in between the hotels because the family hotel was about a 20 minute drive and we were just outside the reach of the wonderful DC metro system. After the bride and groom exited the reception, we all stood around looking at each other trying to figure out if anyone wanted to hang out or meet up for drinks. This reinforced the above mentioned, everyone at one hotel, PJs after party idea.
(Don't get me wrong here folks - these were 2 VERY different weddings. I am not saying that the latter wasn't fun or not well done, just lessons learned about the way I would do things differently.) This picture from Elite is from the latter wedding. "Sexy Little Bride" up front, followed by our shared Maid of Honor, and last on the escalator - moi! aka the "day of fix it - find it - go to girl". (Again, post specific to that to follow. Wow, I am all kinda of blog teasing today aren't I?)

Who am I - Charles Dickens? Enough background hulabaloo - on to Venue Options!

St. Andrews Bay Yatch Club - Beautiful lawn on the bay. Many a wedding has been held there and I know the food is tasty! My family has been involved there for a long time, so we could really have free reign of the place! The building however, is about to undergo some much needed renovation, so they won't be hosting weddings for 2009. Scratch that option.


Next up, the Panama Country Club. It is a beautiful Golf Club located in Lynn Haven. But it is what you think of with most Country Clubs, a little tight on the rules and somewhat pretentious. (My opinion people!! No one get up in arms please.) For those who don't know the area, you might think that I'm being hypocritical by liking and being a part of the Yacht Club but not a fan of the Country Club. What you don't know is that the Yacht Club is much more along the lines of Craig Morgan's "Redneck Yacht Club". (If you haven't heard it, click on the link -listen -laugh - then reevaluate whether or not you think I'm being hypocritical.)

Crossing the bridge to Panama City Beach, we go to Carillon Beach. This place is like Seaside (think Jim Carey's Truman Show. Seaside is where it was filmed.) but closer and more private. Seaside, while still a popular wedding choice, is a little far in distance and prices. Carillon seemed to be a more logical choice. They have beautiful weddings there. My parents have been to several weddings done there on the beach, or in the meeting house, or on the lawn. "Carillon Weddings specializes in creating elegant, flawless events at our breathtaking Village by the Sea. Our village is the perfect place for your destination wedding celebration." And its true. I am including some photos from Paul Johnson Photography of the beautiful possibilities. The first is of the beautiful "meetinghouse" , which can be used for wedding or reception.

And then its out to their beach option. They are far enough down Panama City Beach that they are away from the Mtv Spring Break bonanza world. Which, I'll explain here soon, is key. As in biometric - fingerprint - voice recognition - file vault - key. No go for launch without this.

More beautiful possibility pictures by Paul...

Anyone else drooling over gorgeous photography yet?

Ok, enough beautiful Paul pictures for now. For more, stay tuned for my "Blog Bliss" feature of why I stalk Paul Johnson. Or if you can't wait until then, click on the link to his blog on my favorites list.

Enter the best and worst thing about Carillon Beach. You can only work with their vendors. Paul Johnson (obviously) happens to be the go-to photographer for beautiful Carillon weddings! WOOT WOOT! Unfortunately, he aint cheap. And neither are the other vendors. Carillon is a private community, so they have the right to say who you can and can't work with. That being said, I like options. I want to be able to pick vendors based on whether or not they are compatible by personality and budget. The other major drawback to me is the venue booking. I was searching through Paul's archives, dreaming of a wedding on the beach and then the reception on the lawn, when it occurred to me - what about a back up? If it rains? On that grass, a tent wont really cut it. Dry heads but muddy ground wont work. The meetinghouse is the back-up venue but its rather small. And then how do I back up the wedding? Have it inside the already way too cramped meetinghouse too? Oh yeah and to top off the back-up battles, I would have to pay for the beach venue, the lawn venue, AND the meeting house, even if we don't use it. Each venue runs about $2500 just in site fee. My mother met with the coordinator there, (whom Momma Duck says is a sweet fun lady who was very helpful), ran some numbers and figured that we were looking at a minimum of WAY more than what I consider reasonable, for less people than I wanted to be able to be there. So, for us - its off the list.

Next up 2 of Panama City's Beach Resorts!

Adventures in Wedding Venues: Thinking outside the Church

So there is a funny aspect of weddings in Panama City. Venues are limited to say the least. For the wedding, people usually marry in their church or on the beach. For the reception there are only a few choices. And if you don't want to spend an exorbitant amount on the venue price, even less options.

As for the church, I grew up at Holy Nativity Episcopal. Its where I went to school until middle school (5th grade was as high as it went back in the day), and its where I went to church, and still do whenever I am home on a weekend. I was active in the youth group and my parents are still active as ushers and choir. (Mom sings - Dad is COMPLETELY tone deaf!) [Oddball side thought: We call my mother the Momma Duck, and yet when she goe to choir practice we say that she is Squawking. Why in the world don't we say that she's quacking??] I am a confirmed Episcopalian and Adam is by default. Like many others who attend Episcopal services, he was raised Catholic, grew up enough to question the teaching, and decided that he didn't agree. Old Joke: Episcopal is like Catholic-lite - all the service, none of the guilt! :) Anyway, we knew we wanted to get married by Fr. Steve, the priest at Holy Nativity.

That does not mean, however that we wanted to marry in the church. Holy Nat is great, really, but when they built the church, someone had the "bright idea" of making it modern. Its wood, but sort of whitewashed. There is stained glass, but it looks out of place and wouldn't be seen in any pictures. There is a choir loft (from which this photo was taken), but the acoustics are not great and they choir can't be there and hear the organ/piano, so they don't use it. Its a nice enough place, but a bit blah for our tastes. I've seen it all dolled up for celebrations and weddings, its just not "us". There are some beautiful churches in Panama City, but I feel a little fake moving my wedding and priest to another church for aesthetic reasons. So we started thinking outside the church.

One of the popular trends for weddings right now is to have them in a cool museum or art gallery. I love that idea! one problem.... did I mention that this is going to be in Panama City? Notosmuch with cool museums or art galleries with fun or modern aesthetics. There are some great art galleries, but they are hole in the wall places normally.

How amazing is this wedding? Its in the Chinese Rotunda section of a history museum in PA! (Image courtesy: Wedding Bee - Ms Candy Corn) In that same museum is a reception hall that is within the Egyptian Mummy section!! Check out the blog post credited above from Ms Candy Corn for more venue porn / pictures. ;)



Next idea: Garden weddings are beautiful! And talk about saving on the florist bill - who decorates a garden!? Unfortunately, all the gardens in the area are a bit English. The Queen could have tea and be very happy that the roses aren't mixed with the tulips, and certainly not associating with any of those crazy tropical flowers!! Of course, its the tropical flowers I love. I saw one garden wedding picture (that I cannot find again for the life of me, so if anyone knows which picture I am talking about, and where to find it, please tell me) where the hedges made a low maze path that the guests stood in. These paths all focused in on one open area where the marriage occurred. It was beautiful and everyone had a good view! If I remember from the blog, the couple actually did the ceremony progressively in a circle so at some point they were facing every one of their guests. What a fun idea and great way to really make your guests feel included!

Now enter the idea that made me hate my newest sister-in-law. (Mind you, I don't hate her at all, but I would have been happier had she not pointed this out to me!) Marry in the backyard of the house I grew up in. When we moved to Panama City, everything was dirt cheap. My parents bought a lot on the water and built a beautiful house for not that much. Its the house I grew up in and what will forever be the building form of "home" to me. The backyard has a pool and a gazebo in the trees! Just past the pool the land slopes down to a flat backyard that extends to the beach and the water. Because of the sharp angle of the hill, my parents built stairs into the far left side. Everything left of the stairs is garden and trees. My mother is a master gardener and her flowers spill over the side of their territory and edge out onto the stairs. To the right of the stairs is the green slope, and the flat expanse. Further to the right are more oak trees. (We have huge oak trees - this is the south.) I wish I had pictures to show you. My parents bedroom was on the first floor, at the far left side of the house. So they had what my newest SIL pointed out to be the perfect set up. I could use my parents room and bathroom for the ready room for all the girls, and then come out their sliding glass door which leads right to the beautiful stairs that go down the backyard and then through the chairs we set up on the flat grass and right up to Adam, standing right under the huge oak tree limbs. We could have the cocktail hour up by the pool while we take photos and the flat grass is reconfigured into the dinner and dancing set up. I love it. It is my dream wedding in a beautiful place I know intimately. One problem. My parents sold the house and moved into a condo 2 years ago. I could literally cry right now thinking about it. I mentioned this to my mom once not too long ago, she said she's look into in in-case the new owners would be willing to take their kids to Disney for a week or so. She never brought it up again related to the wedding. She did however say that the new owners had gutted our house and it was totally different. This tells me 2 things. 1 - that I am pretty sure she asked and was told no. 2 - That she was heartbroken about the house too. She's an interior designer who designed every inch of that house from her heart (except my room: You know how the son of the preacher is the most amoral kid? Right - I'm the daughter of the interior designed - I hate things that match.)

Ok - I didn't intend for this to be a two part post, but this is getting awfully long! Next up - I review the options for combined wedding and reception locations.

Oh yeah - wacky and wonderful aspect about wedding in hometown with priest we know, Fr Steve loves to sing Karaoke!! He was the lead singer for a band before he went to seminary so he's actually really good. And he's going to sing "Mustang Sally" at the reception!! God, sometimes I love being from a small town. :) Anyone else have a celebrant adding in their wacky traits?

Wedding Location Pt 3: Location. Location. Location!

For my avid stalkers, you know exactly where we are at in the decision process. For any newbies, read these quickly for recap:
Part 1
Part 2
Ok - everyone up to speed? Good.
The reality of holding the wedding in Adam's hometown was that it was going to be a pretty intimate wedding with a down home on the farm feeling. (He's from Amish country PA. Literally - the field that backs up to his parent's backyard is an Amish farm... with an electric fence! No, I'm not kidding. He found that out one day as he hopped the fence to grab a wayward football.) Travel costs being what they are, and Amish country not really being high on anyone's vacation list means that we would be missing a lot of friends and family that might otherwise combine vacation with wedding.

In case I didn't point it out enough before, there is no central location for even a large group of our friends or family. Our parents friends are someone confined to our hometowns, but our friends are scattered throughout the country from school and careers. From Hawaii to New York and everywhere in between.

I actually said that I was ok with having the wedding in his hometown IF it was Amish themed!! Straw hats and bonnets as guests walk in? I think it sounds fun!
...Adam gave me a bizarre look and just walked away.... refused to even acknowledge my suggestion! hahahah - i love those moments.

And then there were two.......
As I pointed out in my first post, I am an avid bridal blog stalker. And if no one else has noticed - there are a lot of SoCal and LA brides-to-be posting up a storm! So I was getting a good idea of the range of possibilities that could happen in California. I was beginning to in love with winery style inspiration boards. Adam and I are wine lovers. We aren't exactly sommeliers, but we know what we do and don't like. And how could you not be thinking vineyard with amazing fun, funky, vino inspired boards like this one from Sparkalatti:and knowing that it could mean really fun DIY projects like these I saw on Its a Jamie thing.
The other aspect to to the being bridal blog informed is that I also have an ideal of costs in the area. So, I am not exactly an uber budget in either extreme. I am impressed by those who pull it of for $10,000 or less, but I also don't have a sky high "average" American bridal budget. I am the only daughter and my parents are footing the bill, but I think even spending the "average" 30K is unreasonable. With the amount of people we want to be able to be there to celebrate with us, we quickly realized that our not-so-vintage-vino was going to break the bank.

And then there was 1... Panama City - my hometown. (Yes, as in Mtv's spring break mecca. For any of you reading this who partied there for spring break - I was one of those beach lifeguards who tried to ignore your drunken swaggers in the sand, but came to help you when you found out that, as I had told you when your buddy dared you, you could not actually make it out to the buoy and back.

Now.. to find a venue.....

Wedding Location Pt 1: At Home? Destination? wait...who's home? hometown? Mine or yours? Where we live now? or where we'll be next year?...

Ahh the fun of military life... never in one place for too long. And we were not high school sweethearts from the same town... or state.... or state of mind! So before we delve into the world of flowers, themes, dresses and linens - we need to start with a city, or at least a state. And wow we have such a range of options!!

I am from Panama City, Fl. He's from Manheim, PA. We started dating in Hilo, HI. At the time he was living (and loving) in Seattle, while I was living in Hilo. We currently live in Pensacola, (the cradle of naval aviation) and we love it here. Waiting to find out our first air station which could send us to San Fran, Los Angeles, Oahu, Puerto Rico, or Savannah. And I could really picture a wedding in each of these places. eek! Too many options!!! And this list doesn't even include destination possibilities!

A Hawaiian Wedding could be great and very "us". I love the beach. I love being barefoot. Adam and I always had a fantastic time when he came to visit me in Hawaii. I love tropical flowers and Hawaiian traditions.

This inspiration board from Elizabeth Ann Designs
just makes me want to go back and celebrate the next phase of our love right where it began.

But many of our friends are still in their first jobs out of college or in grad school or for other reasons are financially strapped. We really want all our friends to have the best possibility of being able to be there to celebrate with us. Alas - airline tickets just aren't cheap enough, and it requires so much travel time, we decided that we would at least keep it to the mainland.

Ok, so we've knocked out Hawaii and any other "destination wedding" spot thats not attached to the continental US. Wow there are still a lot of options to go!

Ahead: Small details start to form our wedding ideas... and an air station fake out!