Wedding Vendor Check-in

As time progressed, I realized the vendor list of hires for my wedding kept getting longer.  It seemed as soon as I checked one vendor off my list, another one made it on.  I already had the reception venue: check! Found the caterer: check! Had the florist and photographer: check!  Hired a DJ: check!  But I was missing two really important vendors for the wedding: a ceremony location and an officiant.  Can't have the ceremony without either of these two things.

It's really kind of odd that I would have a reception venue before I booked a ceremony location since it's usually the other way around.  Since I did it backwards, I needed a ceremony venue that was close to the reception venue and cheap.  I initially thought we could have the ceremony in the backyard but the more I thought about it, the less appealing a backyard wedding seemed to me. What if it rains?  What about parking? Was the backyard nice enough for a wedding?  I had family traveling to the ceremony, I needed to make sure it was up to their expectations.

The next idea I had was to have the ceremony in a local church but with all the requirements needed to get married in said church, not to mention not having heard anything from the Pastor, I thought it time to move on and get serious about finding someplace to get married.

Finally, I found a nice looking, rustic type lodge close to the reception venue, 4 minutes away.  It is perfect for our simple ceremony and suits us to a T.  It is original and totally us. I am actually excited to get married here.  Even the terrace is perfect: this is where we will host our 'mock-tail' hour while we take pictures.

Now that the ceremony space was taken care of (contract signed and deposit paid), I had to go about looking for a lawyer who could legally marry us.  Mother-in-law has a cousin who has a friend who can legally marry couples in Costa Rica.  Her price was right, so we booked her.  We will have an official meeting a month prior to the wedding to finalize details. Officiant: check!

Other vendors I can check off my list:
Transportation: check
Chair cover rentals: check
Hair and makeup stylist: check
Esthetician: check