Fast forward to today. Linh (D) and I have been engaged for just over a year. So far we haven’t even decided on a state. And after selecting ‘single’ again on my taxes, I feel a pressing need to get out of limbo and tie the knot. Mind you, that’s not why I want to get married, but it did light the figurate fire under my seat. If it wouldn’t alienate the family –both the one I grew up with and the one I’m marrying into- I would take eloping more seriously. A simple airborne ceremony in Vegas by skydiving Klingons would suffice. Or we could follow D’s suggestion of Chucky Cheese. But, we only plan on doing this once, so we want it to be nice. (The skydiving Klingons will have to wait for a renewal ceremony.)
And so, first things first, we need a state. Over the past year our wedding ideas have included:
- lobster bake in a rented home in Cape Cod, MA;
- simple ceremony in D’s aunt’s backyard in Rockville, Maryland;
- beach wedding in either Fort Lauderdale, Key Largo, Islamorada, or St. Augustine Florida;
- renting a ship in south Florida;
- mansion in Davie, FL;
- various parks in Broward County, FL;
- wooded areas in Massachusetts just inland of Boston;
- the West Gallery of the Smithsonian;
- the chapel at the University of Maryland;
- parks and open spaces in Maryland; and
- one of the plethora of beautiful parks or mansions in Savannah, GA.
And with all that we’ve yet to find the perfect venue. Each place is either too expensive, too inconvenient for our guests, or too blasé. We are also trying to accommodate relatives who can’t travel easily due to age or because they have newborns. Hopefully you can sympathize with us. It’s a lot to figure out.
At this point I would be more than happy with a simple, outdoor ceremony and a reception at a dim sum restaurant. It would be fun and might even be within our budget. Unfortunately dim sum restaurants tend to look run down. It lacks the magic that the occasion warrants.
THE BEST ADVICE
The most common question we get is “When’s the big date?” We’re not slacking, honest, but without a state, let alone a venue, it’s hard to pinpoint an exact date. Ask D, we are on wedding planning mode 24/7. But there is a lot to factor in while making these decisions. Heck, we didn’t even know what season we wanted to get married in. We assumed that we’d get hitched in the fall so we’d have a backdrop of changed leaves, but that would only matter if we get married up north. And then I got some of the best advice yet, “First figure out where you want to go on your honeymoon, then have the wedding at the best time to go there.” It turns out that there’s a lot more to planning weddings than I thought, but vacations? I can plan me a vacation. No wonder we’ve been having so much trouble with all this. We started on square two! Ok then, let’s start at square one!
Oooh, the honeymoon! A once in a lifetime opportunity to go somewhere fun, exciting, and full of adventure, and then stay in our room all day. We started with some ground rules. Where ever we go must have 1) a stable government; and 2) potable tap water. We enjoy camping, hiking, and general outdoorsy activities. In fact, we recently hiked to the world’s only natural flame behind a waterfall.
Our top two picks were New Zealand, with its endless beauty, and Kyoto, Japan. But as awesome as either of those would be, we can’t afford a $10,000 honeymoon. I’m trying to spend less than that on the actual wedding and reception, and we’re inviting at least 70 people. Unless someone invents planes fueled by sunshine and rainbows, we have to look at other venues. Montana,Wyoming, the US southwest, and Canada were also possibilities. Any of these would be affordable and offer lots of exciting outdoor adventures. But while we hope to visit these places on future vacations, we don’t want to spend our entire honeymoon in a tent. And then D made a suggestion.“What about Iceland?” Actually, she suggested it several times before it finally registered. My initial thought was, “Man, I am all about some geo-thermal hot springs, but I want more than just that on my honeymoon.” Well, we did some research and it turns out there’s all sorts of stuff to do in Iceland! There are fjords! I’ve wanted to show D fjords for years! And aurora borealis?! Dude, I’ve wanted to see that since I first heard of it. And we get to see glaciers (before they all melt), waterfalls, go snowmobiling, horseback riding, and enjoy unique, alien scenery! Oh, and there are geo-thermal hot springs.
The next question was ‘when’? From what we’ve found so far, it looks like winter is the best time to see aurora borealis. Even better, it’s much less expensive to visit Iceland in the winter, so honeymooning there will be less than half the cost of going to New Zealand or Japan. We were thinking of getting married in February since it’s still winter but after the holidays, which should make things easier for our guests. Then D’s cousin Kim pointed out that the honeymoon doesn’t have to be immediately after the wedding. We could get married at anytime and go on our honeymoon whenever we please.
So yeah, Iceland is chock full of win. We now have a tentative honeymoon destination and month, February 2013. Now we just need a venue and date for the wedding. We are still researching various options, but we had a breakthrough last night. I’ll report back with that news soon!
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