Wedding Venue Selected

We finally decided on a wedding venue! We will be getting married at Sirata Beach Resort & Conference Center in St. Pete Beach.



We ended up choosing this location for two primary reasons. We both really liked the Bilmar Resort but their sales person who came highly recommended via web feedback was leaving. When we visited the last time, they had a new staff member who had been there about 6 weeks but didn't seem to know what was going on. Also, I had assumed she would also serve as a coordinator during the day of the event in the sense she would assure that the ceremony and reception would be set up the way Corey and I wanted. She said she wouldn't be there but a catering manager would be the point person.

The other reason we didn't choose Bilmar was because they didn't provide us a rain plan. The ceremony and the reception was outside. Part of the reception area was on a concrete deck right next to the sand. Typically, people will tent this area for bad weather but I was concerned about a hurricane or more severe weather. The Bilmar has a nice ballroom and I thought it was be held for a back up plan but she told that more than likely another event would be going on at the same time as my reception.

Sirata is beautiful and we are very happy with our venue. Now that the place is secured my anxiety isn't as bad.

Next steps: finding a dress; finding a photographer

Dress Shopping 101

I ventured out this past weekend with my friend April (who is in the wedding) to begin my dress shopping experience. Neither she nor I have ever done this before so we didn't really know what to expect. The one word to describe my experience is Uneventful.

I found a few dresses that I liked from Alfred Angelo which seemed to be within my price range and casual enough for the beach wedding. We met at a store in the same shopping center to have lunch first and then ventured over.

When we first walked in, I noticed it was much busier than I had expected. I figured we would be able to look through dress racks and possibly try on some dresses with the assistance of a wedding assistant at the store. There was about 7-8 people standing in the entrance to the place and at least 3-4 other women working with assistants. It was just like the movies with these women standing on a mini-stage in their dress.

The 1 person who wasn't busy told us that it would be quite some time before anyone could help us. Still oblivious to the protocol, April and I ventured over to a rack and started looking through the dresses. I found 1-2 of the ones I liked but knew I couldn't try them on. I ended up having to ask the same person how the whole process works. Basically, I needed to make an appointment to have someone help me.

Someone recommended another bridal store so we left and went over to that one thinking it may be as equally as busy. It was actually closed and the store was for lease. Off to store #3, which was Brenner's in the mall because it also carried Alfred Angelo dresses, we walked in and was able to sort through racks of dresses without an appointment. But I wasn't interested in any of the dresses.

Here are two dresses that I like. One from J.Crew and the other from Alfred Angelo. Unfortunately, you can't try on JCrew dresses and I won't buy something I can't try on first.


My first lesson about shopping for dresses: Make an appointment.

My DIY ideas

The crafty side of me wants to create some aspects for the wedding. While I'm not doing the complete DIY, I do have plans to do my own flowers, center pieces, a chuppah (in leiu of the wedding arch possibly), invitations, and probably a few other things as they come up.

So far my ideas have come from Martha Stewart's wedding magazine. Most of the other magazines are filled with things I can't afford or would even consider for the wedding.

Here are two ideas I'm considering for centerpieces. I was thinking about also using the umbrellas for seating cards as well.