Holy Carp, I'm Getting Married!

[WithLove]

Hey ENA!

The bf and I decided on a marriage date: March 15, 2020!

I kind of need a place to sort out ideas and thoughts, so, thanks for joining me!

Firstly: I am Catholic, but not practicing, and he is Jewish, and does observe some holidays. He isn't asking me to convert and he hasn't mentioned getting married in a Jewish synagogue, as he doesn't visit any, so I don't think that this is necessary. He is one of the only people in his family that is Jewish, so he wouldn't get pressure from anyone to include his religion with the marriage.

Secondly: in choosing 3/15/20, I realize that this means our marriage date is only 6 months away. We have been loosely talking about if we want a ceremony and reception, or none of those, or to get married by a Justice of the Peace and then have a celebration later down the road. I think we are focusing on that last one, because neither of us really cares to have a bunch of people around to witness the marriage, but we do have a lot of friends and family that would like to celebrate the marriage, and of course we would like to do that, too.


Thirdly: we live in FL, so even in March, it's going to be hot. We'd ideally like everything to be indoors. There are a lot of beautiful venues in my area, but a lot of them are outdoors (i live in a beach resort area). I'd like to do something different. Neither of us is into churches or reception halls, and that pretty much removes most options. Can someone share some ideas or stories of indoor venues that you enjoyed or thought was cool and fun?

[~Seraphim ~]

Congrats!!! So happy for you !

[bluecastle]

Congrats! If you guys end up having kids they can be what I self-identify as with my Catholic dad and Jewish mom: a Cashew, a quirky and delicious nut.

I've never been married or planned a wedding, but I've been to some unique ones. I'd say just start thinking about places that resonate with you, for whatever reason, rather than simply places built to "host weddings." Some friends of mine, for instance, got married in an abandoned, architecturally exquisite building they both always admired. Think they went into the tax records, found the landlord, made it happen. Was stunning. Was cheap!

Maybe there are cool homes in your area? You could do some sleuthing on Airbnb, then reach out to the hosts and see if such an arrangement was doable. As an Airbnb host myself I can tell you that I'm generally open to people thinking about my places outside the box.

Anyhow, congrats again!

[WithLove]

Congrats! If you guys end up having kids they can be what I self-identify as with my Catholic dad and Jewish mom: a Cashew, a quirky and delicious nut.

I've never been married or planned a wedding, but I've been to some unique ones. I'd say just start thinking about places that resonate with you, for whatever reason, rather than simply places built to "host weddings." Some friends of mine, for instance, got married in an abandoned, architecturally exquisite building they both always admired. Think they went into the tax records, found the landlord, made it happen. Was stunning. Was cheap!

Maybe there are cool homes in your area? You could do some sleuthing on Airbnb, then reach out to the hosts and see if such an arrangement was doable. As an Airbnb host myself I can tell you that I'm generally open to people thinking about my places outside the box.

Anyhow, congrats again!

That's a really good idea! Thank you!

[bluecastle]

Happy to help. Chances are you could find yourself in some wildly cool home that would seem eons outside of your price range, were you planning a trip, but that in the annals of wedding planning is downright cheap. Just requires a little poking, some hustling.

[Batya33]

Congratulations! Six months is plenty and I like your thinking as far as celebrating the marriage. Planning a party for later does take some pressure off. We had an amazing ceremony -just wonderful and meaningful -in my inlaws' living room with ten guests then we went to a local restaurant we loved and had the local bakery bake the wedding cake. I wore blue so I could do the borrowed/blue tradition thing and because I was having a boy, which of course was the nontraditional part.

So it sounds like you're getting married on the ides of March -cool! We got engaged mid-October, married first week of December.

Have fun and enjoy this time!!!

[Wiseman2]

Congrats! 🎈🎆🎇✨🎉🎊💞

[LC8328]

omg I am so happy for you!!! I hope you have the best wedding ever xoxo

[melancholy123]

My daughter got married at a lovely golf course in August in Ontario, Canada so the weather was perfect. Outdoor wedding, indoor reception. How about something like that?

[maew]

Congratulations!

I like blue's idea of finding a cool home or piece of architecture that isn't normally a place that one would host a wedding.

6 months is totally doable... the things that generally take the longest are ordering / finding a dress and planning the venue... otherwise if you plan what you want and then pick away at it daily, you will find that everything gets done and what doesn't won't matter.

My wedding was indoor / outdoor in a tiny resort on the island I grew up on, right on the ocean, and was very small, we used a JP because neither of us is particularly religious, and actually had one of our friends do our vows.... the wedding itself was outside, then all the food / dancing etc. was indoors, it worked out well, we had about 6 months to plan.

If I got married again? I think I would elope somewhere that was meaningful to both of us, then invite family and friends to have dinner with us at a cute restaurant nearby.