Wedding Venue

As you all may have known- we've gone through numerous wedding venues. We've searched high and low for something we liked and that was in our budget. What we came up with was zip, zilch, zero wedding venues in our budget. We looked at wedding venues that cost $2000+ (in the off season) and being that that is half our budget and we'd have to get married with snow on the ground, we didn't move forward with any. There was one we were particularly sold on, but because of a few events in our life, we decided to cut the budget in half which pretty much took this venue out of the running. We were sold on Grand Targhee Resort in Wyoming. A gorgeous destination wedding with the Grand Tetons in the background. But time went by and we had to give up on the search. At this point, Courtney and I decided we'd rather elope than spend a ton of money on one day when it's really truly about us getting married. Not throwing a party.

Of course, that idea would not fly with our family. So a few weeks after we were sitting on the idea, my brother and sister in law came over for dinner. That night, after they listened to us ramble on about our search for a wedding venue on a low budget and all the stress and problems we encountered, they so graciously offered for us to use their barn.

I'd honestly always secretly hoped it would come down to their barn if we didn't decide on a destination wedding. So of course I couldn't help but smile and thank them and tell them we will discuss it. And of course, Courtney was all aboard with the idea to- so we FINALLY have decided on a wedding venue. And besides renting tables, chairs, etc- this wedding venue will cost us zip, zilch! Of course, we'll pitch in to help tidy up the place and help with plants, etc. but all I can say is, yay!!! It only took us 7 months, that's right, 7 MONTHS to find and decide on a venue. Typical, right?

So here are some sneak preview photos of the barn (turned yoga studio) and some photos from my brother and sister-in-law's wedding two years ago!






A big thanks go out to my wonderful family for offering their property to help us out! Love you both!

Foyer Makeover

We've put up with our foyer being an empty hole for the past one and a half years. It's been used as a daily dump off, the dirt collector, and bike storage. After looking at the disgusting peach walls all this time, I've decided it's time to keep my eye balls from burning every time I looked or walked through the foyer- which happens at least 4 times daily.

A few things to note about our foyer:

1. It has a radiator just hanging out right next to the front door, taking up space. It's kind of pointless- because it doesn't even work. Maybe that could be the next project- getting permission from our landlord to remove it. Or figuring out how to actually make it work. But with the draft from the door, it's pretty pointless to try and get it to work. How to fix drafts from doors? Hmmm..

2. The "beautiful" dark wood trim. I HATE dark wood trim. I've tried to persuade my landlord to let me paint it white, and she refuses. It would really open up the foyer space and make it light and cheerful if we could paint it white- but instead we have to work with what we are given. Gloomy "beautiful" dark wood trim.

Being that this is an apartment and I can't totally have my way- here is the makeover of our lovely little foyer.

First, we started off with a great craigslist find. I am a huge fan of craigslist and most of our furniture are second hand steals found on craigslist. We responded to an ad for a dresser being sold for $40. The photo was blurry on craigslist but I decided to give it a shot. When we showed up to an empty house being remodeled and walked into a room with just this dresser- I knew immediately it would be perfect. My whole idea was to get a piece of furniture for the foyer to house ALL our heaps of piles of ski and winter gear. This piece was large- but also had interesting carvings and shapes to it. Sold! We packed it into every little inch of the car and drove 30 minutes home with the two front seats pressed up against the dashboard. It was the longest and most uncomfortable car ride ever. But we made it home. Knowing we were going to paint it, Courtney immediately took the sander to the furniture to prepare it for painting. We later purchased knobs and handles at the Home Depot to update the antique metal pulls that were on it.



No longer will I have a 4:00 a.m. wakeup call on the days I am not going skiing with Courtney. No longer will I wake up to him fumbling through drawers looking for ski gear. Now he gets to make all the noise he wants in the foyer looking for whatever he needs!

While Courtney sanded, I painted the entire foyer a sand color. Courtney was also so kind to primer the dresser the day I left for Orlando- so I came home to a dry piece of white furniture. A blank canvas to paint! We took a trip to home depot and after several arguments about what color to paint it (I wanted to go with more of a gold green and Courtney didn't want gold or green), we settled on a forest green. And so, I took a couple hours each night after work painting the dresser.



To be honest, all the inspiration for the foyer makeover came from this post from Young House Love. I wanted an excuse to try the unique stencil design which cost me less than $15 in supplies. All you need is a piece of cardboard, a small stencil brush, small can of paint, music and patience. This blog has given me great inspiration and I am happy I found it after a recommendation from my sister-in-law, Jamie, who told me to check out their wedding on a budget. It gave us some great ideas on how to save and we will be re-creating a similar reception as theirs!



We also managed to snag a $40 brand new in box $300 chandelier. Another great craigslist find that we picked up on the way home from camping and attending Ullr fest in Vermont. The car was so packed with camping gear we were nervous it wouldn't fit- but we were lucky and it did.



I purchased the rug a few weeks ago on ideeli.com- a rue-la-la and groupon type of site with flash sale deals. While the rug is originally $800, I got it for in the $200 range. It was a bit more than I would have liked to spend but let's just say it was an impulse buy with no returns on the label.

And drumroll please for the almost final product....


I say "almost final product" because I would still like to get a large mirror to hang on the wall above the dresser and an antique looking clock to put above one of the doorways so we also know what time it is as we try to rush out the door...

Oh and a special thanks to our little helper!



To be continued.