Women's Clubs

I went to a beautiful wedding this weekend of two former neighbors. It was held at the historic (for Los Angeles) Santa Monica Bay Women's Club. The venue had an upstairs balcony area and floor where the reception was held for approximately 100 or so guests. The downstairs room had a large stage, entrance area, and plenty of space for tables and a dance floor. There were performances by friends of the bride and groom: an Indian dance to the infamous Slumdog Millionaire theme song Jai Ho, a Brazilian dance with the bride and groom, and a sexy stiltwalker!

One of the best places to consider for a wedding are local women's clubs. As a national organization for women, nearly every city, to my knowledge, has a number of them and they have some great locations in urban areas for a low cost.

If you live in the LA area check out the following Women's Clubs:

Eagle Rock Women's Club (a particularly incredible venue)


Santa Monica Bay Women's Club

Hollywood Women's Club



If you live in the Chicagoland area check out these ones:

Kenilworth Club (not a women's club but a great venue space and still a club ;))


Evanston Women's Club

Blocks and blocks of...rooms!

So, in my first month of official FUNemployment, I've found myself busier than ever. How is that possible you ask? I, too, wonder how the heck could this be?! Well, my friends, the urgent need to find a ceremony venue that does not cost us $3,000 seems to be ridiculously hard. A task I've really yet to dig into yet perhaps the research to find said place seems impossible. Next up, room blocks for my 60 guests? Yes, this is another place where I've just watched time go, go, and go. How does one prepare for room blocks? For those without an older and wiser adult there to guide you and those who haven't been professional event planners of any sort, here are a few guidelines to know before you get into it.

Essential Room Block Reservation Vocabulary (by knowing the terminology perhaps you can sidestep the potentially lengthy conversations):

1. Cut-Off Dates: Don't laugh, it's the date at which your room block will no longer be available. Typically, this date will fall a month before your event.

2. 10 Room Block: The average number of rooms hotels are willing to hold for you and then release at cut-off date (see above definition).

3. Anything over 10 rooms: You will be responsible for paying 80% of the cost of the rooms regardless of whether or not they've been reserved. I'm guessing most brides do not do this.

My biggest question is this: Why are these room blocks necessary? In other decades, those perhaps without technology like say the computer, it might be a bit difficult to figure out which hotel to stay at based on location of ceremony, etc. Let us not forget there were a great many phone books, maps, and AAA definitely existed, too.

Flash forward to today, we have computers which have Google Maps which can lead to TripAdvisor from which we'll probably switch to kayak.com or priceline.com to find the cheapest possible 4 or 5 star hotel around, right? Some hotels do give discounts for room blocks but from my research in the Boston area, there wasn't much discount and I'm not sure I can predict the 26 different rooms each of those wedding guest parties will need. Sigh. I wish I could, I really, really do! I'll still get 2 room blocks for the family just because I love them.

My DIY Projects

When I was first introduced to the oh so popular wedding-land term called "DIY" otherwise known as do-it-yourself, I thought of this:

Then I realized that just like all good things in life, DIY would have to be done in moderation. Considering I'm across the country from my wedding location, I can't go crazy designing glass vases full of flowers or giant framed guest sign-in posters BUT there is most definitely plenty you can still do from afar and planning precisely what you want and will need to do pre-wedding will make it easier to ask for help and much easier to get the diy projects done quickly and done well.

I also want you to know that although most blogs I've read really recommend asking everyone you know to pitch in and make it a family affair if you can, I want you to know that as much as I want to ask, I'm also a control freak who knows she has a busy but helpful family. My goal with 8 months to go is to do as much as I can between myself and fiance. As we realize what tasks we can't do at all on our own then we ask for help. I envy brides/grooms who have entire families dive right in. I'd love to hear more about those weddings- how it happens, trials, tribulations, and successes along the way to the day. Please share!

Waiting for something (very special)...

My first post falls on what is nearly the first anniversary of our engagement (12 days away to be exact).

Do people celebrate this usually? I'm guessing the answer is a good-sized "no". I can't believe it's been a year. I really, really can't. I feel like the past year both flew by and creeped along- should we be married yet? I once was anxious about it but realized that there's no rush. A New York Times article (http://tinyurl.com/2u3llhg) earlier this month said:

"In other words, waiting for something and working hard to get it made it feel more valuable and more stimulating."

Woohoo, waiting for wedding we are doing! On that note, Fiance and I will be celebrating with a very special concert at a very special venue on September 26th. Though we are an entire year into our engagement, we will still be waiting another 8 months for the arrival of the day it all becomes written into law! We can't wait. We've both grown together so much in this year-first I moved in with him and his gracious roommate which was soon followed by a new apartment for just the two of us.

I love reading blogs and have basically learned how to plan a wedding with their help. With almost 365 days of wedding prep behind me, I'm ready to dive into the next 240 or so by sharing everything I learned/am learning and give back to newly engaged friends and strangers like others did for me!