Need Help Brainstorming Location ideas

[firebirdgold]

Hi everyone! Now that I can finally discuss the subject with my fi (yay!), we''re thinking that March 10-11 would be most convenient time for us to get married. However I''m a bit stumped for ideas on where in the country to do so. It needs to be easily and (relatively) cheaply reachable from portland, Oregon. Other requirements are beautiful scenery (beach, mountains), relatively decent enough weather to have a good chance of getting married outside, and a low key ambience (no ritz, sigh). Oh, and it has to be at least an hour away from Malibu otherwise my mother will take over.
So far I''ve got Laguna Beach, San Diego, and Carmel. Anyone have any other ideas?
Thanks all!

 

[JessaJS]

I know you mentioned "in the country", but have you seriously considered a destination wedding? I''m planning mine In Playa del Carmen, Mexico - which is not terribly far away, pretty reasonable in price, beautiful, etc. Just a thought!

 

[ladykemma]

santa cruz, yosemite, sequoia, foothills of sequioa, muir woods, anywhere with redwoods

yellowstone - big grand lodge (name?)

 

[firebirdgold]

Date: 7/10/2006 8:59:40 AM
Author: ladykemma
santa cruz, yosemite, sequoia, foothills of sequioa, muir woods, anywhere with redwoods


yellowstone - big grand lodge (name?)

ooh, redwoods! That''s a great idea! I''ll check out the weather with wunderground.com and see what those areas are like in March. But that''s just the sort of thing we''d both love. (especially him!)

In the US only! Not only does Mexico have blood tests and a waiting period of several days (bye bye honeymoon, we''ve only got a week in March), but after seeing my sister jump through hoops for the Italian beauracracy I have a horror of that happening to me. Good idea otherwise, I certainly wish it could work since it''d be nice and warm.

 

[Selkie]

I''m not sure how low key you want, but friends of ours run an environmental center and ranch in the Sierra Nevada foothills, not too far from Giant Sequoia National Monument. They do weddings there, and it''s quite a beautiful place. Run a Google search on River Ridge Ranch in Springville, CA.

 

[GarysBride]

My friends got married right in a cathedral of redwoods it was beautiful heres the place it happened
http://www.roaringcamp.com/weddings.html

This is a picture of them, sorry its so small she actually made her dress it was so pretty they got married in civil war era clothes i loved it! ill try to find another picture of the dress.

 

[firebirdgold]

oh oh oh oh oh TRAIN!!! TRAIN!!! He LOVES Trains!!!
What a great idea!! THANK YOU!

Selkie, I love the enviromental ranch idea, but his best friend is getting married at a Ranch this summer so I don''t want to look like I''m copying. Columbia Gorge is also out since that''s where his sis is getting married this fall.

 

[Selkie]

Trains are fun. I have this book called "Intimate Weddings" and one couple got married on the Santa Fe Southern Railway, which I''m sure you probably know of. Really cool! They chartered a whole train for the ceremony and reception and got married somewhere along the route.

 

[firebirdgold]

I can walk to the sfsr station! That''s a splendid idea and I''ll float it past him.

And it really doesn''t look all that expensive to charter.
I don''t have a set budget, but I figure that as long as I come in well under my sister''s cost my folks will be happy with whatever we choose to do. You know, I don''t think she''s even asked how much all her wedding parties are adding up to. *chortle* There is just no way I could come close to spending that amount on just 20-25 people.

Although, admittedly her actual wedding with 25 people in Italy didn''t cost very much (1/10 of the total cost of all the parties), I could easily spend that much on a wedding dress if I''m not careful.

Heck, I know I''ll probably spend more just on the ceremony alone.

I''d spent all this time before our engagement thinking of places to get married on the beach since he had told me a while ago that he wanted to get married on a beach with just our family. But once we got engaged we realized that we had some extended family members and friends who assume they''ll be coming. (not very many, fortuantely). And now he''s like why not getting married locally? I''m thinking ''are you freaking nuts? the main reason I like the idea of getting married in March is because I hate Santa Fe in March''. But there is something to be said to planning locally and then spending the rest of the week on a sunny beach.

ARGH, is picking a location always this hard? We can''t even decide on a region of the country!!

 

[Selkie]

Well, it was easy for us...there aren''t that many schooners out there to pick from. Even so, we had two coasts to choose from.

Let us know if the train idea flies! What''s wrong with Santa Fe in March? I would think it would be loads better than Santa Fe in, say, August? I''ve only been there in January, so I have no idea.

 

[firebirdgold]

Date: 7/17/2006 1:07:07 PM
Author: Selkie
Well, it was easy for us...there aren''t that many schooners out there to pick from. Even so, we had two coasts to choose from.


Let us know if the train idea flies! What''s wrong with Santa Fe in March? I would think it would be loads better than Santa Fe in, say, August? I''ve only been there in January, so I have no idea.

Oh, let me count the ways.... Seriously, March is the worst month of the whole year. It''s not still winter, but it''s still cold in a bitter kind of way. It''s not spring so no flowers or greening, yet it''s the worst allergy season of the whole fricking year. And to top it off it''s windy with 40mph gusts, snow that doesn''t last, and nasty hail but no pretty thunderstorms. I usually spend the whole month wishing it would just get to april already, or that I could go lay on a warm beach somewhere.

I don''t think there are many places with good weather in March. There is something to be said for getting married indoors with a great view of the ocean during a storm or something.

I''m having a little trouble getting his attention for wedding planning, so I don''t know yet how he feels about the train. He''s concentrating on us moving in together in September. How are we going to rearrange the furniture and rooms, that sort of thing. I had really better get cracking on getting ready for that too, in all honesty.

We may not get married on the train, but if we do get married locally we''ll at least have a pre-wedding outing on the train. One of the things that made my sister''s small wedding work so well was all the pre-wedding festivities. It gave everyone a chance to get to know each other.