Venue chosen! Tentative date(s) picked!

Mama G was in town this past weekend, and as a result I now have two new Gmail Tasks lists: 'blog post ideas' and 'wedding to do.' I'm sure the to do list will morph into something much bigger  very soon, Google products I love you but some things just aren't fully up to snuff in their functionality.

I will slowly try to work through the 'blog post ideas' to clear it out at least a little bit (possibly tomorrow evening during my JS class...though that will be harder to get away with what with the all the pictures that will be included, heh), because ever since our 2 hour planning session at Meghan's fueled by pear cider and apple cider doughnuts from Greenmarket, I have been Googling like mad and finding lots of great stuff.

Anyway, venue! Chosen! Mama G threw her full support behind Mountain Lakes House which was just what I needed. Also I agonized over it for a whole week and that was enough time to let it fade and get sensible if it were possible. In her words:

You and your guests will not remember what you had to eat at the reception but you will remember the setting and charm of the location. Feed them peanut butter and crackers, if you have to, but have your wedding there!!! Lovely house and setting - I can picture it now.

Which was just the thing in the end, really, I could just picture what we'd all look like hanging around on on the lawn by the pond and on the patios. All classy and grown up.

Of course, peanut butter is a no no for He Who Is Allergic To Life (if Dan does stuff worth memoirizing about, the title of the first volume will be Allergic to Life) but we decided on the following:

• Saturday date, so people don't necessarily have to take off from work to get here (I wanted Memorial Day weekend originally but Princeton has their graduation weekend then)
• afternoon (1-6ish or maybe 2-7ish) so that we don't have to deal with arranging artificial lighting and we take full advantage of the scenic venue. It's also early enough that people won't expect a full-blown dinner and the older folk don't have to leave early, while the younger folk can continue socializing in bar-hopping or some such later that evening if so desired, but also not too early such that we're up at Jesus o'clock setting up.
• champagne* and dessert** reception (*with nice beer and tea, maybe wine, and partial potluck on the desserts with pies from the good bakers we know, cupcake stand, Mama G's chocolate fountain, and **sandwich platters as well because Dan insists that no matter what people expect to be fed more than just dessert at a social event) I just like calling it a champagne and dessert reception for now because it's more elegant than all the rest together. Also I have no objections to also have OJ and milk available still, brunch or no brunch.
• Mama G to be my long-distance planner and possibly day-of coordinator as well (Meg's younger sister's graduation is early June)
• potential red (my dress)/orange/yellow color theme, I'd like to make an inspiration board

And many, many more other ideas that are now floating around. Right now I'm focused on trying to see if it's at all possible to get just one caterer who will do this kind of food at a good price plus help us figure out the rentals and provide a few people on the day-of to do setup and cleanup. It's probably unlikely, so I've been reading about self-catering as well, which is daunting, but so it goes. 

I suspect it'll be hard to find a caterer who will do all the services stuff but then be ok with us asking them to just get sandwich platters from Costco or something like that. I did find that apparently there are people who are just 'catering managers' which is a cross between a full-blown planner/coordinator and catering company. I haven't Googled that just yet but we're so near NYC, there should be enough aspiring chefs and restauranteurs that I'd be able to find with postings at a local culinary or school something, I suspect.

The current tentative dates are 6/11/11, 6/18/11, and 6/25/11. My preference is the 18th but Dan needs to check with his mom about a competition she takes a school team to that happens every year right after school ends. Anyone else have any preferences one way or another?

I'm really happy and excited about the venue and food style choice, it feels right and doable, especially with Mama G's help. Hooray!