Just Pay the Extra Money for a Reception Center

is my advice to any bride who thinks they'll save a butt load of money by using the church cultural hall for their reception.  Yes, the money will be saved but you pay for it in being a crazy person.

The night before the reception, Anthony and I and a bunch of fabulous friends and family members decorated the cultural hall.  While trying to decorate, I almost canceled the reception...twice..., I cried and locked myself in the bathroom...twice..., I wanted to scream at EVERYONE and punch holes in the walls...but I didn't, I held my composure that much at least.

After all of that, I want to discuss one simple fact: from the time we got engaged until the moment we began decorating the church for the reception, I was the most calm bride IN EXISTENCE.

I never had a meltdown, I never worried about little things.  I was a whatever works kind of bride.  Nothing bothered me.  Yep, I wanted things to look nice but I didn't care that the blues weren't the exact shade I had imagined or that the bridesmaids wore different colored shoes or that the groomsmen's ties didn't really match the green in the decor.  Whatever.  No one really notices those things anyway. 

That all changed the night we decorated for the reception.  All I wanted was a beautiful cultural hall that didn't look like a cultural hall.  Is that too much to ask on a wedding day?  I think not.  I had a vision but it refused to work...for a while. Anthony had shown me pictures from his friend's wedding in which they hung tulle and white Christmas lights from the ceiling of the church and it looked really nice.

Kirsten and Joe's reception...Awww...so lovely.

I thought "Easy peasy mac and cheesy.  I can do that."  It wasn't.  The tulle and lights were way too heavy for the fishing line and the tulle was hanging about 3 feet from the floor. (Cue first meltdown)

It looked horrible and about 99% of our guests were taller than 3 feet so I knew it wasn't going to work out.  We tried everything.  Still, 3 feet off the ground.  Ugh times one billion.  I was devastated.  Looking back it didn't really matter but at that moment my life was over.  I was freaking.  We tried a few different things for a few hours and nothing worked.

(Cue Jaynee's entrance)  Jaynee saw that I was upset and having a difficult time being there.  We left to find a ladder.  We came back, she suggested something brilliant, said it was my idea and everything finally worked.  Ahhh...I love her.  It finally worked but it was about 1am by the time we got out of there.

Here's what it looked like after four hours of headache and breakdowns:

It really did look a lot better than this in real life...promise.

Moral of the story: just use a reception center.