Chocaholic

Thank you to Joanna of Cup of Jo, one of my favorite blogs (design, fashion, weddings, and an adorable baby – what’s not to like?), for introducing me to a fabulous candy bar company.  At Chocomize, you design your own candy bar with your choice of a ton of different toppings. Yum!

K and I quickly skimmed through the pages of toppings and already have several options.

1. I’d probably need one with white chocolate and fruit like dried cranberries and raspberries.
2. I think dark or milk chocolate would taste awesome with bacon and mini pretzels.
3. When we got to the candy page, we both yelled, “Nerds!!”  so we definitely need a nerds candy bar, maybe with dark chocolate?
4. Pop Rocks! When that’s an option, I want to try it.  Pop rocks add extra fun to anything!

Once I add in my toppings, these unfortunately get a little expensive, but could be a fun treat.  They could also make a fun wedding favor.

I like their favorites too, like the smores bar with milk chocolate, mini marshmallows, and teddy grahams.  There are also some fun ones for Halloween, back to school and birthdays.

Why haven’t I thought of something awesome like this?  Maybe we can try experimenting with some of these at home!

Venue Chosen!

After all that visiting in one weekend, and about a month of discussing with future husband, we decided on…

Pier Wisconsin!

Overall, it was the best fit.
1. The space is gorgeous, with huge windows which should be awesome with the morning light
2. The staff made me feel confident & comfortable
3. The rental costs and food/beverage minimums were within our budget
4. There’s a great outdoor amphitheater right on the water that will be beautiful for the ceremony
5. In case of rain or other bad weather, this was my favorite plan B. We can split the room and have the ceremony in the pilot house before the reception, and with the big windows, even a stormy day will look awesome.
6. Although sometimes an exclusive caterer is a drawback, it means ONE less decision for me to over-research and over-think. And it means we took care of TWO big decisions at once. The only thing better than making a list is checking things off the list!
7. If it’s in town, we could have the Denis Sullivan sailboat as a backdrop to our ceremony (the closest I’ll come to K’s request for a pirate-themed wedding!) 🙂

Photo from Discovery World: http://www.discoveryworld.org/denisSullivan-volunteer.php

Milwaukee Wedding Venues (part 3)

The last in my series of Milwaukee venue posts based on my weekend of visits in June and my own planning…

9. Coast – this former restaurant is now an event space right downtown, next to my favorite outdoor art piece

Pros: there are different levels/areas of the restaurant that would work well for food stations; cool feel, very different from a standard ballroom venue; accommodating chef that will really customize a menu with your budget; Zilli Catering is a well-known catering company
Cons: exclusive caterer; more expensive rental; problems with communication & organization from the staff here

10. Miller Room – this is also a space exclusive to the Zilli Group, which made it easy on our tour day since the same person could show us two venues.  This was also a great downtown location, but didn’t impress us as much as Coast.  A lot of the same Pros & Cons applied here (exclusive, well-known catering company, communication issues, etc).  This had more of a standard ballroom feel, but a little cozier, and with a nice outdoor covered patio.

11. Lake Park Bistro – this is a beautiful, quaint restaurant that can also host private parties.  You can rent out one of the smaller dining rooms or the full restaurant.
Pros: very cute; beautiful windows, chairs, lighting; great views; ceremony could be outside on the lawn or the grand staircase
Cons: we would need to use the entire place, might still feel tight, and guests would feel somewhat separated; separate rooms are difficult if we want speeches, etc
First pic below is the grand staircase behind the restaurant.

12. Golden Mast – I added this place to the list because I remember it being a really delicious brunch place (my family has a tradition of Sunday brunches after church) and I saw they had an outdoor gazebo on the lake.
Pros: good food; on the lake; nice outdoor area; cool decorations like indoor lamp posts
Cons: at least 35 minutes from downtown which would be difficult for out-of-town visitors; decor feels outdated, including a sculpture over the bar that looks like a life-size pirate

13. InterContinental Hotel – I had to coordinate through the Marcus Corp to get information here, and left messages without any returned calls.  Luckily, as we were interviewing wedding planners, Stephanie with O2M Productions offered to make a call and within 10 minutes after leaving our meeting, someone from the hotel called to set up a visit. Awesome!
Pros: Gallery space feels like a small, cool art museum and could work for ceremony or cocktails; easy for out-of-town guests to stay in the same location; great restaurant in hotel; good downtown location; most modern of all the hotel ballrooms we saw
Cons: not a lot of natural light in the ballrooms; I preferred the Grand Salon, but it would be too large for our group, and I didn’t like the look of the dividing wall if we were to split the room; once again, business-traveler-future-husband preferred to avoid hotels

14. The Pfister Hotel – To my knowledge, Milwaukee’s nicest hotel. We were told their ballroom was the most popular wedding venue in the city.  I like the name of the hotel because like Pflugerville, Texas, I think it’s funny to pronounce the silent P at the beginning.
Pros: elegant, upscale; Sunday brunch buffet looked delicious; definitely makes an impression; guests could stay at the hotel; there’s a great spa at the hotel where the bridal party could get ready
Cons: not our style; more formal than we wanted; high-quality staff & rooms come with a high price tag

Countdown: 7 months!

Yay!  My blogs may be behind, but I feel like we’re doing a-ok with planning.  Getting to the fun styling & decorating parts soon!

7 months – so close and yet so far.

I Want to Eat This

We’re looking for rehearsal dinner locations, and Joey Buona’s was a recommendation. My aunt and uncle had a fantastic anniversary party in the upstairs space a few years ago.  I’ve had really good food there, but I can’t remember that I’ve ever had dessert. I looked at the gallery on the site because food pictures are as good as menus, and this popped up.  Two of my favorite things combined.  It’s called the “Big Ass” Cannoli Martini and it looks AMAZING.

Picture from: http://www.joeybuonas.com/gallery.htm

Milwaukee Wedding Venues (part 2)

5. Harley-Davidson Museum – we’re not motorcycle riders yet, but hope to be Harley owners someday, and Harley-Davidson is just so classic to Milwaukee!  I’ve always had love for this brand and J & I liked visiting the museum with my parents during a previous visit.
Pros: again, the built-in post-reception activity – guests could tour the museum for free; two motorcycles included in the room would make for fun pictures; huge floor-to-ceiling windows at the front of the room; projectors & surround sound; affordable; I had the best communication & follow-up from this coordinator
Cons:  the room fits the Harley image, and is very black/gray/orange – I thought it was cool & modern, but the rest of my group was worried about the setting for a wedding, and we’d have to make sure our colors didn’t clash

6. MOCT – (pronounced “most”) is a bar in a very cool area of downtown that has an industrial loft feel – I think it used to be an auto shop and has those big windowed garage doors that can be opened on nice days.  I had the worst communication experience here, so instead of trying to set up a daytime appointment, J & I met friends here for drinks one night.
Pros: cool bar, has that New York City feel which would be a fun combo of Milwaukee & our current city, professional kitchen, cream city brick
Cons: I remembered this place feeling much nicer/more upscale a few years ago; since I’m planning long-distance, if I didn’t get a good feeling about the coordinating staff through initial emails/calls, that definitely soured my feelings on the space

Sorry, didn’t take pictures at MOCT, so how about another cool pic of a Harley?

7. Cuvee – a somewhat new champagne bar in one of my favorite areas of the city, the Third Ward.  This place was recommended to me by a local wedding planner, and the champagne theme would tie in great with brunch mimosas and bellinis
Pros: LOTS of cream city brick; when I called and visited we spoke directly to the bar manager – got the facts without the sales; your choice of caterer; cool loft feel that can be transformed with your own decorations; much better deal if your event is on Sunday
Cons: may need more decorations than other locations; felt smaller when split for ceremony & reception; smaller staff is easier to work with, but also means more work on your end for coordinating everything

8. Pier Wisconsin – I didn’t know this place existed until I started wedding planning. It’s in the same building as Discovery World – a fun science museum we loved as kids (big sis’s birthday party was there one year) and haven’t visited since they moved to their new location. There are several options at this location. I have to admit, I thought this was beautiful, but also read that the food/beverage minimum was approximately my entire wedding budget, so we went just to see it with no expectations. A spring wedding in the morning turned out to be a great idea, as they were able to work within our budget.
Pros: Huge floor-to-ceiling windows; great view of the lake and art museum; fantastic staff
Cons: exclusive caterer; no free parking (attached lot for $8 per car); expensive at peak times

Back again!

I was waiting for such a long time, she said.  I thought you forgot.  It’s hard to forget, I said, when there is such an empty space when you are gone.

This is one of my favorite Storypeople, because it fit my situation with J so well. He got this print for me as a present and it now hangs on our wall.

It also can fit here! So, did you miss me?

The blog is back! Since it seems that every week another BU TriDelta starts a blog, I have to keep up! 🙂

Milwaukee Wedding Venues (part 1)

Decision #1: Where to get married.

We finally agreed on Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is my hometown.  Weather there can be tricky, and we definitely don’t want to worry about winter travel delays, so spring was the goal.  Back in June, we took a weekend trip to visit venues.  Since I like to have a LOT of information before making a decision, we visited a LOT of places.  And since I’m a listmaker, I had a schedule in excel with arrival and departure times for each place, contact names, addresses, phone numbers, etc.  I also made a binder with all the pricing or online info I had gathered so far – it was a lot of prep work, but it helped keep everything straight.  The weekend was super busy, but it was a fun way to see the city!

We also agreed on brunch (our favorite meal of the day/week!) and 100-150 people, so that colors my opinions also.

So here’s how it went (all photos are my own, probably taken by future husband):

1. Villa Terrace – since the first time I visited this art museum with family years ago, I thought it would be the perfect wedding venue.  It’s a gorgeous Mediterranean Villa on top of a hill with a view of Lake Michigan and a huge lawn & gardens below.
Pros: Pictures will be gorgeous; it’s a very unique venue; plenty of rooms available for getting ready, signing the license, etc; the Charles Allis, their sister museum, can host larger receptions (I still like the Villa better)
Cons: I liked the idea of having the wedding in the garden, but it requires a very expensive tent rental and therefore is very rare; the indoor reception area fits 80 max, so this would be for the ceremony only; no dancing allowed inside (not an issue for us); rental was somewhat expensive for ceremony-only

2. Boerner Botanical Gardens – as the name suggests, this is basically an outdoor museum of gardens.  We looked at an outdoor area for the ceremony and Boerner Hall for the reception.
Pros: we could provide guests with tickets to tour the gardens after brunch (great perk since our reception will be over mid-afternoon and it’s nice to have options for the out-of-town guests); beautiful gardens for pictures; full-service kitchen in the building; free parking; enthusiastic coordinator
Cons: the hall looked like a standard hotel ballroom and we were hoping for something different; my family has attended Sunday brunch here and wasn’t impressed with the food; lots of little charges for chairs, linens, bartenders, cake cutting, etc.

3. Hyatt Regency – cool downtown hotel I always remembered for the glass elevators and spinning restaurant at the top.
Pros: THE BEST venue coordinator we met all weekend!  Misty was super knowledgeable about the industry, very honest and helpful.  The staff will do pretty much everything for you in terms of set-up and tear down, working with vendors, helping to take gifts to a hotel room, etc – it sounded like it would be very low-maintenance and stress-free.  Polaris is no longer a full-time restaurant, but can be used for private parties such as our cocktail hour.
Cons: the rooms are standard hotel ballrooms with strange patterned carpet like you always see in hotels, and since future husband travels a lot for work and lives out of hotels at times, another hotel ballroom wasn’t his style

4. Iron Horse Hotel – this is one of the newest hotels in Milwaukee and I’ve read that it is a very cool boutique hotel.  We looked at the Gallery space.  I asked about the outdoor space too, maybe for the rehearsal or ceremony, but the Upper Yard can only fit about 50-75 people, and the lower Yard is open to the public after 11am.
Pros: Very cool lobby and fun rooms; close to the Harley-Davidson museum for visitors
Cons: Gallery is in the basement, and mom’s first reaction was, “It smells like a basement!”; I also thought it was set up strangely – there are large poles that might block views during a ceremony or reception toast, and it felt really dark; rooms are expensive