Now What?

I got an email from the hotel representative I've been working with for renting out a reception room.

The only space I have is our McKinney room.   It is 1400 square feet.  I can only do a small-ish dance floor in that room.  I want to make sure it is what you are looking for and will meet your needs.

The hotel will provide the china, glass, and silver for a fee when using an outside caterer.  We cannot allow you to bring in wine or any other alcohol.    Our house wine is Woodbridge, and you get about 4 glasses out of a 750 ml bottle. 

I am here Tuesday through Saturday and would like to arrange a time.  I can put together a contract for you and your family, but would like to make sure you are aware of the size of the space. 

Several issues with this email: (1) 1400 sq. ft. is not a helluva lot. How the hell are we supposed to fit 50 people in that room with tables and chairs and buffet tables and a dance floor? Our apartment is 900 sq. ft. and there's absolutely no way we could fit fifty people in here let alone the tables and chairs to accommodate all of them. What the hell.

(2) What do you mean you're going to charge a fee for using silverware and china? So renting the reception hall is free, but we have to pay for using the dishes? Whatever.

(3) Like hell I'm going to pay $28 for a single bottle of wine. That is just freaking ridiculous. And you won't let us bring in alcohol because why? You don't think we can handle our liquor or something? I'm trying to do this wedding on a reasonable budget, lady. REASONABLE BUDGET. And by the way, that brand of wine sells for $12 at any grocery store.

Ugh.

I just spent an hour looking at other possible reception venues. I realized I never emailed back one place, so maybe they are still available (although honestly, I doubt that day isn't booked - it's less than three months away). If all else fails, I suppose we could have the reception at the church. The drawbacks to this include the fact that they don't have a dance floor, that the space (the old church excess area) is much too big for fifty people I imagine and thus we would look like ants in a huge hall, and that I have no idea where the bridal party would go for photos after the ceremony. I imagine we just chillax and take pictures around the picturesque water fountain and whatnot, but if everyone else is still going to be mingling around, then what do we do? I doubt Father Tim wants us taking photos in the actual church.

So. I have emailed one or two other places requesting pricing information. I have very little hope that the dates are still open for any of them, but who knows. With the recession and all, maybe they haven't booked anything for that very popular spring weekend.

Onto something that isn't so very, very depressing - I have to return the shoes that I bought online (okay, I guess that is still depressing). I tried them on, and the heel feels like it is too far forward, like I can't get my footing (literally) when I walk. I compared them to a pair of shoes that I already had, which I like very much, and feel extremely comfortable, and super easy to walk in, and realized why the hell can't I just wear these shoes? Doh! Leave it to me to try and buy something that I already have and like. I took some pictures of these shoes, which you guys have probably seen before, but here they are to refresh your memory.

The only slight problem with these shoes is that one of them is a little dirty, and I don't know how to clean it. It's like I walked right next to something that was recently wood-dyed, and some of it rubbed off.

You can see the damage on the loop there, but there's also something halfway up the shoe - it's like a piece of glue or something. Hopefully we can clean it off, because these are probably the most comfortable heels I've got, and I got them from good ol' Walmart a couple of years ago.

I found another option for shoe accessorizing. =3

The tutorial for making them is on a weird-looking blog (complete with odd picture instructions, but I get the gist of it), and I think it'll be easy to do since I'm starting with a T-strap sandal. So now I have to decide between the "petal sandals" and the flower clips. Decisions, decisions.

Yesterday, I bought a plastic rectangular planter, some $1 garden gloves, some flower fertilizer, and gladiolus bulbs. I also bought something called Perlite, which I thought was soil because there was a picture of soil on the front, but it's actually just organic styrofoam that aerates the soil. So today H. and I are going to go pick up some actual soil, and then we can get planting! I'm super excited to have some greenery in the apartment ever since Valentine's Day. I'll take a picture for y'all when it's all set up, and probably every couple of days after that so you can see the progress. I just hope that they don't disappoint me and die. :x

Off to Home Depot!

EDIT:  Susan, here's the DIY tutorial I was talking about. It looks super easy if you want to try it out, and don't be limited to just green for the fabric color. Enjoy! =]