It's all in the location

Mike and I got engaged last August.  We knew we wanted to have the wedding in Minnesota so we could have all of our friends and family there.  Unfortunately, we are currently living a long ways away from Minnesota.  Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my tendency toward perfectionism.  Full-boar perfectionism.

And so our wedding date was set for August 14, 2010.  We would have two years to plan (and wait!) with one visit back to Minnesota (this summer) to get our ducks in a row.

I guess we'll see how that works out.

That settled, we moved on to the next big decisions...location(s), colors, themes, etc.
Idea overload.  I am a visual person.  I like nice-looking things.  I like to make nice-looking things.  And weddings (and thus wedding-related magazines, blogs and the like) offer up a lot of pretty.  I had powerpoints with color combinations and flower varieties.  And there were so many pleasing options.  How to choose?

Mike and I agreed that we would love to have a lakeside location.  We're really drawn to water (our Aquarius nature, I guess?) and likewise uncomfortable in churches.  With over 11,000 lakes in the state of Minnesota, you'd be surprised how ridiculously hard it is to find a lakeside location.

I scoured the internet and found a handful of places.  Most were in northern Minnesota, far away from our family and friends.  One seemingly perfect site in the twin cities was rejected after a bad review from my sister.  It seemed hopeless and it was looking as if we'd have to settle.

After awhile, a small, quiet spark of an idea began gnawing at me.  An idea I had pushed aside but started to like.  And then it became an idea I loved.  I (er, we) decided to have the wedding in my parent's yard and the reception at the Lakeside Ballroom just down the street.  Perfectly imperfect.