The Wedding Blog

Okay, as most of you know from my phone calls last night, we've got the okay to pick a date because after all that fuss, I just got my preliminary decision. According to Father Rich, these are the availables:

Wedding dates open at this point:
All of July
August 23 / 30
Sept 13 / 20 / 27
October 11 / 18
All of November

Pros and cons: August 30th is right out, because I believe that's the day Don's niece is getting married. August 23rd is questionable because of the same, but we're checking if she'd be upset if we did that.

July may be the month.

I've emailed Old Brick, the North Pavillion, First Avenue Club, and a couple of hotels to see what their availability is for a Saturday in July or August. I would've done South Slope, but it's got right on the website that there are no available Saturdays until December. (Thanks, South Slope, for making my life two emails easier.) I've heard back from the North Pavillion so far:

Dear Kristin,

Here are the Saturdays available at the North Ridge Pavilion in July & August:

July- no dates available

August 9 – 5:00 – 11:00 p.m. available

August 23- all day available

Since neither the church or Ellen K are available on the 9th, were left with August 23 if that's the one we want. Pros: the facility is cute and cheap, it rents for $245 for a weekend day. Cons: 1) Seating Accommodations for the ballroom proper seat "up to 100 guests with 5’ round tables and 8’ rectangular tables." We believe that we're probably going to get 150-200 people showing up out of perhaps 300 invited. We could look at trimming the guest list or putting tables outside on the Veranda, but I'm just not thinking it will work. 2) We'd have to rent the tables, chairs, etc.

The Mariott Hotel (yes, I'm aware of the expense but I'm examining all options) emailed back as well:

Good Morning,

I received an email request showing that you would like information regarding open Saturdays in July and August for an Event. Depending upon the size of your group the dates that I do still have open are July 5, August 23, and August 30.

Please feel free to contact me directly, either by phone or through email. I would be happy to provide you with any other information that you may need or to look further into availability on these dates based on your needs.

Thank you for your interest in the Coralville Marriott and have an Excellent Day!

Well, a Fourth of July wedding would certainly be an interesting concept, and we might get some free fireworks into the bargain, but I'm not so sure how it would go over. Again, it looks like August 23rd would be the required date. I'm not so sure how Don's niece would feel about our wedding being the weekend before hers. It depends on the person, I personally wouldn't care at all. Others would feel like it's stealing their thunder (haven't I read Dear Abby letters about this kind of thing over the years?). I'll post the rest of the availability as they come in, and solicit opinions. Honestly, I'm hoping Old Brick has something viable.

UPDATE

So I got an email back from the Quality Inn (read: Highlander) and they have a bit more of a choice for us:

Hi,

The Quality Inn of Iowa City, IA has July 5, 26 Aug 30 open. The Aug 30 date is a home football weekend so football rates would apply for sleeping rooms.

The Quality Inn does not pay commission on Banquets only on sleeping rooms

Thanks,

Mary Anne
Sales
Quality Inn & Suites
Iowa City, IA

Again with the 5th of July thing. Maybe I'd better think about that. Regardless, I think the 26th is the most viable date so far. However . . . the prices. We're definitely looking at the $16 per person range. If we're seriously having this big a wedding (yes, Don, you've told me and told me but I'm sort of in denial), then for 200 people we're looking at about $3200. Unless. . . there's a spot at the bottom of the list for "carving stations". What if we did, say, the carved roast beef and the carved turkey breast and then tried to do the salad and sides ala carte? Then again, the salad's prices seem to be in the $8 range, so that may be a wash. There's also the hidden charges: customary service charge of 19% or sales tax of 5%; a bar set-up fee of $50.00 per bar will be charged unless bar sales exceed $150.00; the Quality Inn will cut and serve cakes for a $35.00 fee; etc.

I'll just have to think this all through. Got a bunch of work to do right now, so I can't spend the time yet.