Figuring it all out...

So this is my second post, and well I'm getting used to all of this. I suppose I wanted to impart to many what I thought of first shortly after I had gotten engaged, and that was picking a venue. I can tell you in the St. Louis area there is an exhaustive list of venues, however due to large families we were restricted a little (since we're planning on around 250...) I was obsessing (you can ask Liz) over picking a spot. I came home every night to get updates from my amazing sister who was essentially helping me "vet" the various venues to whittle it down to a top 5 or top 3. Its tough trying to figure these things out when you're working all day and the various vendors/venues are at work during those times too. In addition to that, at first I didn't realize there were all sorts of additional fees that different places charge as well, tax (which is 9.75% in the city of STL, steep! To my knowledge there isn't this fee in the county), service charges, grat, hall rental fees, the list goes on. In my calculations it essentially added about 30% on to any and prices that were quoted. So my suggestion is to make sure you know all charges upfront.

During my obsessing time I wasn't much enjoying my engagement, instead I was nearly a freak calling and emailing every place I could think of all around St. Louis. Once that was settled and we figured out The Sheldon (so excited!!) I have now kinda taken a break. Since the wonderful woman at The Sheldon is helping us out, we've got the caterer and everything all set. All we've got to figure out is a cake, table decorations and music. I already have a cake place in mind at the moment, we shall see if it works out later. I think I was just relieved to not to have to worry about this any more. I also realized at that time my sister had encouraged me to not just talk wedding but to do other things, which I'm getting in to the grove of things.

One more thing to add to my post... I am determined to start my new fitness routine this week. I have really gotten away from working out and miss it. I know it will increase my energy and make me feel better.