Yesterday I came across a website/service called respond.com. It is a service through the Yellow Pages where you choose the categories of information you want, for example, I chose banquet halls, disc jockeys, and wedding photographers.  Within about a half hour I had four banquet hall suggestions sent to my e-mail address, two calls from disc jockey companies, and I’ve had more e-mails and phone calls today.

Weddings are not the only thing one can get information about.  Their categories range from home and garden to loans and mortgages.  I think it’s a  great site if you don’t mind getting phone calls throughout the day.  Only companies who pay for this service will respond to your request of information, but I highly suggest you check it out!

Mindy

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Yesterday Benn and I spent a lot of the day looking for venues in the Grand Rapids area.   A lot of places are way out of our budget.  Fortunately we found a few more options that we both are interested in.

The Frederik Meijer Gardens would have been amazing!  They have a package that includes a ceremony at the sculpture park waterfall, a reception in one of their amazing halls, a backup, indoor facility in case it rains, chairs, a dressing room, and a tram to the ceremony site!  I can’t remember if it takes people to the building too or not.  The rooms inside are amazing and so is the view.  This package is $6,100.  Maybe if we win the lotto in the next few days we can have our wedding there.

The Grand Volute Ballroom is in Lowell, MI and is beautiful.  There is a gorgeous staircase that is great for pictures, the food looks amazing, and the banquet room is beautiful.  The ceremony here costs $1,900 plus tax, and either $2,000 or $4,000 depending on the room used for the reception.  Their food seems reasonable priced.  The majority cost appears to be between $18 and $20 a plate.  “This place is ridiculously sweet,” says Benn.

One place in our price range is on 28th street in GR.  It’s called The Bluff Banquet and Conference Center. It looks like they have a nice lawn outside which may be used for an outdoor ceremony….or at least nice pictures!  They have a wall of windows which would be beautiful!  They have great plated dinner prices, and their buffet price is 16.55.  Rental for this is $900, which is more than Ever After, but the windows are a huge bonus.

The place we’re really interested in is called English Hills Banquets and Catering. The golf course is located on 4 Mile which is about 2 minutes from where we live, and the Banquet center is located on West River Drive which is about 5-10 minutes away from where we live.  Room rental is $800.  They don’t show the menu on their website, so we’re not sure what their food costs are right now.  What makes this banquet hall great is that they have an outdoor ceremony site with white chairs, a white fence, a bridge walkway, and a fountain. We’re not sure if which location this is at, but they have outdoor areas at both sites. The country club is capable of holding about 250 people in the gardens while the terrace only holds up to 200.  They also use one of their banquet rooms as a back up in case it rains.  It looks beautiful all decorated, and I think the outdoor area will be great for pictures.

We’ll be looking at the last two places this week, and hopefully by this weekend we’ll be able to make a decision!

Mindy

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As a disclaimer, Benn thought this was funny and said I should write about it…

Since I was a young girl, I’ve always attached my first name to my crushes’ last name.  For example, I wanted to marry Zac Hanson since about 3rd grade.  I would write my name, Mindy Hanson, (along with hearts of course) pretty much anytime there was a piece of paper in front of me.

Well, turns out I still find enjoyment in attaching my name to others’.

This past semester, a very muscular, good looking guy was in one of my classes.  I told Benn one day that I wanted to touch his arm muscles.  Benn said I should’ve asked but there’s no way I could do that.  How embarrassing…”Excuse me good looking guy…” noooo thanks.  Well, flash forward to the end of the semester when we’re doing presentations and I hear his name for the first time.  If I were to marry him, my name would be Mindy Windey!  I thought that was pretty epic and hilarious.

I should also say that I’ve been practicing my Mindy Wolfe signature.  Benn has a really cool signature that I’ve always loved.  I don’t have very good handwriting and I’ve never had a nice signature, so I thought I should probably get practicing.  Well, after about a week I finally got it down.  And to show you how often I’ve been practicing my awesome signature, Mindy Rood was typed on a piece of paper, and I had to sign my name above it.  My name is right in front of me and I start signing Mindy Wolfe!  Needless to say, I’m very anxious to marry Benjamin and finally take his last name!

Mindy

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So, as most of you know, Benn and I have been engaged for a while…1 year and 8 months to be exact.  We thought it was 2 years and 8 months…but we were wrong.  You may think that with such a long engagement we would have everything set!  Wrong.  We still have yet to pay our deposit at our choice of reception hall.  While I have fallen in love with a hall unfortunately out of the way for everyone, Benn is not convinced that that is the place.  Choosing the hall is very important to us because we want it to be elegant, but we don’t want to spend a ton of money.  Benn is in love with the Lawton Community Center.  The building is beautiful!  Rock on the inside, dimly lit, and pretty perfect.  Two things are an issue with this place.  One, they charge for plates and silverware and glasses.  Two, I feel that our pictures will turn out a little dark.  The bonus to this place is we could get married in the downstairs area, but of course it’s an extra…too much money.  (In my opinion.)   I’m in love with Ever After Banquet Hall in Hastings.  The owner is the head chef, and her daughter is the planner.  The facility can hold 500 people, they provide a taste test of their ENTIRE menu twice a year, the lighting is beautiful, it can still be very dim…or bright depending on how we’d like it, and the best part, the dance floor is HUGE!  I am finished looking for facilities because I feel that we have found the best place at the best price.  If Benn finds other places I will gladly look at them with him.  We are also trying to find a church in Hastings that will allow us to have Reverend Marty marry us.  A lot of churches only allow their Priest to run the marriage ceremony.  Reverend Marty is from Unity in Kalamazoo, and she is amazing.  We feel that her message will be perfect for us.  We would also love for her to be our marriage counselor.  We haven’t found a church that will allow for that to happen yet, so we haven’t asked her…so it’s a secret!

Like I said, we don’t really have a lot of things completed, but there are a few!

My dress, tiara, and veil were each 75% off!  That was a fantastic day!  I’ll never forget my grandma’s reaction when I put on my dress to show her, and I can’t thank her enough for buying me the dress.  I love you grandma!

Benn and I have also chosen our bridal party, but not everyone has been asked yet, so I have to keep my mouth shut.

We have yet to find a DJ and a photographer.  I have a dream photographer I would love to have, but he and his wife are moving soon.  Plus their packages are a bit expensive for us.

Colors are something else I’m having trouble with.  I would love to have peach be a dominant color, but I don’t know what color would go best with it.  I got this picture from weddingchannel.com.

I like this color!

Flowers are also waaaay over my head.  I would love to have exotic looking flowers, but who knows.

So, if you have any ideas, please let me know!

Mindy

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