For some of our guests who are coming into down early to check out the Baltimore scene, Baltimore.org boasts a ton of options for all types/ages of people. I think the "50 free things to do list" is really helpful, and I hope it can provide some wallet-friendly activities for our friends and family. Check it out here: http://baltimore.org/50-free-things/

 

There are many things to think about while planning a wedding, and some of the to-do's seem rather small in the big scheme of things. These items, however, still need to be addressed and planned regardless. Actually, that is not true. If you don't want to do them, then don't. BUT... there are certain traditions/things that we will not be doing/participating, and there are others we are doing, but maybe with a different twist. Have I totally lost you? Well...

Out the bajillion weddings I had the honor of attending in the past few years, I have seen some pretty creative and simple out of town bags. These bags are not required by any means and probably are not all that necessary. They are giving to the guests staying in hotels from out of town and include things like little snacks, bottled water and some wedding token from the couple.  But, I think they can be a bit more fun than that. I debated about doing them (I know that sounds terrible to my out of town guests), but I didn't know if they were just a waste of money that we didn't have. Do people even care about them? Do they just discard them? I didn't know! However, after some discussion with my brother and sister-in-law, my mom and Wendy, I am totally convinced we have come up with some great ideas.

So, we are currently working on putting together some kick-ass-Maryland-touting out of town bags. Get exited. 

Trying to decide where to have the wedding was the first thing we explored. While part of us wanted to escape to a beautiful, sunny island and have only our closest family and friends, we quickly realized that by escaping to a beautiful island, we actually would eliminate the possibility of having our closest friends and family attend. It would probably cost friends a lot more money than they wanted/could spend, and most of our family probably couldn't make it as a long flight is out of the question. So there went that genius idea.

Jared and I knew we wanted a casual wedding, and that translated to an outside wedding. WOOHOO! I, in particular, wanted something where we could have the ceremony outside, have the option of a tent if there was inclement weather (but not a blow over in the wind kind of tent, because let's be honest, it IS in May and it rains nearly every day here at that time), and I absolutely NEEDED it to have historic charm. Yes, needed.

So, after looking at about 5000 places (total lie, we only looked at GreyRock), we landed on Grey Rock Mansion. It was perfect. In all honesty, we didn't need to look elsewhere. It had everything we wanted and needed. It was absurdly close to our house (we could walk there if we wanted), it had an outside component, it had a LOVELY permanent tent that offered beautiful drapery on the ceiling (needed that too), a charming and historical inside, was in our budget AND came with a lovely planner that could keep me in check. The planner part sealed the deal, because she could tender all of the help that I so desperately needed. Furthermore, the caterer came with it and that was one less thing to worry about.

So, Grey Rock Mansion it was.