This Might Actually Happen

Mr. Grapefruit and I have been dealing with the harsh reality that you can't please everyone on the guest list and we've nearly died trying to accomodate. His sister is a very picky plain eater and some of our guests are not what we call 'culinarily adventurous.' We are not talking about escargot, truffles, or birds nest soup - we are talking about just having Chinese, Greek, or even Indian food may scare some people on the guest list! So since our PM grand reception will be taking place at the Harvest Moon we'll be dining on 12 "chinese wedding courses" which is seafood heavy and "ethnic" according to the tame palate. We decided that the AM lunch reception following the Asian tea and American ceremonies will need to be very American. The whole process of trying to find a ceremony site plus catering/meal options has exhausted and frustrated our nightly phone calls to one another - Mr. Grapefruit has lost sleep over this and my studying has suffred a drastic interruption in the process. Mr. Grapefruit said one evening, "Basically, when you are looking at something that has the modifier 'wedding' in it it means it will cost you an arm and leg plus some extra twisting." Despite telling potential vendors how brief and informal our luncheon will be and the fact that we are playing for a ver elaborate PM reception they still seem to think that asking for a $6K minimum food and bevearge cost in addition to space rental is nothing to bat a lash at. Now I understand that most American weddings the ceremony and reception are usually in one place and so the "MEAL" since you only get one will have to be about $$$ per head. We are doing TWO meals and we simply don't want two extravagant receptions! So after MUCH debate and anxiety we thought - why not do this in my backyard? The tea ceremony has to be done at home in the AM anyways, lets just tell the rest of the guests to show up "after" the tea ceremony and we'll have the American walk down the aisle ceremony in my backyard? We have a HUGE backyard and dad is a landscaper by hobby. It did not take long before we realized THIS was the perfect solution. We could rent the chairs and tent, buy the food we really want to have, I can FINALLY have some say/vision about how to decorate the place without having to worry about it being in another location, I will actually have the chance to add creative touches to the wedding. huge sigh of relief. For once, I realized this wedding might actually happen after so many months of dealing with obstacles.

Did you have a sigh of relief moment(s) in any of your planning?