We've been busy with the first big step of the wedding planning process:  picking a venue.  Once we pick a venue, we can finally answer the questions, "Have you picked a date yet?" and "What will the color scheme be?" and of course "Where will the wedding be?"

The really big catch is that before picking a venue, quite a few important things need to be already decided:  Outdoors or indoors?  How many people are invited?  What's the budget?  Exclusive venue caterer or bring your own?  Modern or historical setting?  Bustling or private?  Mansion, restaurant, hotel, beach, or... ugh!!

So, it's been a bit stressful choosing a venue, but along the way, we've had some fun walking through, driving by, or sometimes even sneaking around other weddings in various stages of preparation, taking place, or wrapping up.  Quite simply, we've been wedding gawking!!

Not exactly crashing any weddings - it's not like we've sampled actual food or hit on anyone in the bridal party.

At one venue, the caterers were just finishing up their set up of the reception.  We walked in, asked a caterer if we could just look around, take some pictures, and of course not touch anything.  The caterer said, "Sure, but the wedding party will be here any minute!"  After a few quick photos, we scurried away and found a public bench and watched the wedding guests proceed right by us!!  At the same venue, we then snuck around the ceremony area where the bride and groom were still taking pictures.  We stayed a respectful distance away but we did sneak around to get various perspectives of the ceremony venue.

This past weekend, we were honored to attend the wedding of close friends, including the rehearsal dinner the night before.  It was held at a large Chinese restaurant which frequently hosts  wedding banquets.  While the rehearsal dinner was in a private banquet room on the side, there was a large wedding reception for an entirely different group being held in the cavernous main dining room.  It turns out we actually knew the siblings of the bride from that other wedding, so we took their welcoming opportunity to gawk!!  We took lots of pictures to gather ideas.

On a Saturday night, we even drove by a few wedding venues to gawk at a few wedding receptions already in progress or winding down, to see whether people were having a good time or not!

After a number of gawking efforts, we were quite tired, but satisfied to get a sense of what different venues, decoration choices, and even dress choices were like.

We hope to have a venue and a date selected soon!