Congratulations! You Have Booked Your Ceremony Site...

Now please wait 4 to 6 weeks for your permit. Seriously?

Well, as you may have guessed from the permit requirement, we booked one of the lovely outdoor/park sites! But which ceremony site did we decide on? We ultimately decided on the Cypress Grove at Crissy Field. Why? Well, a number of reasons, actually...

I'll be honest and say our number one choice was the Shakespeare Garden. It had such a quaint, cute and romantic feel to it. We loved how it was secluded and had a built in walkway. I loved the trees lining the walkway and the fact that it referenced the great William Shakespeare. We thought the brick was gorgeous and really did fit into our wedding theme.

HOWEVER, we also realized that unless we were 100% committed to providing our guests with transportation, it would be asking too much of our friends since these sites aren't very close to each other. We didn't want all of our out of town guests to be forced to drive all over a strange city (we both hate city driving) or take expensive taxis to our venues. We're not 100% sure whether we can provide transportation for our guests, though we would like to. Plus, Shakespeare Garden is very difficult to find. Even though it was our top choice, I can honestly say that I'm fine with not getting married there. Although we definitely would've picked Shakespeare Garden if it was located where Crissy Field was, we loved the sites at Crissy Field almost as much! It really was a tough call...

In the end, we decided that we did like all three Crissy Field sites. We just had to decide which one. Although we both loved the fact that the amphitheater had built in seating, it was the least favorite of the three. Since we were able to find a vendor who agreed to deliver, set-up, wait for the ceremony then breakdown the chairs all at a reasonable price, we decided to pay the few hundred dollars extra to have the ceremony where we really wanted it.

Personally, Cypress Grove and East Beach were a toss up for me. I loved the walkway at Cypress Grove but loved how open the space was at East Beach. I loved that Cypress Grove was beach adjacent but also loved that East Beach was right on the water while still being on concrete. The trees at Cypress Grove were gorgeous but East Beach was so accessible from the parking lot. So what pushed Cypress Grove over the edge?

When we first approached the grove and I pointed it out to Fiance, he became really excited and practically ripped the camera from my hands as he ran over to check it out. It was the only one of the three sites that really caught his attention. Even though he said he liked East Beach a lot too, it was pretty obvious that he had fallen in love with Cypress Grove.

Fiance often says that X doesn't matter, that it's my wedding, that if it was ever something that was really important to him, he would tell me. While I know that he does tell me whenever something is super important to him (example: I wasn't planning on wearing a veil, but this was one tradition Fiancee felt passionate about), I do not believe that it is "my" wedding. I can tell when things are important to him. Now, I know that when he says it doesn't matter, he means that he would be happy with any of the sites we had narrowed it down to. But that doesn't mean he wouldn't be happier with one particular choice. Since both Cypress Grove and East Beach had their pros and cons, I was truly torn between the two. So why not go with the one Fiance obviously adored?

There are a few logistical problems with Cypress Grove, but we can get into those at a later date. For the time being, I'm just happy that we have our site picked out! Reception venue: Check. Ceremony site: Check.

Now, I've been assured by the park ranger in charge of special event permits that our date is booked. I have now paid for the permit. We just have to wait for it to arrive in the mail now. We wait...4 to 6 weeks. Argh. Why does it take this long to type up a permit???