40. The location.

I never really thought too much about where I would get married until I got engaged. Then, all of a sudden there are a million questions. Would we get married in a church? Would we get married outside? What date were we even thinking about? What would we have to rent ourselves, depending on the venue (like tables and linens)?

We decided to pick April as the month, and choose the date based on availability at our favorite venue. Because we're not regular churchgoers, we figured we would probably not get married in a church. I did a little research and fell in love with the Pink Palace. Then I called. As much as we loved it, the venue was way too expensive for our budget.

So what next? Well, my sister did some Googling for me and came up with a place called the Balinese Ballroom. We made an appointment the next day, and the loft style ballroom, with its hardwood floors, huge windows, and downtown setting, totally sold us. Tables and linens were included, and the fee was really reasonable, so we put a deposit down that day! The last two weeks in April were booked, and we really wanted to get married on a Saturday, so that led us to our date: April 4, 2009.

The only real regret I have is that we did not check to make sure that the ballroom was handicap accessible (it isn't). We have a couple of relatives in wheelchairs, and we only thought of the number of guests when we booked it, and not about any of the individual needs of our guests. I know not everyone will run into this problem, but I wish someone had made me think about it beforehand. We think we may have found a workaround, but it was something we wouldn't have had to worry about if we had planned for it.