Friday, September 16, 2005
Housing the Wedding Party and The Guests
We need to house the Wedding Party--and, remember, it's the Ohio State/Texas football weekend. All hotels downtown are sold out, as are all hotels in the university district. Luckily, good friends, Gareth and Marjorie Jones, own the Victorian Bed and Breakfast, in several houses in the Victorian Village and University District; they agree to reserve several rooms. In the actual B&B, where they live, there's a Bridal Suite, and Executive Suite next door, and a top floor apartment. Another house has two floors with three apartments, and a top floor (the late 19th century attic) which has been opened up in to one huge room. And there are other houses with separate apartments. So it looks like we can house TGTB's Best Man and Groomsmen and Usher in the huge top floor, TGTB's stepmother, mother, and two sisters on the ground floor of the same building, the siblings of MOTB and their spouses on the second floor, the Ring Bearer and her parents on the top floor of the actual B&B, the female usher in the Executive Suite, and the niece and nephew of MOTB and spouses and children in other houses. The Matron of Honor will stay with her siblings in a hotel, as will the siblings of FOTB. Helen and Tom, friends of POTB (she was a bridesmaid at their wedding) will stay in hotel on Friday night, with POTB once TBTB is safely enscounced in the Bridal Suite.
It takes some time to work all this out, with much planning, lists, etc. But it's set, the appropriate people notified, the Joneses given lists of who'll be where. They're much preoccupied, as the cast of the touring production of The Phantom of the Opera will be staying in all these spaces for the end of July and all of August. As a side note, the Victorian Bed and Breakfast is terrific, as are the proprietors. Gareth, now 80, has the patience and stamina of a saint. Marjorie won a Sophia Loren look-alike contest many years ago, and remains a striking woman wiht enormous presence. They're British. Marjorie decoates their spaces with all manner of things--all spaces are filled with knick-knacks, furniture, prints, statuettes, furniture, and so forth--much of it themed. The top floor, where the men of the wedding party will be, has sports imagery all about, lots of scarlet and gray (the OSU colors), and a miniature London phonebooth as a cabinet in the kitchen area. And everything is for sale, all on consignment or gathered up at garage and estate sales, which Marjorie and Gareth do on the side.
Once the housing plans are complete, of course, they fall apart. The siblings of the MOTB decide they don't want to stay in the B&B; too expensive at $80 per night, charm notwithstanding. We find a relatively inexpensive motel south of the trendy German Village area, about a mile away from The Wedding Site, plus a couple of other inexpensive motels nearby. But when we check them out, the other motels turn out to be a bit seedy, and look rather as if many of the rooms rent by the hour. The German Village Inn, however, turns out to be both inexpensive, clean, and respectable. We immediately book a room for the pastor (who's really a high priestess of TBTB's Egyptian temple, but we don't make much of that), and send information to everybody else; http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-331179-village_inn_motel-i MOTB siblings book there, as does FOTB's elder brother, and several other folks as well.
Then it turns out at TGTB's stepmother and mother are bringing two friends with them. And that TGTB's sisters really need a ground floor space, because of physical problems. And that the female usher needs a separate room for medical reasons. And that the MOH's siblings can't come after all. So we regroup. Stepmother/mother's friends and female usher will stay on second floor where MOTB's siblings were booked; there's a separate room there where the female usher can be housed; MOH can stay in the Executive Suite. All problems solved.
But wait. Spaces for MOTB niece, nephew, and families (which includes the butterfly girl) suddenly are no longer available--they've been promised to a visiting professor and a visitng doctor. That the visiting professor turns out to be visiting the department where FOTB works, and was once his student, simply adds to the small world theory of life. No problem--we send them to German Village Inn as well. All set.
Housing taken care of. Now comes the matter of the dresses for the MOH and the Bridesmaids. Meanwhile, work on The Dress proceeds--and FOTB learns much more about what's available at various JoAnn Fabrics and More stores (and the differences between the several JoAnn stores in the Columbus vicinity) than he would have thought possible. Plus a crash course on what the JoAnn buyers regard as really, really cute decorate elements for one's house and yard.
It takes some time to work all this out, with much planning, lists, etc. But it's set, the appropriate people notified, the Joneses given lists of who'll be where. They're much preoccupied, as the cast of the touring production of The Phantom of the Opera will be staying in all these spaces for the end of July and all of August. As a side note, the Victorian Bed and Breakfast is terrific, as are the proprietors. Gareth, now 80, has the patience and stamina of a saint. Marjorie won a Sophia Loren look-alike contest many years ago, and remains a striking woman wiht enormous presence. They're British. Marjorie decoates their spaces with all manner of things--all spaces are filled with knick-knacks, furniture, prints, statuettes, furniture, and so forth--much of it themed. The top floor, where the men of the wedding party will be, has sports imagery all about, lots of scarlet and gray (the OSU colors), and a miniature London phonebooth as a cabinet in the kitchen area. And everything is for sale, all on consignment or gathered up at garage and estate sales, which Marjorie and Gareth do on the side.
Once the housing plans are complete, of course, they fall apart. The siblings of the MOTB decide they don't want to stay in the B&B; too expensive at $80 per night, charm notwithstanding. We find a relatively inexpensive motel south of the trendy German Village area, about a mile away from The Wedding Site, plus a couple of other inexpensive motels nearby. But when we check them out, the other motels turn out to be a bit seedy, and look rather as if many of the rooms rent by the hour. The German Village Inn, however, turns out to be both inexpensive, clean, and respectable. We immediately book a room for the pastor (who's really a high priestess of TBTB's Egyptian temple, but we don't make much of that), and send information to everybody else; http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-331179-village_inn_motel-i MOTB siblings book there, as does FOTB's elder brother, and several other folks as well.
Then it turns out at TGTB's stepmother and mother are bringing two friends with them. And that TGTB's sisters really need a ground floor space, because of physical problems. And that the female usher needs a separate room for medical reasons. And that the MOH's siblings can't come after all. So we regroup. Stepmother/mother's friends and female usher will stay on second floor where MOTB's siblings were booked; there's a separate room there where the female usher can be housed; MOH can stay in the Executive Suite. All problems solved.
But wait. Spaces for MOTB niece, nephew, and families (which includes the butterfly girl) suddenly are no longer available--they've been promised to a visiting professor and a visitng doctor. That the visiting professor turns out to be visiting the department where FOTB works, and was once his student, simply adds to the small world theory of life. No problem--we send them to German Village Inn as well. All set.
Housing taken care of. Now comes the matter of the dresses for the MOH and the Bridesmaids. Meanwhile, work on The Dress proceeds--and FOTB learns much more about what's available at various JoAnn Fabrics and More stores (and the differences between the several JoAnn stores in the Columbus vicinity) than he would have thought possible. Plus a crash course on what the JoAnn buyers regard as really, really cute decorate elements for one's house and yard.
