You can`t always get what you want...

When we left off, we were blissfully in love with Le Windsor.

Even though we were still a massive 18 months away from our wedding date at the time, I became consumed with paranoia that somebody would beat us to the punch and book our date. So, I casually emailed the sales rep to confirm that it was still available and my suspicions were confirmed! Though our date was not officially booked yet, another couple was already penciled in, which meant they had a 24hr option of first refusal on our date. To which I thought:

Oh HELLL no!!!

Via DanThat`sCool

I panicked…Our date was already set in stone with our church. And I did not want to have to deal with the coordinator nun to change it after I had already spent an entire day negotiating it to begin with!

So, I went into full fledged lawyer mode and called the sales rep. I explained that we were prepared to put down a deposit and sign a contract the next day and asked her to contact the other couple and see if they were willing to do the same. I also asked if the other couple were having their ceremony on site, and they were. I politely pointed out that since they were having everything in one place, they were a lot more flexible than us in terms of dates, and that if we were not able to get ours, we would be forced to walk away. (I honestly don`t know what I would have done had the couple decided to sign, you guys!)    

She called back and told me that she had convinced the couple to move their option to a different date and let us have ours. Then she asked when we would like to come in with our deposit.

Oh. Right. Deposit. GULP.

The moral of the story is:

a) book things as early as you can! 

b) fight for the things you want and 

c) be prepared to put your money where your mouth is, literally!

Sadly, the deposit was a whopping 6k, and we certainly did not have that kind of money lying around! But Mami and Papi Waterfall swooped in to save the day once more and helped us with the difference. Seriously, how lucky are we to have such amazing parents?

There was also the small matter of the 200 guest minimum. Well, I tapped into badass litigator mode once more and negotiated it down to 150, which brings me to moral of the story d) ALWAYS negociate!

I can`t tell you all how relieved I was once the contract was signed and our date was booked! Then, of course, I felt a bit dizzy thinking about all the money being drained from our bank accounts.

Though I feel a bit guilty for "stealing" the date from underneath that other couple, sometimes you gotta be a little ruthless in life if you wanna get what you want... Besides, it worked out all right for everybody! All is fair in love and wedding planning. Right?

Did you go through anything similar while planning your wedding?