Destination: Somewhere Cooler Than Here

Girls, I've been bad and I have a terribly lame excuse as to why I haven't been posting. Its been hot. Not just hot, but lethally hot. As I sit here the temperature is 96°- with humidity 106°. That's hot enough to slap a severe heat warning on this part of Missouri. Sadly this has been happening since the first week in July. My electric bill this month is FOUR TIMES the previous month. Our wedding is three years and two days from now and I am dead set against anything other than an outdoor wedding.

I don't want my guests to feel like this!

I never thought of myself as a destination wedding type of girl. I never understood going to the Bahamas or Hawaii to get married. Why would you go somewhere to sweat your butt off while getting married? Little did I know that today Hawaii is twenty degrees cooler than it is here. Hawaii isn't looking so bad after all. Nonetheless, I highly doubt most of my guest list could afford to fly to Hawaii or the Bahamas and we are really looking to have a smashing party.  Home is out. Anywhere super expensive to fly to is out. My mom actually was the one who came up with the perfect solution. Why not rent a vacation home and get married there?? Its the hotel and venue in one. Not only would we be able to stay there, but our immediate families as well with the size of some of these homes. This also allows us to fore-go a caterer, bartenders, and even a dj. All of that equals $$$ back into our pockets. Hurray!

Here is a quick list of things that the vacation home must have.

• A good kitchen. If I'm doing all of the cooking, then I better have the tools to pull that off. 
• Pet friendly. The dogs will be there no matter what!
• Four bedrooms.
• The house needs to look nice in general. What's the point of getting married in a dump?
• Affordable. 
• Nature and not being super close to other houses. 
• Not deathly hot weather. 

Things that would be nice to have:

• More than four bedrooms.
• Space for tents outside.
• Having LOTS of nature. 
• Extras like pool tables, hot tubs, etc. 
• Super affordable?
• Close to an airport and hotels. 
• Within 10 hours driving distance from home. 

We entertained the idea of vacation homes in several different states.  Colorado seemed nice, but expensive. A lot of Mr. Bliss' family lives in New York and the Adirondacks are beautiful. Unfortunately, with all of my DIY elements it would be difficult to get them so far away. The Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin all looked promising, but very few had nice enough homes. I finally settled on what Mom said in the first place- Michigan. Growing up we would go there to visit my aunt and uncle at their vacation home they owned. It was perfect... That part of Michigan is consistently 20-30 degrees cooler than here in Hellville. There are tons of vacation homes to choose from. Its pretty! Its woodsy! Its beautiful! Tomorrow I will go through my top three choices of places to get wed and reveal just where I've set my heart on. <3