Planning a long distance wedding

Both Geoff's parents and my parents live in New England, and we both grew up there, so we would very much like to have our wedding there. Trouble is, we live in Los Angeles now. That's three thousand miles away, in case you've never seen a map. Can we really do this?

I haven't seen much on the internet about this, but I know a lot of people out here do it, so I thought I'd keep a record of my experiences, in case someone else is looking for guidance a year from now. Check back soon for me pulling my hair out and being generally disappointed!

Some things I know so far:

• I want our wedding to be in Cape Ann. Seems like a good middle ground for everyone in New Hampshire, Boston, and Connecticut. Also, my parents live there.
• I want our wedding to be relatively inexpensive. There are so many more important things I want my father's money for... I mean, to spend money on. For example, a home, a car, children. Frankly, I'd rather drop a lot of money on our honeymoon, since it's going to last more than an afternoon! I would like to spend less than $6,000. Is that possible? We'll soon see!
• There will probably be about 75 guests. That could be completely inaccurate, I just wrote down a quick list of everyone I know I want, and added twenty.
• I would like to get married within a year. I think a long engagement would be more stressful. This way I've just got to make some decisions and get it done. I think May 2006 would be nice, but I may be forgetting what springs in New England are like (they are nice, right?!)

Alrighty, thus begins my blog.