Reception NIGHTMARE!!!!

Okay, well I'm apologizing now if I start ranting on here! This last week has been very stressful. We (my mom and I) have been trying to find a place for my wedding reception. If you know me, you know my mom and I don't get along well. We are two totally different people so you know where this post is headed! Originally, I wanted to have an ALL reception at the church and an invite only one elsewhere. Adam and Julie did this and it seemed to work well. My mother didn't like that idea as it excluded people. I wanted dancing and champagne punch so we couldn't have it at the church. Plus our church basement isn't the best for receptions as it's divided into 2 rooms and is fairly small. So began the searching process. Mind you, there will be 150-200 people at this shin dig. My mother made it very clear she DID NOT want to clean up period! My father and Tony want food (since it's late afternoon). Option 1: Butcher Block. Cost $13.99 per person for the appetizer buffet. Not including the $30 per server and to pay for the bar service. Option 2: Granny Shaffers. Cost $12.99 per person. Total cost for these two places around $3000, just for the venue and food. Now, as much as I would've liked to have it at the Butcher's Block I couldn't let my parents pay that much $$. Option 3: First Methodist Church in Joplin. We have some friends that attend there. We could rent their gym for $550, pay their cleaning ladies to clean up, they would do the catering and we could use some of their decorations. Downside, no dance floor and no champagne punch. To my mother, not cleaning up this was the winner. Not for me! Option 4: Jack Lawton Convention Ctr. in Joplin. only holds 100-150 depending on how the tables are set. Option 5: Holiday Inn. 3 rooms=$750. Here's the kicker, no outside catering. Cost for that a min. of $5000 food and beverage. If you spend the $5000, the rooms are free. I'd hope so! Option 6 and final Carthage Memorial Hall. I know quite a few who have had theirs there. Rent has gone up to $325. In order to have liquor or any alcohol (champagne punch) you have to have a liquor caterer and then hire security ($50/hr). The liquor caterer would have an bar (people pay for that they want). Here's where the fighting begins! My mother seems to understand that this is my wedding. She tells me that people might not come if there is alcohol there and will be offended. UGH! I said they won't know till they get there and she says well then they might leave. GOOD! Let them leave. If they are offended and are leaving for that reason I don't want them there in the 1st place. It's not any different than going to a restaurant. You have a choice to buy alcohol and you have a choice not to. It's their money if they want it they can buy it. Then she thinks there will be scene. I asked who I was inviting would cause a scene?? She couldn't give me an answer. She couldn't give me one either on who would be offended. I said the only person that will cause a scene will be me if things keep up like this! I said this is my wedding, you had yours. She's worried about what everyone else will think and not what I want. I was sooooo ANGRY! So, after many aggravating and crying phone calls to people the consensus was my mom is nuts for thinking that and it's not right. In the process I call Tony to talk to him about this. He gets on me thinking we need to send our invitations now. Are you kidding me??? He thinks that people have to ask off work 6-8 months in advance. Ha! I said it wasn't going to happen and if he was that worried he could do it himself. End of that story! Back to my mother... I called my father thinking my mom was at church. Apparently, I gave her such a headache she didn't go. I told him what she said and so he confronted her and then got mad at here. Brooke asked come adults in choir at church that night what their thoughts were and if they'd be offended. ALL OF THEM SAID NO! It was their choice and their $$. DUH! Results of this: I called my mom and told her it was her $$. If she wanted to pay $3000 for Butchers Block she could or pay for Memorial Hall. The only date open at Carthage was July 11 so we had to decide quick. My mother also though it would cost $500 to rent table clothes-UM NO!!!! She was worried about decorations too. I have plenty of friends who have stuff for me to borrow or know where to borrow them from. MSSU rents tablecloths. Joplin HS rents out props. That's the fun is decorating. The girls at school volunteered to serve food. There will be plenty of people willing to help clean up after. Clean up required: clean kitchen if used, take out trash, and pick up decorations. NOT THAT HARD!!!! So the decision: Carthage Memorial Hall, since it's all about me mother said. She was being sarcastic in that tone!!!! No onto catering. We have a friend who is head of catering at Red Hot and Blue/Charlie's Chkn. It would be $1200 for RHB and$1400 for Charlies. That is including all the utensils/plates/and food warmers. Table clothes are $3 at MSSU. The liquor caterer is around $600 and if you use them for food they give you a discount. I asked my mother after the talked to liquor caterer if there was anything else I need to know before we booked the hall. Her response was no. So we booked the hall. Needless to say my mother and I were not on good terms!!! When are we?? Thursday, mom and dad were down and things were fine we got along. Friday, they were here again. She brings up the champagne punch and that the liq. caterer has to do it and he charges $1 per cup. What the heck? That's like $200 for 1 cup each. I know people will want more than 1. I was furious as to why I wasn't informed of this before. My mother stated that she didn't think about it. UGH!!!! That would've made a big difference. So that started another round of fighting! I decided I would pay for that part myself. I informed her that I would be drinking all $200 worth if things kept going the way they were. This is ridiculous and we are still 10 months out! She is too busy trying to impress of her friends and wanting everyone to think I'm this little perfect princess who does nothing! WRONG!!! I'm totally the opposite. If people don't like it they can leave. That means they're not really there for me. So, that's the end of my little story. I'm sure there will be more drama to come!! Not sure if it can get much worse. If it's any consolation I bought (well my mom) my wedding dress last Sunday. It's so gorgeous! The girls bought theirs too since they got $20 off. At least it's one thing we didn't argue about!