28 days- starting from scratch.

We're so screwed  about the reception location right now. The manager of the marina won't shut the place down for us from 7-10 pm, because he doesn't want to displace 50-70 regulars. I offered to have the regulars sit on the deck, he wasn't interested. I offered to let the regulars come in after 10 pm, he wasn't interested. He offered to set up tents in their gravel parking lot (shared with the boat launch), which is laughable, at best, for us. Neither of us was willing to compromise.

Sidenote: WTF? What kind of businessperson turns down a gaurantee of $8,000- 10,000 to chance having a really good night? I don't understand!

So, now we're down to two options. Pay the *surprise* $3,000 site fee (also see if we can negotiate it down) to use the restaurant (which isn't totally big enough for our guest list- long story, FI didn't understand the ramifications of inviting 300 people and so here we are).

OR, seeing if we can put together a tented reception at my parents house in 28 days. I made a temporary hold on the necessary tents yesterday. We have no caterer, or DJ/ sound equipment (my cousin was oging to use the restaurant's sound equipment to DJ).

I was totally worthless at work yesterday trying to figure out where to go with this. Next up is making a true pro/con list for this and seeing where the chips fall. I'm just not sure which way to go.

Also, why the hell would someone start planning a wedding 10 months in advance if it's going to come down to a 28 day scramble? I'm to panicked to be angry or upset; we just need a direction to go in!

Give me some advice. Where do we go from here?