So you’re engaged?! Congrats. Let the stress begin! Just kidding (sort of). This whole wedding planning thing has been a bit of a roller coaster, and I thought it would be fun to share my experiences.
When Tommy and I started wedding planning, the first thing we looked for was a reception venue. After all, who needs flowers, a DJ, guests and all the other stuff if you don’t have a place to put them all. I researched and read reviews on The Knot and finally chose 4 venues we would visit on our first day out.
So we get on the highway excited to visit our first venue of the day and we hit traffic. We were still 30 miles away in slow moving traffic when we decided to cancel our first appointment. Luckily, we were only a few exits from the following venue, so we got off and decided to kill some time in that area. The venue was on a commercial strip so we drove back and forth a few times to see where to stop and each time we did, a sign caught my eye. The sign was advertising another venue that was just down the road and on the third time that we passed, I told Tommy to turn so we could check it out.
Driving up to the venue, I was blown away. The venue is an old 1920s mansion that is now used for hosting events. Since we didn’t have an appointment, the wedding planner only gave us a quick tour because she had another couple coming in less than 10 minutes. We left with more info about the venue and a list of available dates.
The next three venues we visited were what we started calling cookie cutter venues. They all looked the same, offered the same food, photo opps and we were just not impressed. We kept comparing them to the first place we saw, and none of them even came close.
The next day we called back to put a pencil hold on the first venue and made an appointment to go back for a full tour and to discuss the details.
What we loved most about the place is that the whole house is ours for the day. There aren’t any other parties going on and we can decorate the whole place the way we want. We can be there early and stay late without having to worry about other people being there. It has multiple outdoor spaces that we can use, with fire pits and heat lamps in case it is a chilly night. It has history and character and it just felt right when we walked through the door that first time.
Even though it felt like a huuge weight off our shoulders to have our reception venue, there is still so much to do!
What is your dream wedding venue?
I love wedding planning, when we got married we only looked at 3 venues. My husband plays in a band and so he had played at a ton of venues and already had a good idea of what we’d want. I ended up loving his #1, and we booked right away. It definitely feels like a huge weight once you have that nailed down!
Kelly @ Cupcake Kelly’s recently posted..A Very Exciting Announcement!
It feels good to have the one HUGE part out of the way. Now to finalize all the other details! 🙂