Category — venues

With our vision and inspiration board in place, we were ready to start planning. The first step was choosing a wedding date. Because we wanted to keep costs as low as possible, we decided to get married on a Sunday and also keep our wedding to 75 guests or less. We were both very clear that we wanted immediate family and friends only. Because 80% of our guests would be coming from out of town we did not want to make our guests request more time off of work than absolutely necessary. As a result, we decided that we would either have a Memorial Day or Labor Day Sunday wedding since most people get the following Monday as a day off. We ultimately chose the Sunday before Memorial Day as our wedding date and used that date (5.25.08) as a theme that would carry through to all aspects of our wedding.

Choosing a venue was a simple decision for us. We knew with our limited budget that the many beautiful hotels, mansions, arboretums, ranches, and plantations in the Dallas area would be far outside of our budget. So, we chose the next best alternative…a country club with smaller fees and a low food and beverage minimum.

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I’m so excited about guest blogging this week for EAD. I’ve been reading since I was first engaged, last December - I know I’ve cribbed some inspiration along the way.

DJ and I are planning a smallish wedding next September for 80 or so people, with the reception to be held in a renovated barn. The barn itself is very cool. Prior to its current life as an event space, it had been an actual working barn. It was on the verge of being donated as a firefighting training exercise when it was rescued by a local historian. After being transported piece by piece and rebuilt, it now has beautiful wood floors and white walls showcasing the original timbers, with a staircase up to the hayloft.

(Photo: Prairie Crossing)

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…the trick is choosing a venue that doesn’t really need any.

Those of you who recall my previous guest blogging stint, when I was still in the planning stage, may also recall that I was pretty averse to many so-called wedding traditions. And it’s true that while I was very traditional with many aspects of my wedding, I also sought the unexpected where my personal style did not match other people’s preconceived notions of what makes a wedding a wedding.

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Ok ladies and gents, I’m giving you an in.  My wonderful husband just finished up the website for a new venue in Birmingham called Woodrow Hall.  We had a chance to tour it a few weeks ago and it is gorgeous.

The building is a former Mason temple built in 1914.  The main room seats 150 for dinner.  It has a lobby perfect for cocktail hour, and this truly would be a great venue for a small intimate wedding.  It’s in historic Woodlawn and the owner (our landlord) has put a lot of time into restoring this and making it as green as possible (soy based tile, etc.)

They’re having a grand opening celebration from 1-6pm this Saturday.  The hubby and I are going as representatives of Elizabeth Anne and D2LGraphics.  If you want to meet up, email me at rebekah at elizabethannedesigns dot com.

A.

Honestly, one of the most difficult parts of the wedding planning process was trimming down the guest list (or should I say, “going at it with a machete”?). The list started out gigantic, even for our $2,000 wedding. We knew we had to cut it back because of Goal #5 for our ideal wedding: “We will have real time to spend with guests. We want to be able to spend quality time with our friends and family. We don’t want to follow the traditional pattern of a few wedding ‘events’ where the bride and groom only have time for a ‘meet and greet’: rehearsal dinner, reception, brunch the following morning. We want more of a family and friends reunion.” We knew that the bigger our wedding got, the less opportunity we would have to genuinely connect with our guests.

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Choosing our venue was really a difficult decision for me. Choosing the city where we would get married was even harder. I am from Louisiana and lived most of my life there, but my parents live in Dallas now. My honey and I were both living in Columbia, South Carolina and he was originally from Columbia and his parents still live here. I didn’t want to have the wedding in Columbia because I wanted to keep the wedding to 150 guests and his family would not have been able to keep their numbers down if we’d had it in Columbia. I was really clear about not wanting to meet anyone for the first time at our wedding and wanted to find a location where our closest friends would travel. In fact, all but about 10 of my guests had to travel quite a ways to get to our wedding anyway. I knew that those that really wanted to be there would get there.

We decided right away to keep the wedding in South Carolina because it would be easier on me to plan it. I originally wanted to have a very rustic wedding and found a beautiful farm about 30 minutes away with a wonderful pavillion and tons of rolling hills and huge trees. I visited the location and fell in love. But because the farm was in the middle of nowhere, I began to get concerned about having tons of tables and chairs brought in, bringing in tents and generators, and those portable executive restrooms. I just wasn’t sure that our budget could handle it. I had wonderful dreams of having my favorite caterer do a lowcountry Southern supper and have gorgeous centerpieces in blue and white porcelain vases and pots. It wasn’t a great option for our budget and it wasn’t a great option for our guests. The farm was in the middle of nowhere, so there weren’t any hotels nearby and our guests would have had to drive a long way back to Columbia to the hotels or we would have had to rent some very large buses– another budget buster. I will look forward to planning someone else’s gorgeous rustic farm wedding!

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…We now return for the thrilling conclusion of “How to find a wedding venue in 7 months!”

If I were to give you all the details on every place we researched, contacted, obtained proposals from, and visited, this blog would go on forever and the only remaining readers would be zombies. So, we’ll just cut to the chase, shall we?

For a long while, I had ruled out restaurants because of our desire to marry outdoors. But desperate times called for desperate measures and we figured that we could always do an outdoor ceremony with an indoor reception if we found the right place. So, I hit up the ol’ internets with fresh eyes, and there it was… a beautiful gem had been right under my nose all along.

{Image source: The Bungalow Club}

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From the minute we got engaged, Hunter had fantasies of us marrying in Mexico. After all, we loves us some margaritas and mexican food! (Did someone say melty cheese? Yes, please!) And Mexico is only a 2.5 hour drive from home sweet home. I wasn’t really into the idea, but after the disappointments we had in seeking a venue in the US, our attentions turned south, and we made plans to visit Rosarito Mexico. Rosarito is just 45 minutes south of the border, and known for its nice beaches and for being where all the stars from Hollywood came to drink during prohibition. Random fact: Titanic was filmed here. They even have a museum commemorating this honor.

Jesus blesses the margarita drinkers
Author’s personal collection, 2008

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When thinking about where to wed, we considered that at least 1/2 our guests would be coming in from out of town. We thought it might be fun (and more affordable) to get married outside the LA area in a place fun for visitors to enjoy. Thus we turned our attention southward, to San Diego. Only a 2 hour drive from LA, we thought family and friends would be able to enjoy the zoo, legoland, beaches, and the proximity to Mexico for a long weekend. Plus it would feel vacation-y to us, being away from home for our special day.

I discovered the Bernardo Winery on Here Comes The Guide (a must-visit for all you CA brides-to-be). We heart wine and thought a vineyard wedding sounded utterly dreamy. I had visions of rustic mason jar tealights, wine barrel cocktail tables, braided wheat details and horseshoe favors. Its even nestled into a tiny, rustic walking village of artisan shops, reminiscent of a cute disney-ish wine world. Random Trivia: it almost was consumed by the wildfires of ‘07 in Rancho Bernardo.

The event space is pretty dreamy - a large, open, wood pavilion with all kinds of rustic and adorable elements such as horseshoes, old wagons, and rusty cheese graters (trust me, cuter than they sound!) One one end is a built-in bar, and the other has a large built-in buffet table. Everything is wrapped in twinkle lights. Beyond that is a little park, dappled with olive trees and capped off by a sweet pavillion for ceremonies.

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As we were gathering inspiration, we were also gathering information. Figuring out a guest list and a budget. We were hoping for a May wedding - and venues and vendors fill up fast, so we wanted to start looking and booking as soon as possible. I definitely think every bride and groom, before making any decisions, should create a strict guest list (adding random people here and there adds up quickly!) and a budget. Choosing a venue or any vendors before establishing those two things is definitely putting the cart before the horse.

So we had our numbers in order - time to find a location. We really wanted to have the ceremony and reception in one spot. Its so much easier for guests - especially those from out of town. It also seemed to simplify things. We really wanted to find a venue downtown. Hotels within walking distance, bars close by (for those that weren’t ready to be done partying!) and an urban feel. We felt like Goldilocks - one venue was too urban (unique old building…with chain link fences and graffiti in the background.) One wasnt urban enough (very bright and white with a lot of outdoor space.) We were looking for more classic and warm.

Set up for another wedding, one of the images that sold us on the space. From the Clubhouse on Baltimore.

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