Equipped with my venue spreadsheet, I made appointments with six different venues during October and November. Most of the venues were places on my spreadsheet and in the right price range, but I did do a bridal no-no and schedule a few that were going to be a stretch if we decided on them.
No way, no how
The Diplomat, Golden Ponds and the Auditorium Center were quickly scratched off the list after visiting the locations. Due to our group size, the only room the Diplomat wanted to offer us was a fully mirrored room on their first floor (which is really like a basement) and had no handicap access. Despite making appointments with Golden Ponds and the Auditorium Center, the former was not prepared for us when we arrived (the person I was supposed to meet with wasn’t even there) and the latter completely stood us up. Bad first impressions from places that we were potentially going to spend thousands of dollars at.
Nice try but no cigars
Source: The Shadows & Greystone Weddings Facebook Page
Shadow Lake was beautiful. It was picturesque and had huge windows that overlooked the golf course. The woman we met with was extremely nice and knew we were working with a budget. She was super accommodating and gave us lots of options to reduce the cost of having our wedding there. Unfortunately, the downgrades made me feel like I was sacrificing a lot to have the wedding there and their menu wasn’t exactly what Mr. PB and I had in mind. Nice place for a wedding, just not the place for us.
Not too big but a bit too small
Source: Salmon Creek Country Club
When we looked online at Salmon Creek‘s menu, Mr. PB and I LOVED it. Who can say no to an appetizer selection that includes macaroni and cheese bites? We visited the space but were unaware that a meeting was taking place in the venue at the same time. It was a bit out of the ordinary but we meshed with the event coordinator right away. She was real and honest and we loved the package options (especially the price). We made an appointment to come back the next day when there wasn’t another event. Upon further discussion, the venue would be too small if we decided on the stations menu, which was a huge selling point to Salmon Creek. We didn’t completely dismiss it but we weren’t sold either.
So many possibilities
Talk about an open floor plan. // Source: Rich Paprocki Photography
The Main Street Armory isn’t a normal wedding venue but when I was doing my venue research, I visited websites of local photographers and checked out locations they had photographed weddings at. I came across Rich Paprocki’s website and his photos of the above wedding. They took my breath away.
Benefits of castle-esque architecture // Source: Rich Paprocki Photography
Mr. PB and I were hoping for an all-in-one venue, allowing us to have the ceremony and reception in the same spot, circumventing any possible icky weather. I started to communicate with the contact at the venue and despite a couple lapses in responses from her, I couldn’t get the Armory out of my head. Mr. PB and I visited and we were in love. The woman even said that we could dream up any menu and they would make it. The price was a bit above our budget and there was a chance we couldn’t have the day we wanted, but I still couldn’t let the venue go. The woman at the Armory helped make the decision for me, as email after email after email went unanswered. If she wasn’t willing to reply to my emails when I was a potential client, what was going to happen when I was stressing before the wedding? Bye bye dreamy venue.
Did you have to kiss a few frog venues? What helped you turn potential venues into memories of the past?