How to Choose a Reception Venue

In spite of the fact that my account at The Knot insists that I have 361 items to do on my checklist before our wedding this September, I feel pretty good about the current state of our wedding plans (ask me again in five minutes). We have decided on the venue for the reception, which proved to be the first big choice that we had to make. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I always pictured myself having a small wedding, maybe 30 people tops, barefoot on a Caribbean beach. Plans have changed a bit.

We chose the Marriot Key Bridge in Arlington, Virginia, as our reception locale. Where it lacks waves crashing against white-sand beaches, tropical plants, and the salty smell of the ocean, it makes up in convenience for us and our guests. As Mr. Cathedral Heights’s family is from Peru, Colorado, and Miami, and my family is mostly in Maine and California, with a few sprinkled in Texas, a large percentage of our guests are traveling to D.C. for the occasion. It was important to us to have the wedding in a location that offered nearby, affordable lodging and convenience to public transportation. The Marriot Key Bridge sits across the Potomac from Georgetown, not far from the Metro, and the DC Circulator bus passes right by, taking passengers to Georgetown, Dupont Circle, and downtown DC. This will work very well for our families and it will offer them the chance to explore the city in the off-wedding hours.

Choosing a venue for the reception proved a difficult task. I had so many thoughts racing through my head--whether to base the decision on what I wanted, what Mr. CH wanted, what would be most convenient for guests, what would be the most eco-friendly approach. Did I want to base the whole event on budget, attempting to keep the numbers at an all-time low while sacrificing more of my sanity or did I go with the hotel that barely fit in our budget and came with planners to help with the entire procedure? The Marriott package came with a cocktail hour, three-course dinner, cake, tables and chairs, centerpieces, table settings, discount rooms for guests, a suite for the newlyweds on the night of the wedding...need I go on? For a gal like myself, who isn't especially experienced at planning events that include more then chips, dip, and a keg, the Marriott sounded better and better. Plus, it had been recently renovated and offered a beautiful view of the city from the top floor, where the reception would take place.

We breathed a huge sigh of relief the day we put the deposit down on the Marriott Key Bridge. The first major step was complete. Now, for the other 360 to do's...

instead of...

Big news today freaders, aside from battling a nasty sinus infection over the weekend Fiancé made a few changes to the wedding....

Instead of partying here....

We will be partying here...

Don't ask what inspired me to change our reception location SEVEN (eee!) months out, we were going through papers and Fiancé used to be on the board of the DC Young Republicans so he had some old menus from the Capitol Hill Club. Out of the blue, we decided to just look. Not make any decisions but oh mah gawd ladies, I fell in love.

We frequent the club and have for a large duration of our courtship, Fiancé was a member when we first began dating so we'd go there for lunches during a brief stint of unemployment (for moi) and we'd meet there for happy hours. Additionally, my former roommate is a member and has been for years - once a month we meet him and his his girlfriend for happy hours to catch up. Fiancé is currently in the process of getting his membership back so it all works out.

Like Reception site #1, new reception site has a lot of meaning to us. But it has the upside of...well...a lot. One, it's a block from the church and the hotel that we're making the room block at (try finding a hotel downtown with a room block price that's reasonable for family from CT and Vermont is like trying to find a needle in a haystack) which means...no transportation (saving $2k on limos/vans? I'm for it.). There were a lot of other factors, we haven't cancelled anything or signed any new contracts but a gist of what we're getting?

• A cocktail hour in the Eisenhower Room with dinner and dancing upstairs in the main dining room
• 5 hour reception instead of 4
• 4 course meal instead of three
• Saving on dance floor rental and transportation
• A planner who actually RESPONDS to my emails...within the hour!!! (my biggest complaint with site #1 is that the planner - while he's great and incredibly friendly - is hard to get in touch with via email and phone)
• We're the ONLY event there that day!!
• We get to ADD 20 people to guest list!!!
  

Oh yeah, and a $10,000 minimum food and drink. A wee bit out of our budget but since we cut back on the transportation and since I made a decision to go all Martha Stewart on everyone week of the wedding and MAKE my own bouquet (and the Bridesmaids) we're saving significantly on flowers (we'll still have to get the boutonnieres and the corsages) so we're saving in OTHER areas. It'll work. I'm fairly confident in that fact.

Of course, we're both ecstatic. I don't know why we didn't think of this place ohhh...SIX months ago, but Fiancé assumed I wouldn't want to get married at the National Republican Club (I would have been fine with it) and I assumed it was out of our price range (it's not entirely - no more than Reception Site #1 is but without having to cut every h'or duerve, drink and entreé). Thankfully we're only likely to lose $100 for cancelling our "contract." After this, and our new $5k deposit? No more changing my mind. On anything. Cross my heart.


Any major decisions you changed your mind on? How did you handle it?

Making Decisions!

With the 7 month mark looming ahead of us as of next week, Fiancé and I are still slacking on those pesky save the dates.

Whoops? My mother has been uber nag since January 1. Each time I talk to her it's "have you finished the save the dates? You need to finish the save the dates." Yes mother...yes. I know.

This weekend, we're looking at a *cough* new *cough* reception *cough* site. I'm not saying more because we're not ditching the one we have yet. Rumor has it we might get more bang for our buck at the one in question (that we'll be visiting Saturday) and if that's the case it doesn't hurt that it's merely ONE block from the church and the hotel where we're hoping to block off 20 rooms for our guests (that we're also looking at this weekend).

Of course things couldn't be that easy, as opposed to site #1 that we currently have a deposit on, a deposit that was only ~$100, the one in question has a $5k deposit, $10k minimum food and drink, thankfully that $5k deposit? Goes towards the minimum. Now, our proposal at current site, had us at $18k. We brought it down, cutting out just about EVERYTHING, to about $11k. So if we can keep it in that vicinity and get more for our money, we're golden and totally only losing $100.

No decisions have been made but if I can have a cocktail hour downstairs, dinner and dancing upstairs, with a full cocktail hour? I'm totally bailing on site #1.

I digress though. I'll hopefully more info next week and pictures.

In other happier news,

I picked out the Bridesmaids dresses, have a trip scheduled to Boston to go with the other girls, and should have them all ordered by May 12. The dresses in question?

[via Aria Dress]

The fabulous dreses from Aria Dress. They'll be short with an Aline skirt, in navy blue. The girls will then wear fuschia shoes. Carry green and white flowers. It's going to be fabulous. I love the navy/fuschia color tablet with a hint of green, like a spring green. Ahh love colors.

My vision? Something similar to this:

[via Miss Havy]

I've got the navy shoes, the girls will have navy dresses and pink shoes with white flowers with a dash of green in the mix. I'll have pink flowers. The men will have green mums as their boutonnieres with navy suits and vineyard vine ties.

All in all, it's coming together. If this ah-hem new reception site works out we'll save a significant amount on transportation. Like seriously - none needed. The men can stay at our apartment and walk over the day of, and I can stay at the hotel which is catty corner to the church. I'm pretty excited about this all, now if I could just sit down and get those stupid Save the Dates done....*le sigh*

Out of Hibernation - A Matter of Dates/Restaurants?

Here I am, Miss JeffMemorial. The MIA bride here at DCNearlyweds.com.

I am back, though. It has been a rough couple of months, but the holidays proved to be happy and revitalizing.

I feel as though I need to completely re-introduce myself as things have changed, haha.


Mr. JeffMemorial & I: Our Unofficial Engagement Photo/At a Capitals game, heh.

Known each other since we were nineteen. (Awww.) Young professionals living and working in Washington DC, mother and father to a crazy Scottish Terrier.

We became the JeffMemorial couple because our original plan was to be married at the Jefferson Memorial in early October of 2009.

Then something funny happened that we should have seen coming and never really thought of.

Mr. JM's birthday is on October 18th. Mama JeffMemorial (my mom) has her birthday the next day on the 19th. My birthday is on October 26th. Then Halloween is on the 31st.

This year's run through October was insane enough, and we could not imagine doing all of that plus a wedding this year, and then throwing a wedding anniversary in there every year to follow. Our solution? Move it to November.

But then.... November is too nice/cold/rainy/spastic to actually plan an outdoor wedding without some fear of Mother Nature explosions.

It had to go inside to accommodate our new November 7, 2009 date plan.

To shorten an already long story, we moved everything to our reception venue, Local 16, and then another tragedy struck. Not money. Not even the location. Originally we were thinking of having a child-free wedding and then realized we wanted his nephews involved in the ceremony and part of the family festivities at the reception. Local 16 is not a child-friendly location. It killed us to move it, because Local 16 really is beautiful.

But the wedding is about having those who are important there and the joining of families. His nephews had to be there.

We moved it. Thankfully for the last time. Date set and reserved at our new venue.

If you want to be specific, we're now actually more like Mr. & Miss OldTown (for Old Town Alexandria), although I love the Miss JM moniker, as it reminds me of where we've come from in this process.

This is because our venue for the wedding and reception is in a place that was the most unlikely venue and it has turned out to be perfect.


"The Internationally Famous Fish Market of Old Town Alexandria"

Really, I approached the event coordinator of the Fish Market on a whim. I was stressed beyond comprehension. We had been settled on Local 16 for months. We were making that work, working within their budgets, etc. And then we needed to change everything.

With this economy picking at all of our wallets, we needed a place that stayed within our budget, but we didn't want to sacrifice having a beautiful and unique wedding.

Finally I thought, hey, I know we had our hearts set on being in DC, but I had taken Mr. JM to Old Town, and he fell in love. Mr. JM had grown up in around Annapolis and the Eastern Shore, and I grew up in DC and in Northern Virginia. Old Town is like the perfect blend of the two. A seaside historic town (like Annapolis) with the Virginia charm that I love.

Our first date in Old Town was actually at the Fish Market, which oddly enough is a restaurant I had been going to with my mom since I was about six years old. It was one of my FAVORITE places to go to eat growing up.

The night we were there, they were having a big private party in their upstairs dining room. The thought crossed my mind briefly while I was pulling my hair out at work, trying to sort through where the heck we were going to have our wedding.

I perused the website to see if they had any sort of indication that they did big events, as one of the GREATEST things I've learned through all of this is that restaurants can be fabulous wedding and/or reception venues that tend to be less expensive (if you're needing to mind your wallet) because generally you pay for just the food and drinks, with maybe a rogue cost for clean-up, but I haven't come across those kinds of fees in my research. In addition, you may find the cost to be less, but the quality of the venue can be just as lovely as a hotel ballroom, country club or what-have-you. Plus, it's one stop shopping. It's your venue, your caterer, your bartender, and many times your linen vendor, as well. They also may have good recommendations for other vendors, such as DJs, florists, etc.

While I knew all of this going into considering the Fish Market, I was still skeptical. While it is considered a requisite stop for visitors and locals alike in Old Town, as well as a landmark, it's not the fanciest place by any means.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the space dressed and arranged for events on their website.





While it's not the set up we want, you could really see how the space could be utilized. I contacted their coordinator and practically bit my nails down to the quick; a place like this couldn't be that affordable, but I had to wait and see.

And it was! It was perfect! Mr. JM loved it. I loved it! Our families loved it!

They're giving us the entire top floor instead of just one room, so we'll have a room set up with the food (an appetizer buffet) and the bar, and the room pictured above set up for seating, dancing and our ceremony.

We haven't had to cut our guest list, and in fact since we moved it from Local 16, we were able to increase it, due to our menu set up and increased space.

Their event coordinator their is incredible. Answers every question, really personable and easy to chat with. She's fabulous and is so creative. We have free reign in terms of set up, etc. I have never dealt with such an accommodating, nice and flexible venue, and given the amount of people I have had to speak with in regards to this wedding.

Given the fact that we have been attempting the impossible (a wedding in the DC area for around $5k), I've had to talk to so many venues and people.

I guess I'm just so happy for us. One of the things we promised ourselves is that we were not only going to pay for the wedding ourselves, we were going to continue with our debt management plan and put nothing on credit. A pipe dream, seemingly, but nope.

Ironically we're having the wedding of our dreams and are able to invite those we really want there, and all for $4k, including my dress and our honeymoon hotel cost for Colonial Williamsburg.

So yea, check out the Fish Market of Old Town. If not for your wedding, you should be aware that for NoVA and DC brides, it's considered a wonderful place to hold rehearsal dinners and other wedding related activities. :-)

That was a lot more long-winded than expected, but hey, Miss. JeffMemorial is back!

Our first wedding as an Engaged Couple!

We went to a wedding in St. Michael's, MD (think Wedding Crashers) and it was gorgeous!! The wedding was at The Oaks in August. The couple are local, so this was a semi-destination wedding. The setting was outside and on the water. The bride wore the most perfect dress that I absolutely fell in love with, and the groom wore a tan suit, pink tie and flip flops! The bridesmaids wore navy dresses and had pink flowers, while the groomsmen wore tan suits, pink ties and flip flops. The color scheme was so pretty!

Isn't she gorgeous?

Mr. CP and I always love a sunglasses-appropriate wedding!

The scenery was breathtaking!!! This made me wish I had decided on an outdoor wedding. Isn't it gorgeous?

Something this reception site is known for is the Adirondack chairs along the water. Mr. CP and I definitely relaxed and watched the sunset, after dancing all night!

The reception was a lot of fun, just like the newly married couple. They had a beautiful cake. Have you ever seen a full on cake "wrestling" match? I have!

Have you thought about an outdoor wedding vs an indoor wedding? What special things did you do (or are you doing) to make it look gorgeous? Have you considered a semi-destination wedding?

Mr. CP and I enjoying crabs in St. Michaels. A great perk of a semi-destination wedding is a semi-vacation ;)

The Eternal Quest for a Reception Venue

Several weeks ago, I was convinced the wedding was off. Not because of any issues between myself and Mr. JeffMemorial. No no, we were great!

I called Super Bridesmaid on the verge of tears. Okay, I am lying. I was completely beside myself. I looked like a well rehearsed cryface mess, fresh off the set of The Hills. Something had come up. We're paying for the wedding ourselves, and our budget had to be completely gutted by something unforseen.

It wasn't just that we didn't have enough money for the caterer or perhaps the ceremony... it was everything. And it wasn't that we couldn't have the wedding we had initially envisioned; we were worried about being able to get married at all.

Super Bridesmaid told me to calm down, take a breath or five. She would get back in touch with me.

I plopped down on bench and said okay. Minutes later I got an email from her. She outlined that while we couldn't do the Church, there are plenty of places in Washington DC where we wouldn't have to pay a crazy fee. What about a Memorial? She said all we needed was a permit fee. (Thus our Jefferson Memorial wedding was born, as my previous posts and moniker imply.)

As for the reception, she had an idea. LOCAL 16, a fabulous restaurant with an open air deck bar, as well as a private room. In addition, we didn't have to pay a rental fee. All we have to do is pay for the food.

A few weeks back, Mr. JeffMemorial, Super Bridesmaid, a few friends, and myself went to Local 16. Lucky me, a bloggy friend was having an engagement party there, as well, so I was able to try some of the food.

Private room.




Other angle of room.




Other part of room that leads to...





...the outdoor bar. Shared with other patrons, but a nice little getaway for guests.





The staff we have dealt with have been more than helpful. The prices are ridiculously reasonable. The whole thing for under $2k, that's including use of room, partial open bar for the guests and a five hour reception.

Also the food is to die for! (And they make a white sangria so I won't ruin my dress!)

The setting is lush and unique and really fits with throwing a true DC wedding. A ceremony at Jefferson Memorial, followed by a community haunt reception venue. It's one they won't forget hopefully.

What still gets me, once again, is how we gutted our budget but are having the wedding we REALLY want under this new revised baby budget, although I was sad to let go of the Art Gallery reception idea... one of many versions of our wedding, heh.

So even when you're down and out, you can still have a great reception. I can't wait for October 10th, 2009! I can just totally see us dancing there and having a wonderful laid back time with our friends.

Also, don't let the pictures fool you! They're in the middle of renovating parts of the room, adding more windows... hooray natural lighting!

Now onto my next challenge. Can one throw a successful iPod wedding?

The Winner Is...

Recently, I had some worries about our reception site. Initially, we had chosen a hotel near Union Station, but when the proposal came out about $15k above our budget (I should note, we haven't made a budget, the proposal was $16 close to $17,000 which we both knew was WAY over budget.) we decided we needed to look elsewhere.

When Mr. GP finally emailed our fabulous wedding planner to tell her the sorry news, she was willing to make it work. But then I came forth and told him my thoughts - "the ballroom? Is ugly. I don't like it. I wouldn't have been happy there." Granted the upstairs for the cocktail hour would have been great! Unfortunately, at their prices, we couldn't afford a cocktail hour.

So we kept looking. We looked at a restaurant - Clyde's Gallery Place and we fell in love. I'm still a bit worried, but mostly because well, when I envisioned my wedding I envisioned a room with lots of lights, candles, a big dance floor, and this room? Hardwood paneling, it's own back bar and room for a...small dance floor. At best. If we keep the guest list down to 110 MAX!

But we put down our deposit. I convinced myself it's nice. We know the food is going to be INCREDIBLE and the man who will be helping us with the planning is beyond competent and incredibly helpful.

So a few weekends ago, as I aforementioned, we came across a restaurant on the Waterfront in Old Town Alexandria. I fell in love. We didn't go inside but I saw large windows, I envisioned hard wood floors perfect for dancing. I had heard nothing but great things about it from a friend who had dined there a few years ago.

Then Mr. GP's brother (Best Man) did some research and found some reviews after we put in a request for a proposal. The reviews were less than stellar. The good ones? Few and far between. The bad ones? Were stuff you don't want to read when you're considering it for a wedding reception. Bad service, mediocre and over priced food...not good.

So we discussed, and given the fact that the planner at Clyde's was amazing and got back to us within 48 hours of us inquiring and now 10 days later I STILL haven't heard anything back from Jane Doe Planner at Restaurant USA, we decided to not even bother with it.

But then he asked me what I wanted - I told him. I want dancing, a dance floor - not carpet (Clyde's doesn't have a dance floor - you have to rent one. Though our planner told us some people have foregone the dance floor and done without), Christmas lights, candles, pretty flowers - I want simple elegance.

He promised me we would make that room into whatever we want. We'll make it pretty, and just how I've always wanted my wedding to be. I smiled at him over my wedding binder, looked down at the pictures of the room, and knew he was right.

So Clyde's it is, this weekend we're taking our families there for lunch. (we couldn't get a tasting though we did try!) After that? The Mothers are going dress shopping with me...don't get me started about how that in itself is stressing me out.

Newest on the Block

I'm the newest DC Nearlywed here amongst the bunch - Miss Gallery Place. Mr. GP and I live near Eastern Market, we both hail from New England and the only thing stopping me from gettin' hitched on the shores of Lake Champlain (my home turf) is the fact that we were pretty adamant about getting married in "our" church - St. Peters on Capitol Hill.

We had settled on Clyde's in Gallery Place for the reception but as of late, I have become...almost ambivalent about having the reception there. Now the Piedmont room is beautiful. Really it is. It's great if you're of the cigar smoking, whiskey drinking, horse betting crowd from the South. I kid. I kid. You see, recently I changed our colors because I had a "TA DA" moment (as I like to call them) while watching my gal pal try on dresses - I saw two dresses next to each other at David's Bridal that were dark navy blue and clover green. They screamed that they were "my" colors. It was the perfect "ta da" moment, and since I couldn't quite decide on the shades of pink and green that would be perfect for an early September wedding, it was brilliant. I had another one of those this weekend.

Mr. GP and I were celebrating our two year anniversary a couple weeks early in Old Town, I had won a free hotel stay at the Embassy Suites so we decided to cash it in as we were officially one year out from the big day. As we rounded the corner from the Torpedo Factory after lunch, I noticed the Chart House. It was...another TA DA moment. Unfortunately, this kind of throws everything off, we have a deposit down, and while I haven't spoken to them yet, I'm hopeful about the Chart House if only because it absolutely reminds me of home, and not just MY home, but also the Connecticut shore which Mr. GP considers a part of his home (he's a bit further north from the shore though). We'll see though, since we're on such a tight budget, it's going to depend on where we get the better price - honestly? I'd be happy with either.

I digress though, we're getting married in September of 2009 - either in Gallery Place or Old Town. About us? Aside from the above that is, I'm 25, I work for a nonproft in Arlington, I'm training for my second marathon that I'll be running in Hartford in October, and then marathon number 3 which will be Burlington in May 09. Mr. GP is a political consultant, 26, and is...kind of a political junkie. We both enjoy watching too much MSNBC, and spoiling our 1 1/2 year old beagle mix.

How'd we meet you ask? We met shortly after I moved down to the area in 2006. It's a long contrived story so I'll spare you all the gory, dramatic details. Essentially we were introduced by someone I'll just call a mutual friend. A mutual friend I met at a party, had been hanging out with since I had no friends, that had just happened to once upon a time date Mr. GP. He pursued me, I fell for him and the rest is history. Needless to say, mutual friend is no long really...a friend. Whoops? It all kind of worked out and to use a line that a kid once used on me in college when he found out I wasn't romantically interested in him "I have too many friends" (Is that really possible though...I suppose when you're working on the Guest Lists it is...).

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to planning my weddin' and even more so now that I can share it with you all!

Pleased to meet you!

Hello Nearlyweds! I'm the newest addition and would like to introduce myself. Signor Keswick and I are planning an August 2009 wedding at the Keswick Hall Club and Estate just outside Charlottesville. By "planning," I mean we have had our final gallivant across northern VA and asked Keswick's coordinator to move forward on the contract. We found the venue this past spring courtesy of a Washington Post Travel article "Tuscanny in Virginia" or something to that effect. Because my now fiance and I love wine, the Mediterranean, and learning about wine, the title instantly piqued my interest. I read the article (it was a slow day at work), sent it to Sig. Kes, Googled said Tuscan escape, and voila! I had found a beautiful wedding venue. I only needed to become engaged. Sig. Keswick was also very impressed and imprinted on our memory did it remain. There had been discussions of a future life together, but I refused to be one of those "I'm just waiting for the ring" girls. He proposed to me on a summery Tueday evening in July at the Jefferson Memorial. This particular Tuesday and this particular memorial was exactly 1 day short of 8 years from when we'd first explored it during the high school leadership conference where we met - yes, we're kind of dorks - but in a good way! - flirting innocently among the marble columns.

The morning after our engagement we drove home to my small hometown in Southwest Virginia. On the way home from Sleepyton we stopped at Keswick Hall just because we loved it so much when we'd first read about it. We weren't able to schedule an official site visit, but that didn't stop us from exploring. Now, almost 1.5 months and several other NoVA B&Bs, museums, and countless hours of internet research later, we have officially named Keswick our reception site and reserved it for early August 2009. (We just had the site visit this past Saturday after braving the rains of Hanna.) I'll go into greater detail later about the many reasons I (already) love Keswick.

A few quick stats about me and my betrothed: We both live in Arlington, although not together. He's 25, a grad student, and currently studying for the LSAT's (good luck!!). I'm 24 and work on the events / fundraising side of a national healthcare nonprofit. He's Armenian /Scotch-German. I'm Filipino (born there, lived here since I was 4). The wedding will be around 100 people (at least we think so at this point). We'll probably go with a "romantic meets modern meets timeless" feel for the wedding.

Happy planning!

Our Pseudo-Destination Wedding

Hello Nearlyweds! I am Miss Glen Allen, the newest addition to your favorite blogging team. FI and I are getting married on Good Friday, April 10, 2009 in Glen Allen, VA, just north of Richmond. Our wedding will be held at Virginia Crossings Resort, a tiny, tucked away golf resort that we just love. Everyone always asks us why we're getting married in Central Virginia when FI is from NY. I am from NJ, and we live in Howard County, MD. So, here's the reason. A couple of years ago, I moved to the Richmond area to take a new job. Not long afterwards, we got engaged and the search began for the perfect location. Naturally, our families wanted us to get married closer their homes in NY or NJ. However, we have a fairly modest budget for our wedding. We are hosting the wedding ourselves, and we have no desire to pay the $200 per person that is so common at venues up north. We expanded our search to PA, where my brother lives; Maryland, where we both went to college (Morgan State - Go Bears!) and where FI still lived; and finally VA, my home at the time. We found that the farther away the venues were from major metropolitan areas, the better the pricing got, without compromising quality. I remember the when I discovered the perfect place. I was "working" one day, really looking at Virginia wedding venues online, when I stumbled upon Virginia Crossings Resort listed on a common wedding site. I visited the resort's website, and loved what I saw. I thought the round courtyard was just so cute and unique. They are also the featured venue for the NBC12 Dream Wedding. I looked at their address and thought, 'Wait! I live off of that street.' When I mapped it, I found that it was actually a mile away from my home. I went to VCR that same day, drove through the gates, and I was blown away. It has that WOW! factor that every bride can appreciate. You would never guess that this little piece of heaven is tucked right there. 20 acres of immaculately maintained golfers' and romantics' paradise, nestled in amongst new home communities and quaint villas, but still convenient to major highways, railways, and the airport. Their standard wedding package offers all the features that other places consider extra. Our wedding is costing less than $100 per person, and we are getting a great value. I never wanted to get married at some huge place where six weddings are going on at once. VCR is small enough that I will be the only bride on our day, which is great because I don't want to see anyone else in a white dress on my wedding day. Even our flower girl will be wearing yellow.

This is Virginia Crossings Resort. The building on the left holds the ballroom, meeting rooms, and restaurant. The building on the right holds the guest rooms. I will be walking down the long aisle from the center, mansion-style building.


We decided to have an outdoor ceremony in the round courtyard, and in the center building on the second floor, just above the columns is a beautiful little dressing room for the bride and her attendants. I'll be able to look out the window of that room and see everything and everyone in the courtyard.



Our reception will be in their Henrico Ballroom.

So after researching venues in 5 states, and DC, VA worked out best for us. Our wedding will end up being a pseudo-destination wedding. We live 2 1/2 hours away from the venue, and I love it! It's close enough to home and to our family that everyone can get to it with minimal travel expenses. None of our wedding guests live in Virginia, so the wedding can be a nice little weekend getaway for them. Also, since FI and I don't live close to the venue, it makes us plan our time well when we visit the Richmond area. We schedule several wedding meetings on the same Saturday, so we don't have to take time off from work. Since our vendors know that we live far away, they are more inclined to accommodate our scheduling needs. During these wedding day-trips FI and I take together, he is actively involved in every meeting, idea, and decision that day, and it works out well. We each have a great time and feel like we've accomplished alot in that day.

Introducing...Miss Georgetown

Hi everyone. I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Miss Georgetown and an August 2nd bride. (Only 118 days to go!) Why Miss Georgetown?...because both FI and I are Georgetown grads and we are actually getting married at the chapel on campus at school! We are really, really excited about it.

I started working with Mrs. Nearlywed to plan my Georgetown Wedding last year when I moved to NYC. Planning from a far can be very challenging, but Mrs. Nearlywed has been amazingly helpful. I was a bride-to-be who thought everything was in-place before I hired a planner. I had a date, a church and a reception site. To my surprise, two months ago I realized that I contracted a space that was too small for my reception! Mrs. Nearlywed to the rescue...and I was able to find a much better space for my reception. I'm super excited about the space (I just saw it for the first time yesterday), so I thought I'd share it with you. http://www.belmontconferencecenter.com/ The staff is super helpful and nice and if you don't mind a trip to Howard County, it's a great place for your wedding and/or reception.

New Orleans Comin' To Town...and Making Budget Adjustments!

Well, FH and I bit the bullet and hired our favorite brass band from New Orleans, LA (NOLA) to come to ATL for the wedding reception entertainment!! Yes, the cost made me cringe at first---must pay for their travel expenses as well---but, I stayed up some late nights with legs folded Indian style, hair frazzled, and a handy calculator in hand crunching numbers and re-figuring our budget to allow this treat. FH's eyes lit up when I suggested we contact them. Actually, he used to go see them perform every Thursday night with his good buddy (also a GM) when we lived in NOLA. So, I just knew we had to have them. The wedding day tends to be all about the bride, I definitely wanted him to be extra excited about the plans too. Plus, I love the band too, so we're both very excited!! These guys are sooo talented! We're doing our best to keep it a secret from our guests that are connected to us from NOLA.

Pic from Nola.com (photographer: Michael Democker)

Anyhow, we had to let go of our dream reception location, The Foundry at Puritan Mill, in order to make room in the budget. The exposed brick and plenty of windows is just our style. It has a facility charge, of course, because you have to hire a caterer (from their preferred list of course). However, the fun we'll have definitely outweighs exposed brick and windows. We also changed from evening to afternoon to reduce food and bev (F&B) costs, and we're probably going with a faux cake with sheet cakes in the back---they actually make a slot in the back for a piece of real cake for the cake cutting ceremony!

Foundry at Puritan Mill (www.novarrevents.com/puritan/)

Atlanta Cake Rental (http://www.atlantacakerental.com/)

We found a great place, The Emory Conference Center Hotel, where we can pay for food and bev ONLY at a very reasonable price, and the hotel looks great---lots of stone work and dark, rich tones in the decor. It's cool! Plus, they provide a bandstand, and they have a 4 hour block of time for the actual event. And, we can now have it on a Saturday! Nips the drama from family over a Sunday wedding (It was cheaper at Puritan Mill to do it on a Sunday).

I admit to contract phobia! What if I found another rare gem???! With exposed brick???!! We did it, though. But, I scrutinized the heck out of that contract. The CM had to send me a new contract 5 times! She was making errors in numbers that could wind up in a big mess later. What if she isn't in that position a year from now? Our word against a contract wouldn't be good. She had the F&B minimum, the expected revenue--in case of cancellation, FH's last name, and the cancellation date ranges, all wrong. She'd fix one thing and mess another up. Anyway, that's all done with.

www.emoryconferencecenter.com/weddings

Ballroom (http://www.emoryconferencecenter.com/)

Thought I may have lucked up when I was referred to The Freight Room, operated by the GA Building Authority. It's a great spot too, with exposed brick, a gazebo, and track lights inside. But, there was a facility charge. Understand, these charges aren't ridiculous, it just wouldn't fit with the band! All in all, we're happy with our choice!

This pic from georgia.gov