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...

$21,814

That is the average cost of a wedding in 2008! It has gone down from around $28,000, which means brides are being more budget conscious.

Find out more about the average cost of weddings in your area by checking out Cost of Wedding. For example, in Arlington where I live this is what came up:

"On average, couples that live in Arlington, VA spend between $38,246 and $63,744 for their wedding. This does not include cost for a honeymoon or engagement ring.

Wedding cost or average spent based on spending of other brides and grooms not wedding vendor prices. Spending and prices can vary widely. You should investigate all options and choose products and services that best meet your needs."

They have a neat breakdown based on the different services one needs or wants like a wedding coordinator, photographer, and DJ.

I wanted a really unique and fantastic venue. All the ones in the DC area that I wanted were way over my budget. Mr. Charleston grew up in WV so we started looking there for more cost effective venues so that we could have the size wedding we wanted for 1/2 the cost. Here is what the website quoted:

"On average, couples that live in Charleston, WV spend between $15,451 and $25,752 for their wedding. This does not include cost for a honeymoon or engagement ring."

Now, I know people have to travel to get there, but even if we had the wedding in the DC area, we had friends and family coming from the Philippines, England, Seattle, California, Las Vegas and all over the East Coast. Only about 1/4 of our guests are coming from the Dc area. In the end this worked out for our budget and for the size and type of wedding we're having. After the cost of the honeymoon, rings, and the entire wedding including the price of all the vendors, supplies, and miscellaneous items we have managed to stay under budget!

This obviously doesn't mean that every bride in the great DC metro area should start running for the hills to get away from high prices. We sacrificed the convenience of getting married in DC in exchange for a bigger wedding with a lot of the small details that we really wanted. Some of my dearest friends got married in DC and sacrificed the size of the wedding in order to have it in a popular venue in the area.

In the end, its about having a fun celebration with your new hubby and your best friends and family. We found a venue and have been able to plan a wedding for half the cost and we are able to have even more friends and family there. To us, having the most important people in our lives at our wedding is worth the drive:-)

Have you had to make compromises in terms of where you had your wedding and what you had at your wedding? How strict was your budget?

All About Venues

We're still undecided about a reception venue, with a few choices that seem to be front-runners. One, which we dearly love the thought of, is a tent in Mr. 16th's parents' backyard. It sounds lovely and casual and very much our style. Photos like this one, found here by the very talented, and local, flutterphoto completely capture my imagination:

There are definitely "cons" to the backyard tent wedding, though. The house is pretty far from the church (NW DC to Oakton, VA). We'll have to rent everything and get staff to set it all up. Although the backyard is really big, they do have neighbors, who may not be thrilled about the huge party and DJ. And, of course, there's the fact that we'll be taking over his parents house entirely for at least the wedding day.

So we're looking into other ideas. The church has a hall, which I'm going to check out on Friday. There is a rental fee, although it would cost less than a tent, and while it comes with some dining tables and chairs we'd still have to rent lots of stuff.

There are a few hotels nearby that I've contacted about guest room blocks and a reception. It seems like that would be convenient for our out of town guests. One is even walking distance from the church!

There are a few restaurants and wine bars I've contacted too. Maybe I'm wrong on this, but it seems that having the reception in a place that already has the tables, linens, dishes, etc. can be less expensive than renting it all separately and getting a caterer. I guess we'll know when the quotes start rolling in! Even if the price isn't much different, it does give us fewer things to worry about and vendors to work with.

And maybe that last point is really the heart of the matter. We want to have a nice wedding and a reception where we can spend time with our friends and family, but without going nuts! My new wedding motto just may be "simplify, simplify."

The Chevy Chases find a venue: Part II

I apologize for the long delay since Part I. I've been busy the past few weeks and spending every free moment in the evenings catching up on the day’s Wimbledon matches.

So, a quick recap: We had penciled in a date at the National Museum of Women in the Arts – a gorgeous marble hall. But, it was expensive and we didn’t have a good option for the ceremony, other than having it at the museum. So, when we finally got engaged 4 months after wehad stopped our venue search, we opened it up again.

We had initially rejected any sites that required a tent because we didn’t want to worry about it being too hot/cold, since May weather in DC can be unpredictable. But I had always imagined that I would have an outdodor wedding, and all of a sudden, we couldn’t figure out why we’d refused to consider venues with tents.

After extensive online research, we came up with two places: George Washington’s River Farm in Alexandria, and Woodend Nature Sanctuary in Chevy Chase.

The River Farm has an amazing setting on the banks of the Potomac, with a wildflower meadow and large lawns. There’s a tented patio in the back of the house, right off the ballroom. Of course, I saw the place in February just after the snow melted, but it was still pretty and didn’t take much imagination to realize how stunning it would be come spring.

source

Woodend has a similar setup, with a tented patio off the ballroom. I liked how at Woodend, the patio and ballroom are connected by french doors that enable the space to feel more continuous. The patio was also a little bit bigger than at the River Farm. For the ceremony, there are a few outdoor options. Most people hold their ceremony in the grove – a flat grassy area surrounded by hemlock trees. If it’s been raining, another option is the south lawn, which is elevated a bit and has better drainage. If it rains and we have to have the ceremony in the tent, we’d hold it facing the south lawn so that our guests are looking out at the woods. So, we were happy with the different options. For the cocktail hour, there’s a covered portico where we can set up a bar so that guests can enjoy the outdoor evening and maybe even spot some deer (I saw one when I was checking out the place!).

source

In the end, we went with Woodend, both because it felt “right” to us, and because the River Farm no longer had our date available. There are lots of hotel options in Bethesda (all of which are metro accessible), and we’re close to the city, where many of our guests live. We are really happy that we reconsidered our venue to find a place that was more “us” – not a formal ballroom but a beautiful setting where we can bring in our own style through flowers and décor.

And that, ladies (and the occasional gentleman?) is how we became the Chevy Chases.

How have you all let your venue reflect who you are as a couple?

March 27th, 2010, Dinner & Dancing at Glen Echo Park

In continuing with Miss Glen Echo's Five Basic Things, I will introduce you all to the final two tidbits: the "when" and the "where."

The "when" was somewhat a contentious issue. Mr. Glen Echo and I got engaged September 08 and I really wanted to the wedding October 2009. Mr. Glen Echo's brother, however, had plans to go to China and you cannot have a wedding without a best man...so that got nixed.

Anytime before October 09 would have not been enough time for us to save money, and I just did not want a winter wedding. So, we then thought about dates in 2010...but there was one issue...I REALLY wanted to get married before I turned 30. Now, I do not say this to imply that there are any problems with getting married after 30, or 40, or 50 or 100! Do you! I, however, just had some mental block in my mind about it. That meant the wedding needed to happen before April 1, 2010 (yes, I am an April Fools Day baby, ya'll).

So, that pretty much left the month of March. March in the DMV is quite an unpredictable month. I felt to be on the safe side, we should be as close to the spring as possible...hence March 27th, 2010. The good thing about this date is that, for our venue, it is the last weekend to get the lower "off season" rate before the true wedding season of April through October starts. The drawback is that I would not have the outdoor wedding that I always wanted...

The "where" however, was not as hard for us. I will now make a confession, that I hope I am not alone on...I started researching this wedding BEFORE we got engaged. I know, I was quite presumptious. But, I knew he was the one, I knew it was coming...so I figured I would just be prepared. In my research, I came across this lovely place


(source)

This is Newt0n White Mansion in Mitchellville, MD. I visited this place before we were engaged and thought it would be perfect for us. I liked the location and loved the price (plus the discount for living in Prince George's County). I made note...and just waited for the ring.

In the meantime, I read about some classes at Glen Echo Park in Glen Echo, MD. I also read that it was sort of a hidden spot for weddings in the area. I saw pictures of the park online and convinced Mr. Glen Echo that we should head over there for a day date to check it out. I walked through the wooded entrance way and saw this


(personal photos)

And here are some of the park at night

(personal photos)

Don't you just LOVE IT! When we saw it, we both realized that it was the perfect place for us. It represents who we are on so many levels. It is fun, quirky, different, nontraditional, classic, off beat and fantastic...totally us in a nutshell! The off season all day rental price was less than what we would pay for half a day at Newton White. What really made us sign on the dotted line was the fact that Glen Echo is totally unique. We did not want a cookie cutter, assembly line generated, run of the mill wedding. Glen Echo was it!

For more information on the history, rental info and the wonderful events at Glen Echo, click here.

There will be much more to come on Glen Echo and our FANTASTIC ceremony venue...that actually makes me feel like I am having the outdoor wedding I always wanted. For a sneak peek on our ceremony location, check out this blog entry from Mary Kate McKenna...I actually saw this slide show and called the church the very next day. Enjoy!

Virginia venues and caterers

Being engaged is pretty awesome. I mean I'm excited for the life we're going to make together, I know it's the marriage that's important, not so much the wedding.

But right now.. I'm enjoying myself. I mean you do get So Much unsolicited advice, and then there's so much self-inflicted sensory overload with all the wedding porn out there, it can be kind of overwhelming (having said that I definitely have no plans to stop reading these blogs). But every time someone notices the ring, or it comes up in conversation some other way (I've grown really fond of being able to say "my fiance blah blah blah"), I always get really warm and sincere congrats and wishes for our happiness and I have to say, it feels good. Not that I was ever really concerned about "public opinion," but I was getting a Little tired of the "why would he buy the cow when he's getting the milk for free" type of comments about our relationship. Also there's just so much joy surrounding weddings! I'm happy to be at the center of it for this short period of time.

Anyway! I was going to share some research with you. If you're looking in the DC area for non-traditional venues (no hotels, no churches), here are some venues I discovered that you might like:

Arlington

Hendry House at Fort C.F. Smith (the venue of the previous Miss Fairfax!) - very good for outdoor weddings or fairly small gatherings (50 - 60 would be a good number if you want to be inside, up to 150 with a tent outside). Very economical at $2,000 for 5 hours. Unfortunately since our wedding is in March, we needed more space inside.

Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse - now here's a non-traditional venue for you. It's a great little dinner theater, seems like a great place if you're going very informal and fun. Think of the slideshows! I'm pretty sure there's no site fee, you just need to meet a minimum on food & beverage (I think like $2,500).

Falls Church

State Theatre - have your name on the marquee! That's what I got excited about. Would be great for a 40's movie star type wedding. For a Saturday night affair you need to meet a food & beverage minimum of (I think) $12K. In the end it was just too big for us, but I would just love to hear about a real wedding there, I think it would be fabulous.

OK I think I'm getting carried away here. I have info on a ton of venues (including a sweet little non-denominational wedding chapel in Annandale), please feel free to leave questions in the comments section!

The caterer we picked was The Purple Onion Catering Company, based in Centreville. Bernadette is my contact there and she is just wonderful to work with. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera at the tasting so I can't share any food porn! But it was delicious, and reasonably priced, and they were (literally) the only caterers I contacted who gave me All the costs up front the first time I asked. Everyone else would give me the per person cost but not include things like staff, equipment, taxes, etc. So Frustrating! I'll have to report back after the wedding, but so far I highly recommend the Purple Onion.

Please Meet My Venue!

Apologies again for the absence, between the computer and not having much wedding stuff to do until the last few weeks, there hasn't been much to report or a way to report it!

Anywhoo-it's about high time I introduced our venue! As many of us are quite familiar with, all the good [insert wedding vendor here] usually get snapped up pretty quick. Booking a year or more in advance seems to be recommended especially in DC, and especially for the months of September and October. Can't remember where, but I definitely read somewhere that those are the two most popular months for Washington area weddings. Between our small budget and being a general worrier, I had our venue booked in April '08. Yes, that's 3 months after we got engaged and 18 months before the wedding! What can I say, I'm a do-er.

I was sprucing up the wedding planning notebook the other night and found my list of potential venues. Boy was it long! I think I had every available space in Northern Virginia listed on there.
So how did we narrow it down? LOTS of Internet research to start with.

I used TheKnot, WeddingWire, and blogs like DCNearlyweds just to come up with places. I also bought a few local bridal mags--I remember buying Virginia Bride because it featured a real wedding at a location I liked in our same wedding colors. So after I came up with this huge list, I started to get down to the nitty gritty. How much is the rental fee? Is it cheaper on Fridays? Sundays? Can we use our own caterer? Was it pretty? (yes this was a criteria!). I eventually narrowed the list to five locations to actually visit and made appointments across several weekends. Mr. Fairfax and I traipsed from one side of Nova to the other visiting venues along with the very knowledgeable Big Sister and her husband. In fact, I recall the first two places we visited I essentially walked around in stunned silence, while she asked all the questions! Thank goodness someone was there to ask the questions!

A lot of bridal resources recommend selecting between three and five vendors to meet with (or in this case venues), any more than that and it gets confusing. I whole-heartedly agree! Even the five we visited had me a bit overwhelmed. My main worry was that we wouldn't find a place we both liked that fell comfortably in out budget. We had plans to buy a house in 2008 (which we did! Closed on it back in October!) so the wedding was really coming second and we needed to be very careful with our spending. I promise I'm not bride-zilla, but visiting venues I definitely had a few feeling sorry for myself bad moods because I felt we didn't have the budget to get exactly what I wanted. One visit I was so down, it actually prompted to the Big Sister to blurt our her wedding gift to us: Our cake! Which we'd previously decided to forgo for pies to save money.

So what happened in the end...well, as many wedding dress shopping stories end, we went with the very first one! The Hendry House at Fort C.F. Smith.

From 2007wife's Bio

I first found the Hendry House on the DC Knottie Review Board in 2007wife's Knottie Bio. I initially dismissed it as too small, but since it's right in our neighborhood we decided to take a look anyway. When I e-mailed the county (it's an Arlington County Park) to set up an appointment, they told me it was the last weekend they were showing the house ALL SPRING AND SUMMER due to event bookings. So if I wanted to see it, I better be there tomorrow at 10:30 am sharp.

It was a chilly March morning when we showed up to take a look. I wasn't initially swept off my feet, but I liked it, and equally important, Mr. Fairfax did too.

After a few successive weekends of looking at places and a few tearful conversations about how to stretch our budget to get what we wanted, we realized the Hendry House really was the best place for us. We'd get a discount as country residents, we'd could keep the guest list small and have good reason for it and thus have the little intimate wedding we really wanted. Plus, it was right in our neighborhood (we ruled out a destination wedding early on because of the the challenges of planning from afar). We ended up booking the house by the end of the April.

Finding the venue was by far the most stressful part of the wedding planning so far for me. Trying to find a place that fit our needs (right place, right size, right location) especially on our small budget (we allotted a maximum of $3,000 for venue rental) was HARD. And as I'm sure many of your know. Until you have the venue nailed down, you can't really make too many other decisions! Needless to say I was glad when it was over!

What were your criteria for your venue? What challenges did you come across in finding and booking the right place? What sold you on the place you eventually booked?

PS--if anyone is interested in where else we looked, just e-mail me, I'm happy to share!

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 Hotel Wedding

Almost immediately after Mr. CP and I got engaged, I was overwhelmed with the planning. Where do we start? What should we do? I decided, we should begin with setting a date and picking a place, which go hand in hand. We knew we wanted a hotel wedding. Originally, I pictured gorgeous botanical gardens, and an outdoor setting, with mason jars of fresh lemonade, but with my hair frizzing in an ounce of humidity, our families not being local, plus that special something about stumbling upstairs after a wedding, we realized a hotel was perfect for us. So we looked at a few places.
We began with Cherry Blossom season. YES! Gorgeous! I loved this idea because it represents DC so well, plus, I had visions of beautiful bunches of pink everywhere.... However, my hopes and dreams were crashed when I realized this was not possible. See, we are Jewish, and a Rabbi won't drive to marry us until the sunsets on the Sabbath, which realistically puts a Saturday wedding, from the months of March-October, beginning at 9:00 pm. That didn't quite work for us. This caused a lot of arguments between me and my parents, about the level of religion we wanted in our wedding, but I did want a traditional wedding, and it meant so much to my parents, so I gave in.
We decided on a Sunday, May 24, 2009 (Memorial Day weekend) to be exact. The venue search began. On a Sunday, it is not "Shabbat," any more, and the Rabbi can come at anytime. Plus, we get an entire 3 day weekend to enjoy the wedding festivities. The only downside is people telling me it is rude to have a wedding on a holiday weekend. To them, I simply, say, "It's rude for you to tell me that." The conversation usually ends there. No, I am kidding, but people do say that to me, all the time!

The first place we looked at was in Crystal City, VA. Mr. CP loves Virgina, and even though I am a MD girl, I agreed to a VA venue. The first stop was a pretty hotel, the main room was gorgeous, but the "feel" of the hotel was more like a conference hotel than a wedding hotel. I had trouble picturing our wedding there, plus, they host "Rolling Thunder" Memorial Day weekend every year, which is Veteran's Motorcycle group. This led to endless jokes from my dad, "Instead of Black Tie, we can have Black Leather!"

(I took these)

The next stop was in Old Town, Alexandria and was on the lower end of our budget. I do love Old Town, and we know we could get some gorgeous pictures with the cute streets and the water. However, it needed a lot of renovations and wasn't in the best shape. The halls looked dirty and the main room was not so pretty. It was exciting that with the difference in price, we could do so much more fun details, but it didn't feel right.

(I took these myself)

The last place of the day, after much frustration, was another Hotel in Crystal City, The Crystal City Marriott. Almost immediately after walking in, I knew this was right. I saw vibrant colors in the lobby, and a long spiral staircase and could actually picture myself getting married here. Almost immediately after we arrived, the front desk person offered to help us. The service was amazing from the very second we got there, and only got better.




source for both of the above images

(I took the 2 pictures above)

Then we went to the ballroom. I love the hallway that leads up to the room, and at the time, thought it would be where the cocktail hour would be. I later found out, they have a totally separate room, but I still love the hallway.



The ballroom doesn't have windows, so I know I will need to make the room gorgeous in another way. We need an exceptionally large dance floor so there is plenty of room for the Horah Dance! The wonderful staff at the Hotel, even offered to come in on their day off and set up the ballroom with 180 chairs, and a full dance floor, so we could see what the room looked like. When we got there, they even had chocolates and champagne for us!




Looks pretty big, right?

Then we got to see the rooms, and after this, it was a DONE DEAL!
Source for the above pictures

The staff was so accommodating, they made us feel really special. . They also gave us free suites and lowered the price for our parents. The food was great too! We are so excited to have our wedding there!!

Have you decided on a venue? Tell me what's important to you!

Inn at Little Washington: New Event Space

Photo Credit

One day, I swear, I will dine at The Inn at Little Washington. Chef Patrick O'Connell has received some of the greatest accolades in the culinary industry and I would love to stay overnite and revel in Chef O'Connell's mastery.

But alas, I don't have an amazing anniversary to celebrate (yet!), but one day we will have saved up to celebrate a special occasion there (according to this Washington Biz Journal article, it landed on Forbes's list of most expensive restaurants - sorry I can't find Forbes's original list.)

Photo Credit

However, for those who are searching for the most romantic and delicious meal in our area, do consider The Inn at Little Washington. Or, better yet, reserve their new Ballroom for the "Meeting of the Families." After a special meal there, they'll be jumping at the next opportunity to hang out with their new kin. The new space can seat 36 for dinner or 30 for a boardroom meeting. (Thanks to BizBash Washington for the tip!)

Enjoy!

Top Chef: Season 5 Premier at Good Stuff Eatery

This post is long overdue, but as many of you know, I'm still trying to play catch-up on my posts. Now, if you haven't realized by now from all my posts on food, I'm a little infatuated with anything culinary and the epicurean lifestyle. (I'm only getting started on register for all the kitchen tools I will actually be using and have expressed a need for in the last 2 years.)

Naturally, I am a major fan of Bravo's Top Chef. You can imagine, therefore, my excitement when Chef Spike Mendohlson opened Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill this summer - so excited, that I went there twice after its opening week: First, my new co-workers drove me there all the way from Ballston to try out the place and check out the space. Second, I met my former co-workers there after a reception on the Hill. It was wonderful and I won't even tell you about how giddy I became when I spoke to Chef Spike as he expedited the orders while I waited in line. He's very charming. Let's leave it at that.

So, of course I watched the premier of Season 5 of Top Chef in style last Wednesday at Good Stuff Eatery ! Spike invited me via email (and the rest of his restaurant's subscribers) as he was on Twitter for the show. Lauren and I arrived super early to fend off the non-existent lines (I mean, it was packed. I wouldn't recommend going ;). We sampled Ryan's Milky Way milkshake (divine). Then we shared the famed Toasted Marshmallow milkshake.

This little beauty was, seriously, a girl scout campfire in your mouth-minus the fire and the mosquitos. Somehow, you could taste the toasted outside of the marshmallow in the milky ice cream concoction - almost like you were slurping off the outside of the marshmallow and it turned liquid in your mouth. Heaven. Milky, marshallowy, heaven.

At 11 PM, Chef Spike offered beer on the house to all of us watching the show (they normally close at 11 M-F), but the premier went until 11:15 PM - super special. It was aroud this time that I summoned up the courage to ask him to sign my Top Chef cookbook that Lauren gave me for my birthday.

And, like the gracious host he is, he greeted all of his guests at the door. I will definitely be back for future showings - but I definitely recommend that you check out his place if you haven't. I'm not sure if the restaurant caters yet, but this would be a great little site to show your visiting friends and family that is unique to D.C.

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.

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.