Friday, November 4, 2011

Before the Big Day: A (Venue) Hunting We Will Go

Mr. L and I are currently getting settled in Hawaii, and since we may or may not have access to internet, here are some pre-written scheduled posts to keep you guys entertained!


By the way, I'm going a little out of chronological order for the next couple of wedding recap posts -- bear with me!

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So...I have a little confession to make.

My mother and I sort of looked at venues before Mr. L and I were officially engaged.

I guess that's pretty harmless, right?  Except there's more.


We actually booked the venue about a week before he popped the question.  And I had no idea when he was going to ask, either.

I look at it this way -- I was sticking with him no matter what, and he was sticking with me no matter what.  We were going to get married no matter what.  I didn't coerce him into it or anything either -- we'd be planning to get married pretty much ever since he got on shore duty.  At that point I was only waiting on him to ask, but I already knew the month I wanted, and since dates were being snapped up left and right for May at this time (mid-to-late July) my mom and I knew we had to act fast.  So we did!

Now that that little confession is off my chest, let's move on to the beginning of the venue hunt!  Since Mr. L had work to take care of over in Pensacola, my parents and I set out on a journey to pick the perfect venue.  (And yes, he knew we were already hunting -- he just didn't exactly know when we booked our current venue).  I'd already decided on a beautiful outdoor wedding in the spring (May, like I mentioned before) at one of the gorgeous old antebellum-esque style houses so popular here in the South.



(Those columns just make me swoon!)

(I totally want to live in a house like this one day.)

With those inspirations in mind, my mom and I found the following venue options:

The Oakleigh House










My mom and I looked at our list and the prices that came with each house.  After some consideration, we knew that two of the houses, the Oakleigh House and the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion, were just out of our price range for the Saturday wedding I'd envisioned.  So we looked at the two remaining contenders.

I went back and forth on both locations, even after visiting both of them.  I loved the feel of Magnolia Manor, and it was simply gorgeous, but it was a little far away from our house for our comfort level (around a half hour).  I didn't quite like the Kirk House's exterior at first (at least as much as the other three houses), but the location was fabulous (five or ten minutes up the road) and the caretaker of the house was incredibly nice and accommodating.

After a good long while debating the pros and cons, as well as a few visits, we reached our decision.  Drum roll please!




(We have a winner! -- personal photo)

When it came down to it, the Kirk House just made more sense.  And I loved the layout of the home, as well as of the gardens outside (the most important thing considering we were having an outdoor wedding!).  And you know before, when I mentioned how accommodating the caretaker was?  She helped us score a great deal on the overall cost!  I definitely ended up feeling like it was meant to be.

Here are some more pictures I snapped during one of our tours:












Don't worry, as soon as we took Mr. L to see it, he loved it too!  Which made us feel a ton more relaxed since, you know, we'd already booked it.  xD


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Missed something?  Catch up here!

Before the Big Day
And it Comes Back to Us

2 comments:

  1. I think the location is beautiful! My husband and I actually lost a $500 deposit because we didn’t like the location we originally booked. Oh well!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It really was! And oh no! I hate that, but you have to go with your heart!

    ReplyDelete