The Search for the Perfect Venue, Part 2

Once I realized that there wasn't going to be any easy solution to the venue problem (the park didn't work, we don't belong to a church, and none of our nearby family has a backyard big enough for the size of wedding we'd be having), I got serious about my internet venue research.  My favorite sites were Here Comes the Guide and Gathering Guide.  While they didn't have the greatest sorting features, they offered pretty thorough lists of all the venues in our area.

I played around on these websites for days on end, and finally took my favorites and input them into one of my infamous spreadsheets.  No, not spreadsheet...workbook.  I'm talking 10 spreadsheets in a document, outlining pricing, rental tiems available, even how much I liked the coordinators I talked to on the phone.  Oh, sorry, you didn't know I'm a total nerd?  Consider yourself informed.  Moving right along...

I scheduled a day with my amazingly patient sister/MOH to look at four of the front runners on my spreadsheet.  And yes, she laughed at me when I showed this to her.  And yet she agreed to come along anyway.

At the first venue we went to, I failed to take any pictures, mostly because I was pretty underwhelmed.  It was at a beautiful golf course (score!) but the ceremony would have to take place on the front lawn of the country club, seriously less than 20 yards from a pretty major road.  And, ok, I'm really bad at judging distance, so if 20 yards is actually really far, just humor me.  Believe me when I say it was thisclose to lots and lots of traffic.

The second venue we saw was actually my least favorite on paper.  It was at an equestrian center in the courtyard of a stable.  I grew up around horses and have no problem being around them, but I was afraid of smelling them during dinner.  However, when we showed up, I was completely wowed by this place.  First of all, it looked like this:

There was definitely no hint of horse smell, even with horses so close.  It was the perfect size for our estimated guest list (around 150--I have a very large family), and best of all we could bring in our own caterer.  This would prove very important, as I'll get into later.  The downside?  The cost.  The space fee wasn't astronomical, but it was pretty high considering we would have to bring everything in ourselves, from food and alcohol to tables, chairs, and dishes.  That plus the already high cost of the venue itself added up to significantly more than I had budgeted and would make the rest of wedding planning pretty difficult.

So, with one venue I just couldn't use, and one I loved but couldn't afford, we still had two more to go.  Potential venues three and four up next...