Let the Venue Search Begin (Again!)

 (Goodbye SFV!  So pretty.)

After two torturous weekends of indecision, I finally came to terms with changing our wedding plans.  I had to cancel our dream venue, and I as sit here writing this, I can feel the tears forming.  Clearly, I'm still not completely at peace with the change.  But, I am happy again and excited.  And now that I am looking back on this with some perspective, I know I made the right move for us.  

Without further ado...searching for a new venue!

Here are the new criteria for our venue:

1.  Closer to home - There was a lot of talk about how far our wedding was for our guests.  As a matter of fact, there was way too much talk about our wedding being too far from home.  While some of the comments were out of line, they had a point. 

2.  Easily accessible for travelers - This is related to number one.   I want people to be able to arrive at a major airport with more flights available (cheaper tickets!), or take a train, or rent a car--without too much trouble.  

3.  COST - Clearly this list is not in any particular order.  Because if it was, cost would be the first on the list.  Our projected costs were quickly getting out of control at our original, and we were in danger of completely blowing the budget.  No matter how much Mr. M insisted that we could make our budget work, I couldn't wrap my head around the numbers we were coming up with. Maybe you remember my little rant? So, we were looking for a significant savings.  

4.  Flexibility/Simplicity aka "One Stop Shopping" - No matter what, our date is still not certain.  I can repeat the date of our wedding a thousand times, shout it from the rooftops, and tattoo it on my arm, but the date is still (mostly) tentative.  Mr. M has no control over his schedule.   So while we've done our best to plan around what we think his schedule will be, we can't really be completely certain that our date won't be changed.   So I need a place that is flexible enough to allow us to rebook our date.  And most importantly, I need to work with as few vendors as possible.  The thought of coordinating another date with a venue, caterer, florist, photographer, DJs, and on and on, made my hair stand on end.  As much I didn't want a "one stop shop" for our venue, the reality is, that I need that right now.  I need to keep things as simple as possible, for my sanity's sake.  

Side note:  the owners of our original venue were some of the most kind and gracious people I have met in this planning process.  They were flexible and understanding, and would have let us rebook.  But they had no control over other vendors.  I would highly recommend anyone work with them.  

 (I had no reason to post this, other than I took this at our original venue)

Okay, got it this time.  Ready, set, go!

Can't wait to show you what we came up with!