Mission Accomplished...Maybe

This is my dream wedding location: Blair Castle in Scotland. Due to budget concerns, this idea has been scrapped.

Moving on...

This weekend was a whirlwind of wedding planning. I managed to book five locations for Lobster and I to go look at in downtown Fort Worth. My mom and my sister Cupcake, the Maid of Honor (a.k.a. MOH), joined us for most of the tours. While most brides would feel overwhelmed to have so many people giving her advice and opinions while looking at so many places, I must say I was glad that they were all there.

The first two locations were really lovely 100 year old buildings that had been renovated into ballrooms. Although I liked the space of the first venue more than the second, only the second had my preferred wedding date available. Neither venue provided linens or anything other than tables and chairs (ugly chairs, I might add) so I would have to spend money on tablecloths, chair covers, etc. The second venue was a bit more light and bright and I felt I could work with it and the lady there was willing to negotiate price with me (bonus points for her). So we took lots of pics and notes and continued on our journey.

The third location would have been nice if it (a) were not run down, (b) did not provide super cheesy decorations and (c) not located in the semi-ghetto. We moved on fairly quickly from that one.

The fourth venue was the venue Lobster liked best. It was an old movie theater that had been renovated into event rooms and ballrooms. The space was very nice, very elegant and the location was AMAZING (in the middle of downtown). However, it really bothered me that the ballroom had no windows. I'm a nature girl and I would have preferred to be married outside but I don't want the headache of worrying about the weather on my wedding day. So I prefer windows, especially if it affords a view of the city lights. Also, the venue was more expensive, although they provided linens. The catering and bar situation they offered, though, left much to be desired and they did not offer tastings until a month before the wedding. Um, RED FLAG. Sorry, folks, but I'm not going to be under contract with you without having first tasted what you're serving my guests. I did not like that one bit.

After the fourth tour, mom and MOH headed home for other engagements and Lobster and I headed to Starbucks to compare notes. We determined that, so far, it was between Venue No. 2 and Venue No. 4. We still had one more to look at, however, so we headed out.

Our fifth venue had two spaces in which we could hold the reception. The first one we looked at was being set up for a wedding that night and it was really lovely and elegant and very expensive looking but I was not blown away for some reason. But then we looked at the second room and even though it was not being set up for a wedding, I fell in love with it immediately. We went back to the event manager's office to discuss numbers and I was heartbroken to learn that it was the most expensive venue we had seen so far and he was not willing to negotiate with me. AT ALL. ON ANYTHING. Not even the tiniest, least expensive little detail. It really irritated me and made me sad. All the way home I was agonizing about it because I fell in love with the place but it was more money than we wanted to spend and the fact that the guy wouldn't even negotiate a little had me seething. Of course, Lobster told me that if it was the location I wanted, we'd make it work, but I still felt sick about it.

So I prayed about it that night and the next morning I got up and decided to glance over my spreadsheet of places to check out (yes, I made a spreadsheet). There was one place that had been high on my list and that I really wanted to go see but I had already discounted it because it wasn't in Fort Worth but in McKinney which is pretty far away. But I looked over their brochure again and their website and I just had the feeling I should check it out before making any decisions. So I called the place and I was surprised to learn that they had no problem with me coming over to see the place after that day's event ended. So Lobster and I trekked out to McKinney and as soon as I walked in the place I knew it was the right one. It just felt right. It's an old restored opera house that has been turned into a boutique hotel and ballroom. The site is gorgeous and they provide linens. I wanted to see if they had my preferred date available but the manager wasn't in so I was going to have to call on Monday. But just as we were leaving, another staff member arrived who was able to access the schedule and she was able to tell me that while my preferred weekend was already booked, the next weekend wasn't. Okay. I can live with that.

So, now I'm just waiting on their catering manager to give me a proposal so I can sit down and compare numbers with the other places we saw. I am fairly certain that this is the place but I just have to do my due diligence before I make any huge decisions. Gotta get all the facts. I really hope it all works out because it will be a huge relief to get this part of the process done!