Venues

Oh venues...probably every brides biggest decision (besides the dress) and most expensive part of the wedding. When I started looking at venues, I realized a decision needed to be made soon, considering one of my top choices was already booked for our date (which is 20 months away!) Here's the criteria for the venue

• Outside reception and ceremony space-We plan to use a hexagon tent that we own for the reception, so we must be able to bring our own tents onto the property. MANY venues do not allow this.
• Separate space for an outdoor ceremony.
• Allows us to bring in our own caterer. 
• Within an hour of our house (we plan to have an after party, so we didn't want to have to travel)
• Pretty views (fall wedding, views are a must)

 We also didn't want to pay a whole lot for a venue, considering we are really only using the property. We don't get a wedding planner/doc, there is no bridal suite for me and the girls to get ready in, and we have to decorate from the ground up (which is what we want). It just doesn't make sense to us to pay thousands of dollars for us to simply use grounds. So here are our choices:

 

Montague Retreat Center-pretty, but expensive for what we want and the tent location is a hike and a half. It would be cool to have a hayride to the location, but not an expense we anticipated. 

 Chesterwood-The property was specifically designed to only hold tented weddings. Unsure about price, as no one has gotten back to me, and its a teensy bit far for our liking.

 Bramble Hill Farm- I know, I know, this is indoors, but how GORGEOUS! I loved the idea of having the option of something indoors if it rained, but they haven't contacted me yet either so I have no idea the cost of this either. Super plus-its like 2 minutes from my parents house

 Worthington Pond Farm-cute, but nothing special, it has potential though so I figured it stays on the list

 Still Worthington Pond Farm-you can hold the reception under the covered bridge-how cool!

 Rosedale Farms-Our top choice right now! It's a gorgeous vineyard with a giant red barn, but the best part? It would most likely be FREE because we know the owner and would be bartering party rentals, oh baby!

I've been really disappointed in lack of response from everyone except the Montague Retreat Center. Makes it hard to plan tours and get pricing! Really holding our breath for Rosedale Farms though, but want to keep our options open just in case it falls through.

Next order of business-finding the dress.