We Have a Winner!

Last night we finally booked our reception venue! I've been waiting to be able to mark this off of the "to-do" list for quite some time, so to be able to know that one of the biggest things is taken care is a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders.

Joseph and I had looked at a handful of reception venues a couple of months after we got engaged. The only one I really, truly, fell in love with was the Women's Club, which was unfortunately sold earlier this year and will no longer be available for wedding receptions. I also really liked Baker Street Train Station, but I wasn't opposed to other venues. So, for the last few months I've kind of been in reception venue lala land. I knew I didn't want the standard reception hall. I wanted somewhere that had character and that acted as a part of the reception itself rather than just the building that the reception is held in. After going to a couple of bridal shows I started to really really love a place called Dupont Downs. It has this very natural, airy and sophisticated feeling to it. The building used to be a lifestyle store, greenhouse and cafe, which left a really neat layout.

After swooning over Dupont Downs' bridal show displays, website and photos from wedding photographers I had seen, I decided to make an appointment to go look at the venue in person. Fast forward to yesterday after work and my mom, grandma and I were meeting with the owner, Sharon, and my love for the space was solidified. We looked around for about an hour; checking out the space, talking about ideas, looking at her warehouse of decorations and discussing layouts. By the time our little tour was over I was more than ready to book our date. Unfortunately Joe could't go with us due to work, so I was worried about making a decision about such a huge part of our wedding day without him even seeing the venue in person. I called him and told him my thoughts and he gave me the go ahead to make the decision. So come March, Dupont Downs is where we will be having our wedding reception!

I wish there were better photos available online, or that had had taken better pictures while I was there, but they are in the process of updating new photos so these will do to give an idea of what the venue looks like.

The front end of the main area where they usually set up the head table. (It was being set up for an event this weekend.)

Risen areas in the main part where they put a lot of the tables.

The food area. There are 3 stainless steel surfaces for buffets and food stations.

The bridal suite! This is just a portion of the whole suite. It also includes a full shower, full kitchen and a changing room.

One of the many options available for utilizing the ceiling in the space.

A set-up they had for their Taste Of event with paper lantern hanging. 

I can't wait to work more with Sharon and start to talk about how we'll decorate, catering, etc... I can't believe that there are only 10 months until the wedding!

This and That

Disclaimer: This is entirely random and after re-reading the whole post a little scatter brained. But Since I already finished it, here you go.

• We found out that The Women's Club, one of the venues we checked out last month, is completely off the table effective in early 2013. The Chamber of Commerce building where it's located has been sold to the University of Saint Francis and will be turned into their business college. We've been smitten with this place for years and had put it down as a place we wanted to take our families to when it was time to do some real decision making. So, needless to say we're pretty bummed out. The funniest thing is that while I really liked it, I wasn't 100% positive it was the perfect spot for us. But as soon as Joe told me the news I almost went ballistic. Suddenly I felt like that was our only place and no other venues were going to work. It's weird how disappointing news really does seem a million times worse when you're a bride-to-be. (Something I was warned of but didn't really believe.) This really isn't a huge deal, it's one venue on our list of many and I'm sure we'll find the best place for us even though it was a place we really liked. But until then I'll probably continue to be hopelessly attached to the thought of our ceremony in the quaint, beautifully lit, impeccably white, ceremony hall. And our reception in the the historic, hard wood floored, window filled, beautiful view of downtown, banquet room. See, I'm still wallowing in the disappointment.

• I started asking my bridesmaids to, well, be my bridesmaids! I knew that I wanted to ask the girls in a really cute way and after doing some poking around Pinterest and some wedding blogs I finally decided on the perfect idea. I'm so excited about it I wish I could share it right now! But, I have only asked one out of five, so I'll hold off on spilling the beans. Before I asked the first girl I got surprisingly nervous. The only feeling I could compare it to was asking someone you have a crush on to hang out with you, which I know sounds really weird. But like, what if she said no and turned me down?! That would be awkward. But, lucky for me she said yes! Now I just have four more little gifts to put together and four more girls to ask. Then I'll have my side of the bridal party assembled and ready to tackle all of this wedding business with me!

• Next weekend I'm going to my first bridal show! I don't really know what to expect other than to be ready for wedding overload. There are actually two in Fort Wayne on the same day; one at the Grand Wayne Center and the other at the Coliseum. I haven't decided which one I want to go to yet, but both look like they have a lot of great vendors and things to look at. 

Other than all of that we're starting to look at different photographers. Even though there still seems like there is so much time before the big day, we would like to get our engagement pictures taken sometime between February and May. So it's time to kind of get the ball rolling. We are also probably going to make a few appointments to look at venues when I'm home for a few days for my fall break in October. Hopefully we can start narrowing our list down and will be ready to take people back to our favorites around my christmas break! 

But for now in completely non-wedding related activities Joseph and I are going to Cincinnati this weekend. We're going to stay overnight, explore the city, eat good food and go to a Reds game which was his birthday present from me. We're both really excited to get away even for just a couple of days. It's actually our first overnight trip somewhere alone, so it will be fun to finally have a little bit of an adult trip without having to check-in or be tagging along with family.

Also, I am really tired and ready for this week to be over, thus the long random post. I should probably just go to sleep now.

The Search (For a Venue) Begins!

Last week we took our giant list of venues (15 to be exact) and started looking. The idea was and is to go through our list, rate the places we see, choose our top 5, and then take other people back to our top choices to look and make the big decision. So, thus far we are taking everything in and going in with open minds, and about zero clues as to what we're doing.

Joe made 4 appointments for last Thursday to look at: The Women's Club at the Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce, Bergstaff Place, Parkview Field, and Baker Street Train Station. While I was excited to do something beyond pinning ideas and cutting out pictures for my wedding binder, I was feeling pretty nervous, clueless, and overwhelmed going into the day. Joe on the other hand was prepared. He bought us both notebooks to take notes and had a list of very good questions to ask the people we were meeting. Sometimes his desire to be 100% involved in every aspect of this whole wedding thing makes me ask myself "Who are you again?!", but I love it!

Our first appointment was with a woman named Jill from Ceruti's at The Women's Club. We first kind of fell in love with the place after we went to a jazz festival at the Chamber of Commerce a couple of years ago. It has this old school parlor vibe and has lots of room for socializing. Jill was very nice and very thorough in explaining everything. She walked us through possible set-ups, what other couples have liked, her favorite parts of the venue, and all of the options Ceruti's offers. I was really just taking everything in. I love the historic feel to the space. There are 3-4 different rooms included which makes for lots of space to move around. The details are beautiful and there is a very classic essence to it.

The main ballroom at The Women's Club.

The next place we went was an old brewery turned reception venue called Bergstaff place. Our appointment there was also with Jill. Once again she did a great job explaining everything I could have been wondering. It's an old brick building with big windows and tons of space. I liked how it combined modern and vintage touches. Inside is completely modern with industrial like beams, carpeting, etc... But outside is all brick with large windows. Inside also has brick and photos of Fort Wayne from the 1800s and early 1900s.

Outside of Bergstaff Place.

After a lunch break we made our way to our third appointment at Parkview Field. Being very into sports, Joe was pretty excited about checking it out. I was a little more apprehensive, as I have never heard of anyone having a reception there. We met with Jen, who was also very nice and full of information. We went up to the second floor suite level which is completely open for wedding receptions. It had a great view of the baseball field and had a few options for different ways to set-up the room. Joe was most excited about the possibility of fireworks, as they are offered with their weeding packages. However, they are a little (aka WAY) out of our budget so I doubt anyone will be seeing those at our wedding.

Parkview Field.

Our final stop was Baker Street Train Station. I had attended a reception there just last year so I kind of had an idea what it could look like and what is offered. It's a beautiful place with lots of history and a very grand feel. All day in the back of my head I knew I would probably fall in love with it. It has a tall ceiling, wide open space, lots of "old school" touches, and beautiful detailing in the ceiling. I've seen and known of lots of people using it as their venue and the result being gorgeous, so my hopes were high. The guy we met with was very nice and gave us a nice big packet of information to read over.

Inside of Baker Street Train Station.

Honestly, I really liked different aspects of all 4 of them. Out of them all I think I liked Parkview Field the least with Baker Street and The Women's Club tied for my favorites. We still have a ton more to go see and a budget to set, but I think it was good to get the ball rolling and see what's out there. It was very overwhelming but I also really enjoyed it. We were lucky to meet with some very nice and helpful people who were completely understanding to our newly engaged and first time venue scouting status.

Even with being bombarded with information I can't wait to set up more appointments and work through our list. I'm really excited to do some more "official" wedding business!