Since we are attempting to have the wedding relatively quickly we almost immediately started looking for places to have the wedding and reception. Kelly looked at several online sites and magazines to find places. One of the most important parts of course is how many people are coming. Kelly and I started a list ourselves and cam up with a little over 100. Then we sent the list to our respective families to fill in any gaps. After the families were done we got closer to 150. This controlled our choices a bit, but not much. We are guessing only about 80% will show up but have to account for 150 just in case.
We first looked at Chase Court on Thursday evening. We really liked the place and it is in a great location. Also the guy that owns / runs the place was really nice and answered all our questions. Our only concern was that it might be a bit on the small side for the number of guests. It was definitely a close second in our final list.
On Sunday morning we went to see Gramercy Mansion. We later found out that we showed up at 9 AM for an 11 AM appointment, but they took it in stride quite well. This place has the added benefit of being a bed and breakfast as well as a location for the festivities. Also it is just a little bigger so we don’t have a concern over fitting everyone in. It has 11 rooms for people to stay in from out of town too. It is quite well decorated already so we won’t need to do as much which is a plus. This is the place we picked and Kelly will be putting down a deposit on Wednesday.
The third and final place we went was Liriodendron Mansion. They have open houses every Sunday 1 – 4 PM. We showed up a few minutes before 1 PM and walked around the grounds. We then waited by the door that listed the times and appeared to be the entrance. Someone else came up and knocked on door and someone inside let us in and told us we were at the back door, which wasn’t at all obvious. We then walked around inside by ourselves. We never really figured out who if anyone was there to show us around or answer questions. Also it seemed the inside spaces were much too small, the venue seemed much more setup for outdoor events. We decided the place wasn’t for us.
As I said above we will going with Gramercy Mansion. Now we just have to worry about all the other things. More updates to come.
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