A few weekends ago Brian and I went on our first venue visit. We went to Ash Lawn-Highland, the home of President James Monroe. It was really beautiful, as you can see.
There are lots of separate gardens where you could spread out and do all kinds of cool and fun things, or just take some awesome pictures. Style Me Pretty featured a wedding a few months ago with some awesome examples. The only problem is that there is really no rain location other than the pavilion. The man who gave us the tour was very insistent that, “It doesn’t rain on weddings here.” But I’m not sure that’s good enough.
I’ve been a little lost on what to do next. We both liked the venue, but we definitely want to keep looking to see if we can find something less expensive or that otherwise suits us better. I’ve been thinking about looking into getting married at my school (which would be both gorgeous and inexpensive) so I guess that’s next. We’ll see. I’m a little exhausted from my day of substitute teaching. Perhaps I’ll feel less overwhelmed when school is out.
It's gorgeous! A little piece of unsolicited advice: I think a venue is kind of like a dress. You more or less know it when you see it. If you toured that house and were like “Wow! THIS is where I see us getting married,” you've found it. If you feel a little underwhelmed, keep looking. I totally understand the price thing, the night before we signed our contract I had a freak out moment that I just KNEW we had missed some great steal somewhere, but in the end, it was the right place. So if you're not sure, keep looking. We toured 10 places in 3 weeks, which was a good strategy for us. Good luck!
Thanks for the advice! I think I just need to get my butt in gear and look at more places to see how much I liked this one. I didn't get that feeling the first time, but maybe after seeing some others it'll grow on me? We'll see : )
I added you on Goodreads! I'm glad to finally have some friends, haha.
This is really pretty! It brings me some good memories of living in Virgina! I hope you find the venue that is perfect for you…it's really not an easy task! best of luck.