Reception Venue? ✔

The past couple of weeks we've been checking out reception venues, let me tell you, I was really starting to get worried that we wouldn't find a place. But, we did!! Thankfully we can cross that off the list and now we can relax for a while.


In all the bridal magazines I've been reading they have indicated that you should limit yourself to two or three reception sites and choose from one of them. After our first visit, I pretty much thought that would be impossible. We found ours in four visits. I'd say that's darn close considering I thought we'd have to visit at least 15!


Our first visit was to the Four Seasons Columbus. They had an amazing outdoor area which is very important to us. We probably would have booked there if we hadn't tasted the food first. Thank goodness we got to taste the food before making a commitment.  The venue itself was nice, it had a "barn" like feel and we liked that since we can't find any barns in Columbus where we could actually hold our reception. BUT... when we went to the food tasting -to put it nicely- it just wasn't for us. We didn't want to spend an $8,000 food and beverage minimum on food we could make at home. It was very bland and we wanted something different.


Our second visit was to The Lake Country Club and was actually at the top of our list for a while. We liked that we would get the club for the entire day and could get ready there before heading to the church. The menu was reasonably priced, and it's a on a beautiful golf course that would be perfect for pictures. I have nothing absolutely nothing bad to say about it!!


Our next visit was to The Columbus Athenaeum and I had high hopes before we got there. They have a beautiful ballroom that wasn't offered to us for our reception (it's possible it was already booked for our date). While I did like some of the rooms they showed us, they were all kind of dark and stuffy. Matthew was not a fan of the theater room, because it's just that. A room with theater seating. And a stage. And quite possibly curtains? Ok, maybe no curtains, but the fiancé wasn't a fan. Moving on...


The fourth destination we planned was for The Venue at Smith Bros. I had extremely high expectations of this site but after visiting the Athenaeum I was starting to think I was going to have to add some other potential sites to our list. There were very few pictures of the Venue online, but the ones I did come across, I L-O-V-E LOVED. When we got to the Venue we met w/ the owner and as soon as we walked into the room we knew it was the place for us. It's an awesome rustic looking room and has a huge patio and courtyard (a definite plus). It looks amazing when it's lit up at night. I love that it will fit with the vintage theme we're (I'm) going for and that it's not too fancy. Although I think it's a relatively new venue, it has character. Here are a few pics... :)

I took a few of the inside, but haven't gotten them on the computer yet. So you'll just have to wait for those! Looks awesome, right?!


While driving home I wanted to make sure we were both in love with it, and that Matthew didn't want something more formal. His response to me was that this place was just "us." A ballroom or country club, while beautiful, wouldn't suit us as well as the Venue. When we got home I called Steve back and he put a hold on the room. We are scheduled to meet with him on Monday morning! Can't wait!


Now I can breathe a sigh of relief. After worrying about how difficult it might be to find the perfect place I can relax...until it comes time to find the dress!

It's Official...

I've joined the blogging world... And for a good reason, WE'RE ENGAGED! What better reason to begin blogging than to blog about planning the most amazing day of your life?! I am ecstatic to be planning our big day!! I secretly began planning our wedding the day after our second first date (I'll explain later)! I think my future hubs is excited about most of the planning process as well, although if you ask him, he might not admit that. :)

Speaking of my future husband, he's AH-MAZING! Borderline perfect. Yes, I really feel this way! Matthew and I went to the same high school, but didn't officially meet until after we both graduated. I was 20 and he was 19 but we didn't go on our first date until September 14th, 2008. Matthew picked me up from work (I had an early work meeting) and we went to brunch at the Capital Club where I ate one piece of bacon and approximately three small pieces of cantaloupe - I am very weird about eating in front of people before I know them, not sure why. After brunch we went to the Columbus broadway production of The Lion King.

After the play we had a long way back to the car in the biggest wind storm Columbus has ever seen! Little kids were literally holding on to benches and light posts! Lucky for me I had Matthew to block the wind and keep me from blowing away! After our first date we talked for a few days but didn't go out again. :( LUCKILY, a few months later, after I was settled in to a new job, we reconnected. Yay! We went on our second 1st date on Friday February 13th, 2009 - don't worry, we're not superstitious. When I got home that night Matthew had messaged me asking if I would be his Valentine the next day, and we have been inseparable ever since!

Fast forward a few years to January 31st, 2011. What started out as a not so great day turned into the BEST. DAY. EVER. I was not having a good day at work and I was getting a little antsy about when he was going to pop the question. I talked to Matthew a little through out the day about how frustrating it could be waiting for something when he possibly, might have made me think it was going to be a lot sooner than it was. And I know these things can't be rushed and it will happen when the time is right...but let's face it...the time was right.

I got home from work not feeling much better about my day, dreading especially, the thought of coming home and exercising. When I walked in the door the first thing I saw were roses on our pseudo dining room table. Thinking it odd but (not surprised) that Matthew would buy me flowers just because, I continued into the apartment. To my surprise, he cleaned! This is normally my job and I'm actually kind of surprised he knew where to find the vacuum let alone how to turn it on. Ok. Not that surprised. :) The only other thing I found somewhat strange was that the man was dressed. Jeans and a polo shirt. He never gets dressed when he doesn't have somewhere to be going (that I haven't planned out for us) because if was up to him he'd wear a work shirt and sweat pants EVERYDAY. After a few minutes Matthew convinced me to go upstairs and change so I could get my work out over with. Upon reaching the top of the steps, what did I see? Rose petals? On the floor? Hmm...? I open the door to our bedroom and was shocked to see roses, rose petals, and candles everywhere. At this point there are 3 things that are keep running through my brain. #1: I wish I had washed my hair this morning. #2: I wish my outfit was cuter right now. #3: I BETTER SIT DOWN! Matthew sneaked up the stairs behind me and pulled out 3 more roses. He handed me one and told me it was to represent my past. The second he handed to me and said it was to represent out future. He gets down on one knee. OMG IT'S COMING! HE'S REALLY GOING TO DO IT! He hands me the third and final rose and says this rose is to represent our future and it has the ring attached to it! All the while I'm thinking to myself that I can't cry because if I cry I won't hear what he's saying and I need to remember everything he's saying for the rest of my life. Well telling myself not to cry didn't work b/c not only did we both cry, I can't even remember if I said YES! He assures me I did say yes! Whew!

Now we're planning our wedding and getting ready to start our lives together as a married couple! Can't wait! So there you have it, the long, short version of our first date, and proposal...

Keep reading as we plan our wedding together!

Oh, by the way, Matthew just pulled these tickets out of his desk drawer! I can't believe he still has them! How sweet! :)