Venues, Venues, Venues

So apparently the first thing you need to do once engaged is to find that venue, however no one tells you just how hard it is to do.  I've spent hours searching online looking for the perfect venue.  I even enlisted Rhianna to give me some assistance.  What I've come to realize, that perfect venue is just not out there, at least not without spending a crap load of money for it. 

Here's a list of some problems I've run into while searching for the venue:

1) It's too expensive!
       - that's the obvious one

2) Trying to get one close by so that people don't have to travel too far
       - there are a lot of beautiful venues close by, however they tend to be golf courses and have those golf course type price tags.  OR
       - they're the local halls.  Not so fancy, horrible exteriors; and I do recall going to a grade 7 dress up birthday party there - I don't think I'll be able to get the pictures of all the 12/13 year olds dressing up as Aladdin & Jasmine, Danny Zuko & Sandy (Grease), and such other characters.

3) I can't help thinking that the perfect venue is just a click/drive away:
       - It was easy to dig out the usual spots for weddings, but when you see all those pictures in the magazines where they're in these neat little outdoorsie areas -- where are those???!
       - Steph and I spent a good portion of an afternoon touring around the back roads of Langley, pointing out cute little houses and such, and driving up to vineyards to see if they host weddings. It occured to me, while you can have a wedding at some of these places - not all the venue lists showed this - so what other places could I be possibly missing?!
      - I find it difficult to deside when it's just time to pick a place from the ones I have.  I mean I'm really NOT that picky!!! I just want a place I can dress up nice enough that's CHEAP! Didn't think it'd be so hard!

4) It provides everything!
     - Now this may appear to be a really weird problem! Providing everything - isn't that a good thing?!  It's hard, it would forsure take a lot of stress away from myself and I wouldn't have as much to do.  But at the same time I get this feeling that I do want to do all this myself, stress and all!  I want to feel like I was involved in the whole process and really worked to make it a very special day for Aaron and I.  I don't want to feel like my wedding was just another wedding popped out from what seems like a wedding mill!  With these types of options, I only have to go in a few days and organize my cake, my decor and photographer - than it's all done! Even though I may not be able to do it up as nicely as they can, I still feel like I want it to be a bit more personal.  They can do this at a very good cost - especially since they're able to spit out 4 weddings in a day - so I am leaning towards this choice as my back up.  But I just feel like if I can find the right venue, I could still do this all cheaper myself.

5) The woman running the place is CRAZY!
     - Found a really nice venue, however far from Surrey, but the backyard was beautiful.  It reminded me of the Queen's Hamlet in Versaille which Aaron and I LOVED this summer.  However, the hall was a mess - and I'm not just talking about the mildewy ceilings, yellowing walls and god-awful drapery that's probably been up for decades - no - I'm talking about the mattresses scattered around, the mess of tables and papers and everything else you could imagine hanging about, and the fact that she puts her tractors in there during the winter - I mean why the hell would you tell the bride that?  You walk out the back and take a look at the beautiful lake, the cute little buildings hanging about and think, you know maybe this could work.  But then the woman keeps talking.  She points out about 20 things around the place that needs to be done and fixed up - which none of them will actually get done.  And we (Carmen, Steph and I) had this realization that she will be a very, VERY difficult person to work with.  Since this is her private property she wants to be very involved.  She says trust me - I'll do the whole place up real nice for you - yet her own house doesn't even look livable, and, I'm sorry, but she's saying this to me while wearing sweatpants, a hoodie and a dickie's t-shirt -- and I'm supposed to trust her! I tried to ask "well what if I wanted to bring in a decorator to do a couple added touches?" - "Why would you want to do that? I have everything you could want! Chair covers, sashes, napkins, ect.!"  Which Carmen helped to intraject "Well what if say we wanted to do some added things you couldn't do?" - "But I can do it all, why would you want to waste the money when I have it all here?" - C: "But what if you couldn't do it?" - "Like what, I have everything!" , C: "Say we wanted a different back drop." - "I have different backdrops, what do you want? I'll have it!".  C"Say you don't end up having it, can we bring someone in?" - "Yeah sure! If you want to waste the money on that, but I have everything you could want!"     If it was really that hard to get her to finally agree to possibly letting us have someone in - think about how hard it would ACTUALLY be when we actually try to get that person in!
    All in all - while the backgrounds were beautiful, the hall and the woman was not worth it!!! Steph had the funniest reaction to her and just thinking about her brought knots to her stomach!!


We're crossing our fingers, but there's a chance we might have found a place.  This place allows us to do everything, including bringing in our own food & alcohol which will save us TONS!  It's clean, a little dull - but with some of the food budget money going towards decor - it could be saved!  It's closer than many others I've looked at.  I can still have both the ceremony and reception at this place.  AND, most importantly, it may allow me to go back to my orginal budget!!!!! The only random thing - I'll have to get a fishing membership to this club, but meh - who knows maybe I'll get into it?! --- haha never!

However, a competitor for this place has sprung up.  The location is further, however the hall looks nicer - but it is difficult to get a viewing at this place.   Hmmm - only time will tell which one I'll choose.  Who knows, it may be another completely different place I fall upon.

One thing I do know, I gotta get this venue picked as soon as possible.  It seems this whole thing is holding me back from everything else.  I don't have a date, I don't even have a month really!! I don't know if I'll need to find a photographer, caterer, baker, decorator, ect.  I keep telling myself, I just have to pick the venue, then everything else will get easier from there.  It will be interesting to find out if this is actually true :P

On a lighter, more fun, note (I feel like all I do on this blog is bitch!!! Sorry!!! I guess this is what happens when I try to keep up with regular posting! - Reiko it's your fault - I'm doing this for you!), I'm going to my first bridal fair this weekend!!! Technically my second seeing as I went to one with Jen earlier this year, however this will be the first one I go to where I get to put the "Bride" nametag on!!! Ohhhhh sooo exciting I get to label myself as the bride!!!! AAAAAAAAAANNNNNNDDDD what could be better than a bridal fair??? I get to try on wedding dresses for the first time!!! I'm soooooo excited, every day I keep switching what kind of dress I can imagine myself wearing on the day, so it'll be interesting to go in and actually see what looks best!! I'm so excited!!! However, I think it'll be pretty comical, if it's anything like trying on the bridesmaids dresses for Jen's wedding - where I was absolutely SWIMMING in these dresses, I think they'll be doing a lot of pinning!  Best moment trying on bridesmaid dresses with Jen - trying on a halter dress - the neck was sooo long that the top of the bust of the dress hung closer to my belly button (don't worry, I was wearing a bra so I didn't completely flash everyone)!