{Reception Venues} | Dreams + Coffee

Despite being engaged only a little over a week, Michael and I have already made lots of progress with our wedding plans. Since we *hope* to have a 2012 wedding (hinging on whether we can get a reception site we like), we have only 10 months to get every single detail completed! Our biggest concern at this point is our reception venue. Everything pretty much hinges on that – our wedding date, our ceremony venue, our decor, how many invitees, and the time of day we plan to have the wedding & reception. We’ve been throwing around a few ideas…below 🙂
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{Harrison Opera House}

We both love this venue – it’s classy, upscale, and will take minimal decorating to turn the room into a gorgeous reception backdrop. Receptions are held in the Grand Lobby on the second floor, which has spiral staircases on either end and a balcony makes up one “wall” and the tall windows make up the other wall. With over-sized chandeliers and beautiful, warm lighting…this would make a fabulous site. I’m thinking round tables scattered around with pretty floral arrangements, all surrounding a dance floor in the middle of the room. I think we’re both pretty sold on this venue. Only problem is it’s not available on our “ideal” date – it IS available for the two Saturdays prior to the date we wanted, though.

{Tent Reception}

A tent reception was what I originally wanted…but this was before we got engaged and really thought about the logistics of it once we jumped into planning mode. While I still love the concept, I’m wary of it for several reasons:

I have a clear vision of what I want it to look like – soft decor, chiavari chairs, flooring throughout the entire tent, clear side panels, drapery from the ceiling (like the photo above), chandeliers, pretty lighting, etc. My fear is that I won’t be able to make it look like that…and I don’t want a tacky tent reception.
What if it rains? I’ve heard horror stories about people having mud up to their KNEES from walking on the muddy ground around the tent.
The bathroom situation. I will absolutely not have port-a-potties at my wedding reception. I know, you can rent “bathroom trailers” blah blah blah…I just don’t like it. Plain and simple.
The cost – after adding up all of the rentals (high peak pole tent, chairs, tables, flooring, side panels, lighting, electricity, etc.), we are just as good or better off renting an upscale, indoor venue.

With all of that said, the plus side of this choice is that we may be able to use a friend’s property on the river if we chose to have a tented reception. I’m sure that most of my worries about a tent reception are actually not a big deal, and I’m sure it would turn out lovely. I just think my anxiety (and do I have a LOT of it…ha) would get the best of me when planning this type of reception.

So what if I said I didn’t have a third choice? Oops 🙂 We’ve severely limited ourselves already…but I think that we could go either route and be fine. With either choice, we have several ceremony locations in mind – we both love fancy and/or historic churches, and luckily, we’ve picked out a church in both locations…they just hinge on our reception venue pick! We have looked at a TON of venues in the area (and there really aren’t that many impressive ones…), but the majority of indoor venues require you to purchase in-house catering services. One of the best things about our reception is that the food will not be breaking the bank like it does at so many wedding receptions – because Michael’s mom owns a catering business. We won’t be paying ridiculous amounts (I’m talking upwards of $35+ dollars per person just for food!)…instead, we’ll pick what we want and pay for JUST the cost of food…no inflation of costs. That leaves more money for our other important decision – what types, and how much, alcohol we’ll need to buy. hehe 🙂 And that also means we won’t be paying crazy amounts for alcohol, either – we plan to purchase our wine/beer/liquor as it goes on sale for the next 10 months…and we won’t pay ridiculous amounts for a catering company to purchase & serve the drinks. Save where you can…to save room for the dress and shoes, right? 😉

♥Brittany

Comments

Kristi Hall says
January 3, 2012 at 9:02 pm
I love it! I love the tent idea too! That's also my ideal for when I have my wedding reception. But you're right.. there are those "little" worries you have to think about. What riverside property are you looking at for the the ceremony?
And have you started looking at wedding gowns!?
<3
Brittany says
January 3, 2012 at 9:08 pm
Thanks Kristi! I like both…we're leaning toward the opera house, but it depends on all the logistics…ah, there are SO many of them, too!
My former boss so graciously offered to let us come look at his property/home on the Nansemond River (Tom Powell – I'm sure you know him!). We haven't officially looked at it yet, but I'm sure it would work out if we went that route with a tent.
No wedding gowns yet – you'll have to come down when I start shopping! But I might have to go up to Richmond to find anything worthwhile anyways! 🙂
Delta Daisies says
January 4, 2012 at 3:54 am
Congrats on the engagement!!!!!
Brittany says
January 4, 2012 at 3:06 pm
Thank you! 🙂
Heather G. Andrews says
January 6, 2012 at 3:31 am
Davids Bridal is awesome 🙂 Of course I recommend that for wedding gowns.
Brittany says
January 6, 2012 at 4:10 pm
Thanks, Heather! I think I'm going to check out a few bridal salons in the area first, but I may end up there after a while!

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