I had my heart set on a September wedding...for no other reasons then it sounds pretty, and the end of September is probably one of the few times of the year where there is limited stuff on, family-wise. The beginning of the year was always going to be a no-go zone for us, and winter weddings (while I love winter!) are just too cold...
The OCD part of me really didn't like the sound of 2013...I needed a nice even year to get married in and 2014 seemed waaaaaay too far away. So, September 2012 became our time (after much discussion with the future hubby!) and the twenties our time frame (either 22nd or 29th - a Saturday wedding).
Finding a venue ended up happening a lot faster then I thought it was! And it was all purely by chance...
I started looking around for venues online, comparing packages and pictures...
The first place I looked at was one we had driven past on the way to my brother's wedding in January 2011 - Loxley at Bluebell Hill. While the venue looked lovely, something just didn't feel right...While I am most definitely a Mountains girl, my boy is not so big a fan. And I definitely wanted it to feel like "us". Nevertheless, I keep it in mind to check out.
One of the other options I really liked was Lauriston House. I loved the vintage look but at the same time...it was almost too "done". Something still didn't quite feel right.
The last two options I had narrowed down to was the Eschol Park House and Cropley House. After speaking with my mum, I discovered that Eschol Park house was where my aunt had gotten married...so it was ruled out straight away! Not because I don't love my aunt and would love to share where she got married...but I was flowergirl at her wedding. And that place is haunted. No joke. Myself and the other little flower girl refused to go in a particular corner of the house, as did the house cat...turns out that a lady and her baby had fallen down the Great Staircase in the middle of the house and died in that particular corner. Not something I want to be thinking about on my wedding day!
So that left Cropley House, and the future hubby took one look at it and said it looked like a Government building...guessing he didn't want that one then!!
That leaves the one place that stood out from the most, package wise. The Sebel Spa and Resort in Windsor. On paper, this place sounded fantastic and I kept going back to it...I loved the idea of have all of the day in one place (no travelling for the guests between venues!), having the day spa on site for lovely relaxation for the ladies the day before and the golf course for the boys, and the picture opportunities that the site offered. Somewhat fatefully, the Resort was actually hosting a Bridal Open Day on the 20th of March, about a week and a half after I stumbled across the information packages...
So I signed up, and mum and I went to check it out...
And loved it :)
There were 3 room options, plus the Chapel, but despite the beauty of the Ballroom and the other rooms I feel in love with the Gazebo room with it's big open windows. It had a spaciousness that the other rooms just didn't have and I felt that it would be lovely of a night.
The Chapel was also stunning...(although not a fan of the topairy or arch)
So all that was left was to get the men's approval...so we booked a time with the event coordinator for the next weekend and on the 26th of March at 11:15am we traipsed over - myself, the future hubby, my parents and my little brother. After showing the boys around and asking a million questions we decided this was it. The place we wanted to get married! And, as fate would have it...the 29th of September 2012 was available! As soon as the boy heard that the 29th of September was available, he rolled his eyes - my dad's response? "I guess that's the date then, by the look on his face!"
I'm reluctant to put any of the rather bad photos I took on the day up, since it was raining and I'm not the greatest photographer. But this weekend I will be going out to the venue with my little brother, who is bound to take some amazing shots I can share. We received our contact last Wednesday, the 30th of March, and I will be dropping it off at the Resort, signed and sealed, on Saturday.
I still can't believe that it was that easy...and that we booked the first place we looked at in person! Did anyone else book the first venue they sighted, or did it take some time to find the right place?
We looked at three different places - the third time was the charm! I agree that it's so great to have the ceremony and reception at the same place. We'll be having a lot of out of town guests, so it'll be much less stressful for them since they won't have to travel in between and worry about getting lost.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly it...and no waiting around for hours with nothing to do! Our venue has a lovely old world bar with a snooker table and dart board room, and lovely old plush chairs, so everyone can sit down, relax and catch up before the pre-dinner cocktails and canapes (being out of the sun for those hours is also a big thing here in Oz!). We will also have people from out of town and love that they can hire a room at the venue. There's also a possibility that we may have people from overseas (my future hubby is South African) so it's great that they won't have to try and find their way to multiple places :)
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