Choosing My Vendors: Venue - This is the One!

When K & I went to check out a possible venue for my wedding I had been thinking of Six Pines, which I mentioned in a previous post, but she told me about a location that she had attended a family reunion at. I was a bit skeptical as the website pictures weren't that great and it was a little farther from the city then I had originally planned but when we showed up, with out an appointment and during the off season, I few in love! I stopped looking for other sites and went about reserving this venue.

The venue is Great Woods Park which is approximately 30 minutes North East of the city, which I think is reasonable for people to drive home from, for those that are locale, and there is camping available on site and a hotel 5 minutes away for those that don't want to or are out of towners.

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They charge $9.50/person rather then a flat fee but they have a bar, kitchen and washrooms, plus tables and chairs.

Originally I wasn't to excited about the chairs as the website showed them as plastic green lawn chairs but later found out that they now have white ones. Still not my preferred chairs, which are a white resin folding chair with upholstered seat

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but adding $3.25/person seems a little too frivolous when I'm trying to stick to a budget, so white plastic lawn chairs it is.

As soon as I got home I emailed and called the venue and let them know that I wanted to book them for our wedding in June 2011, over a year for then but I was prepared to hear that they were booked and was willing to be flexible on the date. My first choice in June was available but they also hosted a bluegrass music 'reunion' of sorts in their camp ground that weekend. This isn't exactly a musical choice of My Mister so I opted to take the weekend prior to save us from sharing the spot light.

After I booked our date and put down the deposit, I booked an appointment to officially check out the sight....I know, I'm a little backwards but I fell in love people, it's hard to be rational!

We made the appointment for June so that it would be approximately the same time that the wedding would be the following year, allowing us to see what would be in bloom, how the weather was and last but not least...how terrible the mosquitoes were! And it all seemed perfect, granted the weather varies from year to year. It still might rain and the bugs might overwhelm us, so I'm planning for the worst and hoping for the best.