The Venue Hunt - Part One, or, My Mother is Insane

We decided to have our wedding in Maryland because my grandpa broke his hip last fall and he and my grandma both aren't really able to travel anymore. Once we had made that decision, my mom was in full planning mode (as usual)! She invited me and Marcus, as well as Marcus's mom and her wife, up for the weekend of March 12-14 to go look at potential venues and try to make a decision. We all did some research online and came up with a list of venues to go look at. Then, my mom sent us The Schedule:

Tentative Agenda for Weekend of March 12-14, 2010

Thursday, March 11 2010

8:29 PM – Pick up Nancy and Lettie at BWI.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Visit restaurants for Rehearsal Dinner:

Café Mileto, Germantown, MD
Venue is available Saturday, April 9, 2011. This is Tara’s first choice. We eat dinner there often, and I had Eliot’s 50th birthday dinner there and catered his 45th birthday part from there. Manager is available to meet with us any time on March 12, 2010. Call before we go.

Tragara Ristorante, Bethesda, MD
Venue is available Saturday, April 9, 2011. This restaurant is the fanciest and most expensive of the three. They have a separate party room. Manager is available to meet with us any time. I’m supposed to call a few days in advance to set up a time on Friday, March 12, 2010.

That’s Amore, Rockville, MD
They’re “soft holding” the venue for us for Saturday, April 9, 2011. They have a separate party room. I’ve been to a Bat Mitzvah and a retirement party there, and they do a very nice job. I spoke with Max. We’re supposed to go there between 2-6 PM on Friday, March 12, 2010 and ask for Max. If he’s not there, either Jenny or
Celeste can help us.

10:40 PM – Pick up Tara and Marcus at BWI.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

10:00 AM – Ceresville Mansion, Frederick, MD
Venue is not available the afternoon of Sunday, April 10, 2011. It is available that evening, and it is available the afternoon of Sunday, April 3, 2011. They can do an outdoor ceremony and indoor sit down dinner for 200 guests. We will be attending an Open House, which runs from 10-2. I spoke with Allison. They will not do even a soft hold of the date without a deposit. Someone at work told me that they’ve been to a wedding there and that you can hear the cars passing on the road during an outdoor ceremony.

11:30 AM – 1:00 PM – Antrim 1844, Taneytown, MD
Venue is available the weekend of April 9-10, 2011. It is an estate with 42 guest rooms spread out in different buildings on the estate. They have many locations on the estate for an outdoor ceremony and can do a sit down dinner in a single room, both for 200 guests. (There are additional hotels available in nearby Gettysburg, PA and Frederick, MD.) Rehearsal dinner could be held there, as well. Another option would be to just have the wedding there and use hotels and have the rehearsal dinner closer to home. This venue is about an hour from our house. I spoke with Mike. They have a soft hold on the date for us.

We’ll have to grab a quick lunch en route.

2:00 PM – JW Marriott, Gaithersburg, MD
Venue is available Sunday afternoon, April 10, 2011, but they cannot accommodate an outdoor ceremony with 200 guests. They can do indoor ceremony and outdoor cocktail hour for 200 guests. In addition to the wedding date, they are currently holding hotel rooms for us: Friday night–5, Saturday night-25, Sunday night-25. I spoke with Barbara. They have a soft hold on the date for us.

5:00 PM – Inn at Brookeville Farms, Brookeville, MD
Venue is available Sunday afternoon, April 10, 2011. They can accommodate an outdoor ceremony and indoor sit down dinner for 200 guests. They have a soft hold on the date for us.

Dinner, relax, debrief.


Sunday, March 14, 2010

10:00 AM – Bolger Center, Potomac, MD
Venue is not available Sunday, April 10, 2011. It is available Sunday, April 3, 2011. They can accommodate an outdoor ceremony and indoor sit down dinner for 200 guests. They have hotel rooms available on site.

3:41 PM – Nancy and Lettie fly out of BWI.

7:29 PM – Tara and Marcus fly out of Dulles.

As you can tell, the date we originally wanted was April 10, 2011. Unfortunately, the venue we ultimately ended up choosing wasn't available that date, so we had to push it back. It turned out for the best though, because apparently April 3 is better for most of our wedding party than April 10! Also, there were addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, last names, and flight numbers that I've removed to make The Schedule blog-appropriate!

When I showed The Schedule to people at work, they finally believed me that my mom was crazy! We all had a good laugh over the "dinner, relax, debrief" part, and I have one friend who still jokingly reminds me all the time to "relax and debrief"!

That weekend was just as crazy as it sounds! It was pouring down rain all day Saturday, and Lettie (Marcus's mom's wife) had fallen and sprained her wrist and ankle on Friday, so going to look at 4 venues was quite the challenge. We made it through, but we didn't really like any of the venues we had seen. When we went to the Bolger Center on Sunday, we fell in love with it! Marcus and I talked about it, and we wanted to sign a contract with the Bolger Center right away, but my mom wanted us to sleep on it first. When we left Sunday evening, I thought that we had definitely decided on the Bolger Center, and I was so excited to move on to the next stage of planning!