Weddingbee Blog

Thanks for this, and I look forward to other venue reviews. I live in Dallas, and I already had my wedding (In Minneapolis), but I am always looking for venues for Public Relations events…
And, of course, the fab 30th birthday party I hope to have in 2008.

Wow, where were you when I was looking for a venue! I don’t know if you are going to focus only on Dallas or throw Fort Worth into the mix, but either way it will be interesting to see what else is out there. If you need any help, I’d be glad to discuss the ones we visited, too!

Mary, what type of PR do you do? I just graduated with a PR degree in December and am still jobless

i’m glad i’ve been helpful to someone else I am definitely going to do a lot more of these posts soon…..

In the DFW area, I looked at the following venues:

Adorable Weddings in Hurst - it was at the end of a shopping center. Looked like a hole in the wall. We didn’t even bother going in.

Chateau at Forest Park in Fort Worth - looks like an old barn with paint chipping off the building. Right on the side of a busy road in a commercial area.

Grand Traditions in Corinth - on paper, this is the place we would have chosen. In reality, it’s not as nice as it seemed. They are definitely well organized and can give you a quote on the spot that includes everything from cake to catering, dancing, etc. The biggest downside was that the ceremony and reception rooms are back to back, and there’s only one small doorway between the two. That, and the huge crack in the reception room floor and the lack of windows anywhere in the building turned us off. It’s also right off of the highway, and REALLY hard to get to unless you take the exit before the one it’s off of.

Green Oaks Wedding Chapel in Arlington - this place was really nice and it’s all in one with the chapel and the reception area in the same building. Nice and big, and very pretty, could easily hold 150-200 guests (more people could sit in the chapel than in the reception room because of the added space tables and chairs take up) They do a lot for you with decorations and such. They have a preferred vendor list, but won’t let you see it until you’ve actually booked with them (this was our major turn off, as you have to use one of their caterers, and we couldn’t really determine price without being able to contact those people!) The lady we met with was nice, but we were one of three couples there in a 15 minute window. She gave us a quick spiel then sent us on our own to look around while the next couple showed up. We felt like we would be treated like that the whole time we worked with them, so we decided against them. Plus, their fees were slightly higher than other places we’d gone (I think it was $4000 just to rent the place).

The Parson’s Table in Aledo - very cute place, but very little parking. Has a lovely outdoor area which would be nice for an outdoor wedding, except there’s no electrical outlets outside, and the doors have to stay closed at all times so you can’t run cords. It’s all one room, aside from the kitchen (they do all the catering for you) but there’s an upstairs which I think may have tenants living there. The room downstairs is nice and big, but since it’s one room, you would have to usher everyone out onto the patio outside while the staff broke down the ceremony and set up again for the reception.

White Chapel Estate and Gardens in North Richland Hills - again, they do everything for you here, including all the decorations. It’s all in one, so you have the ceremony in the chapel then go into another area for the reception. They have two options for reception rooms, but neither of them was large enough for us. Why have a chapel that can hold 200 when you’d be lucky to get 100 people in the larger of the two reception rooms, not to mention still having to fit in a DJ, cake table and head table? You can rent out both reception rooms, but they’re not next to each other, so that was kind of a bummer because I didn’t want to divide my guests into an A room and B room. They have a nice little courtyard on one side, but the land behind the venue is ugly and overgrown. I wouldn’t want that in our pictures. Nice people though. They also have a lawn area that would work for an outdoor ceremony.

Northeast Wedding Chapel in Hurst - this was probably our runner up choice. The lady there was so friendly and helpful. The chapel and reception room are in two different buildings, but they’re joined by a covered walkway. Again they do a lot of the decorating for you, it just depends on how much you want to spend for them to do it. Everything about the place was cute, especially the little gazebo around back that didn’t have any room to be used as a ceremony site, but would have made for some really cute pictures. There are also two hotels right down the street that offer discounts to your guests for getting married there. In the end, we decided against it because of a permanent arch thing in the middle of the room made of columns, tulle and Christmas lights in the reception room. It was in the middle of the dance floor, but it seemed as though guests would feel like they had to dance underneath it. Plus, it took up way too much room that was needed for tables and chairs. If it was optional, it would have been fine, but since it’s permanent, it was really more in the way than anything else. Too bad, though. We really liked the place.

And finally, our venue, The Country Abbey in Justin - It’s all in one, which we liked so we don’t have to send guests on an adventure trying to find two places. The chapel comes with basic decorations, and you can rent/bring more if you want them. Since we’re only spending 30 minutes in the chapel, what they provide is enough for us. There’s a separate room for the girls and the guys to get ready (both spacious), and a little alleyway that we sneak into once the ceremony is over so the guests won’t see us as we head back into the chapel to take pictures. The chapel also comes with a sound system so you can play music, or use the electric piano they have. There’s a really nice reception room with a very large commerical kitchen. It comes with all the tables and chairs and white linens, and you can rent colored linens/centerpieces/other decorations if you wish to. We are bringing in our own and that’s fine with them too. The reception room also comes with 5 tables - 3 long ones for the buffet and 2 round one for the cake. Additionally, there’s a little area next to the kitchen that you can use as a bar area, or close off if you don’t need it. There is also a sound system in this room, or you can bring in your own equipment/DJ. The staff is really friendly, and they always respond to calls/emails right away (the number for the venue is actually the owner’s cell phone!) Overall, we liked it best because we could pick and choose what we wanted and how we wanted it. We made a wonderful choice and I know I’ll never regret it (or the marriage!)