Wedding Blog

Finding our venue for the reception was no easy feat. When we started to discuss what we wanted, Mr. Hydrangea informed me of his desire to have one huge room (ballroom) for our reception with 100% seating. I, however, had something completely different in mind - a more unique venue, where there wasn’t 100% seating, encouraging all guests to mingle a little.

We had a few locations in my mind from the get go, all of which did not work out for this reason or another (mainly either size or price). My mother and I visited so many reception venue possibilities in a one month time span, that we were quickly losing our enthusiasm for the wedding planning.

Because we went to so many, I’m going to just give a brief description of how we felt about each. I’ve also included links to their sites as well as pictures, so I hope this may help those of you in Dallas who are still searching!

Marie Gabrielle – Beautiful but our guests would be in separate areas (outside, inside, separate room).

Arlington Hall at Lee Park – I loved this one, but it leaned on the more traditional side and was very pricey. Again, our guests would have to have been separated in various areas.

The Empire Room – Great concept and great view. Very cost effective.

The Arboretum – Absolutely gorgeous, but communication with their office was lacking, so I was hesitant to work with them.

Hotel Palomar – I had heard only great things about the newly renovated hotel, however, I didn’t bother to check them out any further because it was beyond our budget. 

The Crescent – Beautiful and popular.

The Adolphus – Great communication with this hotel, but it is also on the pricier side and I had heard rumors of ongoing construction so I didn’t check this one out further either.

Hotel ZaZa – Too small for our wedding. One of the trendier hotels in Dallas, I just thought it’d be fun to see what they offered.

The Old Red Courthouse – We received info from this venue, but the list of rules scared me a bit and I had also heard mixed feelings about the recent renovations.

Belo Mansion – We looked here several times. My mom and I fell in love with it, but Mr. Hydrangea didn’t like how our wedding guests would be separated. When we visited for a wedding, we realized that although the smaller room (there is also a huge ballroom) was for our sized wedding, we thought it would be too cramped. One of their salespeople informed us that the ballroom would have been too large, so we moved on.

Tower Club – Good pricing, great view. But it was too much like a country club in a high-rise and the feeling didn’t suit me. Mom Hydrangea LOVED it.

Sky Lobby – This one we almost booked. We loved the feel and the view. It was a huge room separated by elevators with an indoor garden and fountains on one side (perfect for cocktails) and a large open area on the other for the remainder of the event. In the end, we would have wanted to add too many details, and rentals would have been outrageous. That added to the food and beverage amounts would have made it hard. So on we went with the search.

Petroleum Club – This venue is a popular place for successful businessmen to lunch and do whatever else they do in Dallas. The venue also happens to run the Sky Lobby.

The Magnolia – This hotel was nice, but the facilities weren’t what we were looking for. The actual room we would use was located across the street and, while visiting, the fire alarm went off and construction was going on. While not the salesperson’s fault, we kept on searching.

The DMA – I just added this one because it’s so beautiful, but I didn’t research it any further. I knew it was pricey, with the requirement to get a membership and whatnot, but it’s a place that I would have wanted to check out.

Each venue could definitely host a beautiful wedding, but none of these were a fit for our wedding. I have to also mention that we are having our wedding on the same weekend as a huge teacher conference so, if the hotel couldn’t provide us with a block of rooms, we knocked them off the list.

Am I the only one who had to see a ton of venues before making a final decision?

Up Next…How we FINALLY chose our reception venue!