Wedding Blog

The Venue Adventure - Part 1

After writing about all the places we didn’t want to have our reception, I thought it was time to blog about some of the possibilities Mr.Flamingo and I had come up with. Like mentioned in my previous venue post, we wanted a more intimate wedding, so here is what we found. I must admit venue searching was exhausting and not to mention extremely hard. Partly because of me and my ridiculous list of what I didn’t want! Lets just say I was overly demanding - but what the heck, I’m only getting to do this once it my life so why not do it right!!! (this getting married of course)

Images: Domaine de L’Ile Ronde

The first place we inquired was part of my vendorzilla stories. Apart from the actual lack of professionalism and service, this place seemed perfect, almost fairytale worthy. It was a beautiful winery on an island. I loved the fact that you actually needed to take a boat ride to get to the reception site. Beautiful and almost enchanted, this site was one of my favorites… but that’s according to the pictures because we never even got to see it.

Images: Le St-Martin Hotel

Then we opted for the hotel choice. I must admit that I liked the idea that our guests could stay the night after some super duper partying. So we made a pit stop at the St-Martin Hotel. This hotel is simply stunning and château like - it was defintely in my list of most glamorous venues. Every thing was perfect, from the fireplace to the grand piano. Even the chandeliers in the hall screamed pick me. Only problem…. it was too small. Mr. Flamingo was really really disappointed. We thought we had found the perfect place.

Images: Chateau Taillefer Lafon

We decided to go back to the winery option. Maybe it’s just my Italian roots, but they seem to be such beautiful wedding venue spots. Chateau Taillefer Lafon reminded me of some chateau-esque vineyard in Tuscany.

As we drove up, I could visualize my whole wedding. With beautiful landscapes, and a picture perfect spot, it seemed too good to be true. We asked the killer question… How many guests? Like the previous venue, only 85. So I took my red pen and crossed this spot off the list.

Images: Manoir Saint-Sauveur

Next stop, another hotel. This one, called Manoir Saint-Sauveur, was situated up north where there are many popular ski slopes in the winter. A beautiful place, this hotel was considered top notch. We went ahead and met with the events coordinator. She showed us around, and explained all the little things we needed to know.

This hotel was different then the other one, because it had 2 reception halls. I know I mentioned that I didn’t like it when two receptions were held at once because it seemed impersonal to us, but these two halls were a good distance away, so this wasn’t what bothered me really. There was one room which was quite big, and seemed okay-ish. I personally felt I was back in the early 90s and the decor hadn’t changed since. Mr. Flamingo agreed that this one was a no.

The other room she showed us was what we were looking for. Sort of a ballroom, it had high ceilings, beautiful chandeliers with big windows. Both Mr. Flamingo and I agreed on this one. When we told the lady we wanted to book, she told us flat out no. She said we had to book the other room first. Huh? But we were not interested in the other one… we wanted this one. Honestly, I didn’t feel like arguing, so we left.

Images: Golf les Quatre Domaine

At this point both hotels and vineyards didn’t seem to work for us, so we decided to visit a golf club near our place. We actually visited the golf club during winter, so there wasn’t much land we could see as far as picture spots, but regardless the interior was extremely nice. The golf club was fairly new, so this seemed to be a very good option - not to mention the guest capacity was over 200! Hurray!!!

After endless emails back and forth we scheduled a second meeting to sign the contract. The event coordinator called me back a couple of days before our meeting and asked if we could change our appointment since they had not yet completed the renovations. The lady advised me she would call me once they were done.

That same week when the lady canceled our appointment, I went to my friends house. On our way there, Mr. F and I stumbled upon a sign “New Hotel - Opening Summer 2007″.

All I can say is that everything happens for a reason.

to be continued ….