Weddingbee Blog

When we started searching for a location for our wedding, we needed to get creative. Our goals were to:

• Save money
• Keep the altitude beneath 6k feet (more on that later)
• Bring our own booze
• Have ultimate control over how our catering was done

As you can imagine, we had a difficult time finding just the right place. As I sighed with frustration one evening after what felt like hours of researching venues, Mr. Husky suggested changing the scope of my search.

He thought maybe the word “wedding” was sort of like the word “marine” – meaning, more expensive. Exhibit A:

Marine Screw: $4.96/pack of 1; Standard Screw: $4.76/pack of 5

Granted, they’re made of different materials. But I think that can apply to weddings as well – typically the venues serve a very specialized purpose, catering specifically to the needs of very particular brides. That’s just not us. We don’t need, or want the all-in-one package.

So we started looking at vacation rentals. It didn’t start out as a “destination wedding”. Originally we were looking for a nearby property large enough to accommodate our estimated guest list of 100. Instead, we found it in a 4 acre property in the small town of Beulah – 115 miles Southwest of Denver. The house had beds for 20 guests, which was enough to host our wedding party and their dates for the night. But what about our parents?

Mama Husky began to search for another house in Beulah (which, interestingly, I just discovered is a Hebrew word for “married” or “bride”), and found another house just five miles away. There wasn’t much special about the house, but nestled in the photo gallery was a photo of a gorgeous red barn.

(source)

I have always loved the idea of having a reception in a barn. It’s becoming evermore popular these days, but I can remember the first “barn wedding” I saw as a young girl. My family was camping in the mountains, and we had taken off for a hike that morning. On our way up the trail, we noticed a barn off to the side, with people buzzing about, hanging lights and tulle. As we trekked back down the path that afternoon, we saw the barn, completely transformed into a twinkling retreat as a glowing bride laughed and twirled with her loved ones. I was never the child that dreamed of her wedding, but there was something so beautiful and simple about this one.

We went out to have a look, and I adored it in person as much as I had from the photo. Our original intention was to have the ceremony at the first property, and then the reception would take place at the barn. But a series of complications, including how to transport the chairs, prompted us to choose that barn property as both the ceremony and the reception site.

We’ll be visiting Beulah again soon, but until then, I only have my memories of how the property is laid out. Fortunately for me, Mr. Husky has a much better memory, and created this:

(created by the ever-talented Mr. Husky)

I think it will work nicely, but I’m concerned about the guests moving from the ceremony to the reception. Are you having your ceremony and reception at different sites? How will your guests get from A to B (or C to R, as it were)? Did you end up choosing a different venue than you originally expected?