Weddingbee Blog

Finally, our venue!

I’ve put this off for way too long. As I mentioned before, it was a tough choice to leave our dream venue. So tough, that as much as I love our current venue, there’s a little part of me that still wishes we could have stayed with the original site.

But there’s no sense in regret, especially not when this place is so perfect for us!

I wasn’t sold on having a wedding in New York state, but as time went on, I began to see that it didn’t matter what I wanted, as our local options were very limited. Looking back on it, I wish I could have told myself to chill out because the Hudson Valley is not that far and our venue is awesome!

So let me introduce you to the Highlands Country Club. It’s a small private club located near the Hudson River.

This is the area where we will have our cocktail hour; there is furniture that will be placed there. (They were cleaning up from the night before, so things are moved around a bit.) And see that fire pit on the right hand side? There’s three of them, and they will be lit toward the end of the night.

Mama and Thia Marmalada making a surprise appearance!

This is the main reception space. The furniture you see there will be outside for the cocktail hour. I love this room. It’s elegant, but it doesn’t have the feel of an overly gilded “wedding factory” I was trying to avoid. And see the stacks of chairs in the back? Did you notice that they are Chiavari chairs? Because I did! The white Chiavari chairs belong to them and are part of the standard setup! Woohoo! Nothing extra to rent!

Here’s a another look:

The tables are oblong and I love that too! This may be completely and totally neurotic to admit, but I was having trouble designing the table decor on round tables. It’s probably because so many of my inspiration pictures contain long banquet tables. OR, it could be because I was over-thinking things again.

There are two fireplaces, located on opposing sides of the room. Here’s a closer look. It’s a perfect spot for some vellum-wrapped luminaries!

And that’s pretty much all there is to our reception space!

Seriously. It’s a small venue, and that’s part of its charm in my opinion. But there are a couple other pics I should share. Starting with a very important area:

This is the restaurant that is connected to the club, also known as Tavern. For our wedding, the restaurant will become our bar (get it? important area?). I love the rustic and eclectic feel of the space!

Here is the solarium. It’s where I plan to put our DIY photobooth. It’s also where cocktails will be held in case of bad weather. (I’m so superstitious I had trouble typing that out—fingers crossed!)

Last but not least:

This is part of the bridal suite. Just wanted to share because I love the charm of it. We’re not getting ready there.

That’s it! Small. Elegant. And completely not what I thought we would end up with. Let’s see how it stands up to my venue checklist:

1. Close to Home - Not really. It’s about an hour away. But an hour is an hour and a half closer than the original venue. So check!

2. Easily Accessible to Travelers - Yep! You can fly into any one of the NYC area airports. And for my friends living in NYC, you can easily hop on a train from Grand Central and be at the local train station in no time (and the stop is a minute down the road from the venue).

3. Cost - YES!!! We’re saving so much money that we’ll be able to invite 20 more people and stay within our budget! I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.

4. Flexibility/Simplicity - Yes. I don’t have to worry about coordinating so many vendors here. And we would be able to move our date if Mr. Marmalade’s schedule changes.

So lesson learned. My aversion to any place that had the words “country club” (or “banquet hall,” “wedding wonderland,” etc.) proved to be silly. My need to be different proved to (once again) be a pain in the butt. I mean seriously. This place is what I needed, even if it’s not what I originally had in mind. But in life, and especially in weddings, you have to roll with the punches and relax a little.

Just like those Rolling Stones said, You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, well you just might find, you get what you need!

(Who knew the Stones were wedding experts, too?)

Were you surprised, like me, with the venue you ultimately ended up with?