Weddingbee Blog

I’ve been trying to be clever and think of tea-themed post titles. Maybe I’m not so clever…but I know that a kettle belongs in the cupboard with other tea items, so I think of our wedding venue as our cupboard, especially since the ceremony and reception will be in one spot.

Image: Amish Corner Cupboard Hutch / Furniture by Dutch Crafters

Moving on. We Kettles had agreed on getting married somewhere other than either of our churches. We had just left Jacob Henry Mansion and were almost 100% sure that wouldn’t be our wedding venue.

We drove up to the Patrick C. Haley Mansion. I. Was. Floored. I loved it from the moment we walked up.

Image: Patrick C. Haley Mansion grounds / This is a photo from their website for how it looks in the winter. I should be so lucky!

When we first walked in, we couldn’t find any employees. Momma Kettle and I strolled around while Mr. Kettle went off to find someone. I still hadn’t managed to pick my up jaw up off the ground by the time one of their coordinators arrived.

They took us on a guided tour of the mansion. They explained all the details, history, and options available to us for a February wedding. I apologized for all the drool as I salivated over every detail of the venue. Did I mention I love, love, love this mansion? Warning, there are a lot o’ pictures to follow.

This was the only picture I was able to pull myself together enough to take before our tour guides arrived. It’s what everyone will see right as they walk into the ballroom.

This is where our tour started. It’s the foyer of the mansion. I wanted a picture of the stained-glass windows. Had it been anywhere else, or any larger, it would’ve been a deal breaker.

That’s Momma Kettle assessing one of their rooms they’ve filled with little tables and chairs for people to utilize throughout the day while not in the ballroom.

Anyone who knows me knows I enjoy a nice beverage. This bar in the sexy dark wood made me drool. It was very easy to imagine people looking stylish just for standing near this bar in photos.

This is a view of the ballroom from the balcony that overlooks it. I could imagine myself stealing away during the reception to overlook the whole party. I like doing that at parties.

This is a view from the front of the ballroom. I loved the ceilings with the chandeliers and draping fabric that was lined with twinkle lights. I could envision our reception feeling like it was under the stars. So romantic! And how beautiful were the chair covers? I didn’t even think I wanted chair covers until I saw these.

This is usually used for outdoor ceremonies, but we were told we were free to sneak outside for some outdoor photos on our day in February. I don’t know why we would, but it’s an option.

This is the skylight over the conservatory at the front of the ballroom. I could just imagine being under this, getting married at sunset and then dancing under the sky during our reception. If only we could get a starry night or light snowfall…

This is the conservatory where we would have our ceremony, and it would be the dance floor during the reception. Sooooo many windows. I could have my winter-garden feel!

This is how they’d have a head table set up. We want to do a sweetheart table, so we wouldn’t have this. But I love the chair covers, and I had to take a closer look at the table settings after they drew my attention to them.

Platinum and gold? This comes standard? Sign me up! I could already see some lovely DIY’ed napkin rings.

This is the second floor of the mansion. Mr. Kettle is contemplating testing out the seating for guests to enjoy while they’re not in the ballroom.

More second-floor seating. We were beginning to discuss whether we should have the jazz quartet set up on the second floor for the cocktail hour. This was before we began discussing prices…

This is a pic of the edge of their coffee/sweets table setup. Through the arch, you can see the lovely dining room where they sat us down and unveiled the price, which brought me back to reality.

They have lovely fireplaces all around like this. Perfect mantles for lots o’ family photos to personalize the place.

This is the room for the groom to get ready. It’s really lovely, like an old-school cigar lounge or something, right?

Momma Kettle was testing out chairs in the drool-worthy bride’s room. It’s a huge room that’s perfectly circular. So beautiful. I immediately imagined getting ready there with all my girls. I just knew some of my favorite pics from the wedding would be taken in this room.

Isn’t that the most adorable vanity?? I don’t even like wallpaper, but I was in love with this room. Mr. Kettle looked at me and went, “Oh no, I’ve seen that look before.” He knew I’d be disappointed if/when we had to walk away from this place.

This is the approach walking up. I’m glad they have that middle bar to hold on to. I could imagine the tile on the steps could be very slippery in February.

They have a fountain in the middle of the walkway coming up to the mansion. I bet it looks lovely in February. I’m seeing twinkle lights!

A closeup of the fountain and an outdoor shot of the ballroom. Isn’t it just breathtakingly beautiful?

I don’t know if you can tell yet, but I was in love with this place. When we sat down to talk prices, I realized it was outside of our discussed budget. Had we been having the wedding I originally wanted, we would have had a much smaller guest list and been able to have the wedding at the Mansion.

Family is super important to Mr. Kettle and me. Having the wedding at the mansion wasn’t more important to me than having a large number of family and friends there to celebrate with us. Momma Kettle and I asked a ton of questions and found out a lot of information to see if we could make it work. But ultimately, we decided we would have to keep looking for wedding venues.

Wedding Planning Tip #2: Have a budget in mind before looking at venues so that you’ll be aware that you may have to walk away from your perfect venue.

Wedding Planning Tip #3: Know your wedding-planning priorities. For me, guest list was a higher priority than wedding venue. After seeing my dream venue, it moved higher on the list of priorities, but not over family, of which Mr. Kettle has a lot.

Winter Wedding Tip #1: Everything, with some venues, costs less in the winter. This place was willing to knock two dollars off per person for everything. That adds up if you have a guest list in the hundreds!

The next place up on the list was Chateau Bu-Sche. This place was owned by the owners of the Patrick C. Haley Mansion, so I had hope this place might have some of the same details I loved so much about the mansion.

Did anyone have to walk away from the perfect venue for budget concerns?