Weddingbee Blog

My saga of finding a wedding venue had a little bit of a rough start. Lucky for me (and Mr. A) it has a very happy ending. I was fortunate enough to have two great priests growing up. One was a fairly young man who was a fantastic speaker, highly intellectual, and very friendly. All of the little old ladies in our parish called him “Father What-a-Waste” because, on top of everything I just mentioned, he was pretty decent looking. All of that aside, he transferred to a much bigger parish when I was in high school and I figured that was that.

Fast forward to the weekend after the “Seven-Minute Meeting,” as it had come to be known, and Mr. Aardvark and I are enjoying time with my family. My step-mother gets an email informing us that “Fr. What-a-Waste” is returning to my hometown of Battle Creek!

This was great news and in a few short (OK, they felt like millennia) weeks I was talking to him (on the phone and via email!) about how to schedule our wedding date. He was kind enough to FAX some paperwork to our local priest, and just like that we had our location, ceremony time, and date set! It was really a dream come true.

Now, the church is not at all the small, quaint building I had envisioned in plan A. It is a beautiful, large, old, traditional Catholic church. Would you like to see?

Photo via St. Philip’s website

Photo via St. Philip’s website

This second picture makes my pulse race. I get a little excited lump in my throat when see it. I think about those doors opening, my dad standing next to me, the pews filled with our nearest and dearest, and Mr. Aardvark standing at the far end. Swoooon. AND, to top it all off we will have a fantastic priest overseeing the whole sacrament!

Booking our reception location (which I have briefly mentioned in earlier posts) was an easy process as well. Ideally I would like everything to be close together so our large number of out-of-town guests will be able to find things easily and without stress. Downtown Battle Creek is, like many mid-sized, Midwestern industrial towns, not quite booming. However, it is by no means a ghost town; in fact, in recent years it has seen something of a revival.

One of my favorite parts of my hometown downtown is Arcadia Brewery. It’s a lovely microbrew pub and restaurant. The food is absolutely D-LISH! They have a brick pizza oven and make some of the best BBQ in town. The atmosphere is one part urban loft, one part antique store, and one part British pub. It fit my urge to have a “non-ballroomy”/fun party feel. It would not need much decorating to look GREAT, and I would be the only person I knew to have ever had a wedding reception there. Win. Win. Win.

My dad, being one of the handful of downtown business owners, went and spoke with the owner of Arcadia and, and just like that we had a reception venue—a perfect, helpful, accommodating venue. Would you like to see this one?

Photo via Michigan.org

Photo via Hoosier Beer Geek

This picture does a lovely job of capturing the aesthetic of the inside. It’s warm and hip at the same time. I really think it will be wonderful! Here’s hoping we can fit everyone inside!

All in all I could not be more satisfied with our two venues. One of the best parts is they are only a few blocks apart! This means, weather permitting, we can walk from one to the other. Or even ride our bikes! How perfect!

Clearly, plan B worked out to be plan Better.

Did you have an easy time finding any of your venues? Any pleasant surprises in planning?