Previously, on Miss Potion’s Blog,
Last time, I hinted that our venue hunt ended a la Goldilocks—one venue was booked, one venue was just not our style, and one venue was juuuuust right. So exactly how did things pan out?
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| photo by Micah Jones |
Sterling Castle, while beautiful, was already booked for our date. 
That’s probably for the best, however, as initial inspection of the packages offered on their website suggested they are slightly out of our price range.
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| photo by BM BabySis |
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| photo by Mom Potion |
CreekSide Lodge was really cute on the outside, but on the inside…meh. I don’t know, between the carpet and the generic “Italian bistro” paintings, it just didn’t have that charm we were going for. Plus, it seems that the main room is so small that you really have to host most of the reception outside, and we didn’t want to bank on an outdoor reception in case the weather is crazy.
For those folks playing along at home, you’ll know that this means…
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| photo by Mom Potion |
SpringHouse is juuuuuuuuuuust riiiiiiiight! I mean look at this place- the exposed stone walls, the wood floors, the comfy-yet-modern chairs…it’s charming, it’s kind of casual, and best of all—it’s within our budget!
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| photo by Mom Potion |
Normally, when renting a place for a reception, you pay a fee for the actual rental of the building and then pay for food and beverages on top of that. When renting a restaurant, you pay the rental fee, and then the contract entails that you have to purchase a minimum amount of food and beverage to ensure that the restaurant doesn’t actually lose money by hosting your wedding. However, we’re having a daytime wedding-and SpringHouse makes most of its profit in the evening. As such, we don’t have to pay any rental fee at all, just a minimum amount of food and beverage, at the very reasonable price of $3000. With a planned ~200 guests, it definitely won’t be hard to hit that minimum; we’ll probably go over that and still stay within our budget. Plus, they have an on-site baker that will make our cupcakes, a fee which can be factored in to the food and beverage minimum. Plus they have a well-stocked bar, built-in sound system, wait staff, dishes, silverware, and plenty of room…all built in to the food and beverage minimum. Score! So my mom headed back out to SpringHouse, put down a deposit, and signed the contract.
Was it difficult to choose your reception venue? Did you go with an all-inclusive option?
Wow it’s really beautiful on the inside, I like the chairs.
Congrats Miss P, the place’s amazing.
Your venue really is gorgeous and it sounds like it’s perfect for your wedding!
Great choice! It has a ton of character already — your decor touches will only make it better!
It sounds like you got an *awesome* deal.. and the place is just stunning!
It’s so pretty!! Day time wedding sounds like the way to go!
Love the stone walls! The whole place looks really pretty inside. Good choice!
That sounds and looks like a dream. I’m so glad that you found a venue that fits your needs AND your budget so perfectly!
What a beautiful location!!! How jealous was everyone that they couldn’t have their wedding there too! Congrats!!!
Mrs. Potion, Herndon, VA Age and Occupation: 23, IT Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Sales Engagement Date: November 26, 2011 Wedding Date: November 2012 Venue: St. John’s Catholic Church / SpringHouse, Alexander City, AL About Me: We are two complete and total geeks that met at engineering camp, of all places, and after several years of being in love long-distance, we’re finally at the beginning of a lifetime together. We’re working with a modest budget to plan a long-distance wedding full of handmade details, Harry Potter references, and, most importantly, lots of love. I could spend an entire afternoon watching Food Network while shopping for shoes online, while he’d prefer to pwn some n00bs on Halo while blasting Deadmau5 on his stereo. I taught him how to swing dance and he taught me to appreciate Tolkien; he introduced me to LOST and I introduced him to the BBC’s Sherlock. I’m a Gryffindor, he’s a Ravenclaw, and we can spend hours discussing and debating the finer points of Rowling’s masterpiece. We’re so excited to be setting out on this adventure and I can’t wait to share all the details with you!
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