Answer: in da CLUB. The country club.
Our venue search was fairly short. We decided early on we wanted a country club wedding, since Mr. Plane is in the industry and we both love golfing. Plus, it would be an easy one-stop shop where we wouldn’t need to provide the food or the alcohol. (While this is a great and cost-efficient plan for lots of brides, I felt much more comfortable going all-inclusive.) Once we had a rough guest list and an idea of what we wanted, we started doing our online research.
We looked at a couple places that were nice, but just too small for a 200-person wedding. (I just couldn’t imagine all of our guests scrunched onto a 10 x 10 dance floor!) For a while we toyed with the idea of having the reception at the club where Mr. Plane works, but decided that venue would be better suited for other wedding functions (more on that later).
Fox Hills Golf & Banquet Center was, I believe, the third place we visited. I immediately fell in love with all of the windows overlooking the golf course as well as the long corridor leading into the ballroom. (I imagined a little forest of white branches and twinkly lights as guests arrived.) Most of all, I felt very comfortable here, largely in part due to the event coordinator, Alexis. From the moment I sent in my first inquiry, she was helpful and accommodating, answering even my most idiotic new-bride questions.
Photo from Fox Hills Golf & Banquet Center
Bees, I have a confession to make. I have venue regret. Well, kind of.
My regret stems from the fact that I feel like our venue isn’t unique enough. We dove right in to the country club venue search so quickly after we got engaged, before I really started browsing wedding sites for ideas. I just didn’t know how amazing an industrial loft reception could look, or the charm of a rustic barn wedding (growing up, our barn was used to house the tractor and smelled like raccoon poo). More so…there just isn’t any great wedding photography of our venue for me to ooh and ahh over!
I am determined to change that.
I am really not trying to say that I’m unhappy with our venue—if that were the case, I would have rebooked elsewhere a long time ago. Our venue gets an A+ in the major areas that were important to us: food (definitely more on that later), close proximity to our church, good reputation, and great service. I realize that our venue is not unique, and I’m OK with that (OK, I’m becoming OK with that). Should we have looked at some more nontraditional venues? Probably. Will our wedding be fantastic right where it’s currently scheduled? Hell yes.
So let’s talk more about the things I love about our venue!
Big porch for cocktail hour and yard for lawn games! / Photo from Michigan Golf
Beautiful, welcoming arched brick entry! / Photo from Fox Hills Golf & Banquet Center
Man-made nature photo backdrops! / Photo from Fox Hills Golf & Banquet Center
So I have made peace with the non-uniqueness of our wedding venue. The elements that we really care about will shine through on a relatively plain backdrop, and that’s the stuff that guests will remember.
How did you choose your venue? Did you experience any venue regret?
I think your venue looks beautiful! I especially love the water. I think almost all brides regret some aspect of their wedding because of cost, time, or a million other reasons. I jumped into a few of my vendor decisions and and sort of kicking myself now…
Our venue is also “non-unique” and is a country club very similar to yours. I also felt a twinge of venue regret but than I remembered that our venue is sort of a hidden gem and has been nothing but great to us. I’m sure you’re wedding will be awesome no matter where it is!
We booked 20 months in advance of the wedding date and while I don’t have total venue regret, I just wish we could have gone and shopped around more. It was the first place we visited, first place we really ever considered.
*sigh* Oh well. I love my venue. I love my venue. I love my venue.
I like country clubs for weddings. Of course, I got married at a golf club too. lol! I love how crisp and clean everything looks and ours was on the water. SOLD.
Ours is at a hotel. It has a some cookie-cutter hotel aspects, and some that make it stand out. It’s not anything you’d find on Pinterest, but you know what? It was the first place my fiance saw and liked. And that means more to me than any one else’s “wow” factor. He loves it. That makes me happy. We’re sold.
We booked a venue that I’d looked at for a sorority formal at 19. (I didn’t book formal there, because, as I told the manager “I’m going to have my wedding here”) Its an atypical country club in that it doesn’t have a golf course. My only regret is that it is on a residential street and in some wedding pictures, you can see the houses in the background. I really don’t like that! So I will have to ask our photographers to use interesting angles to avoid that!
But the food is amazing, the coordinators there are wonderful and the space is beautiful. So we will work around that!
We had a Country Club reception. We were so in love with this location that we never considered alternate options. What I regret is that because we had a winter wedding, at night, our guests could not see out the windows to the beautiful lake. And our beautiful entrance (also similar to yours) had an over hang that was too low for the limo to fit under, therefore our guests had to come in through the locker room (not classy). So, while we loved the location and food, there were def. some venue regrets. Good luck!
I love these pics you posted…maybe I’m biased, though, because it reminds me a bit of our venue 
The interior (again, similar to ours, lol) is pretty neutral in color scheme/furnishings/etc…IMO, this allows to create the look you want and have it be less “cookie cutter,” so to speak.
I had the same feelings about our hotel wedding but in the end it’s about priorities, we wanted our guests to be able to crash at the same place as the party and we wanted and all-inclusive package with a place that does weddings, like all the time. Yes, the unique venues are amazing, but your wedding is still special and unique to you! And your guests and you will appreciate the perks of having it at a place equipped for weddings! 
Your venue looks beautiful! Honestly, every wedding is unique and beautiful and you will be great because it has everything you want.
When I read your post, I felt like I was reading something I wrote myself. We are also having our reception at a country club for many of the same reasons: phenomenal food and service, close proximity to the church, reputation… However, I have some regret to with its non-unique look. I did look at unique venuse of rustic barns I had dreamed about…but in person, I was not as won over. My heart did not like them like I thought and my brain did not like the hefty price tag.
We ended up choosing the country club venue for several reasons. My FFIL is manager and runs the wedding & events portion of the club. Not only could we get a great price tag, we can get SOOO much customization of everything to make it truly “ours” (food, decor, etc). It’s just a bummer that our families have been there for other many events: anniversary parties, Christmas parties, graduations… It takes a little of the “specialness” away. I felt it’d be better for other events too, like my bridal shower. However, I’m learning to *love* the idea of personalization there and the fact that it feels a little like home, since we are there a lot. It makes it a little bit more “ours”.
Like Miss Squirrel, I think that many brides deal with regretting some aspect of wedding planning or maybe just wishing they had done something differently. I know I’m super excited about my venue & a lot of the things we’re planning, but even then sometimes I think hmm I wish I had thought through this a little more, or considered this first…
Your venue honestly looks beautiful and like it will be perfect for you. It’s absolutely not a cookie cutter wedding because you have never gotten married there before! You’re going to make it your own and it will look great
I had the same feelings about our hotel wedding but in the end it’s about priorities, we wanted our guests to be able to crash at the same place as the party and we wanted and all-inclusive package with a place that does weddings,thank you.
I agree! Fi and I are getting married in a hotel, due to: we live in a small town and options are very limited, NO guests live in town so majority will be staying over, food and alcohol provided, 5 mins from the church, the event coordinator is fabulous…and MOSTLY because when my Fi and I walked into the reception room we just knew. No it’s no Pinterest image but you know what, it makes us happy. we were happy the walls were gold because we wanted gold as one of our wedding colours. It’s the little things that matter I think, not to be the only couple in the world to ever get married in a uber creative location!
@Miss Squirrel: Thank you, I’m sure you’re right — I’m definitely not the only bride with some wedding regret!
@kaw2be: Thanks! I’m sure your’s will be awesome too!
@JackiBean: just keep chanting, just keep chanting.
@SuperDuperBrit: yes, that was a big one for us, too, the “crispness” of everything
@mordantmaxim: agreed — happy FI, happy bride
Thank you for all of your responses! I feel so much better knowing that I am not the only one with a twinge of venue regret. I can’t wait to show you all the finished product in September!
I think your venue sounds fab, and nothing is more important than convenience and great food! Ultimately it’s about the party you throw, not the background, some of the most fun weddings I’ve ever been to were in very plain reception halls. And those “man-made nature backdrops” are going to be totally gorge – have you seen Unicycle’s photos on the golf course where she had her reception? They look so beautiful and like they were staged in the wilderness.
we did the same thing, booked at a golf course, only because it suited our needs: is nearby, free parking, easy set up, no work for anyone in our family -was our goal plus there was a special-so we saved a ton of $.
I felt like we sold out though. We will be doing decor and little stuff to make it more us, but let’s face it, not too much you can do =it’s a wedding, at an event center/banquet hall they are all very similar.
I saw your pic of the pond/tree-how far is that tree? would be a perfect back drop for your ceremony but hard to tell exactly. I’m sure some bees will have good ideas for decor. I’ve seen buntings hung, white xmas lights w/fabric draped across ceilings or walls to wedding-ize banquet halls, you could do something personal with you guestbook, w/the tables-name them something ‘you’ table numbers holders and center pieces, or pics of you guys incorporated, like pics of you guys at places you’ve been and that’s the name of the table or something you like. You can use the grooms cake for uniqueness, everything you can personalize to make it more unique and ‘you’ and it will feel more and more unique to you.
I posted about this and another bee said: Once we got into the actual planning phase (picking flowers, songs, food etc) it will start feeling more like US and more unique to US. She was totally right!!
We are going to try and do lawn games for our cocktail hour, bc that is what we do for our parties with our friends, we’re doing cupcakes and bbq chicken (bc that’s ‘us’) lilacs from our yard for centerpieces. but really we have no ‘theme’. I think a lot of folks struggle with this, unless you are just really known for something, it is tough to personalize and make things unique.
Miss Airplane, Plymouth, Michigan Age and Occupation: 26, Fundraising Project Coordinator Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Food & Beverage Manager Engagement Date: March 31, 2012 Wedding Date: September 2013 Venue: Fox Hills Golf Club & Banquet Center About Me: I'm a true Michigander (born and raised) and a die-hard Wolverine. I am the definition of a multi-tasker and like to believe I am also a perfectionist, but my horrible short-term memory likes to prove otherwise. I'm an English major and a pretty punny girl, so get ready for some really horrible plays on words! When I'm not consumed with wedding planning, I enjoy copious amounts of television and an equally unhealthy addiction to bacon.
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