“Don’t get your heart broken again,” was the advice my friend Cheryl gave me.
She was talking about locations, of course. Vendors, in general, are people that you have to “date,” very carefully. I’ve heard of people who had their hearts set on this photographer or that location at the perfect time, and something happens and they don’t secure the deposit or get the contract and the bride is swimming in her own tears, crushed. How could you find your true love only to have your heart broken by the wedding industry?
As I mentioned before, I had been somewhat procrastinating the location hunt. But partly inspired by IndieWed and having crafted a kick-ass excel spreadsheet, I was ready to knock down potential locations in Chicago that could fit our tight budget.
We were looking for a place with character and wasn’t a fortune to rent.
Let me tell you, that’s hard.
I looked at so many golf courses and country clubs, for hours, for days, that I swore if you peeled back my eyelids, you’d see burned into the skin images of golf courses.
And, I don’t golf.
The venue lists are long. Painful. Plentiful. Some hilariously bad. (another post) Way out of our budget.
But after much websurfing, much deliberation, and much compromise. We narrowed it down to some top choices. Here are a few to start:
Hey! Congrats on narrowing it down. We also had to create a spreadsheet… but finally have a deposit down! I went to a bridal show a few weekends ago, and there’s this awesome photographer with these beautiful albums. I emailed him yesterday for a price list, and the album alone is $2500. What?!? So, back to square one…
where did you decide? I can’t wait to see!
I like the brick one. It would be gorgeous in the fall. And the last one with glass windows and flowers in front. Is that the Art Museum?
Oooh, I like the Danada House and Elmhurst Art Museum a lot! Very cool and classy spaces.