The Venue Hunt
A few days after our engagement we began the venue hunt, it didn’t help that I was flying a bit blind by calling venues in Maryland while living in Miami. After our return to Maryland Nick had to return to England, so I was pretty alone in the search.
I first looked into the Clyburn Arboretum in Baltimore while we were living in Miami and balked at the $1400 cost. I thought ” that is just too high!!!”. Right…
Which it actually would be by the time we rented everything we’d need to.
Then I looked into the Constellation, which is a very large, old battleship that sits in the very center of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore City.
Which, it turns out you need a $1,000,000 insurance policy to use…my parents said no.
I began to feel I was getting edged out of Baltimore…then after stalking my photographer’s blog I visited the Elkridge Furnace Inn.
taken from Elkridge Furnace Inn's site, not from my photographer's
Which though incredibly lovely was simply out of our budget. I’m exactly wild about the area either, and it could be confusing to get to for out of town guests.
So I began to look in Maryland’s capitol – and the home of Miss Tiramisu – Annapolis:
Where I found the O’Callaghan hotel
As much as I love the US Navy and subsequently the US Naval Academy – the reception room is in Navy gold and blue. Which sadly isn’t what I had pictured, because the price and the service were spot on. Not to mention all our guests could stay there!
If I had all the money in the world I would have certainly checked out these venues which are my “top 5 I wish they weren’t out of our budget”:
The American Visionary Art Museum
Which are all very very lovely (and way way out of our budget), but with the exceptions of The American Visionary Art Museum and the Aquarium-they don’t really shout Nick and I.
Which is why, with out any further ado, I’d like to introduce to our venue:
The Historic Oakland Manor
In my hometown of Columbia, MD and less than 10 minutes away from my parent’s home which is unfortunately 20 minutes outside of Baltimore. The saucy city wedding I envisioned has officially been moved to the suburbs. I’m sorry for the gray cloudy day, I promise my photography does not do it justice
I also promise you a full tour of Oakland soon 
What compromises did you have to make when finding your venue?
I really found it difficult to make other decisions until I had found it, were you able to get around that?
January 3rd, 2009 at 7:45 pm
I had the same visions of you. I wanted a big Baltimore wedding. I’m having a Harford County wedding, at the historic Liriodendron Mansion. It’s going to cost half the price of anything we looked at in Baltimore. I had to let go of my dream to get married at the AVAM, especially when I realized the space is too large and we’d have to rent every frickin’ thing from the linens to the forks.
I do love my venue. I didn’t think I would before we visited, as I’m more of a modern bride, but once we got there, I fell in love, and my parents loved it too, since it’s a historic Harford County house (they’re members of the Harford County Historical Society) and my fiance really liked it too. The best thing is that it’s the kind of space that will work if we have 100 people or if we have 40, it won’t seem empty. Oh, and free parking. That too. :p
January 3rd, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Visions AS you, obviously.
:headsmack: