Pretty venues that didn’t make the list

Oh definitely! Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled with our venue that we booked, but if we could have afforded this ... https://www.lidobeachresort.com/events/weddings/venues/
~sigh~
Patti

I've got two on my list that I think were just gorgeous but didn't work out. For one, the venue was gorgeous and was always my dream venue but the coordinator was trying to really pressure us into booking with them before we even toured the grounds (we had been there multiple times for other events so we knew the grounds well, but never got an official wedding tour). So I told him he could go pressure someone else into booking with them because we wanted to take our time. The second venue we toured and they even created a whole menu for us, but the extra expenses were just way too much for our budget. It was a country club and the building was BEAUTIFUL.

This place: https://www.weddingwire.com/biz/seawinds-estate/1ba94cf7407b3f64.html

Those views, but we live in LA and planning a wedding from that far away is hard, especially in covid-times.

I got married on the coast of South Carolina, and near Charleston there are a bunch of plantation homes that have been turned into wedding venues. They have become very controversial in recent years...personally, I would go to a wedding at one of invited, but we never even looked at them for our wedding for a number of reasons. I always admire others' pictures though, because the grounds are so beautiful.


Boone Hall and Lowndes Grove are two that come to mind.

We actually got our first preference venue! So, we feel very lucky. The other places we visited were lovely, but each had something that was a bit of an issue.

One had two separate choices at the same venue, an expensive one and a cheaper one, and both were super beautiful and had many lovely elements, but we felt if we'd have picked the cheaper one, you'd always be looking over at the more expensive one (which was just visible through the trees!) and feeling like the poor relation. The more expensive one though, had no decent wet weather option, and that was a dealbreaker for me.

Another place was just stunning, but they had a lot of renovation plans and you never know if they plan to remove all the things you love and add a bunch of things you hate, so we didn't want to risk it.

Especially when we loved the first preference so much - it seemed like we were trying too hard to like the other places and asked ourselves why we were trying to fight it.

There was a truly beautiful space with a really cool balcony view of St. Patrick's cathedral...

That also had overtly political decor and backing. (Very, very carefully hidden on the website and all reviews.)

Like, you walked into one of cocktail hour rooms and were confronted with a larger than life early 20th-century Presidential portrait. (He was not a particularly successful President, nor popular, even now.)

When the poor girl who showed us around asked us why we declined to book, I had to be honest with her. (She was fairly new to the job AND NYC, and I didn't want her to feel like she had done something wrong.) If the place hadn't been so very themed around old, dead Presidents, we might have considered it!

These were the ones we REALLY loved the looks of, but we just couldn't justify spending the money on them when the one we booked included so much more than they did. It also doesn't hurt that our venue gave us a nice discount for having a January wedding!

Barn South : Gorgeous minimal design with HIGH ceilings that made me swoon. This was my 'first love'.

Meadows at Mossy Creek : Loved the design of this as well, and the landscaping would've been gorgeous for photos.

Heartwood Acres : We really liked how close this one was to our hometown, which would've made it easier for us to plan/travel. Ultimately, it wasn't big enough for our guest list.

There is one I can think of immediately.

It was called the Ballroom at Church Street. It doesn't exist anymore now, it was demolished to make way for a bank, but here are some photos:

You know what none of those pictures show?

That it was literally right next to a massive highway overpass that, at the time, was under construction. Think huge cranes, orange MEN AT WORK signs ten feet from the front of the building, an unfinished overpass with rebar sticking out of it surrounded by concrete blocks, the whole nine yards.

Plus, when we got there, I found out there was no parking. None. The closest free parking was at a parking garage a solid mile from the venue. There was a little historic district behind it with the typical metered parking along the sides of the streets, but logistically there would be no way for me to pay for my guests' metered parking, and also there would have been no guarantee the spaces would be open the day of.

If there is anything I was adamantly against, it was my guests walking for 15-20 minutes in Florida summer heat to get to my wedding because the closest parking was a mile away.

My dream venue would have been this country club with a nice garden. and then another venue i considered was nice too but eventually i went with what was more practical to me

Yes! We were looking into a brewery and we said no to it because they didn't allow us to have live entertainment and they only served a small selection of beer and wine

BUT I absolutely LOVE the venue we chose!

Before I was even engaged I fell in love with this venue! However it was just a bit out of my price range also it's HUGE and I'm not having a super large wedding, so I felt like it would be too empty

https://www.weddingwire.com/biz/the-astorian-houston/d79e1c295daca29a.html