We have a Venue!

So what direction did we go with in our search? I'll be totally honest, we're all friends here. I started to get extremely frustrated in our search for a venue. Everything I came across needed too much decorating, too expensive, unappetizing food, too many restrictions, didn't feel like us, wasn't available and so forth.

Mr. Farmer started to feel horrible for me and he suggested I take a break from planning. You're probably going, "You guys just started planning and you're taking a break?" I got so frustrated that I just didn't want to do anything wedding related anymore. Mr. Farmer wanted to help but he didn't know how, other than to give me lots of wine and be a good shoulder to cry on.

Let me tell you brides out there, sometimes you just need to step back and take a breather. This was one of my first reality checks that planning is hard work. You're not going to find the option that works best for you without a lot of hard work and shopping around.

Pinkie Pansy (one of my favs)

I am going to throw you lovelies a complete curve ball and let you in on a little secret. We are NOT getting married in Minnesota like we thought. We are NOT getting married at a golf course like we had anticipated. Heck we are NOT having it in a hotel ballroom and we are NOT getting married in a barn. Well what does that leave?!
 

A garden of course!!

In a totally random Google search I found this place, The Florian Gardens in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Eau Claire happens to be on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota. After looking into this place more and more we realized this has exactly what we were looking for.

1. Beautiful, interesting

2. Good food

3. Good reviews

4. Very accommodating

5. Amazing wedding coordinator
6. Outside ceremony

It's important to research various options so you can eliminate them; it was something I had to learn throughout the process. Nobody told me that I was going to drop the F-bomb a lot or I should of stocked up on my favorite Riesling. I didn't realize that you're not going to find something perfect on the first try. Planning from a distance takes a lot of digging. Some are totally lucky and nail it on the first go around but for most brides, don't feel bad if you don't find it on the first try.

I encourage you NOT to get discouraged like I did or if you do, break out your favorite cocktail, regroup, recharge and take another look. They call it shopping for a reason. I wish I would have realized that not everything is going to work out perfectly the first time around.

Shall we look at a few pictures of my beautiful venue? Oh lets!

(all photos courtesy of Florian Gardens)

We are so excited that we found a place to have not only our ceremony but reception as well. The best part? There's a hotel right next door. So it has been decided that we will have a semi-destination wedding. Not at all what we thought we would be doing but it works for us and we are a-ok with that. Everyone will have to come from out of town but this is doable. The hotel is within walking distance so we should be able to get a block of rooms with no problems.

We are extremely relieved to have such a major decision out of the way, or at least I should say I am. With our location pinned down we can start planning some of the other major things.

Did anyone else have a difficult time deciding where to have your ceremony and/or reception?