THE Place

So... as of Thursday, January 24, 2011, our venue has been BOOKED! Like, booked for real... like we actually gave them a deposit!!! Yes, I've talked about 2 other venues in the course of this blog, BUT this is THE ONE!!! When I first stepped in the place, I KNEW I had to have it! This place has everything that the last place had AND SOME!!! I didn't want to post the name, but why not?! My venue is Bella Elegante located in downtown Houston! It is such a beautiful venue! And there's a beautiful park across the street for great pictures. I'm so happy about this check! It's one of the biggest checks ever! Oh, next post is about my dress shopping experience!

Revised: Here're my pix!

This is the beautiful chandelier when you first walk into my venue.

This is the mirror right outside of the door to the room.

This is the view of the room when you first walk in.

Another view.

This is the back of the room. The pretty bookshelves over the fire place and one of two flat screen TVs.

Some things in the room will be changed before my wedding! New carpet and the construction of a wall where the servers come out. I'm so anxious!

The Perfect Place!

Babe and I totally forgot about our meeting with the venue on Monday, so we rescheduled for today. I don't think I've said this on my blog yet, {I could be wrong} but we found another venue! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Shady Oaks, but things happen. Here's what happened.

Babe told me that we should go back and revisit Brady's Landing just to compare the price to that of Shady Oaks. I was cool with that. So, one Wednesday, after getting my hair done, I went up to Brady's. I spoke with the lady we met with when we first went there. {Brady's was the first venue we ever looked at.} When I got there, she told me she is retiring in December. I was like, "Where are you going?! You going to travel?" She then told me that she was opening her own wedding facility. GET THIS: It's in DOWNTOWN HOUSTON! Ok, so she tells me that we can go see it that Saturday. We went and we were in L-O-V-E!!! We left with a general price, but no set numbers. That sucks when you're trying to plan a wedding, right?!

Fast forward to today. We went back and I'm still in L-O-V-E!!! Here are some pictures of the venue. The venue's name is Column-A and they will be having their first event on this Sunday!

This is the front entrance. I didn't want to run across the street to get a full picture. {Remember... downtown Houston!}

These are the doors after you enter the building. The doors to the reception rooms and restrooms. At the top will say Column-A.


This is the seating area that's to the right of the entry way. It's before you go through the previous doors. {It's right outside of the ceremony space.}


Doors to the ceremony.


The ceremony space. {Sorry, the lights were not on, and IDK where the switches were.}


The ceiling and chandelier.


Doors to The Venus Room, my reception room.


The Venus Room and its dance floor!




The little bridge. {New plants coming soon.}




The restrooms. {Men's on top, women's on bottom}



Mini mock set up.



Our dance floor. Babe was showing me how I could walk down the aisle... he thinks that dance floor is bigger than the other one that we'll get married on. And he figured they could use the partition wall and make it a room for the ceremony. Then open it later. NAH!


Ok, enough with the pictures. Let's talk about why I'm loving this place so much. My venue will be providing EVERYTHING except for the cake, photographer, and videographer. Here is everything I'll be getting {for 100 ppl}: The ceremony room with floral arrangements and chairs with chair covers, the reception room, tables and chairs, linens and chair covers with sashes and napkins, centerpieces which will be limes in tall vases and calla lilies, glass plates, silverware, and glasses. Also, I will have a plated meal of salad, chicken Alfredo with the chicken kabobs, two vegetables, and juice. I will also have all my flowers, cake table, candy buffet, DJ, and valet parking.

ALL THIS FOR... under $10,000!!!

Needless to say, I'm super excited about this place! And I'm glad to officially end the venue hunt!

Hidden Jewel

After my depressing Wednesday, I just really didn't care about a wedding anymore! But once you've been looking at wedding stuff for so long, it becomes habit. WELL, I was searching the web and I found a place in Spring, TX, and the place is only about 5 miles from my house!!! Yesterday, I called and scheduled and appointment for this morning. I was very excited because the website said that they were pretty much all inclusive! And I just felt like it would be priced right.

At 10:00am, we headed to Shady Oaks. OMG, this place is PERFECT!!! First of all, the lady that works there is so nice and pleasant! Her presentation was on point. And she is VERY professional.

The venue is on 6 acres. It's very tucked away. Their packages include nearly everything. The do the linens, have several centerpieces to choose from, the refreshments, the wedding cake, the food, the DJ {they have four to choose from}... you name it, they pretty much supply it. The only thing we'd have to worry about is the groom's cake, photographer/videographer, and florist.


This is the outdoor cathedral. It was built a year ago and holds up to 300 people. It has lights and ceiling fans. For Houston heat, I must admit that it felt pleasant under there even without the fans on. {But it WAS morning.} It has a beautiful high ceiling and I guess that's where all the heat was. They high pressure wash it and set it up the day of the wedding, so it's clean!


In the event that it's raining AND windy, we can switch it up and use the indoor cathedral. It's very nice, as well.


This is the inside of the reception hall. Sorry the pic is dark. I'm too excited to try to edit it! lol


This is the sweet heart table in the middle of the bridesmaids table and groomsmen table.


The cake tables.


This is the buffet hall. You can be served on both sides and they have someone directing all of the traffic. They don't have a liquor license, so we can bring our own liquor, we'd just have to pay for a bartender.

THE PRICE IS SO ON POINT for all that it includes! We are in love with this place and it's THE ONE! I plan to go tomorrow to show my mom. We're even in the calendar for a date next year. The date will be revealed a little later. As for now, I'm THRILLED!!! This day can't get any better! But if it does, I'll be sure to let you all know!

The Venue... But NOT!

Sorry I haven't been posting! But straight to the point....

Today, Babe and I had an appointment at The Venue, a club in downtown Houston. I was SO hype about it because the pictures online looked great. The price is only $3500 for the full 11,000 square foot building AND the DJ. So, we got there. We had to pay to park since it is a weekday, and it was during business hours. I like the place on the inside. It has 2 bars, lounge seating, and the option to move some of the furniture out and put up tables and chairs. They have 9 flat screen TVs, and a HUGE projection screen that we can use for whatever. AND since it's a club, they have all the lighting anyone would want!

Problem 1: I would either have to have my ceremony somewhere else {like Discovery Green} or have my ceremony and reception in the same room. I DON'T want the all in one room thing.

Problem 2: PARKING! Ok, I want a Sunday wedding, so metered parking is FREE! But, there is a parking garage that is pricey and there's a parking lot that might be $5. Or we could pay $10/car for valet. That's NOT gonna work for me! So, Babe said the parking is an issue. You know {Black} people are not gonna wanna pay to park, even if we ARE feeding them. Dude, it's DOWNTOWN HOUSTON, get over it! UGH!

So, this evening we went to The House of Blues, which is also in downtown Houston. The place just had bad vibes. It was like evil spirits in there. I felt so out of place. We were in the members only part and it just felt like the cops would come in at any minute and raid the place for some type of illegal activity! If the place didn't have those spirits, it would have been a very nice venue, though.

OH, and THEN I found out today that The Admiral on Clear Lake is booked on my day. UGH!

Needless to say, today was a pretty stressful day! I'm back at square one! Maybe I can change the date and do The Admiral. IDK.

Well, time to lay it down.

This Might be THE ONE!!!

As we continue the whole venue search, I went to my folder I have saved on my computer with venues. What did I find?! THE ADMIRAL!!! I like this place and I've heard it's really nice! At this point, I need to schedule an appointment so that we can go see it. The price is right. The decor is right. I can have my outdoors wedding. It's KINNA beachy, since it's on the water. And I can make it my own! The one problem I've come across is the location. It's not exactly in Houston. I wonder if people would travel to come to the wedding since I'm not really feeling a Saturday wedding due to the prices that are involved with Saturday's. Nevertheless, it's on my "I WANT IT!" list! And usually what I want, I get. Yay!

Venue Search! Still in Progress....

So, we've been looking at venues for about 6 months now. Seems like an eternity! Until we decide, I will share some of the places that we've looked at and really liked!

1. Brady's Landing
For 200 people, all inclusive they were around $5k. I LOVED that about them. The venue is also pretty and the lady we talked to was really nice. That's also 2 good things.

2. Ashton Gardens
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this place!!! If they didn't cost so dang much, they would be on my top 3 list!

3. The Bell Tower on 34th
OMG, they are my #1 choice!!! This place is BEAUTIFUL! Now, if the price was as beautiful as the venue, I'd be planning the rest of my wedding! But oh well. Maybe I can take my bridals there.

4. The Gallery
This would be my 1st choice if I were okay with having to do EVERYTHING myself! I like a place that has most things included in a package. I think they are still on the list, though.

As of now, we are thinking about Vargo's.
I read some mixed reviews about the place, so I'm still debating. Vargo's is a very beautiful place, so, I think they are still on the list, as well.

I don't know if I'm being too picky, but I just can't seem to decide. Now, I'm leaning towards somewhere that we can bring our own food. Maybe that would be less expensive. Who knows? For now, the search is still on!



{The gazebo at Vargo's.}