Long Overdue

Despite the fact that our venue was the first decision we made, and the first wedding check to be written, I've yet to blog about it!  I could never decide just how to attack my venue search posts, because at the time I had decided that I had absolutely the worst experience searching for a venue in all of wedding-planning history.  It wasn't a story I wanted to revisit.  Now, I've realized that our venue search was actually fairly simple, with very few speed bumps.  Because it was the basis for my first wedding related disappointment, and my first (and only, I hope) wedding planning tears, the whole ordeal left a bad taste in my mouth.  But I'm over it, and I'm ready to share my experience with you!

I started planning our wedding with the assumption that I wouldn't find anything I liked, venue-wise or other, in this hodunk-middle-of-nowhere-town.  I had little hope before I even started to look, simply because I didn't know what was available.  So I turned to Google.  "Tulare wedding venues,"  I typed.  Wouldn't you know it, my only two business results were International Agri-Center and Tulare County Fairgrounds.

Blech and blech.  Google, you didn't help subside my doubts at all!

So, I endured a few weeks of my parents trying to convince me to go with the banquet hall at the Intl. Agri-Center, and I was almost fed up.  Then, by word of mouth, I started to hear of some gardeny type venues that seemed much more my style... because we all know that whenever you mention to anyone that you're getting married, they respond with, "Oh!  My second-cousin's-daughter's-best-friend's sister got married (insert random location here!)"

Well, thank you dozens of random people.  With some of their suggestions, I had a decent list of venues to check out!

So, I started calling.

Apparently, May is a very busy month for weddings.  PSA: Ladies.  If you're planning on getting married in May of 2011, book your venue now.  Holy cow, it was only April and May (of the next year, obv) was already completely booked at about half of the venues I was calling.

Then.  I found it.  The perfect venue.  I loved everything about it, from the gorgeous pond:

To the picturesque gazebo:


To the green, green grass:

source

Can you imagine it all lit up at night?  So pretty.  I loved it, Mr. D loved it, and hallelujah there was one open Saturday in May.  "Perfect!  Hold it for us, we'll be there tomorrow!"  I exclaimed over the phone.

Daddy and Stepmom Doxie and I headed out the very next day, check in hand.  We loved it just as much in person as in the photos online.  Just as we sat down to discuss business, the owner looked through her datebook and hit me with words I could hardly comprehend.

"What was your date again?  May?  Oh, looks like I booked the last Saturday in May this morning."  She flipped through pages and pages.  "We have an opening in October if you're interested."

And I cried.  It wasn't my finest moment, but at least I can say I made it to my car before the faucets turned on!

Up next:  I put my disappointment aside and weigh my options.

What was your first planning disappointment?  Was your search for the perfect venue easy-peasy, or was it much more difficult than you imagined?