My Wedding Planning Diary: Entry #2 - Venue Battle

So where am I with planning now you ask? Well a few weekends ago, on a Sunday my wonderful planner/event designer made her way to our venue and took a look around, got a feel for the space and what can be done there. She assured me that our venue has LOADS of potential and it is NOT impossible for my vision to be realized in that space. Now when I say I literally jumped up with joy and squealed with happiness, I was TOO ELATED! To understand WHY I was so happy I have to give you a backstory, haha! 


Sooo my Mom found my venue about a month or two before I got engaged (she knew it was coming, I had no idea, just thought she was being proactive, since she's been planning my wedding since I was 10, lmaoo). When I saw the venue it did ABSOLUTELY nothing for me....it didnt have the humongous crystal chandeliers, the tray ceilings throughout, the beautiful crown molding with gold paint accents, the marble/wooden floors, with a grand staircase and huge beautiful doors....yes...that is what I had ALWAYS envisioned, that is what my dream venue looked like in my mind. Needless to say this venue was almost EXACTLY the opposite...it had ugly carpet, ugly walls, ugly chandeliers, the only thing on my dream venue list I could check off was a huge parking lot and enough space to contain my guests. I was NOT impressed. I put this hall to the back of my mind and hit Google, WeddingWire, Project Wedding EVERYwhere trying to find this "dream venue". 


Nowwww my dream venue DEFINITELY exists BUT they all had dealbreakers...major ones being: the room could not seat over 200 people and we all know that is not happening and/or outside caterers were not allowed. Those were two things I could NOT negotiate on...simply because I want total peace on my wedding day lol! Dont want ppl complaining because they dont see jollof rice and goat meat nor do I want people my fiancee' & I love to be excluded from my wedding day due to limited guest seating. So after much research it seemed like I was slowly losing the battle of venues. My Mom used EVERY resource possible to get me to budge, my future mother and sister in law, my aunts, my Dad, my brothers, etc. She pulled out all the stops but I still refused to budge until I attended another wedding in that venue. I saw how the wedding looked very nice and all the things I was worried about were not even noticeable once the hall was decorated. It wasnt until then, that my mind was at rest. I then allowed my Mom to go ahead and book the hall for my wedding date. When my event designer looked at it and told me it would be beautiful once she was done with it...that was ALL I needed to hear, to make me TOTALLY comfortable with my venue choice and put my mind at ease! Later on that evening she sent me a few decor inspiration pictures and those photos completely NAILED like every possible idea I've played with in my mind as far as tablescapes go. I'll share the inspiration pictures with you once I get them on my computer!


Stay Beautiful My Loves,
Memi

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