Trucking Along

It's been much too long since I posted - so sorry for the long silence!  It's been an eventful and traumatic month. A few weeks ago we received a quote from my DREAM reception location that was actually within our budget! For two weeks I was walking on a cloud. We changed our date, moving it up by 7 months, and our colors to something more winter-y and waited for the event coordinator to put together our final proposal so we could put down our deposit.

The final proposal came back $2,000 higher than we were initially quoted. Ouch!

Since the initial quote was already pushing our budget to the max, I made the very painful call to rule out the venue. My wonderful fiance offered to do everything he could to make my dream reception a reality and I can't tell you how much I love him for that. But we also agreed that if we were to increase our budget, it should be to include more guests, not to splurge on a venue. And so we are back to the drawing board...

We ruled out all three of the previous locations I mentioned. Smith Brothers was just too expensive. North Bank Pavilion is too difficult to rent and would require a tent (expensive!) and Olde Gahanna Sanctuary was just... not ME. Our current options are:

LaScala Italian Bistro in Dublin, Ohio. Don't let the pictures on their website fool you! They've recently renovated and their two event spaces look great! Also, the room is free with minimum food and alcohol purchases. The alcohol is on the pricey side, but the free room balances it out. Also, really good food and full staffing are included in the price. This is a great option for those of us without wedding planners.

The YWCA Ballroom is little advertised and a great find! I stumbled on this venue through a caterer's preferred venues list. It's inexpensive, widely available and you can usually get in the night before to set up! Also, if you're planning a warm weather wedding (which we unfortunately are not), it comes with a balcony patio overlooking downtown Columbus - very nice! The YWCA combined with the crazy cheap and yummy Caterers Three is a great deal. Don't be fooled by their website - they can cook! And their prices are half of anywhere else we've found.

There's our update! We're checking out a wedding set up at LaScala at the end of March. I anticipate they will be the winner and we will be putting our deposit down the first week in April. Now that our date is February 2011, I am getting quite anxious!