Where, oh where art my venue?

Choosing a venue has proven to be the most difficult process we’ve endured yet. I know that’s not saying much as the future Mr. Palindrome and I have pretty much only gotten engaged and started venue hunting. Seriously though, if the rest of the process is like this, I have a feeling I’ll be closer than ever to booking a trip to Vegas.

We went the tried and true approach of establishing the budget, finding the right mood, and researching costs. Dad and Mom Palindrome hunted and visited. Since the future Mr. Palindrome said he just didn’t want to get married in a “parking lot,” we narrowed it down to three venues for him to choose from:

1. Ceresville Mansion
2. Maggiano’s
3. Bucknell University (our alma mater)

Lovely choices, no? No, according to some involved (who shall remain nameless) in the venue selection process. We actually found that the cons at all of these places outweighed the pros and at the future Mr. Palindrome’s insistence (let’s just call him FMP from now on, eh?) we started from scratch.

We searched high and low. Our wedding guru, Miss P, searched high and low. And now we find ourselves in the same place one month later – trying to decide between three choices:

1. Fredericksburg Square

2. The Cavalier Hotel

Source
3. Ft. Belvoir


Sometimes I feel like flipping a coin and moving on because this rates about a zero on my fun scale. How did you know that you had found your perfect venue? Is there such a thing as a perfect venue?