House Mountain Inn

When you're running late to a wedding, have sweat droplets up the whazoo, and have a hair flower to show off, what do you do?  Demand your equally sweaty, late husband take pictures of you hanging off the golf cart transportation, of course!  In my head, this pictures was much cuter, something out of a Bing Crosby 40s musical with me regally holding on to the cart with one hand while looking fresh and expectant.  I'll blame this one on the fact that Mr. Palindrome was only about 12" away from me on the cart.

We were running late because we had driven to Lexington, VA that very afternoon and needed to stop at our hotel to change prior to the wedding.  Then we needed to drive from the hotel to the House Mountain Inn for the wedding itself.  The drive was oh-so-worth-it, if for no other reason than the breathtaking views of the blue ridge mountains.

I considered a purpose or theme for this post, but I really just wanted an excuse to show off my cute hair flower that I bought on impulse as I was shopping for groceries at Target, brag on my handsome husband, and give a quick nod to the House Mountain Inn as a lovely wedding location.  Done, done and done.

And for a funny, I'll give you three guesses as to what I was trying draw with my sparkler (and yes, this is the best picture of my 5 tries).

Trumpet Sounds! Hallelujah! Angels singing!

Babies giggling! The whole earth rejoicing! Other various fanfare up the whazoooooo!

Hear ye! Hear ye! We have a venue! And a house!

This has been the most momentous week of my life - other than the week I was born. The future Mr. Palindrome and I have secured a wedding venue and bought a house.

Venue:

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The house :)


More pictures, stories and the rest to come! I'm leaving to celebrate my former roommate's wedding in the land of cheese - wedding detail recaps from her wedding are in your future too.

Smooches, love, rainbows, butterflies, and giggles - and Happy 4th of July!

A Venue Crossroads

I must have jinxed it . . .

When I tell you the story, you won't believe it. I feel as though I'm in a wedding version of Groundhog's Day. Every morning I wake up and we're no closer to booking a venue.

The long and short of it is that we were in negotiations to secure room openings at the Cavalier on the Hill. Not only did they decline the deal, they rescinded their original offer to open the rooms in the old building at all.

Now you answer me this - would you continue to discuss options with them? or would you just call it a day and find another venue even though you're sick and tired of venue shopping?

I think I'm set on having the ceremony at our church, but now may also consider the Harrison Opera House

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and the Chrysler Museum

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as possible reception locations.

I don't want to jinx it . . .

because the contract hasn't been signed yet . . . but here's a sneak peek at our reception location :)

(hehehehehe, can you tell I'm a little giddy and keep acting like I'm all powerful by giving you "sneak peeks"? It just seems like what everyone else is doing on their wedding websites.)

The venue selection process has been a much longer and more complicated process than I ever imagined. T-minus 235 days until the wedding, well, just wait one second. 235 seems like a lot of days. Ok, T-minus 8 months and no contract is making me a little nervous. I keep reminding myself of everyone I know who has pulled off a wedding in less than 6 months. I'm still easy, breezy and just fine on my timeline!

Is there an aspect of your wedding that took longer than you thought to finalize? Did you feel rushed even though you still had a respectable amount of time left to plan it?

And then there were two

Venues that is. We've officially narrowed it down to two venues and unofficially chosen one. I can't reveal it yet because we haven't signed, but I thought to tide you over that I would post the inside pictures that the Future Mr. Palindrome took when we visited.

Drum roll please.

First the Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach:

Foyer


Cocktail area


Hall


Lounge


Grand Ballroom

Are you holding your breath to see the other finalist??

Hold no longer - take a deep breath in!

Fredericksburg Square:


Chapel Area


Cocktail area


Ballroom


Fancy self-playing piano

When the contract is signed, I'll have a venue contract completion party! Seriously, this has been the hardest part about the wedding. It can only get easier after 4 months of venue searching right?

RIIIIIIGHT????????

Yeah, right!

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

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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?