Our New Venue Choice

I just realized I haven't talked to you about picking a new venue after changing everything to Michigan.

Finding a venue in my hometown was MUCH easier than trying to find one in the city I live in in Louisiana. I already knew everything about all of the places back where I grew up.  I easily ruled out quite a few halls because I have an issue with florescent lighting. I refuse to have it. Some places weren't in a part of the city I would want to send my family, and some were too far out of the way and I didn't want people to get lost.

The places I contacted were:

Horizons Conference Center

photos came up via yahoo search, but said website wasn't available anymore.

So I am not really sure who to credit.

The Temple Theater

photos from the Temple Theater website

Apple Mountain

photos from the Apple Mountain website

The Hellenic Center

photo from The Hellenic Center website

 Swan Valley Banquet Center

photos from the Swan Valley website

Trillium Banquet Center

photo from the Trillium Banquet Center website

Horizons and the Temple Theater are owned by the same people and were both way to expensive, especially after our guest list got so large (and in charge, obviously). The Trillium didn't have my date available, so that made that easy.  So I was inbetween Apple Mountain, Swan Valley and the Hellenic Center.

I ended up choosing The Swan Valley Banquet Center. Honestly, I am not sure what made me choose this over the others. Probably the fact that the lady I talk to there was just so darn friendly, and answered my million questions like a champ.  That and she always put a smiley face after her name in her emails.

Wait! I remember what it was now (seriously, I just remembered as I was writing this), she is giving us 20% off our food, and the ceremony site is free.  How the heck did I forget that? Maybe because I've been so wrapped up in my (people) numbers that I pushed it to the back of my mind.

Anyway, I am VERY excited to have our wedding here. We were originally going to use the scenic ballroom, until we added another bajillion people to our guest list, now we have to go with the grand ballroom. Which is okay by me, because it is still very pretty.

So what do you think? Did I do good? Were there areas of your city you tried to avoid too when choosing your venue?