So, when we left off, Mr. Goodlaff and I had three venues we were deciding between: Monte Verde Inn, Empire Mine, and the Miners Foundry.
Which one did we choose?
Do you remember how Mr. Goodlaff wanted to get married in a church? Remember my concerns about an outdoor wedding in the beginning of Spring? With the Miners Foundry, all our problems were solved all our wishes were fulfilled.
Ultimately it came down to our budget and weather. The Monte Verde Inn is gorgeous—If I got to have a second wedding to Mr. Goodlaff, I might pick that for our venue. But, it’s all inclusive and ultimately we weren’t comfortable with that. The costs listed on their website were above what we had originally planned to spend on our wedding, and again, there was the outdoor factor. Sure, it says that you can move inside if it's going to rain on your wedding parade, but not knowing how many guests the inn-side can accommodate made it a difficult thing to look past. Goodbye, Monte Verde!
With the Empire Mine, again, the weather was a consideration, but the bigger factor was the time limitations: you could only get married between 5 and 7 PM, and to have the wedding and reception there would cost double what the Foundry would cost, plus the caterer and on and on. Flexibility was not really an option with that venue, and it would have blown our budget out of the water.
I’m making this sound like it was a big agonizing decision making process, and in some respects, it was. I think we both knew pretty early on that the Miners Foundry was it for us. The Stone Hall has such an amazing history and is beautiful. I’m a bit of a history geek, and I love the idea that we’re getting married in a building that built the tools that fueled the Gold Rush—when I’m there, I feel so connected to past, and I think it will really showcase our area for our out of town guests. It feels sacred, like a church (a plus for Mr. Goodlaff), and it had enough space for the wedding we were planning. Though we thought it a little on the pricey side, the amount of space and the ability to use it all day for both the ceremony and reception made it worth it. We also got a deal by using it on a Sunday instead of a Saturday.
So, why did it take us nearly two weeks to declare the winner? Well, it’s silly, really: I didn’t want to be a copy-cat ! A friend of mine had already gotten married there, and I was a bridesmaid in her wedding. I found myself internally (and externally) debating whether something like that should matter, and though it took a little bit of time to get over it, I finally realized that though our wedding venue wasn’t going to be totally unique to us, our wedding would be a lot different from hers, and I would be marrying Mr. Goodlaff in a place that we loved, which was all that ultimately mattered.
We are now both totally in love with our venue, and can’t believe our good luck in finding such an amazing place to become husband and wife and begin our new lives together. I absolutely can’t wait to see Mr. Goodlaff waiting for me at the end of that Stone Hall!
Did anything make you hesitate in picking out your venue?
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