Reception Rankings

I understand why people get married in their backyards, or elope. Last week, I trekked around Washington trying to find the perfect hotel, that didn't quite look like a hotel, that wasn't a ballroom, that was easy to get to, that fit our guest list size, and that didn't feel like we were attending someone else's wedding. Jumbled perspectives like this are why the wedding industry has become the bloated behemoth that it is.

See, the idea with the "reception in the main hotel" thing is to make it easier on guests. My approach to the whole wedding planning thing thus far has been - what would I think if I were attending this wedding? This has lead me to ask the hotel-person-in-charge-of-weddings questions like: How many stalls does the women's bathroom have? Where can we put a photobooth? And, so if just say that hypothetically, we wanted to bring a food truck in at midnight...

Walking into the venue, I imagine that I'm one of my friends from college, who just drove an hour into town, got dressed in my hotel room, and now wants to party. Because the thing is: to us it's our wedding, but to everyone else - it's a party.

And I haven't dreamed of my wedding since I was three. When I was three, I wanted to be an architect, not a bride. That is how much of a nerd I am. (Ps. I am not an architect.)

Fearing I would not have the "aha!" moment with a venue, especially after talking to my married friends who had... my dad (who was helping in my working fiancé's stead), our awesome wedding planner, and I went venue to venue. And then I walked in one and saw this:

Hello, pretty.

Atrium feel, beautiful light, calm, romantic, suited to exactly our size. Can it be true? That's the cocktail hour space, and now for the reception. Walk through here:

And arrive here: 

If we look up from our first dance, this is what we'll see:

The room boasts five huge skylights, five chandeliers, and with a round/clover shape, you can stand absolutely anywhere and feel you are a part of the same event. It feels cozy, almost as if it's someone's home. Granted, a super rich person. But it. is. perfect.

Praises to the weddings gods, we found it. Next hurdle: finding a date that works for both the hotel and the church...