Another venue OUT

The wedding drama never ends. It’s been a few weeks since we first stopped into the Vintage Motor Club in Concord. I wasn’t completely sold on the venue but for the price and location, we thought it would be doable. Also, it fits 300 VERY comfortably AND they were willing to let my mom cater the wedding. It was charming enough and maybe we could play up a vintage theme around all the classic car images and indoor (non-working) gas station decor.

Ugh, that all changed Tuesday. Apparently, the venue now has an exclusive caterer from Charlotte (Best Impressions Caterer). And the guy was just like, I know how important it was to have your mom cater, so we wish you guys the very best. I mean, no discussion about it at all.

Seriously, it must be something about me wanting to sign off a chunk of money to a place that makes them want to say, eh – nevermind, we don’t need your business. (Not really, but ugh, I’m wining).

So I guess I now know why I wasn’t completely sold on the venue. What a week!

The Havana Social Club, Cornelius, NC

So, what made the Havana Social Club in Cornelius THE venue?

It was SO affordable and included everything from tables to linens to decorations and set up and break down. It could also easily seat 300 guests .The venue also had built in audio and visual equipment we could use at no additional costs. The location was not too bad or too far from us.

And when we walked in for the visit, the wheels in Tim’s head just started going. He had all these ideas for our wedding and what he could do for it. Even he was inspired!

The club was an old movie theater that had been converted into a ballroom where ballroom dancers competed, practices, etc. - there was a huge dance floor. I also loved that the venue had tall ceilings so it felt very big. They also had the old movie poster lightboxes mounted along the walls still, which would have made great picture displays.

So sad. Look at what we could’ve had!



Finding a reception venue

So another big dilemma we’ve been facing with the wedding is the location of our reception. On the way to put down the deposit for our venue of choice, The Palace Theater, aka the Havana Social Club, in Cornelius, NC, we were told the venue had been sold and any events after July 1 would have to be canceled. That SUCKED because we were starting to plan around our date of September 1!

So, what is our criteria for a venue?

• Everyone says you pick out a few verbs that you would like to describe your wedding. My words were inexpensive, classy, fun, easy. In a perfect world, it would be rustic, timeless, romantic
• Has to fit 300 guests – my mom’s number, not mine. We made a list of friends and it’s at about 85. Plus family, our list would probably be closer to 200. That’s 100 people I don’t really know.
• Affordable. Definitely affordable. Under $1K would be ideal, but we can go up to $3K.
• After arguing with my mom, we decided we needed a venue that will allow my mom to cater some, if not all of it. Again – not my choice.
• We have a DJ in mind, so the venue would have to be OK with as well.
• I don’t want to spend a ton of time setting up, breaking down, decorating, etc., so if any of that is offered, that’s a huge plus.

Even though our venue has changed, most of this criteria holds true. We're trying to be flexible but with our budget and time, we're running out of options. Arg.