Operation: Find a wedding venue and date!

Josh and I planned a trip to Maine for a family visit, a little relaxing, and most importantly to decide if we were going to get married there. I did a lot of possible venue research beforehand, and thankfully my mom made a lot of preliminary visits before we arrived. 

We wanted a venue where we could have the ceremony and reception in one location, and we wanted it to be close to the airport and have things to do nearby for our out of town guests. We also did not want something too formal and traditional. Also, after arriving to 2 days of straight rain I didn’t want to get married outside, because for the next year I would be checking weather.com to see if was going to rain on our day. 

I feel like after visiting each location we learned more and more about what we were looking for. A few months ago I fell in love with a barn in Yarmouth. Its called The Barn on Walnut Hill. After finding out the price tag as well as the fact that their are no on site bathrooms for guests, that was pretty much out. Also, everything would have to be outsourced (tables, chairs, food, alcohol....EVERYTHING).

Onto the next barn (I have a thing for barns), the Red Barn at the Links at Outlook. Here we learned its possible to have a venue where there is someone on site who can help with all the coordinating. It also had catering and the option of a full bar. This barn was very nice, but a little out of the way. I liked it a lot, but I didn’t know if was “me and Josh”.

The day before Josh arrived in Maine, my mom picked up Seacoast Bride Magazine. I flipped through it and I saw a small ad for an old church that was restored into a bar/restaurant. It sounded unique, so we made an appointment the next day. Josh was exhausted after his red eye flight, but we scooped him up and took him right to Grace. 

 We walked up the church and it had these beautiful bright red doors, good so far. Then we walked in and it was stunning. If you know my mother, you know she has no poker face. As soon as we walked in she was exclaiming “This is it, we have our venue!!” and “I love it, its perfect!”. I was playing it more cool, and Josh doesn’t show emotion ever. This place had everything we were looking for; it was unique, the right size, it had ceremony and reception areas, a fantastic on site manager, its 4 miles from the airport, and its in downtown Portland, so guests have plenty of things to do. Every meeting we have, this place just keeps getting better and better. Deposit is down and date is set! June 23, 2013.