Wedding Wednesday//Venue Considerations

I have pretty much been sick since our last posting. While I have been living on the couch, I have been reading, browsing and flip flopping over the things we have been planning all along. So that brings us to this week's Wedding Wednesday topic.

So for a long time I have thought that Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village in Sedona, Arizona. I briefly mentioned it in one of the first wedding posts. These places all want to talk to you to tell you what your wedding needs to be the "best wedding ever"! Some websites for these venues post their general facility fees on their websites, the others don't. So far our top three contenders are:

Tlaquepaque
Cost: at least $2000 to use the space for both ceremony and reception
Pros:

• The decor is what I have dreamed of for my wedding
• Great location right on Oak Creek
• Beautiful landscapes/scenery/buildings
• Separate areas for both ceremony and reception
• Large areas to accommodate a large wedding
• Shopping, restaurants and galleries on site

Cons:

• There is no inexpensive lodging nearby
• There is nothing but acoustic music allowed during the ceremony
• Shopping, restaurants and galleries on site

Red Agave Resort
Cost: Roughly $5700 for the exclusive use of the venue including lodging for 46 to 69 people for 2 nights.
Pros:

• On site lodging
• Seclusion
• Grills, fire pits, access to trails and National Forest land
• Almost all of our guests in one place at one time for 2 whole days = party time!

Cons:

• $5k is a lot of money for just the location
• Not very many locations for "pretty" looking photographs
• No separate spaces for ceremony and reception
• Almost all of our guests in one place at one time for 2 whole days = crazy family drama!

Creekside Inn Bed and Breakfast
Cost: at least $4500 for the exclusive use of the venue for 2 days including lodging for 12 people.
Pros:

• On site lodging
• Seclusion
• Great location on the creek
• Beautiful landscapes

Cons:

• Only a fraction of our family would be able to stay on site
• No other on site amenities
• Would need lots of outside vendors
• Parking for wedding guests is off site
• extra fees for Kitchen use, and Rehearsal Dinner

If the pros and cons alone are the determining factor, Tlaquepaque is still the front runner. Every time I look at the photos, I fall in love with the place all over again. We will be heading to the Sedona Bridal Fair. Hopefully we will get a better idea about what to look for, and a direction to take.

In other news, I received the LOVE cards I had ordered from Shutterfly. They were ll wrong. BK's name was even spelled wrong even though my saved project shows everything correct. Because I didn't like the way it was, Shutterfly credited me the order minus shipping. I am thinking of ways to use the messed up cards so it isn't a complete loss. I am thinking about cutting the LOVE off of the card and using them as the backing for a contact sheet. So many ideas, so little resources. I have so many thoughts for this day. I was never one to dream of my wedding day as a little girl. So this is all new to be, like a kid in a candy shop!