Sometime between living in Syracuse to my moving to Kernersville, the vision of my dream wedding changed. I use to dream about a simple wedding in my parents beautiful back yard. They have gardens everywhere and it was where I spent many days of my childhood creating imaginary adventures…most of them musicals. How befitting of a place for the greatest adventure of all right?
Then I moved and the reality of getting married in NY changed. I started dreaming about weddings all over the country as well as right here at Cre8 where I live.
However, when Daniel proposed the only thing on my wedding mind was mountains. I desperately wanted a beautiful mountain view to say “I Do” to this mountain of a man. I also couldn’t imagine anything more telling of God’s glory than the mountains. They just echo his creation so beautifully!
However, finding the right mountain venue for Daniel & I proved to be no easy task…
– First there was our fiances to consider. We had to find a venue that fit in our budget and included most of the things we needed. A lot of venues were incredible, but they sat way outside our budget or you had to pay for a lot of the extras. Being a wedding vendor myself, I understand that this is just the nature of the wedding industry. We’re a luxury business and if you want the right experience, you’ll need to pay for it. On the other hand, I don’t believe that you need to start your life off in debt for one day. So I grabbed my computer & started to hunt!
– The next obstacle was the “feel” of the venue. There are A LOT of mountain venues, but most of them are very rustic. I discovered there are two kinds of mountain rustic: The burlap & lace kind or the antlers and ski lodge kind. I wasn’t very keen on either. This of course made our dig a little harder. We had to find a place that was fairly neutral when it came to it’s theme. We wanted something comfortable, special, & romantic.
-The last piece of the puzzle was the response time of the venue. I had found several venues that fit our budget & our “vibe,” yet for some reason getting an email response from some of them was like pulling teeth! From the business side of things, this is unacceptable. Granted I’m not always the quickest to respond, wedding season is quite crazy, but I do my best to respond in a reasonable amount of time. It’s just good business. When someone doesn’t get back to you within a week and there is no good reason as to why, then it says that they wont prioritize me as a client. We’re in the wedding industry people and that means making the bride feel as though she is special, because it’s part of the wedding experience!
Most of this process happened when Daniel & I were originally thinking about getting married in April. Even then I was nervous about finding a venue that was available. I know how quickly certain venues can book up. I had actually visited the Inn at Crestwood’s website before I ever met Daniel, but it slipped my mind. A friend mentioned it to me after I was neck deep in the mountain dig. As soon as I saw their website I remembered how I loved it. I immediately contacted them & Vanessa at Crestwood immediately got back to me. They fit every piece of our puzzle and we were sold! Thus far, Crestwood has been fantastic to work with & I have no doubt that it’ll be the perfect venue for our tiny dream wedding!
Daniel & I got to visit a few weeks ago and it was the first time (since the engagement) in this whole wedding process that I actually got giddy! Touring the grounds made my heart so happy & I can’t wait to walk down the isle, stand before God and our family & friends, and say I Do to our most wonderful adventure!
XOXOXO,
Mabyn
