You're the one that I want

In early March, before flying off for his tour, MM and I went to check out a little country inn near our city. It turned out to be beautiful, and while not perfect (what venue is?) we had high hopes for it, based on what the proprietor told us. It seemed like all that was left was for us to get the contract, confirm that the pricing and terms matched what we'd been told, and voila! the search would be over.

It was the one we wanted. Or so we thought. MM flew away thinking it was all over but for the ink.

It was not to be.

After a long and frustrating wait, in which Susan followed up several times, the prices and contract landed on her desk and whoa! it turns out that the prices quoted on that visit didn't begin to truly approach the reality. Despite some forthright and honest attempts to negotiate, the gap between what we are willing to pay and what they expected to get paid could not be bridged. Thus, no matter how beautiful, that venue was not the one for us.

So now we are back to the drawing board. Same three issues as before exist. There are three bigs ones:
... our wedding size
... the kind of sophistication and intimacy we want
... cost

Our seemingly healthy budget is not really up for negotiation. We want something that feels beautiful, sophisticated and polished, yet not cavernous or impersonal. And we are still facing the issue that the Ontario venue market doesn't think that people invite 30-45 people to weddings.



I'm trying to keep an open mind and realistic expectations though, along with a much shortened list relative to last fall. The biggest problem right now is my time. Between my thesis crunch time and my upcoming vacation (going to spend three weeks with MM in Europe in June whoohoo!), I don't know how or where I'll find the time to be jetting all over Eastern Ontario looking at places.