Audubon Center

We visited an Audubon Center about 40 minutes from Philadelphia. It was beautiful with an old barn with air conditioning for the reception. Plus it had a pavilion that you could move the ceremony/cocktail reception to if it rained. My parents came back to visit with us when they were here and loved it too. Jeffrey Miller Catering is the exclusive caterer and we were a little surprised by some of the hidden costs in the buffet menu that we had thought would be in our budget. We are going for a tasting in a week so we will figure out more then!

Ceremony area between wild pear and apple trees

Barn door (from 1800s?)

Old school barn including cool roof

Snug Hollow Farm

We visited Snug Hollow Farm, a bed and breakfast about an hour from Philadelphia. It was really adorable and very accomodating. You can come into the barn the Wednesday before your wedding and all the way through the actual date to set up. There were different options for ceremony places and it had that rustic feel that we love.





The barn is obviously where the reception would be held. We looked at it again when my parents came to visit and they liked it as well. They are very open with catering companies too so we can get whoever we want. It is a little on the expensive side to rent but it includes tables and chairs, "restroom" and "restroom tent" (yes it is a portable toliet, ah well) and rental for the ceremony and reception plus a bridal suite to get dressed in.

Colonial Dames

We visited the Colonial Dames in Center City Philadelphia. We came out with a similar feeling to Bartram's Garden - beautiful place but not for us.

Pros: beautiful building, fun stuff to do in the city, awesome ceremony area, air conditioned reception area
Cons: the actual reception area wasn't really our style, seemed a little small for 100 people

Yes, there was another wedding, literally about to start. We saw the bride.

Bartram's Garden

Yesterday we visited Bartram's Garden.

Ceremony Area - Common Flower Garden

Just part of the grounds

Reception Area - Barnyard

View of Center City

Entrance Area

More View of the Grounds

Pros: Beautiful grounds, historical
Cons: Expensive, outside only so no air-conditioning

3 Places

I got in touch with a catering company (Shackamaxon Catering) that helps set you up with reception sites too.
Not in any particular order yet:

1) Snug Hollow Farm:
Website research only at the moment
Pros: only one wedding on the day so tuesday-saturday to set up, includes chairs and tables, air-conditioned barn
Cons: A little further away for New York drivers, people might have to rent a car if they don't have one or find a ride, a little more expensive than the other places, porta-potties as the bathroom

2) Batram's Gardens:
Website research only at the moment
Pros: beautiful grounds gardens and arboretum
Cons: would also have to tent which adds a cost

3) The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America:
Website research only at the moment
Pros: Easy access to hotels, garden for outdoor ceremony but indoor option, historic mansion, looks like blank canvas ballroom for lots of color options
Cons: Center city (might want sometime more rustic/country)

What do you think?

The Beginning

Organization. That is going to be the key to this wedding. I can tell already. My stress is exploding because I don't know what I'm doing. There are so many decisions to make and many of them require me to hold opinion I don't yet have. I'm not one of those girls who dreamed of their fairy-tale wedding when they were little. Don't get me wrong, I also dreamed of getting married, but I imagined the vacation afterwords more often. My travel agent mom created quite an obsession with vacations, and after going to Hawaii 3 times, I always imagined my honeymoon would be there as well. The wedding before... in my head, it happens... but that's about as much as I ever thought about. This blog will be a site for me to get out of my head and onto paper so to speak.

My goals for this site:
- Post ideas
- Post projects
- Keep out of town people up to date on our progess of planning