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Friday, June 19, 2009

The search for the perfect venue....

Mr. Rockville and I are on a limited budget. Especially for the insanely expensive D.C area. We're trying to keep the total cost of wedding expenses (not including the honeymoon) under $15,000. Not that this isn't alot of money, but anyone living in D.C knows how difficult it is to hold a decent wedding for that price.
It's been a struggle to find a reception site that fits within our budget and vision for the wedding. I do not want a hotel ballroom or any "cookie cutter" wedding venue. I've spent countless hours online searching and studying various sites, and everything that I adore is just way out of our budget. That being said, we've visited two sites so far, and hope to visit more soon.

Our first site we visited was the Rockville Rooftop. This is a gorgeous open-air rooftop in the center of Rockville's new Town Square. We liked this place because it's literally 5 minutes from our house, but also because it has a beautiful, modern space for the reception.
The downside.... after rental fees for the rooftop and the downstairs space (in case of rain), tables, chairs, and set up fees it came out to about $6,000 to rent the space. Sorry, not happening. We absolutely love it though and would reccomend it to anyone who has the budget for it! http://www.rockvillerooftop.com/

Today we visited a site in Laurel called Snow Hill Manor. The Manor is owned and operated by the PG Parks and Recreation Department and I was very surprised by how much I loved it! During the summer months it comes with a tented patio, tables, chairs, ceremony site and use of the house (including and bride AND groom suite) for only $1,300! Definitely much more within our budget. They don't accept reservations for next year until September, so I still have more time to look. (All images courtesy of Beck and Call Photography...I forgot to bring my camera!)

We still have a long way to go until we buckle down and choose a place...but this is a good start!

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5 Comments:

Blogger Shannon said...

I'm on a similar budget as you and we ended up booking Hollin Hall in Alexandria VA for both the ceremony and reception. It's an old mansion and has beautiful gardens and another larger building to accomodate a bigger guest list. There are many options for where to have your ceremony/reception in case of rain etc. and the pricing was reasonable for 7 hours. The only downside is that you need to rent everything other than the table/chairs. But you may want to check it out if you don't mind getting married in VA.

Friday, June 19, 2009 2:55:00 PM  
Blogger Nat said...

Look at all the places on the PG county park and recs, and try Mont county or even Howard county. There are some amazing historic venues that are inexpensive and some let you bring in your own caterer and alcohol!! I would have totally gone with one of those but most were booked up for the dates I wanted.

Good luck!

Friday, June 19, 2009 4:43:00 PM  
Blogger Lexilooo said...

What about one of the wineries in MD or VA? There are so many, and they are so, so pretty! I have no idea what the cost would be for something like that, but it is something I'd consider for my eventual wedding!

Friday, June 19, 2009 5:04:00 PM  
Blogger sK said...

our budget is even smaller and we're doing it at savage mill manor in savage, md. it's a little wedding cookie cutter, but it's also pretty beautiful and for a saturday day is $1000 and anytime sunday (what we chose) is $1100

Saturday, June 20, 2009 1:50:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The park sites can often be the most cost effective DC wedding reception sites. I would recommend considering No Va as well in your search.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 10:56:00 AM  

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