At this point in our planning I was really into this idea of a vintage Parisian flea market wedding. And since our hopes for a destination wedding (first it was Greece, then the Grenadines) wasn’t going to happen, Jon and I set out to find the perfect location for our wedding.
I prepared the itinerary and we set out for a weekend of barn scouting. Yes, barn scouting. To you and I a barn wedding isn’t so peculiar, we’ve seen them all over the wedding blogs, but to my suburban parents, well, they thought we were nuts. But they humored me for a moment.
First stop, High Falls, New York to visit Shadow Lawn, a lovely 18th century stone house with an accompanying 19th century cherry red barn.
{images via Well Wed}
The sweetest house featuring gorgeous period details mixing with modern amenities and the most perfect barn and little brook right across the street. I was getting excited, the house could be used as the staging area, the ceremony could be held by the brook and we could dance the night away in the barn. Reality set in, and having our entire guest list travel to this small town (about an hour and half outside NYC) didn’t make much sense.
So on to our next option: The Round Barn in Waitsfield VT.
{image via The Round Barn}
The Round Barn is attached to a gorgeous bed and breakfast that we were lucky enough to spend the night at while on our trip. (They make a mean breakfast!) Waking up to the most gorgeous summer day we toured the perfectly manicured grounds and the very cool three story barn. I was sold, I loved the white washed walls and floor where we could hold the ceremony and the main reception area could be decorated to our taste. Our guests would love staying at all of the local B&Bs in the area, it was perfect. But it was well out of our price range for a summer affair.
Our 5 hour trip back we worked the numbers and we figured we could cut our guest list down to our 75 closest family and friends and push the wedding to January 2010 to save money. We were so close to signing the contract when I started getting guilt pains about making my 89 year old grandmother decide whether she was willing to travel the snowy roads of Vermont or not. We couldn’t get married there!
Which is how we settled on our lovely locations of the Buffalo Botanical Gardens and Pearl Street Brewery. Our ceremony would be held in the perennial garden on the botanical grounds.
And we would have our evening reception on the fourth floor of this 1840’s historic brewery in downtown Buffalo. Exposed brick and duct work, New Orleans style patio, vintage clawfoot tables, we could work our vintage flea market vibe into Buffalo after all!
Of course it was now July that we made this decision and the only available date for our reception was August 29th (the week before Labor Day and the week Jon’s father and sister started teaching again). Okay no big deal, we’ll make it work. And then the botanical garden tells us the only time slot available on that date is 11am. That would mean a six hour time gap… a no-no in the eyes of bridal etiquette! What was a bride to do? Nothing! “Make it Work!”
* unless otherwise indicated, all photos by Aaron Ingrao, edited by me