New here!

[whitetulips]

Hello! I found pricescope a little while ago and lurked before my engagement, but now that I am engaged my fiance has convinced me to come out of lurkdom to get help from all of the wonderful ladies here.

We are very early in the planning stages but are hoping for a late spring/early summer wedding next year, or if need be we are open to early fall as well. Our biggest problem so far has been trying to find a venue that fits all of our needs. We thought that we had found the perfect place in south carolina- a large gorgeous plantation house that is in our budget and is mostly available in late spring/early summer (yay!) however- all of the guests are going to be from out of town and there is nowhere to stay overnight at this venue. Half of our guests are going to be our age (mid 20's) and we are worried about the logistics of people drinking and then having to travel back to a hotel after the reception.

Our newest idea is to cut our wedding down to 50 people and find a place that we can rent out for the entire weekend so that our guests don't have to worry about hotel accommodations at all for our wedding. It has been really hard to find something like this. We aren't restricting any state or city (but we do want to stay in the continental us)- we just want a weekend celebration in a beautiful setting. We mostly like the older historic homes/plantations or a rustic mountain setting. This dream may not even be a possibility though, so I am looking for advice.

Do any of you think this is possible or know of any places that do things like this? Also, how do you feel about having a reception a few miles away from the hotel block for the guests? I have only been to one wedding like this (my brother's) and I didn't like it very much as it just seemed dangerous and it prevented people from really celebrating to the full extent. I would hate for our guests to get into an accident leaving our reception!

Any advice?

 

[emeraldlover1]

First off, CONGRATS! Second, where do you live? You mentioned having your wedding in South Carolina but its not clear if this is a destination for you.

I have been to a lot of weddings out of town and not one of them did we stay at the place where the wedding was going to happen. Every wedding did provide transportation. This is something that we are offering for our guests so that they don't have to drink and drive after our reception. That would be my first suggestion. Work transportation into your budget.

Here are some other things to consider. If you are blocking rooms at a nearby hotel ask the hotel if they have a shuttle or two. They may be able to rent them to you. One of the places we are dealing with offered us the shuttle by the trip or by the hour. You can also call local transportation compaines. We are tecnically having a destination wedding since no one, including us, lives in the vacinity of where we are having our wedding. So, it is a greatly appreciated gesture to provide transportation for your guests.

We are only providing transportation from the hotel to the reception. We are getting married at a church and the guests are on their own for that.

 

[Deelight]

White tulips I don''t know about the US but here it is really hard to find heaps of on-site accommodations if you want to go a house like venue, so what we plan to do is rent a bus to pick people up from local accommodations in the area and drop them off at the end of the night.

One of my ideal venues, it a massive Southern plantation manor, unfortunately in Australia we don''t have them LOL, if that is what you love go for it.

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

WhiteTulips! WELCOME! and CONGRATS!

I''m glad you''ve decided not to lurk any longer!

First off: I second what everyone else said regarding a shuttle. FI and I are doing this... two hours before ceremony/reception, and two hours at the end... Our cost for all four hours is under $400.

Secondly: Anywhere in the continental US? Woooo baby- that''s pretty overwhelming! If you two are serious about the possibility of renting out a facility anywhere in the whole US, I can definitely give some suggestions for NE/Central Ohio IDK what you''re looking to spend for renting out space, but there are some ADORABLE facilities in south NE Ohio, most of which are on lakes... perfect for the summer!

Good luck w. your search & welcome to PS!

 

[whitetulips]

Thank you everybody for your congrats and for your advice

To answer a few questions, we are located in Chicago right now, but we will be in Pennsylvania by the time the wedding comes around. South Carolina would, then, be a destination type wedding for us.

Also, we are willing to look anywhere- we''ve even looked at Montana and Wyoming (if we could have a reception at Grand Teton National Park I would have been sold on that in a heartbeat) so links to anywhere in Ohio would be nice. Basically we are two laid back people who just want our closest friends and family to have a great time while we happen to be getting married. I never dreamt of my wedding day as a child and I hate being the center of attention so we are looking for a low-key but still classy celebration that can be held completely outdoors.

Also, all of your ideas about renting a bus or shuttle service are fantastic and I honestly can''t believe that my fiance and I never thought of that! You guys are great!

If anybody knows of a place where they have been to a great wedding (outside, including reception) and you feel like sharing we would love to hear about it.

Thanks again!

 

[redfaerythinker]

I have no advice other than to check boards like theknot. But welcome out of lurkdom!