Venues, Venues, Venues!!!

After choosing a date, Brian and I started to research venues online. It can be a tad bit overwhelming at first, especially when you aren't sure what direction you want to go in. Luckily I have an amazing Fiance who is super supportive and doesn't give the typical guy answer of "whatever you want honey". I realize that at some point Brian isn't going to care about certain things and give me that answer, but with this topic he definitely had an opinion. We decided that we wanted to have a venue that wasn't in the city. This quickly excluded any lofts or extravagent hotel ballrooms that are located on the Plaza, in Westport, or near Power and Light. Although a lot of those places are really cool, they just aren't what we are going for. We chose to call 5 different venues in the surrounding Kansas City area for more information before we went and toured anything. The five are: Weston Red Barn Farms, Longview Mansion, Hawthorne House, The Elms, and Meadowview Gardens. We really focused in on our top 3 favorites for tours. Our top three are: Weston Red Barn Farms, Longview Mansion, and Hawthorne House.

Weston Red Barn Farms:
       Located in Weston, Missouri this venues offers us the perfect rustic/vintage/country chic wedding venue for a fall wedding. Weston Red Barn Farms is a full functioning apple orchard and pumpkin patch that also has animals and two stores full of all of their yummy goodies! It serves as an educational farm touring many school groups every year. Brian and I actually got our pumpkins there this past fall and fell in love with the view of the countryside. You can use any of their pumpkins, gourds, husks, or farm-tiques to decorate for your wedding day. You have your wedding in the orchard followed by your reception in the barn. My obsession with mason jars would fit in perfectly well at this venue. They also offer hayrides for your guests during the wedding, as well as a horse drawn carriage for the bride to the ceremony site. Like I said rustic/vintage/country chic!! Check out these links for some amazing pictures of weddings held here:

http://www.sarahdickersonblog.com/weddings/nancy-jeff-married-weston-red-barn-farm-weston-missouri/
http://www.swsmag.net/blog/2008/10/2/real-wedding-colleen-tom.html
http://www.angeladavisphotography.com/?p=333

Longview Mansion:
If you grew up anywhere south of Kansas City, you can't help but to have visited Longview Mansion in Lee's Summit, Missouri at some point in your life. Wether it's for Christmas in the Park, themed parties, or weddings this historic mansion is full of charm and character. As a former resident of Amli New Longview Apartments, I would run/walk/yog by the mansion and farmland often. Although the community around the mansion is booming this venue has definitely kept up with it's rich history and gracious traditions. It holds indoor and outdoor options for a ceremony then has the pavilion for your reception complete with chandaliers and a dance floor. It would make for a truly magical venue if chosen. Here is their link so you can see a few pics:

http://www.longviewmansion.com/index.html

Hawthorne House:
Located in Parkville, Missouri Hawthorne House is noted as theknot.com's BEST OF WEDDINGS from 2007-2010. It definitely shows in the quality and presentation of this beautiful event space. Hawthorne House sits on eleven acres and has the option of a chapel for an indoor ceremony or gazebo as an outdoor location for your wedding. The reception site is held in the estate's original Manor House that is 112 years old. It has wooden floors, chandaliers, and even a loft for additional seating. It would make for a stunning wedding venue. Check out their website for many more pics:

http://www.thehawthornehouse.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=4

I believe that all three would be amazing wedding sites for our special day!!! Now the fun starts with visits to each one. Brian and I will visit Weston Red Barn Farms first on May 10th. I will be honest and say that I am probably most excited to see this venue in person. I have done my fair share of research and stalking photographer's blogs for pictures of the farm to know that it could be a strong contender for our wedding day. I also have a lot of really neat ideas for this venue and am excited to see if it all fits together. (and I'm excited to see what Brian thinks!) I will definitely post our thoughts and opinions of this venue after we take a visit. Please feel free to leave your thoughts, comments, opinions, etc here on my blog or on my facebook!!!

Weston....here we come! :)

~Amanda~