Well, we did it! We selected the venue – and by “we” I mean my fiance, my parents, and I.
If you’ve been following along, then you know that we had already visited two venues in Providence, RI that were very pretty but had a couple of “yeah buts” attached to them. (Missed that post? Check it out here!) The next two venues were exciting.
One of them was the one that I had been dreaming about having my ceremony and reception at (it’s got it’s own chapel on the property). The other I wasn’t super excited about going in (it was just another downcity Providence hotel), but I thought “why the heck not?”
Well, as it turns out, the one that I thought I would lovelovelove – which was in Newport, RI – I ended up just …liking. It was very pretty, it was historic, it had that whole Downton Abbey thing going on for it – but again, it had a lot of “yeah buts” attached to it. The ceiling in the ballroom, for one, was incredibly low which made the large room feel weirdly cramped. And the space that would be reserved for our cocktail hour was… well, practically nonexistent. Also, because the building is so old (it was built in the early 1900’s) it had kind of a musty smell which didn’t sit very well with us. And the on site chapel reeked of mothballs. Needless to say, we didn’t select that venue.
The venue we did end up selected was The Omni Hotel in Providence.
It was formerly The Westin, and was bought out by Omni a couple of years ago. When we were there we just loved everything about it. The ballroom was gorgeous, the reception space was huge, and the saleswoman was just amazing. Seriously, amazing. And of course, since it’s right in downcity Providence it will be super convenient for our guests coming from out of town.
So, that’s that! Venue – check! The next thing we decided on is our photographer, which I am sososososooooooooo excited about!