No luck

Since J and I live in Birmingham, but are getting married in St. Louis, we have to squeeze a lot of venue searching into very short trips home. My first and only qualification for a space was that it was different. After some unsucessful visits, I'm wondering if it's neccesary to have a unique space or if I can tranform a "cookie cutter" space into something magificent.

Here are some unique places that ended up being losers.

1. The Landings at Spirit Golf Club: Dad's #1 choice, since they offered him a free round of golf if we booked with them. This was the first place we visited. It was lovely, had nice views of the golf course, was in our price range... but it was just TOO small. Sorry dad.

2. The Kemp Auto Museum: Very sleek, modern and sexy featuring some awesome old cars. Also a tad too big. I'm afraid it would feel cold and impersonal to our guests.

3. The Old Post Office: I fell in love with this venue from the outside, but once inside it seemed kind of oddly configured and cramped.

4. The Crystal Ballroom in the Renaissance Grand Hotel: Where as the Old Post Office and the Landings were too small and the Kemp Auto Museum was too large the Crystal Ballroom was JUST RIGHT. I loved it. In fact I'm wiping the drool off my keyboard as I type, I love it so much. It has floor to ceiling windows that feature stunning views of my beloved St. Louis. It's truly grand. It makes a statement. But, alas, if we went with the Crystal Ballroom we could only invite 5 people. And they'd have to byob. It's way out of our price range.... so unless we win the lottery this one's out.