Wedding Planning: Choosing Our Venue

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. I have a wedding planning update!!! 

After sitting on it for almost two months we decided that we would prefer to have an actual wedding with about 40 of our fave people. We have thrown out our ideas of going to an awesome destination to get married, just the two of us. Call it eloping if you want but in my books when you inform your family and friends and throw a dinner party when you get back it's not eloping. Anyways, we seriously considered doing this but decided against it because it just doesn't feel right getting married without our family and friends there. We also consider getting married at city hall to keep things simple but that just didn't feel right either. We thought about having a destination wedding but then we felt it may be harder to plan given the distance. Sooo.. over the past week or so we researched lots of possible venues for our wedding. We considered many restaurants but in the end decided that we wanted to get married at a place that has meaning to us and that we know will also be around for well ever I guess :) We wanted a historical space.

Here are the three places that we were most interested in and decided to visit:

Balzac's Cafe (Distillery District)

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I would not normally think about Balzac' as a wedding venue. It's is a coffee shop! That all changed one afternoon about a year ago when I was informed that they would be closing early for a wedding. I love the ambiance of the space, especially the chandelier and the brick walls.  A plus is that it's located in the Distillery District, a place I visit almost every other week and also a place that would be perfect for wedding photos. Another plus is that this space is small. Now that I've done my research I know how hard it is to find a nice small space for an intimate wedding of about 40 people. Many venues say they can do a wedding for 40 but in reality the space is way to big and the wedding would end up being far from intimate. It 's also walking distance from our house so obviously we would walk to our wedding. You also get the whole venue to yourself and don't have to worry about seeing other brides. A negative of this venue is that it is two floors. I am also unsure if there really is enough space for dancing. I am also not the most sturdy on my feet and walking down the stairs to meet my groom may not be the best idea!

Hart House (University of Toronto)

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The second place we visited was Hart House. Hart House is located at the University of Toronto where the fiance and I both went to school and first met. Both of us have spent a lot of time at Hart House, together and separately. We have many memories of those UofT days when we both started dating. Another plus is that the architecture of the campus and Hart House specifically is absolutely beautiful. It's a lot more formal than Balzac's and the music room pictured above (where we would have the ceremony, dinner and dancing) has two fireplaces. The idea of getting married in front of a fireplace excites me! I am an art lover and there's some wonderful pieces that have been lent by the Art Gallery of Ontario. Another plus is that when you book this venue the catering is all done in house. Also, you get an event planner who is hired by the university and whose full-time job is to plan your wedding. The only negative I can think of is that this venue is very busy (several rooms you can book aside from the music room) and I may run into other brides on my big day.

Enoch Turner Schoolhouse (Corktown)

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Enoch Turner Schoolhouse was the first free school in Toronto. It's a nice airy open space that we could also walk to from our place. I love the green wooden beams and the fact that you get the whole school to yourself (including the outdoor space). A negative is that there is virtually nothing in this space and everything, such as chairs and tables would have to be rented and brought in.

Stay turned to see which of these venues we have chosen for our wedding!!! Which one do you think we chose? *** If you already know please don't comment to that effect. We have put a hold on one of these venues but have not yet finalized everything. I can't wait til it's final so I can take a deep breath and move on to other fun wedding planning stuff, like finding an officient, NOT! But honestly having a venue picked and almost finalized has made it all seem so much more real. I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!