Finding a Venue

I would love to tell you the first thing we did once we became engaged was become organized, create some sort of inspiration board as a jumping off point, start our guest list, and discuss our budget. That’s what an organized bride-to-be would do. However, as organized as I am in real life, in engaged life, I jumped head first into picking a venue. In my head, it honestly made sense. Picking a venue would determine how many people to invite and what sort of wedding we would have; slightly backwards no? Anyways…being from a small town, I knew the one place I didn’t want my wedding to take place at.

In Seguin, large weddings (and that’s what ours would probably be) have always been held at the same place. It’s conveniently located in the heart of Seguin, right next to the rodeo arena and grounds where the local youth stock show is held. The Coliseum has been a staple in my life since I was a kid. It is where my mom and dad’s reception was held. It was where my aunt and uncle’s reception followed about 20 years after that. It has been the home to almost every wedding in Seguin I have attended, along with numerous FFA banquets, community events, Christmas Party’s, and the yearly Buck Fever. With its orange plastic chairs (that the bride in the below picture chose to cover up!), the white drapery that can hang from the rafters for an additional $500, and plenty of open space for seating, I give you The Seguin Coliseum:

This isn’t even THAT accurate of a picture. See that wall at the back? It looks white and tan striped. That’s an accordion wall that conveniently folds out and breaks the room into TWO rooms. To the other side of the picture, the side that the tables are facing, has a huge stage that your band or whatever can perform on.

I can’t fault anyone for picking it. Its relatively cheap, considering the space you get. All the tables and chairs come with it. And if your having a large (200+) wedding, its really the only place in Seguin that you have to pick. But I knew it wasn’t for me.

I don’t know if I was being stubborn, or a snob, or whatever. I just didn’t want it.

I wanted open space. I wanted it outside, to enjoy the great Texas weather! I wanted the green grass and fields to be the background. I wanted something different. I wanted something unique! I had been living the big city life now and as much as I love my small town, I just couldn’t do the “typical” small town wedding anymore. Well, that’s not true. I just didn’t want the Coliseum.

We googled(that’s a real action, I don’t care what spell check says!) everything within a 30 minute radius of my beloved 78155 zip code. Too sum up a month of googling, they were all too expensive.

Then one weekend in Seguin when we were eating lunch with my aunt and uncle, my aunt mentions this new place in Luling called Zedler Mill. All I could think was Luling? Really? No way its that nice. You see, Luling is an even smaller town then Seguin, and hasn’t always been known for having the finer things in life. They have great bbq, but that’s about it. But my aunt tends to know about these types of things so after our trip to Seguin and we were back in Dallas, we googled it . I was blown away! I knew this was it!

The ceremony space was outside with a rock seating amphitheatre.

It was right next to the river!

The pavilion, while it was inside, had huge glass garage doors that let you see almost 360 degrees.

It had greenery! It had wood floors! It had everything!

Best part?!?! The price tag was in budget! Double-score.

We had a venue!

How many venues did you visit before finding the "one"? Small town brides - did you go the more traditional route? Or change it up a little bit?