Venue Vacuum

When we got engaged, Dan and I each got to pick a priority. His was food, mine was photography. For the past two years for Dan's birthday, I have hired a personal chef to cook dinner for us. It has simply been the most amazing food we have ever eaten. It's worth every penny! In our quest to make our wedding as much about us as our friends and family, we asked said chef if he could work within our budget for the wedding. Eating his food is such an exception experience we look forward to every year, this was the perfect way to share that with everyone! Thankfully he agreed and was really enthusiastic about the wedding. We're SO excited to have him!


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However, finding a venue that will allow you to bring in a caterer proved to be... a test in patience to say the least. I understand most venues make their money from the food, and that's great, but I don't want to pay $150 a plate for a piece of dried out chicken. I know some places have good food, but I don't want my guests to walk away saying "Hey that was a pretty good meal for a wedding". If you and your friend/spouse/significant other went out and spent $300 on dinner, wouldn't you want an AMAZING meal, not a pretty good meal?! Why do we settle for mediocre food for such a high price on the most important and probably most expensive day of your life?!

Sorry, enough ranting. Back to the venue. We got a lot of simple no's when we asked if we could bring in an outside caterer. We were told by one place we could bring our caterer, but wouldn't have access to their kitchen, water, or electricity. Some places wanted extravagant fees just for the venue alone, no tables, chairs, plates, nothing included. No thank you. We nearly gave up. We had looked through literally HUNDREDS of websites. Dan was content with our Plan B: Our chosen caterer would do the rehearsal dinner and we would pick a venue that supplied food.

I hated Plan B. It wasn't fair, I didn't have to compromise on my photographer! So I searched. And I searched. And I searched. I started stalking photographer's websites looking for ideal venues. I ended up on another caterer's website somehow that listed where they had catered. A name popped out at me: The Alton Mill. Hm. Google. Oh wow! This place looks nice! An old wool mill on the Credit River system that's recently been converted into art studios and galleries.... We live on the Credit! I'm artsy! We can bring our own caterer?! YES!!!!!

I contacted the Mill and immediately got a great vibe from them. They are very down to earth, and really love the community they're building at the Mill. Dan and I are so excited to have our wedding there, it just can't come soon enough!


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