Booked!
I found my venue on Facebook. Like, a Facebook sidebar ad. Since I set my status to engaged, usually that's where I see things like "Whiter Teeth for Your Wedding!" and "Wedding Weightloss Tips!" but about a month ago I saw an ad for The Bungalow Club and clicked it on impulse. I'd priced other venues but nothing seriously because everything here in Los Angeles is super expensive, so when I googled it and found that not only was it amazingly awesome but more importantly amazingly cheap (well, LA cheap), I was sold.
It's weird. I had to be convinced into having a wedding, and our compromise was that we'd keep it very low key, super casual. Outdoors, afternoon, picnic and games and BBQ from a truck feel. As soon as we saw the venue, everything completely changed. Now we're having an evening wedding, cocktail reception and lots of boozing and dancing. I'm about 50/50 totally in love with the new idea and terrified because I have never planned a party for 100+ people, much less one at such a "cool" location. All of a sudden, everything falls into place! I'm a big fan of the path of least resistance, and I think that this venue makes such a bold statement that all the rest of my decisions can revolve around it.
This VIP area?
Screams cocktails and dancing. (Though I swear, it also screams "normally better lit than this picture")
This bar?
I bet that motif would kick ass on invitations.
I even made an inspiration board of sorts- this was a subject of much mockery at work, as it was about on par with me growing a second pair of legs in terms of expectations.
This turned out better than I could have ever hoped- the venue covers everything. Space, labor, food (amazing food), booze (EVEN BETTER), gear, setup, cleanup etc. All we have to add is a photographer. I'm still kind of in shock- we went from vauge ideas of a summer picnic wedding to a concrete, almost-completely-planned cocktail shindig, in the course of a month. My head is still spinning!