Exploring Wedding Venues

If I were going to list my options for getting married they would be as follows:

1. Destination wedding
2. Small ceremony followed by a celebration with family and friends
3. Large traditional wedding that requires a LOT of planning

Mark and I have been engaged now for over a year. I had started to look into wedding venues after I had Faith, but then we started looking at houses and that fell to the wayside. Now that we are settled into our new house, I revisited this topic with Mark, with my own thoughts, my parents, etc. I started getting an idea- destination wedding in Orlando- that could be fun. Not because I like Disney but I love sunshine, beaches, tans...anything to do with warm weather and beaches I'm totally there. Orlando seemed a perfect opportunity since we're going down there in May with Mark's family and the baby (she best be walking by then!). Then my family could come down and a few close friends...perfect, right? However, Mark and my mom both stopped me before I could really take off and mentioned my father. I am the oldest of three with a younger sister and a much younger brother (8 years age difference) and will be the first one to get married. When this idea was suggested to my father, his response was "whatever Candace wants". Well, my mom being his wife, read the subliminal message behind that statement to mean that he wants a large traditional wedding with all the fam.

Here I am now needing to try and plan a wedding, obviously with help from my mom and one of my best friends jill, a diy and crafts extraordinaire, so that will help. However, what you don't know (but they do) is that I'm a HUGE procrastinator. Horrible...as jill said to me the other day, I am the queen of procrastination. So you can imagine how this could go.

Sorry for all the verbage- I felt I need to provide a back story. Anyway, the first you have to do in planning a wedding is figure out the venue and date. Ok- seems simple enough. So far it hasn't been too bad, but honestly, getting Mark to do things like this is like pulling someone's teeth out with a pair of pliers. I mean, does he think I want to spend my weekend doing this? Not really. Anyway, we've gone and checked out 4 venues and I think we've found the one. Soo excited by this. Can't wait for this part to be done. Wedding planning stuff I can get into- selecting wedding colors, looking at bridesmaids dresses, flower girl dresses, planning out decorations, and whatever else you can imagine. I've created a series of boards on pinterest capturing some of my favs.
Top Venue- Demetri's, Foxboro, MA

Top right image source; All other image sources

• Great Features:
• 5 ballrooms, each 5000 sqft
• Lighting sconces & chandeliers
• Onsite wedding ceremony site
• Bridal and groom suites
• Includes ballroom for cocktails & ballroom for reception

Few Drawbacks:
• Located right on Rte1
• Not attached to a hotel

Mark and I had considered 2 venues in Plymouth as we wanted to consider getting married down or by the water. We had looked at Plimoth Plantation and John Carver Inn. The ballrooms didn't feel big enough even though they could seat a wedding our size (probably have between 100-120) and would be cramped & crowded with dancing. Also, Demetri's function hall looks really grand and the fixtures and furnishings are great all on their own. That element was lacking in both of Plymouth wedding venues.
Now I just have to convince my parents...