Love. Live. Laugh. Wed.

As you all know, we've been searching for a suitable venue for, ohhhh about, 8 months. We went to look at a few more places in the Binghamton area on Sunday and struck out. Four times. So far my plan of do-everything-myself and have it all be awesome has failed.

First of all, my dearest fiance informed me a few days ago that every single weekend well into September is now booked for us. I do not have a free weekend available for at least 8 weeks. So I made it very clear that we were to have no plans for this last weekend. No traveling, no lets-go-here-ing, nothing. Our apartment was a mess and I had a million things to do that I needed to catch up on. Then I realized that my excellent plan of visiting wedding venues next weekend when we were already planning to be in the area wasn't exactly the best laid plan. We really weren't going to have time. So I sacrificed my Sunday and we wasted the whole day driving the 2.5 hours to Binghamton to check out a few places and have dinner with my family (that part was not a waste, however.)

Anyway, we went to the Pumpelly House, Tioga Gardens, Hickories Park and one other park that I'd just plain like to forget.

As far as Tioga Gardens and Hickories Park go, there was nothing wrong with either of them, they just weren't going to work for us. Both were nice, just not what we're looking for.

The Pumpelly House?

Almost perfect.



We met the owner and her mother (and their two dogs!) this last weekend and got to tour the grounds. The whole place is really really cute. The bed and breakfast is beautiful and spacious. The ceremony spot on the river is just to die for and the carriage house (pictured above) would be gorgeous for a small wedding reception. The biggest problem for us is the fact that they can only comfortably accommodate 150 guests and I just don't think we can, or want to, get our guest list down that far. There also isn't an ideal rain plan if we wanted to have our ceremony outside on the grounds. But really, if you are looking for a gorgeous wedding venue in Owego, stop over there. But do it quick because they book up fast! The owner is really sweet and I really got the impression that brides are well taken care of there.

So, in other bridal fail news: I have made contact with a wedding planner.

I'll pause for your shocked gasps.


Okay, onward. I feel like hiring a wedding planner (other for than just day-of coordination) is kind of looked down on these days. A lot of brides are really hands on and DIY now and I think hiring a wedding planner is now seen as a waste of money or being spoiled. I was really reluctant to even make contact with a wedding planner because I felt like it was admitting that I couldn't plan this wedding, like I was some kind of failure. I finally sucked up my pride and emailed a coordinator this morning telling her we were having trouble finding a reception venue and while I didn't think I would need a planner for the whole process, would she be interested and/or able to help us find a venue. She emailed me back in less than 2 minutes. Bonus point #1. Then she said she would love to help us for as little or as much planning as we wanted and asked a bunch of questions about what we're looking for. Bonus point #2. I won't reveal who it is just yet, since I'm not sure how it will all end up. But I will say, getting her super nice and helpful responses, put me so much at ease. I really hope she can help us so I can move on from this venue search crap.