our dream venue. And on Monday we signed the contract and sent our deposit.  We still have so much to do, but now that we have our venue I feel so much more at ease. I thought I'd share a few things I learned while we were browsing for our venue!

• As cheesy and cliche as it sounds: Remember what is important about your wedding DAY and that is the marriage and relationship that follows, It's so easy to get caught up in colors, dresses, food, and money. But at the end of the day it truly doesn't matter where you get married.
• Email is your bestfriend! Email venues asking for package prices before you set up your tour. This way you can save your heart from breaking when you fall in love with a venue and they come back and tell you it's completely out of your budget. Email is also a good way to weed out the venues that aren't very attentive. And if they're not in the beginning they aren't going to later on.
• Decide what kind of bride you are. Are you the bride that doesn't want to worry about sending seperate checks to all your vendors or are you the bride that wants to contract/contact everyone on your own? If you're the first one, look into all-inclusive venues. They're pricier but they handle everything for you!
• Take your groom's opinion into consideration. Listen to his opinions! This will make it a fun experience for the both of you and it'll share the stress instead of it being all on the bride's shoulders.
  
• Wedding Wire has been my wedding planner so far. It's packed with reviews, advice, etc. Use all your resources.
  

I can't wait to keep sharing the wedding planning process!
XO,
Valerie Ann