The biggest decision any bride has to make is choosing the perfect venue. This will set the tone for the entire wedding. Since I’m a wedding photographer you probably think I already knew all the best venues in Philadelphia when I got engaged. The truth is, when Mark and I got engaged I was still in my first year of shooting weddings in Philadelphia after moving here from Las Vegas, and I hadn’t yet found my dream venue.

The first thing I did when we started planning the wedding was start researching venues. The first venue I looked into was booked for all of October 2011 even though that was still more than a year away at that point. I was nervous that that would be the case with all the venues I found, so I wanted to find and book the perfect venue ASAP.

There were several specific things I was looking for in a venue:
A location where we could have both the ceremony and the reception at the same venue.
A unique venue, not a ballroom or country club, that would be an intimate space for our small guest list.
Some place with beautiful outdoor space for pictures.
An area to have the ceremony outdoors, as well as a good back up location indoors if it rains.
And of course, THE most important factor, it fit within our budget.

Initially when I started looking I found so many gorgeous venues – estates, mansions, vineyards – but many of them were priced well out of our budget. I first found our venue, Glen Foerd Mansion, in an ad in a bridal magazine. The thing that intrigued me originally was that they included everything – catering, wedding cake, alcohol, china, linens, etc – whereas a lot of the other similar venues I had looked into you simply rented the location and then had to bring in everything yourself. Glen Foerd does not share their prices until you have visited it in person, so I set up an appointment for Mark and I go view it. Frankly, I did not think it would fit within our budget. When we first got there, I fell in love. The grounds were so beautiful, and I loved being on the river. I was hoping the prices would be somewhere near our budget… Amazingly, our budget was exactly their minimum. 🙂 Having the venue include everything made it a lot more affordable for us. A week later we had a tasting and booked it on the spot. BIG check off our list.

There are so many things I love about Glen Foerd. Please be aware the following pictures were taken with my iPhone.

A view of the front of Glen Foerd. Imagine it in October without all that snow 🙂

The getting ready room for the bride. It is huge, with gorgeous floor to ceiling windows, and lovely accents such as antique mirrors. A photographers dream! 🙂

The ceremony will take place in the backyard of the mansion, overlooking the river. This a view down the aisle. Again, imagine it without all that snow 🙂

One of the things I love most is the layout of the mansion. I imagine our wedding as a wonderful dinner party with guests milling around all the rooms. This is the drawing room where we will be doing our first dance before dinner is served.

The sun room, which will be utilized for cocktails, as well as for pictures if we have rain (cross your fingers! October is supposed to be the driest month of the year!).

Finally, the conservatory. This is where we will be dancing after dinner. I loved the view of the river from here which actually curves around the side of the building so it’s an especially great view. We will be moving into this room just before sunset, so guests will be able to watch as the sun sets and the room turns dark for partying! This is also our backup location if it does rain.

I’m so happy that we found the perfect venue for us that met all of our needs. I absolutely cannot wait until October 🙂