Have we found a wedding site?

I'm going to cheat and slap on a response to my dear friend Erin, who kindly inquired -- after I canceled our fairly long-planned day to hang out in order to find a wedding/reception site -- if we had succeeded.

I feel a little bit bad about posting this, because now these comments will come up when other feverish brides-to-be Google these sites. My attempts at non-specificity are being subjugated here. Eh. *shrug*

Aha! We surely did!!! I'm very excited about it. So now we have a date, too!! Unfortunately (though we knew this would be the case), it's after you move. Sept. 30.

We went to three places -- Inn at Vint Hill (Warrenton-ish), The Black Horse Inn (Warrenton countryside), and The Ashby Inn (Paris). Vint Hill was a big big manor house -- very lovely inside, but unfortunately co-opted by the military at some point along the line, and thus surrounded by bunkers and ugly stuff. The ride out there makes you wonder if you're being led out to be gassed. But, not a bad price, they do the food there, and no time limit. And pleasant contact person/house owner.

The second place, Black Horse Inn, is SUCH a beautiful joint. It's a horse-riding deal, as well. The owner has three horses. The B&B part -- the main house -- is so lovely. If I could afford $300-a-night rooms, I'd go there just for fun, no wedding involved, sometime. But it was really expensive (compared to what we'd been looking at). The woman whipped us up a cost estimate that was in the upper $8,000 range, and that was before you add in food. That was just site rental, chair rental, dish/glass rental, staff charges. That didn't even include alcohol -- we'd need to bring that ourselves. Also, although the main house and grounds were very lovely, the actual reception hall was fairly new -- five years old -- and fancy, but I'm picturing something with a bit more of an intimate feel. Not a big open room. Nothing wrong with that, I guess -- most receptions are that way, and probably for a reason -- but I'd rather have a building with more history; more alive.

(an aside: Matt and I debate this sometimes as we drive around. He loves the massive McMansion look, though will concede that, with not much yard and often no old-growth trees, it's a bit silly. I love houses that have been around since the 1970s. They've been lived in, and have more of a sense of permanence and soul to them. And the neighborhood doesn't look like it was just a tract of farmland last year, before the backhoe got to it.)

The last was the best, as I suspected it might be. Ashby Inn was recommended to us by one Mrs. Dawn Luecke. She had taken friends there for lunch one day. It's also a B&B-type place. It's in this teeny town of 47 people, but it actually is a town, if you can believe it. Basically one little street, an antique shop, this two-building inn, a church, and some lovely, Victorian-style homes. Like renting a town for the night, as Matt said. They've got four or five eating rooms, in restaurant style. Maybe not optimal for a reception, as I said, but there's a biggish patio area and lawn where people could gather for toasts and first dances and the like. There's a bit of slightly raised patio area for a band, which Matt eagerly pointed out. And it's gorgeous hills and country all around. The kicker was -- they had a fairly affordable rate worked out, and it turned out to be more economical, in a sense, to do an evening affair, if you were interested in getting rooms also.

So we reserved it for Sept. 30. That works for my brother and fam to come from out of town, and that was the biggest date requirement.

I somehow feel more 'legitimate.' Now, when people ask if we have set a date and look skeptical when I have to respond 'not yet' will get some actual information!! Yessss. My mind feels a bit more at peace.
Now... on to the next stage of planning! Whatever that may be.