The Tale of Two Weddings: The Part Where We Actually Figure It Out

The most obvious choice for where to have our wedding is our hometown. Our town is home to about 30,000 people and our downtown is in the process of being revitalized. Jus bought a house here last year and we try to support local business and our community as much as possible.

My family is in a unique position in our town.

My parents have run our diner for the last 24 years and it is an institution among locals. Three years ago their restaurant was featured on national tv and since then we have seen a lot of tourists.

My grandpa owns about a dozen buildings in our downtown and is really responsible for the revitalization of our downtown. My uncle sits on the city council and he and my aunt own about 6 buildings downtown.

When Jus and I started reconsidering the location of our wedding the possibility of having our wedding in our hometown came up. We were kind of mixed. Neither of us is an active member at a church and most of the wedding venues in this area are a little over used. But then we remembered one of the buildings my grandpa owns.

The first floor of the building is home to a meat shop and the second floor is one huge room that totals 2300 square feet. Neither Jus nor I had been to this building in a couple of months but we remembered it as a possibility.

You enter through a door on the side of the building

into a little lobby area that will be cleared out.

The second floor has two walls of windows, a wooden herringbone floor, dark wood trim, and the original tin ceiling. We swung by the space with my parents and within five minutes of being there we had decided to use the space for our reception.

(I don't know why it looks like it was snowing inside)

I know what you're thinking. It doesn't look anything like a wedding venue. It's going to be a lot of work. My grandpa restores buildings and Jus and I have already volunteered as much time as needed over the summer. We're going to sand and varnish the floor, paint the walls, and my grandpa is going to rewire the room and fix the tin ceiling. This is truly going to be a DIY wedding.

I have no doubt the building will look awesome come our wedding. I have visions of draped fabric, candlelight, long tables, and twinkle lights.

So if you'll trust me a a little I'd love for you to come along for the ride.