Do we, on Sunday?

After being engaged for one month,  I realized that wedding planning is MUCH different than it was before I got engaged.  Hmm. What's that you say? Planning BEFORE you got engaged?  Not really, but in my head, yes.  I had the whole thing planned.  We had the perfect venue (the library), our date would of course be available without ANY conflict, we'd have our choice of all the best vendors - because money would be of no issue, and of course I'd be a DIY genius, garnering inspiration from flowers and nature (or um, Pinterest & Etsy), our photographs would be effortlessly beautiful but candid, and did I mention that money would be of NO issue.  And then the magic happened, Mr. Ly proposed and I said yes and there were were, engaged, and we really started to plan.

First up: find the perfect venue. Done.

Image via Mike Landis Photographer

A new vision.

With the library completely out of the picture for our venue, I was left with little to go on for my venue ideas.  I stalked websites, blogs (mainly the bee), wedding magazines, Partyspace (which is an AMAZING resource for anyone planning a party of any kind in Philly, Baltimore or South Florida), and blogs of some wedding photographers that I had been obsessing over, long before I was engaged.

My requirements were they had to be able to accommodate 150 guests with a seated dinner and dancing, not be a catering hall/ballroom, and it had to be in Center City Philadelphia. Non-requirements (but would prefer) were a library-ish space for pictures, a historic building, and dinner and dancing in the same room.

I narrowed my choices down to 5 venues: