My fiancee and I have been tossing around different ideas when it comes to wedding locales. I think every feasible place where a gay couple could get married has come up in our day-to-day talks and then for a while, we felt that we would have a destination wedding. Which would allow us to combine both the wedding and honeymoon and from what I’ve researched that would allow things to be somewhat cheaper than having the wedding in one place and then going somewhere for the honeymoon. So we finally had it settled, we would have our wedding on a beach or in Europe and then enjoy our honeymoon in whatever locale the wedding took place. A walk in the park, right? So, of course things wouldn’t be that easy but let’s continue on with the story.
So we decided to move on to more pressing things. Like who we were going to invite and who would be able to make the trip to wherever our wedding was going to be hosted. Being that most of our friends and family are on the east coast, particularly in the DC, MD area and being that they come from different brackets when it comes to money and finances the reality sunk in that a lot of the people close to us wouldn’t be able to afford to come to our wedding if it was out of the country.
Along with the fact that our family and friends do mean a lot to us when it comes to witnessing our wedding and the fact that we aren’t rolling in the dough ourselves; we decided that the best thing to do was to have our ceremony in DC or MD area. After all, it would be legally recognized in both places, even though if we got married in Maryland – we would have to go to the courthouse in DC to get the license prior to throwing our actual ceremony. Still, either way the majority of our friends and family are in the area or within driving distance.
So even though our destination won’t be necessarily tropical or international, we both felt that we made the best choice. I know it is going to be stressful on some level because DC is a pricey place, luckily, Maryland is cheaper but I think having our ceremony in a place that we both love would mean more to us than having it in some place we are not accustomed to. Besides, I know that you can’t think of your friends or family when planning your ceremony but I can’t help it because truthfully, I’m not close to that many people – so in my mind, if they weren’t there I wouldn’t know what to do.
So with us finally nailing down the location; I can’t wait for us to start the actual preparation! So far the contenders are as follows:
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The Dumbarton House – we actually LOVE this place and it is perfect for a smaller wedding. We don’t expect to have more than 50 people and the lady who has been talking with us has been top notch and very LGBT friendly. The price is around $5000 for a Friday wedding in March, which is just to rent the place. It doesn’t include food, chairs, etc.
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The next one is the Newseum. Oh, how I LOVE this place. Starting with just the overall concept of this place, it just sends my geek gene into overload! In order to throw a wedding here, you have to go through their personal caterer which is Wolfgang Puck – I’m not that familiar with his stuff but the name alone should tell you how pricey this place is going to run you. Our contact here suggested that we rent the entire floor (for the **ahem** privacy) along with giving us suggestions for food (my fiancee and I are both vegetarians). The grand total came to about $17K. No lie, so being that our budget is around 10K, this place is really not an option. I just had to share it because OMG this building is SO fantastic! Even though, I plan to negotiate with whomever we go with, I just don’t foresee them chopping of 7K but hey, a girl can wish!
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The next option and so far, the top choice if we do end up in Baltimore would be the American Visionary Arts Museum. I’m sure this site looks familiar to some of you So You’re Engayger’s already, so I’m sure as some of you may know this place is amazing! I have loved this place since college and actually wanted to work for them when I was thinking of pursuing my masters in Arts Management. For us to rent this place in March, the price would come out under 3K, which when we were quoted that, we didn’t believe them at first because of how expensive everything was in DC. I also love that it is in Baltimore, we can also hit a lot of bars for the after-after party and being that Baltimore is not that big – getting around won’t be a headache.
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The Baltimore Aquarium is another option that we are considering. You can rent the floor that is under water and I can’t deny that I love aquatic animals. I’ll probably spend my time squealing at the dolphins instead of concentrating on my nuptials but who could blame me?
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To some Port Discovery is a place that parents take their children to wear them out. I see Port Discovery as a place where I can ride a big ass slide in my wedding dress. We are currently awaiting on the price for this place but SERIOUSLY…YOU CAN RIDE A SLIDE – a big slide in classy, wedding attire. I don’t know about you but that sounds like a whole lotta fun to me! You have no idea how happy that makes me. FYI – I was that kid growing up by the way, always wearing dresses yet always climbing on things, I was the tomboy that hated to wear pants – I’m actually still like that, go figure.
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Last, but not least – The Charles Theatre! Nestled in the cozy Mt. Vernon neighborhood, which I love – it is the oldest theatre in Baltimore. I have seen plenty of films there over the years – when I lived in both Glen Burnie and Towson. All this researching has made me realize that I’m actually starting to miss Baltimore quite a bit.
So, in a nutshell, those are the places that we are considering. As much as I love the thought of DC – the pricing is no joke. I feel that you can get more bang for your buck (haha) in Baltimore but as of right now, we are both still quite torn. We are waiting on the last of the quotes to come in to start listing the pros and cons of each area but in all honesty, no matter the place, the wedding is still going to be quite bad ass.
Wow! So many awesome options Cynthia! YAY!! I think you are on target girl. Love the American Visionary Arts Museum and OMG a slide?? For real??? That’s dope hahaha think of all the funny pictures you could have!! Genius hahaha
Have you looked at the Montgomery County Parks? They’ve got a lot of lovely places for pretty cheap. (My fiancee and I are getting married at Woodlawn in May and it’s been a great experience with them thus far) BYO catering, though.
I LOVE the idea of doing at the kids museum!!! That Port Discovery place looks awesome. SUCH a great idea.
I would totally go for the slide!
Question on this though “we would have to go to the courthouse in DC to get the license prior to throwing our actual ceremony”. In addition to getting the license, wouldn’t you have to have an actual legal ceremony in DC too? I assume that your DC license isn’t valid for a ceremony held in another state. I know you can probably do both at the courthouse pretty quick, but getting the license and actually getting legally married are still separate steps.
@Tami – Thanks, girl! I know, I was thinking about all the photos that will happen when some alcohol is introduced into the mix. You know that is when all the best pictures come out!
@Christine – I think my fiancee looked at that as an option. I have to get back with her to see what she thought. Congrats to you both!
@Mandy – Thanks Mandy! What can I say? We are both kids at heart sometimes. ;)
@Becky – Yes, I meant both. The slide is awesome, isn’t it? I’m slowly starting to lean towards having it there. I just have to see what the final pricing is going to be.
[...] to recap, my fiancée and I are currently debating wedding venues. Should we have it in DC or Maryland (hopefully, MD will legalize soon), factor being the cost. I [...]