Official Wedding Location...

    As was mentioned in our earlier posting, location is one, if not the most important item in a wedding. Couples should make sure that they have to scout a location and book that location as early as possible (which also means that a wedding date must be settled asap). It would be heartbreaking (especially for the ladies) to have finally found the perfect location but unable to reserve it because the place was already booked. And believe us some good places get booked years ahead.

   Our tactic, which may help couples out there as well, was to start looking for our location as we decide on the wedding date. This way we can hit two birds with one stone. We made sure that we call possible locations and ask for appointments. And since there are a slew of good locations out there, we had to have a criteria to help us narrow down our choices. Those who reply within a day gets our attention first. So just as we were on the verge of deciding our date, we made an appointment to have a visual of a place that Jags was starting to really like. So we went and that was it for her. The place that we went was the perfect place for her.

   Now, as the other entity in the party, I told her to keep her options open as we may still find other good places. But as the saying goes ...... I actually don't have any saying but anyway we went the first time and she fell in love with the place. When we went the second time, she wanted to seal the deal already but I was still hesistant. I was just trying to be "practical". But of course, I crumbled under her mesmerizing eyes and we sealed the deal with Swan-E-Set. Good thing because from what Tegan (the wedding coordinator and a very sweet and nice young lady) showed us, 2011 was getting filled. (By this time we already had settled on a date). Good thing the date (October 21, 2011) that we wanted was still available. So now our "location" has been ticked as "done". We will post some pictures that we have taken of the place and post some thoughts as to why we chose the place.

Scouting of Location! Mayfair and Riverside in Richmond!

MAYFAIR LAKES GOLF AND COUNTRYCLUB
As we drove pass the entrance gate we were kinda impressesed by what we saw. The place is basically a country club for golfers. It was a good sunny Saturday so we saw a lot of them. Which turned Jags off right away. She pictured people walking around during our wedding and golfers yelling "FORE". But all that was erased when she saw what could be a wedding arch. She loved the place and her imagination started to run wild and I didn't mind it. Since no one was there to talk to us, (Hint: It's always to good to call ahead just to make sure that you have someone to meet with you.) we let our selves in and started scouting the place. Because it was a golf course the place was very open.They also have a lake right in the middle with a huge fountain. We spotted a huge tent that can accomodate approximately 120+ people. The tent was too close to the main entrance. We're not sure if it can be moved. All in all, the place was good but what killed it for us was the fact that Mayfair's airpspace is a busy route for airplanes. We weren't there for more than 30 minutes and about 4 planes have gone through thier airspace. We could already picture a scenario where either one of us had to say "Can you repeat that please" or "Do you take her as your wedded wife?" and I would reply with "Sorry, I didn't catch the last line." Maybe a bit of exageration but little nuisance like that affect the feel of the wedding. Believe me, I went to a wedding in UBC gardens and during the ceremony, I heared a dump truck baking up with its loud "BEEP-BEEP" and not mention a gardener mowing the lawn during the ceremony. That just killed it for me. So if you don't mind the planes, this could be a contender.




RIVERSIDE BANQUET HALLS
Next stop was Riverside but because we only wanted to see the place we didn't call ahead. (Big mistake, call in ahead always.) And because of that we weren't able to go in as there was an event happening. So we only took a picture of the outside. Since we haven't seen the inside of the hall, it would be unfair to comment. Remember, "Don't judge a book by it's cover."

Scouting of Location! Brock House Restaurant!

    So as was previously blogged... it is very important to have a good location and did we mention how important it is to have a very good location? So, recently we went to a few places to scout some good location. (Hint: It is good to have a vision of what you want for your wedding. Both of you must agree to have it this way. As for Jags and I, our options are either by the beach or a garden wedding. Both of us had a single mind on this decision.)
    First stop was the Brackhouse Restaurant. First impression was good, though the place looked like a haunted house at first glance. And it didn't helped when one of the managers on site said something about the upper level being haunted. We definitely don't want an uninvited ghost crashing our wedding.    But good thing the actual wedding reception is not held inside the house but outside their spacious garden overlooking part of the Jericho beach. They have a huge tent could accomodate more than 100 people on their north lawn.
Chairs can be aptly placed facing the direction you desire within their lawn. The view of the beach can be spectacular!

   Their menu consist of seafoods and north american cuisine. You can either have a choice entree, a buffet or you can make your own.
   The manager that we spoke to was helpful and very upbeat. We didn't get to tour the whole place because there was an event happening at that time. It was only inside the tent so no big deal. All in all, Brock House would be a contender. Oh and a neat trivia... the Brock House is actually a heritage building!

A Serious Meeting

   We cannot stress enough how important location is to a wedding. As one can almost hear a good director yell "Location, location, location!" So must couples yell "location, location, location". So Jags and I opted to dicuss the location first before the actual date. (This may vary... couples can select a date first and then the location.) And so here we are in Caffe Argitiano in W. Hastings, juxtaposing the pro's and con's of getting married in the Philippines vs Canada. (BTW, Caffe Artigiano's coffee latte is of the hook. Too bad they no longer have their coffee supreme for $10.) So together with our trusted blue book(Hint: writing everything down will give you a better view of what you want to come up with) we needed to come to a resulotion as we no longer what to waste time. So the final verdict was, as mentioned in the prior post, Vancouver was our final choice.
    So then we have to actually start looking for an actual wedding location. We already have a bunch of options. As a matter of fact we already contacted a few resorts and scheduled an ocular visit. And we have scoured the internet to find a list of good questions that we can ask the reception coordinator during our meeting. This website http://www.bestweddingsites.com/Articles/0305_ReceptionLocation.html has a long and thorough list of good and useable questions.

P.S. Location, Location, Location!