Today, Kerry catches up with us to share how she booked the perfect venue for her 10/10/10 wedding…
Not long after Chris and I got engaged and were basking in the bliss of telling everyone we knew and hearing “congratulations” left and right, we knew we had to get to work and make some plans!
We are both more or less locals of Northern Virginia. We grew up visiting our grandparents who lived a mere three miles from each other, and we were even born at the same hospital! Having lived here off and on our whole lives, we knew we wanted to get married here. The question was WHERE. There are so many beautiful hotels, historical sites, and other potential venues that we were definitely overwhelmed at first.
However, a few things helped us narrow down our choices. We had already decided that we wanted to get married on October 10, 2010 because of the rarity of having such a memorable date-10/10/10! We also knew that we needed a venue that would hold at least 150 guests. Chris and I are both “only” children, but we have huge extended families. (Incidentally, our mothers are both from families of seven children!) So with those things in mind, we set about contacting venues for walkthroughs. We knew we had to act fast in order to secure our date before all of the other 10/10/10 couples beat us to it!
With our parents at our side, we visited seven sites – two in DC, two in Alexandria, and three in Loudoun County. Some felt too formal and a bit cold for our taste. And a few just did not have that “wow” factor we were looking for. However, when we visited George Washington’s River Farm in Alexandria, we both just kind of knew that we had found our place. River Farm once belonged to George Washington and sits high on a hill overlooking the Potomac River, just like Mount Vernon. It is now the home of the American Horticultural Society, so its extensive gardens and row after row of flowers make the estate even more beautiful. Even as we first walked up the path to the house, my head filled with visions of all the amazing wedding photos we could take there.
Used with permission from the American Horticultural Society.
