What You Can Learn From My Wedding Venue Search

Immediately after I got engaged and set a budget, the next thing to do was to pick a venue.

Here was the problem.

I grew up in Minnesota and have a deep connection and love for the state, but Jeffrey was born and raised in Orange County, California. We met in and were (and still are) both living in Southern California. Leading up to the engagement, I knew I wanted to get married in Minnesota, but also knew that getting married there would have its difficulties. Since the majority of our community and his family were in California, not many of them would be able to come to the wedding. Also, there was the issue of planning a wedding from halfway across the wedding.

After the proposal, Jeffrey and I sat down and discussed where we should get married. He knew how important it was for me to get married in Minnesota, so without much hesitation, he agreed that we should get married in Minnesota. Jeffrey sacrificed having his entire family and community at our wedding so that we could get married in the place that meant so much to me. I am forever thankful for that.

Once we knew we wanted Minnesota, we decided that either we could get married before the middle of November (after then, snowstorms could cause an issue with travel), or after March of 2020. Although it would be a quick engagement, we decided to look for a venue that was available in early November.

I started reading through magazines, online, and even on Instagram so that I could find the perfect venue. Jeffrey and I decided that we didn’t want a barn wedding or industrial wedding, and decided it would be a good idea to have a completely indoor venue due to cold temperatures. He told this, “I want our venue to encapsulate us. Chilling in sweatpants, classy, but fun.”

We decided to visit two venues on our trip to Minnesota. One venue was almost done being built and was about an hour away from the airport, in the middle of farmland. It was stunning, but the location deterred us. The second venue was Bavaria Downs. On our way there, Jeffrey looked at me and said, “this is going to be it.”

With confident minds, we pulled into the venue and immediately fell in love. We walked through the doors and knew that it was the venue for us. After our tour, our families joined us to look at the venue and by the end of the day, we signed our contract! PRAISE the LORD they had a Sunday open in early November!

If you want to see our wedding pictures or read more about our big day, let me know! Leave a comment below or send me a message on Instagram!