Venue Option A : Mercury Hall, Austin, TX

So, as most of you ladies know, when a girl dreams of her wedding there’s nothing wrong with dreaming big, right? Right. Until you find that dream locale for your wedding, and you get your heart set on it, because it’s got everything that you would put on a wish list to have at your wedding, and then you see the price tag. Yeah, after my head quit spinning and I was able to breathe fully in and out again without placing my head between my knees….I started searching again. For a more reasonably priced venue.

And that’s when I stumbled upon Mercury Hall. (http://www.mercuryhall.com/) This is an old hall that was moved from the outskirts of town way back when and plunked down in the heart of South Austin – just off of South 1st street. If you’re familiar with Austin at all, you’ll understand why this place would appeal to me. South Austin has it’s own vibe, it’s own feel, and pretty much just marches to the tune of a different drummer than the rest of snotty Austin. So, it would fit us perfectly.

From the pictures, since this is the venue that I haven’t actually visited in person, it seems charming, with a lot of character that other venues that I have been looking at online don’t seem to have. It’s an older building with beautiful wood flooring and really awesome looking antique windows that add to it’s charm. Mercury Hall is located on a wooded, semi-secluded lot in Austin (you cannot see it from the road when you drive by), so there would be somewhere on the facility suitable for the ceremony to be held outdoors.

So it meets all of my primary requirements. The price is a little on the higher side of what I’ve been looking at spending, but still reasonable. I can reserve the venue for a total of 10 hours, with additional hours available for purchase if needed. There is a suitable area outside for the ceremony, along with ample room for our guests to eat, drink and dance the night away inside. And they allow outside vendors, instead of dealing only with certain ones – big plus for us when thinking of $$.

In addition to all of that, it’s situated in Austin, a stone’s throw from downtown, so the options for rooms and other entertainment are plentiful. (This was a big concern when doing my initial research. I found several places that were in the right price range and met some of the other requirements, but they were located pretty far out of town, and with an open bar in the works, I don’t want anyone to be inebriated on their drive back to the hotel.) This also opens up options for the rehearsal dinner too, I mean, a girl’s got to keep all of the factors in mind, right?

I was going to include some pictures, if you didn’t want to visit the website, so that you can get a feel for the place and what I’m talking about….but it seems as if they’re having troubles with it. The photo gallery page is the best for pictures, but it won’t load on my computer right now…frustrating! OK – so you’ll have to visit the website and see if you have better luck than me...I'll keep trying to link the pics before this blog posts, but if you see no pics, then you'll know that I had NO luck!

Looks like a great place for a wedding and reception, right? I thought so…but my fiancé wasn’t as sold on it as I was….to be continued…