"B" Is For Better (2 of 2)

My saga of finding a wedding venue had a little bit of a rough start. Lucky for me (and Mr. A) it has a very happy ending. I was fortunate enough to have two great priests growing up. One had been a fairly young man who was a fantastic speaker, highly intellectual, and very friendly. All of the little old ladies in our parish called him "Father What-a-waste" because, on top of everything I just mentioned he was pretty decent looking. All of that aside, he transferred to a much bigger parish when I was in high school and I figured that was that.

Fast forward to the weekend after the "Seven Minute Meeting" as it had come to be know, Mr. Aardvark and I are enjoying time with my family. My step mother gets an e-mail informing us that "Fr. What-a-waste" is returning to my hometown of Battle Creek!

This was great news and in a few short (ok they felt like millennia) weeks I was in talking to him (on the phone and via e-mail!) about how to schedule my wedding date. He was kind enough to FAX some paper work to our local priest and just like that we had our location, ceremony time, and date, set! It was really a dream come true.

Now, the church is not at all the small quaint building I had envisioned in Plan-A. It is a beautiful, large, old, traditional Catholic church. Would you like to see?

(Photo from St. Philip's Website)

(Photo from St. Philip's Website)

This second picture makes my pulse race. I get a little excited lump in my throat when see it. I think about those doors opening, my dad standing next to me, the pews filled with our nearest and dearest, and Mr. Aardvark, standing at the far end. Swoooon. AND, to top it all off we will have a fantastic priest overseeing the whole sacrament!

Booking our reception location (which I have briefly mentioned in earlier posts) was an easy process as well.  Ideally I would like everything to be close together so our large number of out of town guests would be able to find things easily and without stress. Downtown Battle Creek is, like many mid-sized, mid-western, industrial towns, not quite booming. However, it is by no means a ghost town, in fact in recent years it has seen something of a revival.

One of my favorite parts of my hometown downtown is Arcadia Brewery. It's a lovely micro brew pub and restaurant. The food is absolutely D-LISH! They have a brick pizza oven and make some of the best BBQ in town. The atmosphere is one part urban loft, one part antique store, and one part British pub. It fit my urge to have a "non-ballroomy"/fun party feel. I would not need much decorating to look GREAT and, I would be the only person I knew to have ever had a wedding reception there. Win. Win. Win.

My dad, being one of the handful of downtown business owners went and spoke with the owner of Arcadia and, and just like that, we had a reception venue, a perfect, helpful, accommodating venue. Would you like to see this one?

(Photo via Michigan.org)

(Photo via the Hoosier beer geek blog.)

This picture does a lovely job of capturing the aesthetic of the inside. It's warm and hip at the same time. I really think it will be wonderful! Here's hoping we can fit everyone inside!

All in all I could not be more satisfied with my two venues. One of the best parts being, they are only a few blocks apart! This means, weather permitting, we can walk from on to the other! Or even ride bike! How perfect!

Clearly, plan B worked to be plan-Better.

Did you have an easy time finding any of your venues? Any pleasant surprises in planning?