Our ceremony and reception location
Village Country Club
This was the very first venue we toured and it ended up being the best deal out of everywhere we toured. It is not only affordable, but it is very pretty as well. I am so excited to work with Chante because she seems very organized and detail oriented.
This was the very first venue we toured and it ended up being the best deal out of everywhere we toured. It is not only affordable, but it is very pretty as well. I am so excited to work with Chante because she seems very organized and detail oriented.
Other places we toured
Trinity River Audubon Center
The biggest downfall is the location. It is in a bad area and guests would be driving in bad neighborhoods at night after the reception. We were looking for places where we could have an outdoor ceremony and they really didn't have anything except a deck that would have had very awkward seating. The inside of the facility was nice but I'm not sure how pretty the outdoor area would look (we toured in winter and it was a dead field.) It was cool though that they converted what used to be an illegal dump into a nature preserve though.
2616 Commerce
Our initial meeting here started bad. Randy, the owner, didn't show up for our meeting, didn't call or email, nothing. He did call me back that night to tell me he was so sorry and that he had an employee have a heart attack and his Blackberry died as well. He rescheduled the next day and showed us the place and we talked with him for a very long time. It was a pretty good meeting and the space was really nice, had an excellent view of downtown, and had a huge deck for the ceremony. We really thought we had found a venue. We waited for pricing from a caterer he works with and it took a few emails and finally a call to get his quote and the caterer's quote. I think the biggest thing that held us back from this place was the fact that I didn't feel he was gonna be reliable. He really seemed to be well knowledgeable in events and was a nice guy, it's too bad it didn't work out.
The Loft at Gilley's
This place was very nice inside and had a lofty (duh), modern kinda feel. The purple coloring would have matched our wedding colors perfectly. It had really cool light fixtures and metal beaded curtains hanging around the stage. It also had an excellent view of downtown. The deck was nice sized but was narrow, so an outdoor ceremony wouldn't quite work. The biggest complaint about this place was the fact that it is a live music venue, and while the main concert space is downstairs, I have a feeling we would hear or feel the music downstairs. Also there is no telling who could be playing there that night. There could be a metal concert and even though there are separate entrances, I would worry about guests being hassled walking to the venue and parking would be a nightmare if they were holding a concert the same night.
City Club
This venue had the best view of downtown and beyond out of all the places we visited. The coordinator Vicki was very nice and helpful and even let us come see the place being setup for an event. Unfortunately, the decor and venue was a little dated and just wasn't the look we were going for. The catering was a little higher there than we had hoped as well. Would be great for some, but just wasn't us.