Hello, all!
So, I've been lurking on the Knot since last summer and this is my first post. Basically, we're looking for reception venue ideas in the Media/West Chester/suburb area. My parents are the ones who will be footing most if not the entire bill, and we're hoping to stay at or below $10,000 for the reception with a tentative 100-person guestlist. We are planning to get married in April 2019. Why are we searching so early, you may well ask? Long story short, we have lots of immediate family and friends that live out of state or overseas and my parents are hoping to tour some places within the next few months in order to get a date down, book the venue, and give everyone plenty time to prepare.
Some general wants. Hopefully, these don't sound too insane:
-Outside/historic/garden is a bonus. We're going for a woodland/fairytale theme without being too rustic or princessy.
-The closer to home the better, although half an hour's drive isn't out of the question.
-We've looked into Tyler Arboretum, which turned out to be way pricier than we'd like, and Kings Mills, but some of the reviews we've read about their services and pricing have been disconcerting.
-We've looked at PartySpace and other venues through the Knot. There are several lovely options but some of them are more expensive than we'd like and/or are not in PA.
-If all else fails, we know we can always rent a tent, decor, and hire caterers as necessary. Our church owns a small plot of land that has been used for events, including weddings, and while it's not the prettiest it would be "free" to use the land and we are already planning to have the ceremony in the church itself. Maybe this is the answer?
Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you for reading through this!