The Venue - Short and Sweet

1. Neither Mr. Pineapple nor myself belong to a church.
2. Most of our guests would be traveling from out of town and out of state.
3. We love to eat.

These were the drivers for our venue selection. We wanted to find a location where we could have both the ceremony and the reception. We also wanted to find something fairly quickly so we could get a Saturday in October. In all honesty, the location was not that important to me. It had to suit the three items above and it had to affordable. I did most of my searching online and we ended up only visiting two places in real life.

This first place we visited was absolutely gorgeous, Springwood. (Their website is awful, you have been warned...)Pros:
• ceremony and reception in one location
• on-site catering
• on-site sound system
• beautiful, especially when we visited in the fall
• both inside and outside spaces to entertain
• not too big and not too small

Cons:
• the ceremony would have to be outside and I am afraid of the weather
• rain site was an outdoor tent - still scary and moist
• it was located about 45 minutes out of the city
• there were no Saturdays available for all of 2008

and the one that broke the camel's back
• expense, it would have been almost twice what we wanted to spend

The second and final place we looked at was in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, The Rivers Club.Pros:
• Indoor ceremony and reception
• Close to our home
• on-site executive chef
• per guest cost includes food, open bar, cake, linens, china, dance floor, sound system and 5 candles per table
• no restrictions on decor
• no minimums
• no time restrictions, we have access to the entire club, including gym, all day
• within our budget
• on-site event planner

Cons:
• the curtains in photo 2 :)

So, the winner is... The Rivers Club! There are 3 spaces - the dining room (photo 2), the bar/lounge (photos 3 and 4) and the ballroom (photo 5). We are going to hold the ceremony in the ballroom and the reception in the dining room. There is also a large space downstairs where we can get ready (or run on a treadmill if we want).

The decor is a bit fancy 1990s, but it will do. Mr. Pineapple took me to the club for dinner on Valentine's day and the food was amazing. I cannot wait to do our menu tasting in a couple weeks!

So, we chose our location after just two site visits. Yay for the internet!

Is anyone else planning a ceremony and reception in the same location?