Wedding Planning: Location, Location, Location

Back story: I've lived in Tallahassee for almost all of my life, and I'm ashamed to say that I had never visited this place until last summer. It's not in Tallahassee, it's actually in a small town in Georgia, but still...I had passed it lots of times and even after making plans to go I never went. Until October. We went on Family Day, because it was free, and got to tour the main house and explore the 3000+ acres of another time. I fell in love instantly, and I just knew that if I ever got married this would be my *dream* location. Even though we weren't talking or planning a wedding, Bean and I came home and looked up all the info.♥

Fast forward to today: When we got engaged (only two months later!) this was the first thing I mentioned! We looked at other places in town, places on the outskirts of town, up, down and everywhere we could look but nothing came close to being as charming as this place. It's a massive, beautifully maintained southern horse plantation. There was only one problem, the insurance lease agreement. Has anyone ever planned/planning a wedding heard of this? I had no idea it existed! The place we want to rent for has a mandatory $300,000 policy, meaning that we have to put our house deed (which um, hello, we do not have!) on the line just to have a wedding. Luckily they offer bonds for people in our situation (read: people who don't own a house)
for the day of your wedding. 

The thing I love most about it though, is that it reminds me of some fancy palace they'd have in England. It has a grass tennis court, a maze, a blacksmith shop, concrete pathways and lots of horses!  Each and every room in the main house had a different wallpaper, and there are well over 15 rooms to the house. My favorite room is the "Native American" Room. It's filled with old guns, so many arrowheads, and has a massive mural painting of an actual battle that the Native Americans were involved in. But all of the rooms are noteworthy.

We've picked a date*, we've picked a theme, we've pretty much picked a bridal party, we've picked a budget, the colors, the dress, the menu, and even the place  but the one thing we are having a hard time picking is where to have the ceremony. There are two beautiful spots: the Main House and the Kitchen Garden. Bean likes the garden, I like the house. I guess it was bound to happen at some point that we would have differing ideas about something! 

*We have a tentative date set for the second weekend in September! The only problem is that another bride wants the second weekend in September. Both the first and second weekend's are open, but it's basically whoever pays first gets to choose. Now, we wouldn't be heartbroken if we had to go with the first weekend (Sept. 1) instead of the second (Sept. 8), but obviously, we'd rather have the second. It all comes down to, like I said, who pays first. We were completely ready to sign the lease agreement, but we are waiting on Bean to get paid before we can move forward. I know that God will provide and have a hedge of protection over us as we try and reserve our date! 

I'm so excited about this, can you tell? I can't wait to go back! ;) xo, Meghan