Venue:

Tripp and I were both very enthusiastic about an outdoor wedding and reception. For Alabama to be such an outdoorsy and beautiful place the amount of outdoor venues in Huntsville is severely lacking.

There's Big Spring Park, which cannot be privatized. Though, most people will not walk through the middle of your wedding, there will still be people playing frisbee thirty yards away, dogs peeing on trees, and ducks wandering aimlessly. That coupled with the fact that somehow with all of the engineers in Huntsville they could not construct a park without pools of gnats and buckling brick walkways makes it not worth the trouble. Also, this venue offers not dressing quarters or reception space.

There's Burritt on the Mountain, which was a favorite of ours as it was our first date and the place of our engagement. It is also very expensive and honestly a little stuffy. I mean it is a gorgeous place, it just has this stuffy feel.

There's also a chapel somewhere up on Monte Sano, I never went and looked at it because I saw the price online. Sheesh. The pictures didn't look that good. Just for the record, we're paying a little more than this for a possible 75 times the guest allowance (though we really only have maybe 15 times that) and as many attendants as we want, and dressing rooms, and... well pretty much everything this place doesn't offer.

There's a tiny wooden chapel up on Green Mountain and a pavilion that looks over a lake that comes with the rental fee. I never called for a price because when I say tiny chapel, I mean TINY. With a lot of luck and 5 extra benches we could fit 60 people MAYBE. Also, it's about a 100 yard hike through some woods. Not a bad hike, but not one I want to do in a wedding gown. Furthermore, you don't get full run of the preserve when you rent meaning anyone else who comes in can just be all up in the pavilion and hogging the swings and benches on the lake's beach.

And then there's the Botanical Gardens which offer several different venues, all of them you have to call for pricing. I didn't, because I've been to a wedding there and I'm pretty sure we can't afford it.

I imagine you can rent some part of Bridge Street, and there are probably a variety of churches without outdoor areas... but none of this was "us" or in our price range or "us" enough to justify going out of our price range.

I happened to luck upon a childhood friend getting married on Facebook right after the pictures of her wedding had been posted... it was then I was reminded of a well-kept secret called AM Booth's Lumberyard.

It's not that it's a secret, it's that it's just not for everybody, at least not for a wedding per-say.

We loved it. For around 400 dollars (plus a refundable deposit) you have a full days access to a venue that holds 750 people. However, your event can only last 5 hours.

I'll post some pictures of the space, but it really does more justice to explain it.

It's an old lumberyard renovated to be an artsy party space. It has a couple hundred mismatched chairs and some tables for your use, a small gazebo, a train car (that will be a functioning restaurant by September), a stage with lights and VIP booth, a bar with an old bathtub that you can fill with ice to keep beer or can drinks in, a hammock, a loading dock that is now a fountain, lots on shaded and open space, artwork, white Christmas lights, and so much more.

You get to use a small kitchen and dressing area as well as an indoor area with chapel windows. There is a bar located in a building on the premises that your guests could go to if they wanted something other than what you're serving.

You have access to a basketball goal and foosball table if you so wish and you can move any of the numerous pieces of lawn furniture anywhere to create the layout you want.

It is very offbeat and some people would probably find it ugly or tacky but I love it.

It's taken a lot of stress off planning because I can basically show up there that morning and I don't have to arrange for any vendors to be let in, I can get dressed there and it is literally like a half mile from where we live.

Pros: Very flexible, very customizable, cheap (although rates are getting raised because of the upgrades - luckily, we signed our contract before all that).

Cons: You gotta be weird! Also, it's about 10 yards from the train tracks so you have to call the depot and find out when the trains are running and either schedule around it or throw a fit so that they delay.