I'm baaaaaack!!

Yes, I know... I've been away for a while now. It's just that lately I had been feeling like I had absolutely nothing to blog about!! There were no wedding plans progressing, and what was I to blog about? My dog?? lol, um nah..

Thankfully, I got in to full swing with this whole "wedding planning." We finally picked a date in January. There's really no reason for choosing January, we just did! I figured what better way to start a new year, than to marry the person you love!?

Speaking of marrying, and wedding planning, we finally narrowed down our venue search. I know I had talked alot about places we went to visit, like Trevisio, Artista, and Petroleum Club. Although I liked all of those venues, I didn't really love them, so we never really committed to anything. At first we were pretty set on booking Trevisio, surprisingly, with all that blue decor. But I just felt that I didn't love it, and that I was settling if we did. I mean, don't get me wrong, its a beautiful restaurant, but I just couldn't ever get over the blue walls, blue chairs... it made ME blue...

Until... I casually inquired about The Magnolia Hotel in Downtown. I originally thought it would be waaaaay out of our budget, I mean the place is so nice. God must have really been looking out for us, because we got a great deal at the hotel!! We are super lucky, and I am extremely blessed! So we booked The Magnolia Hotel for our wedding in January! I'm extremely excited! Below are some pictures of an open house at the hotel. Isn't it beautiful!? We've booked the church as well! I'm excited to start the whole marriage preparation with the church, I'm actually excited about the marriage classes. I'm thinking we'll learn alot about ourselves, values, and future expectations. I can't wait! Seriously!

This is the ballroom where our reception will take place.

Photography by Sharon Nicole

So I've been thinking about colors... oh lord, colors! With so many weddings this year, um about 5 to be exact, I have a lot to think about! I definitely want something that's all my own! Last, I blogged about having a pretty formal wedding, with a black and white, and champagne color scheme. I still love the idea of black and white, but after I saw the images on my previous post, I almost knew this is what I wanted. I've been searching high and low, and I think I'm still going to keep the black and white color scheme, but I want to throw in some gray/pewter and pops of some deep, deep purple. It's still formal, but there's some color in there! I guess we'll have to see how my "vision" pans out in these coming months!

Here are a couple of inspiration boards that have tickled my fancy lately...

via jomygoodness

via the cake blog

via wedding window

Petroleum Club of Houston - The Grill Room

So this is the last place we went to go see. And let me tell you, I loved this space. They are pretty average, as far as price, compared to the others we went to see. The Grill Room is a bit smaller than their other ballroom, but we're having a smaller wedding, so I'm totally fine with it. This room is a lot more intimate, but still has the wow factor, with two walls of floor to ceiling windows. You get a great view, as this venue is on the 43rd floor of the ExxonMobil building in Downtown.

Here are some picture we took of the venue when we went to see it. You can't really picture a wedding here, since its set up as a restaurant for their members. But you can see the overall space.

The three above pictures by yours truly.

These next pictures are from The Petroleum Club of Houston website. Here you can see the way the room is set up for a wedding. There is the dancefloor, and round tables.

Here is a wedding shot by D.Jones Photography which shows a real wedding in the Grill Room. I think so far, I'm liking this venue a whole lot. This space is a little more traditional, which I always said I wanted something more modern/different. But I think having a reception with a view of all of Downtown is a bit different. Just something I'll have to think about. Maybe I'll check out a couple more venues, I was thinking of looking in to some hotels, but I'm just not sure yet.

Artista at Hobby Center

The second venue we looked at was Artista at the Hobby Center in Downtown. J loved this venue. It was very intimate and different. This room also had tons of windows which offered a great view of Downtown. On the down side, they did say they wouldn't know if our date was available, because they are on the Hobby Center schedule, it really depends whether the Hobby Center will have any shows going on at the time.

I think the Hobby Center is beautiful, and would be a great place for people to arrive at for our wedding. Just take a look, it looks beautiful. And if you have a Lexus, you get to valet for free, hehe.



The venue is a restaurant, therefore has a nice bar space. The space is filled with dark woods, ivory linens, I mean its beautiful. They provide a piano player, which would be lovely. The way the space is set up, is really nice. They have booth style seating, which J thought was so different and in a good way, it's a more intimate setting for family and friends. This space is a little pricier, but it's really nice.





Another drawback was that the space held up to 150 people, but that included seating people in their top space as well. You can see the top space in the picture below. I guess it isn't so bad, but I would want all of our guests in one space, not separated.

The venue also provides a balcony area, which is so lovely. It opens up to Downtown and provides a great view.

all images via Artista website

Check out this wedding at Artista shot by D.Jones Photography.

The venue search continues!

Trevisio Restaurant

This was the first place on my list. It was recommended to me by our great friend Karla. I had seen pictures of it, but definitely wanted J and I to look at it. The location is central, it's located in the Medical Center. It's definitely different from your ordinary "wedding venue." And that's exactly why I liked it. They are extremely flexible, when it comes to food, beverage, space, everything really. I like this too! So what's holding me back? All of that blue... is making me blue. I want such a simple wedding, remember I said, a black and white, and touches of champagne classic wedding... well um yea this doesn't really go with that. Of course there are things we can do to help this... like rent chairs?? And not use the blue glasses, but those are more expenses we don't have to incur. I'm wondering if I can just look past the whole blue? But it is pretty prominent in the space. Take a looksy for yourself.



The bar is included in the main space. See these glass walls to the right, that was another small drawback. They have like two small glass walls/rooms on both sides of the space in front of the bar. It's like two small rooms, which essentially, whoever would be sitting there could still see everything, but it just seems odd to me. Why glass walls, why not just get rid of them, ha. I'm not going to scratch it off the list, because it is a nice venue, and very different.

See all of the blue in this picture. This is what throws me off a bit. All of their accents are blue. The walls when you walk in are blue, the glasses, chairs, everything. I'm sure if the lights are dimmed, it will make no difference but if its your wedding, you want everything to be perfect. Ahhh. See the glass room, lol.

Top two images from Trevisio website.

These images are from other photographers. This first image is of the water wall the building has in front. When you drive up you see this beautiful water wall. Of course at night they light it up beautifully, as seen here in this picture via KU Photography.

Can you see those glass walls? The ceiling has those things you see in the picture, I'm not sure what they are, but they have lights in them, and I'm sure they look very nice when the lights are dimmed.


Ok, here is the hallway, from the elevator to the actual main room. BLUE, is all I have to say. Hmm, I'll have to really think about this, and make sure I can get past the whole color issue. My sister said, "what if you change your colors?" *gasp* Not sure about that one.

this image via Blanca Duran Photography