Wedding Wednesday: The Venue

This past Saturday was an extremely exciting day!  Ross and I got up bright and early and ventured to the Cape where my parents live to look at two different wedding venues.  

The first place we looked at was the Popponesset Inn in Mashpee.  It is located at New Seabury, which is a golf community right on the water.  I had seen many pictures of weddings there and it looked absolutely stunning, so despite the extremely high prices, I still wanted to go take a look.  Right off the bat we knew that the location wasn't ideal.  It is a bit far away from everything...very remote and not near much of anything, but we finally pulled in and saw the gorgeous entrance and I was excited all over again.

The space is made up of a large tent that is located literally right on the beach.  The view from outside was absolutely stunning, especially since it was a gorgeous day.  We met with the wedding coordinator and she showed us around the cocktail and dinner space and told us more about having our wedding there.

Automatically I noticed huge things that were pretty concerning.  First off, the cocktail hour space is less than ideal.  It literally is the most indoor part of the venue with barely any view of the water, which made little sense since cocktail hour is in the daylight and would be when guests want to actually see the view.  The second part was that the bar used during cocktail hour had to be split with the public in the restaurant...which the girl said gets very busy on Fridays and Saturdays in the summer.  So strange.

Inside, there were lanterns hung for an event that evening, but those are a rental item that typically are not in the space.  The ceiling of the tent was starting to rust very badly and the sides/walls were very run down.  The floor was also a big concern...if you notice in the pictures there is an outer floor made of wood planks, then a concrete area and then the dance floor...it was just a mess.  

Overall, we left the venue feeling somewhat let down and unimpressed.  Not to say that the weddings there are not stunning, because the pictures I have seen definitely go to show that it can be...but it just wasn't the right choice for us.

Later that afternoon we headed to our second tour, at The Flying Bridge in Falmouth.  I had a really strong feeling that we would love it since I had been to the area around the space hundreds of times and knew how gorgeous the view was and how fun the town is.  

We met with the wedding coordinator and went upstairs to the space, which is above the restaurant.  There is an enormous deck for cocktail hour that spans the length of the building and then the indoor area for dinner and dancing.  I was instantly blown away by the view and went right out to the deck to stare at all of the boats.

The deck itself has patio furniture - but the coordinator said that we can put linens and centerpieces on the tables and rent in other chairs if we want to.  I am undecided on if it's even worth renting chairs, but it is definitely a thought to dress up the look a bit.

Inside, the space feels very nautical - with lights that resemble ones from a ship and big wood planks painted in a cream color for the ceiling.  Every wall is windows and doors leading out to the deck, so the view inside is just as beautiful as outside.  The dance floor is built in and is a really gorgeous, light wood.  

The bar looks like something straight out of a ship and is in the perfect spot next to the dance floor.

The one thing that I was not a fan of was the carpet...but it is definitely something I can look past, since everyone will either be outside admiring the view or on the dance floor getting low.

One of my favorite features is the mason jars - they serve all drinks in these!!

We knew almost immediately that we loved it and my parents were absolutely obsessed!  We decided that this is absolutely our venue!  I am still trying to lock down a church, but we have set the date and are officially getting married in Falmouth on... Friday July 24, 2015!  429 days to go!