Since you're so good at helping me with everything else ...

So it seems I can't make decisions by myself. But I'll have you know I've been making some pretty serious, big-time decisions lately. And you've been awesome at helping me with most of them. :)

I'm planning two weddings while my fiance is training cadets at We$t Po!nt. By the time we get to talk on the phone, he's exhausted. I have about 10 to 15 good minutes to find out about his day and throw 50 bajillion questions at him before he starts falling asleep on the phone. I lost him tonight before my current big decision: I really need to decide on a reception site -- pronto.

Since many of you are already married or have spent a lot of time at weddings lately, who better to ask than you? Besides, with your amazing taste and judgment, I know I can trust your opinions. (You totally want to help me now, right? I knew you would. You're just awesome like that.)

Place A
Pros:
- Closer to the airport (which is good for guests)
- $3,000 cheaper
- Takes care of everything -- flowers, decorations, catering
- Is close to downtown Dallas, but farther from where I live
- Has a really pretty front door area for pictures
- We could do our Italian/BBQ reception food idea
- Looks really awesome in pictures -- honestly, it looks better in pictures than in person
- Variety of choices in chair color and linen color, all included in the rental price

Cons:
- Smaller space than Place B
- Has two tiny bathrooms that aren't in great shape (but not bad, really), each with only one toilet
- What if their in-house decorator has tacky taste or ruins my flowers?
- Not in the greatest area of Dallas -- meaning it feels like it could be in a bit safer location, and the area isn't that attractive
- Parking is a little odd at this site. People will have to walk farther than they will at Place B. Parking for Place B is more obvious than at Place A, but Place A has uniformed cops directing traffic through events.


Place B
Pros:
- I really like the person we've worked with so far in checking out the site
- K has seen it and liked it
- Has a separate bridal room where K and I can go before our grand entrance
- Is closer to the suburb where I live, so I know my way around that area better
- Is closer to ER's parents' house, which has been offered to the bridesmaids for the night before the wedding so we can all stay and get ready in the same place
- Is in a nicer area than Place A
- Has large, nice bathrooms

- (This isn't really a pro or a con) More traditional-type space, where Place A is a bit more contemporary

Cons:
- $3,000
- We can't do the Italian/BBQ thing
- We'd still need to find a florist
- Um, $3,000


With both sites, we could bring in our own alcohol, so that's no deciding factor. Place A doesn't need a dance floor because the floor is already dance floor-like, and Place B includes the dance floor in the rental price.

Place B is the one I visited and loved back in April. Everything just went so smoothly. Tonight, when I visited Place A for the first time, I didn't click with the two ladies there in the same way. Since K won't be come to Dallas again until mid-July, I'd planned to take pictures of Place A to send to him. When I pulled up to the site, it was raining. I pulled my camera out of my purse and went to take a picture of the outside area. My camera batteries were dead. I looked in my purse for extras, and I didn't have any. I almost always have extras. I don't even know when I pulled them out of my purse. Was that a sign?

I played with my ink pen as I talked to the owner and her decorator about the site. My pen, which I've carried in my purse and used successfully hundreds of times, kept falling apart because I had twisted it so much it didn't want to stay together.

The woman at Place B had told me the questions I had ready for her were good. She answered them all very well, and she had her own spiel about the site as well (meaning good things to know, not things to try to pressure me to book there). She gave me a handout of questions and answers about the site. Many of my questions were on there.

The owner of Place A looked at me halfway through my list of questions and said, "Where did you get these from?" I gave a sheepish grin and told her they were all recommended in a planning book I had. She laughed at me and asked what I did for a living. They weren't surprised with my answer. When I finished my questions, I asked if they had any other info for me. I had waited for some sort of spiel, but there wasn't one. They had nothing else for me. I could have left that place after 20 minutes, but I stayed longer because I kept waiting for some epiphany to either go with the place and save my $3,000, or go with Place B because it would be totally worth it. There was no epiphany.

I felt more pressure from the people at Place A. They asked me questions about place B a few times: "What did they quote you? Can you bring in your own alcohol there?" At the same time, Place B was one of the first places I went, so the woman there didn't really have a chance to ask me questions like that. Still, though, I don't think she would have.

I tried to be open-minded about Place A and not compare it to Place B, but it was hard. At the same time, though, three thousand dollars ...

So I guess my big question is which is it better to have: $3,000 and a fun, funky menu mix, or more bathrooms, more space and a more convenient location for me and my bridesmaids?