Sustainable Wedding Planning: Venue
As soon as Sustainable PF and I got engaged I started searching for the perfect wedding location. I was working up north at the time, so all of my sustainable wedding planning research was online. After a couple of weeks of searching I had not found a venue that met our needs.
Sustainable Wedding Wants
First we wanted a location that was relatively easy for all our guests to get to. So somewhere in between where our families and friends live. We didn’t want people to have to travel long distances, burning fossil fuels, just to attend our wedding so we tried to find a place that could accommodate most of the travelers.
Second we wanted a location that served local food and wine. There is quite a bit of farmland in and around the city where we live and where our friends and family reside so we thought it a little silly to have food flown in from around the world just so folks could have shrimp cocktails and international wines. We were trying plan a sustainable wedding after all.
Third we wanted a venue that had character of its own. We have been to several weddings in hotel reception halls and they were beautiful, but took so much in the way of decorations to get them looking that way and we wanted to spend our money on other items.
Lastly we needed a location that had rooms for as many people as we could accommodate on site but most importantly for ourselves and our wedding party the night of the wedding. We also wanted other hotel and B&B locations nearby where guests could easily stay without too much travel from the wedding. Of course we made sure the venue also had good taxi service for all our guests.
Sustainable Wedding Locale
So with all this criteria in mind, I started e-mailing some folks to see if anyone had heard of a venue that would meet the “wants” listed above for our sustainable wedding. My soon-to-be-mother-in-law at the time responded and told me of a venue where she had attended her boss’s daughter’s wedding not long ago. I checked out their website and was in love! I quickly sent the link to Sustainable PF to ensure he also liked it before I got too excited about it. He loved it too!!
So we booked an appointment with the wedding planner and starting going through the menu items, wine lists etc. Funnily enough, we visited the site in person for a walk through a year to the day of our wedding! We planned it this way so we would have a good sense of what the venue looked like with the leaves changing colour in the fall. Visiting the venue, we fell even more in love with it. The Strathmere Resort is close to 200 years old, with beautiful grounds, stone buildings with intricate moldings, arches and winding staircases.
Sustainable Wedding Food
After a year of going back and forth on menu items, wedding day itineraries and seating plans with our planner, the day of went so smoothly! Guests arrived and were seated in the outdoor venue. The ceremony followed. Afterwards, we took pictures with our wedding party and family on the beautiful grounds (which included their very own vegetable patch where the salads and herbs for the meals came from). Meanwhile our guests feasted on veggie platters, local cheese tray and baked bree and baguette.
Once we got inside and were announced by the DJ we entered the Carriage House for dinner. Guests had a choice (yes they could choose the day of which we really liked) of local beef tenderloin or garden herb chicken both garnished with potato and fresh vegetable medley of the season. Accompanying the meal were wines from the Niagara region which may not have been “local” but they were made in Ontario. It was all very delicious! We also offered guests a slice of peacan pie-which is Sustainable PF’s favorite! The cake came later in the night but I’ll talk about it in another part. At the end of night we offered guests sandwiches and wraps and fresh fruit-so good too!
The total cost for renting the venue, the food for 75 guests, our wedding room night, the fees for the resort wedding planner, and fees for music was $6918.73. From the research I did into other venues in the beginning this was quite a comparable price.
All it all it was a beautiful setting, the planner was terrific in ensuring everything ran smoothly and the food was local and delicious!
Part 1: Attire
I love the fact that you included your own garden as part of the meal. That is awesome. The place you had your wedding looks amazing. I am sure it was beautiful on that special day. We didn’t get married in a hotel either- wanted something more intimate and elegant.
Hi Miss T,
Mrs. SPF is busy today so i’ll respond. It wasn’t our own garden it was a VERY large garden on site – all organic vegetables. Still pretty cool that they grow their own vegetables and serve in season veg @ the events held on site. They also source their meat from nearby farmers. The food was fantastic and all of our guests told us as much!
Beautiful place! I always like places where they have their own gardens and include vegetables from it in a menu. We don’t have a lot of places like this around here. That plate looks really good. :-)
Thanks Aloysa. Yes it was beautiful and fun to pose in the vegetable patch!
Really it is a nice blog, I would like to tell you that you have given me much knowledge about it. Thanks for everything.
Great blog, stunning venue choice, really elegant, congratulations
Lovely choice Mrs. SPF! I’d love to see pictures of the wedding. Besides the proximity and the food, what else about the venue was sustainable? Do they do anything else on the grounds (make their own electricity, push mow, etc…)? Just curious…
Wow, it looks like you found an amazing spot for your wedding locale. I’m sure it must book up pretty quick!