The day I had been imagining all my life finally came! The man of my dreams got down on one knee and proposed to me with a ring I couldn’t have picked out better myself. My hopes for the future had begun to fall into place.

What a gorgeous rock!

The First Step: Figuring out how to choose a wedding venue.

The excitement of planning our big day quickly took over and we began to think of all the details at once. What we had never realized was the stress and time commitment that came with planning each and every detail of the big day: the perfect wedding location, date, dress, color, bridesmaid dresses, ceremony, cake, menu, decorations--The list never seemed to end! We quickly realized it was going to be important to focus on one at a time, and let each piece of the puzzle come together. The first big decision we decided to focus on was how to choose a wedding venue and date for the event.

We decided an indoor winter wedding was for us.

We knew we wanted a summer wedding or an indoor winter wedding, which is pretty crazy since they are complete opposites. However, we wanted to choose a venue that we loved, and to work with their availability as far as a specific date. We were clueless as to where to begin when searching for the perfect wedding location. I bought a bunch of bridal magazines and began researching online for different venue options. Each one that we liked, we requested information from. Upon receiving the information, we would look through it, see what the place had to offer, and then determine if it would be a good match with our budget. If so, we set up a site visit. We spent about two weeks touring different venues. We quickly made a decision to go with an indoor winter wedding due to the incredible deals you can get. Everywhere we toured was amazing, so when it got down to the final place, we were overwhelmed with the huge decision facing us.

Sammi and her fiance Jake.

We finally found the perfect wedding location!

The last place we toured was Oakridge Hotel and Conference Center in Chaska.  We stepped into the lobby and felt instant relief. It was perfect! Everyone had told us we would know the right place as soon as we walked in, but we didn’t believe them before stepping foot into Oakridge. We toured the site and fell more in love with it everywhere we went. We checked availability with the site, and finally settled on January 18, 2014. The last step in finalizing everything was signing the contract and making the deposit. We couldn’t be more excited and confident in our first big decision of the beginning of the rest of our lives together! Stay tuned for more wedding planning advice and stories from Sammi! If you liked Sammi’s method for how to choose a wedding venue, let her know by commenting below!

Do you have other suggestions for finding the perfect wedding location?