Choosing An Historic Estate As A Perfect Wedding Venue

With my youngest child's (and only daughter's) planning a September, 2012, wedding; we've only recently been paying attention to wedding venues.

When we were originally thinking of all the wedding venues that we already knew about, it was natural to consider some of the most well known venues with a certain radius that will make getting to the wedding reasonably easy for a good percentage of people on the guest list. We knew of a few country clubs and well known function facilities, many of which were ruled out for one reason or another. My daughter, her fiance, her father, and I visited a nearby country club that has a very nice function room and outdoor areas for weddings, but somehow it just didn't seem right. Not only that, the price wasn't particularly "right" either.

Parents of the bride expect a certain kind of price tag on the wedding; but as with everything else in life, there can certainly be a range within that "certain kind of price tag. How right that particular country-club venue felt, as well as the somewhat rigid policies (and even apparent attitude of the woman involved with arranging functions) didn't really seem all that "right" as far as the price-tag went. So, that was one venue that was eliminated fairly quickly.

Others were ruled out for other reasons (or similar reasons). Something we hadn't really thought of at first was finding a wedding venue that wasn't quite as commonly known by people who either haven't attended too many weddings in the recent past, who have attended weddings in less formal settings and/or who have attended weddings in the more well known venues within a certain radius.

In any case, not really being able to think of "the perfect" venue in the beginning, the happy couple, of course, set about finding a venue that was, in fact, perfect for them. My daughter and her fiance found their perfect venue, which has now been "locked up" for a date that's only two days off from the day they've had in mind. It's a beautiful, renovated, historical, 1700's, estate with beautiful grounds and a good choice of approved caterers (including some vegetarian caterers). It's located where getting to it won't be difficult, but it's also situated in a way that sets it off from some of the 20th- and 21st-century development not all that far from it.

Apparently, one of its "claims-to-fame" is that it was where the waltz was first introduced to Boston "society" - for whatever that particular claim-to-fame is worth, but it's kind of interesting and fun for us to learn a little about the history of it (I'm not sure how many waltzes will be going on at this particular wedding, but it's It is kind of nice that the place has the history it does (the waltz thing is only a minor thing in its history, but I think it's kind of "neat" anyway.) There's of course a lot more history to the estate than that, but I think the "waltz thing" is kind of the "more fun" tidbit about it.

The estate is now owned by an organization, Historic New England, which is involved with historic properties, events and programs that include, but aren't limited to, properties now available for events such as weddings and corporate functions. Historic New England is the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the nation. It was founded in 1910 and focuses on the preservation of architectural and cultural heritage of New England. That's what makes it nicer (at least to us) than, for example, a country club that was built in the relatively recent past or a modern function facility built solely for that purpose.

On the one hand, there's what the wedding will "gain" by being at such a beautiful location and having a venue that has some history behind it. On the other hand, there's also the feeling that by appreciating the estate, the efforts of Historic New England, and the history; we are, in some way, offering something intangible (and, of course, separate from the monetary factor) to the overall idea of the history, preserving it, valuing it, and appreciating it.

Having been born and raised immersed in the history that is Boston and New England, and with my children's having been born and raised in the area as well, it somehow seems just that much more perfect that my daughter's wedding, too, be immersed in the history with which we've been surrounded throughout our lives.

Maybe those of us who have grown up in, and built our lives in, Massachusetts (and particularly, perhaps, so close to Boston tend to be a little more tuned in to history than some people are. (Maybe not. I'm not sure. ) Maybe, too, with some ties to Plymouth and some ancestry that apparently goes back to the Pilgrims who came to America on the original Mayflower, we feel a little more rooted in history than we otherwise might have. Maybe, too, it's just that I'm at an age when history just means more to me.

For example, I'd gone my whole life without really thinking a whole lot about how bad the Massachusetts Winters were for people like the Pilgrims. Oh, I knew the whole story about how so many of them died and about how awful the Winters were back then; but how bad it must have been never really sunk in with me until a few years ago when, one November, I was just sitting, having tea, and looking out my window at a gray, cold, raw, November day. Suddenly, and from out of the blue, it just kind of hit me how "horrible" our Winters can be "out there", and I thought of how awful it must have been to live without benefit of heated homes, complete with storm windows and doors. Since then I've never thought of the Pilgrims in the same way again. I know this seems kind of silly (and certainly kind of shallow-minded of me prior to that day a few years ago), but history has a way of slowly (and sometimes in seemingly insignificant ways) becoming more and more meaningful to us.

Of course, New England history and a venue that's within reasonable distance to guests who are mostly from New England are only going to be perfect for people in the immediate region. Other states/regions, however, do have their own historical event venues.

In any case, and history aside, this estate will make that perfect venue for what I hope will be a perfect wedding for an awfully-close-to-perfect and beautiful daughter. I'd like to add to that list of "perfects" "to be the start of a perfect life", but we all know that life is never perfect, no matter how wonderful or even relatively trouble-free it can sometimes be for some people. The thing about life, in its all-too-frequent imperfections (and worse), however, is that sometimes, even with all that can sometimes go wrong in it, there are also - every once in awhile, and often when it matters most to us - sometimes those things just kind of fall into place and seem so right.

How perfect.

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