Wedding Location Pt 3: Location. Location. Location!

For my avid stalkers, you know exactly where we are at in the decision process. For any newbies, read these quickly for recap:
Part 1
Part 2
Ok - everyone up to speed? Good.
The reality of holding the wedding in Adam's hometown was that it was going to be a pretty intimate wedding with a down home on the farm feeling. (He's from Amish country PA. Literally - the field that backs up to his parent's backyard is an Amish farm... with an electric fence! No, I'm not kidding. He found that out one day as he hopped the fence to grab a wayward football.) Travel costs being what they are, and Amish country not really being high on anyone's vacation list means that we would be missing a lot of friends and family that might otherwise combine vacation with wedding.

In case I didn't point it out enough before, there is no central location for even a large group of our friends or family. Our parents friends are someone confined to our hometowns, but our friends are scattered throughout the country from school and careers. From Hawaii to New York and everywhere in between.

I actually said that I was ok with having the wedding in his hometown IF it was Amish themed!! Straw hats and bonnets as guests walk in? I think it sounds fun!
...Adam gave me a bizarre look and just walked away.... refused to even acknowledge my suggestion! hahahah - i love those moments.

And then there were two.......
As I pointed out in my first post, I am an avid bridal blog stalker. And if no one else has noticed - there are a lot of SoCal and LA brides-to-be posting up a storm! So I was getting a good idea of the range of possibilities that could happen in California. I was beginning to in love with winery style inspiration boards. Adam and I are wine lovers. We aren't exactly sommeliers, but we know what we do and don't like. And how could you not be thinking vineyard with amazing fun, funky, vino inspired boards like this one from Sparkalatti:and knowing that it could mean really fun DIY projects like these I saw on Its a Jamie thing.
The other aspect to to the being bridal blog informed is that I also have an ideal of costs in the area. So, I am not exactly an uber budget in either extreme. I am impressed by those who pull it of for $10,000 or less, but I also don't have a sky high "average" American bridal budget. I am the only daughter and my parents are footing the bill, but I think even spending the "average" 30K is unreasonable. With the amount of people we want to be able to be there to celebrate with us, we quickly realized that our not-so-vintage-vino was going to break the bank.

And then there was 1... Panama City - my hometown. (Yes, as in Mtv's spring break mecca. For any of you reading this who partied there for spring break - I was one of those beach lifeguards who tried to ignore your drunken swaggers in the sand, but came to help you when you found out that, as I had told you when your buddy dared you, you could not actually make it out to the buoy and back.

Now.. to find a venue.....