Hole in One!

Alright, so we left off after the second vineyard, quite upset that we had completely struck out on our first reception search (and that that girl was so rude). My fiance spotted a mini-golf place. Now, mini-golf is one of the very few pieces of ammunition I have when my fiance exclaims he can beat me at anything I tell him not put put. So, instead of starting the hour drive back to the house he decided he wanted a rematch, and man I'm glad he did!!
As we pulled up to Pine Creek Miniature Golf we were not expecting to find what we did. This place is like a full scale country club for miniature golfers! As we began our third hole, taking in all of the scenery we both began thinking the same thing "Why can't we have the wedding here?". Now, I know, the hilarity of the situation does not escape me, a wedding at a put put course? You must be joking. But, my friends, I am not. Just take a look at these pictures!

They even have swans!!!
With 28 acres of land they have plenty of open space for the ceremony and tent for the reception.
Being that it was 8pm on a saturday night we didn't expect to get a lot of information about the site from the teenage boys working there that night. Fortunately these boys were some of the most helpful people We've come across in our search for a venue. They told us there was a party there just the day before for 500 people and a wedding just three weeks ago!!!! The extra extra cool bonus?? They let you bring in your own caterer and booze!! The boys gave us a flyer with pricing info and a business card for the club's general manager. Thank you boys!
We still want to have dancing and music in the reception tent and all of the bells and whistles of the first dance and cake cutting etc. But if dancing isn't your thing, or mini golf is our guests can head out to the courses for a little over 7 dollars a person (we'll have the RSVP on whether or not they would like to play, and make it clear somehow that they should bring some money if they plan on playing). Meanwhile my groom and I can travel along the courses taking guest shots and mingling
So, what do you think?? Is a mini-golf place way too out there, even if it does look like this?

Wine Wine Wine

My FI and I have been talking about the wedding for awhile before the engagement but still there are only a few things we know for certain about a possible venue right now. First off, we want the ceremony to be outside in a lovely setting without being too pretentious and after that great food, dancing and beer. The combination of these musts with the extra constraint of a small budget has made finding a reception site a little difficult. A state park would be precisely the sort of venue we would like the ceremony as far as looks, however there are two problems with a state park...no where to go in case of rain and no alcohol allowed. The first could be fixed with a tent, a little on the expensive side, but manageable. The second requires somewhere completely different. My next thought was a vineyard. Generally excluded gorgeous rolling hills and if you do you're homework you can find one that does large parties on a regular basis. Again, we run across the problem of not being able to bring our own alcohol (many vineyards don't allow you to serve any alcohol but their wine). The possibility still existed to hold the ceremony at the vineyard and the reception at a different place if necessary.
For those who were not aware, there are actually a number of vineyards in New Jersey. You can find a lot of them at the Garden State Wine Growers Association site. So yesterday my FI and I set off for the closest two vineyards to his house in Jersey that had the space for a large event. The first was Unionville Vineyards. It was absolutely gorgeous and very experienced in large events. So, what's the problem? Apparently Unionville Vineyards is prohibited by the state to hold weddings at their site, any other event is fine, just not a wedding. But we did taste all of their wine, very tasty. They were very friendly and let us know of a few other vineyards in NJ (and right over the river in PA) that would be able to help us out.
The next step was Hopewell Valley. Our initial impression of this vineyard was not as great as Unionville. It was hopelessly flat and we had our heart set on those rolling hills and pretty trees. It didn't help the situation that the woman we spoke to was just plain rude. She was no one particularly important and took my information so that someone could get back to me. In the mean time she let me know that no outside alcohol was allowed, when i said "Really?", in an inquisitivevoice, "Even kegs?" she replied very sarcastically "Yeeeeees! Beer is alcohol!". Something about her just rubbed both of us the wrong way so we set off on the road again sort of dejected.
Along the road however, we came across the subject of my next post....Put put golf!!!!
In the mean time, what sort of things did you consider when choosing a ceremony and reception venue?