Trying to decide where to have the wedding was the first thing we explored. While part of us wanted to escape to a beautiful, sunny island and have only our closest family and friends, we quickly realized that by escaping to a beautiful island, we actually would eliminate the possibility of having our closest friends and family attend. It would probably cost friends a lot more money than they wanted/could spend, and most of our family probably couldn't make it as a long flight is out of the question. So there went that genius idea.

Jared and I knew we wanted a casual wedding, and that translated to an outside wedding. WOOHOO! I, in particular, wanted something where we could have the ceremony outside, have the option of a tent if there was inclement weather (but not a blow over in the wind kind of tent, because let's be honest, it IS in May and it rains nearly every day here at that time), and I absolutely NEEDED it to have historic charm. Yes, needed.

So, after looking at about 5000 places (total lie, we only looked at GreyRock), we landed on Grey Rock Mansion. It was perfect. In all honesty, we didn't need to look elsewhere. It had everything we wanted and needed. It was absurdly close to our house (we could walk there if we wanted), it had an outside component, it had a LOVELY permanent tent that offered beautiful drapery on the ceiling (needed that too), a charming and historical inside, was in our budget AND came with a lovely planner that could keep me in check. The planner part sealed the deal, because she could tender all of the help that I so desperately needed. Furthermore, the caterer came with it and that was one less thing to worry about.

So, Grey Rock Mansion it was.