My last venue post left off in Islamorada, where we visited numerous hotels and resorts (more than I posted about earlier) as well as many private residences. Our caterer, Debbie at Caribbean Catering, was kind enough to show us to a number of vacation homes in the area that could serve as possible wedding locations. That way we wouldn’t have to worry about booking up a resort, overpaying for food/alcohol or freaking out about outrageous site fees. (I am not even going to mention the place that wanted to charge us $12,000 just to host the event.)

After touring at least half a dozen different places, I started to feel like I was Goldilocks. Every place we visited had some kind of deal breaker issue. They were too small for our guest list, or the house was sub par (we are planning to stay on site.) The grounds weren’t well kept. Or it was way out of our price range. One of them was even home to a bunch of wild iguanas. Not cute.

from http://flickr.com/photos/wozes/190637217/

So we left Islamorada feeling defeated. How could we get married there if we couldn’t find one place we (meaning my parents, Plumeria Dude and I) could all agree on? Were we going to have to start from scratch? *Cue anguished bride-to-be* I didn’t know if I could take it anymore!

My parents, who live within driving distance of Islamorada, promised to return on a subsequent weekend to tour a couple more places. Privately, Plumeria Dude and I were considering elopement, or at least scrapping the whole big wedding thing and heading to Key West with just our families. It was that bad.

Turns out we were being drama queens. Unbelievably, our very favorite place– one we had initially struck from the list for being too expensive — was willing to negotiate. After working out the dates with the caterer, finally, we had a venue!

It’s a vacation rental with two houses and two pools, centrally located in Islamorada. We’ll be able to accommodate my entire immediate family in one of the homes and a bunch of my extended family in the other.

Plus it is gorgeous. Take a look:

One of the pools

This is where we'll dance the night away!

Entryway from the driveway area

The other pool

The interiors are equally gorgeous, though we’re not planning to use them for the wedding.

I feel incredibly lucky that we were able to score this place. It fit all my criteria: beautiful setting, flexibility with catering and alcohol, no sky-high site fees, large enough to host 100+ guests, and intimate-feeling. Whew– our biggest planning headache was over!