Reception Site #2

Saturday evening Kristian and I visited our second potential reception site. We checked out Top of the Town in Arlington VA overlooking DC. This was one of the places on the top of our list and we were both excited to check it out. Our evening didn't get off to the best start. The weather was pretty nasty, rainy and cold and definitely not ideal for visiting a location where the view is the main component.

Thanks to my crappy navigational skills we got completely lost and unfortunately his GPS wasn't that much of a help. It kept insisting we turn onto to streets that didn't seem to exist or that led us to a parking lot. We finally made it to TOTT 20 minutes late. Already we were irritated and not in the best of moods to be visiting a wedding location.

Thankfully the woman that showed us around was very nice. Due to our tardiness we actually go to see the setup for a reception that was starting later that evening. It worked out great because the couple was even using the same colors I want to use so it really helped us visual what our reception could look like. The banquet room was very nice and of course the view was amazing even with the fog and rain. It's definitely impressive and something out of town guest would love. However we didn't like the flow of the entire location. You have to take an elevator to the top floor then walk down a long, winding, narrow hallway past some offices to get to the main room. It seemed pretty cramped and not as inviting as I hoped.

Besides the view there were some other positives including the ability to choose you're own caterer as well as the ability to bring your own alcohol which can be a huge cost saver. However the site fee of this location is pretty substantial and would eat up any of the costs saving we might find on food and drinks.

Ultimately we decided this was probably not the place for us. In comparison to the place we visited last week which was similar where we both felt we would get more for our money and the layout was better for us and our guests.

We still haven't made any set decisions and I'm still researching other locations that may be more cost friendly though in the DC Metro area that's easier said than done.