Venue Visit: McLean Gardens Ballroom

In this series, I'll be detailing the venues we've visited, our impressions, and, if I have them, pictures. Of course, these are all our opinions with what we want for our wedding in mind. All of these venues are beautiful and if you can make them work for you, you will not lose out! What you've missed: Top of the Town, Josephine Butler Parks Center, City Club of Franklin Square.

Next, McLean Gardens Ballroom.

Please excuse Mr. Bronx. He has a knack for walking right into my pictures. You'll see.

I am not sure how I heard about this venue. Try as I might, I cannot recall. There are virtually no pictures of it online and I could find no one that had heard of it. At any rate, I contacted them for rates and was invited to a tasting by their exclusive caterer, Washington Parties. Tastings are always fun, so off we went.

The ballroom is nestled in a residential area in DC near the National Cathedral. Residential communities can be nice but in DC that usually means no parking. Strike one. Besides that, it has an inviting exterior and was surprisingly impressive when we stepped inside. A nice foyer greets you and the ballroom can hold our guest list comfortably. The tasting was actually pretty good. Mr. Bronx loved the crab cake balls, mac and cheese, and fruit with goat cheese and pistachios. For me, the tres leches and mango mousse cake were to murder for. We chatted with the caterer about how the room is normally set up and found that we didn't love the way the buffet would flow. Strike two. Next, we toured the upstairs where they have a bride's room that can also be used for babysitting. It was nice and useful. The foyer is usually used for cocktail hour which is nice but seemed too small for our 145 guests. Strike three. In the end, this wasn't the best venue for us but still a lovely venue with 2 fireplaces and a large easily decorated room. The caterers seem eager to please and were a pleasure to meet. We'll keep them in mind but not this venue. I still consider McLean Gardens Ballroom a great find.

Check it out:

The foyer that would greet guests and serve as a cocktail hour space. Sadly, it's too small for us.

Inside the ballroom. Nice columns and two fireplaces.

I do feel the need to add a disclaimer to this post as we were dealing with a crisis and our minds were a little distracted during the visit. I'll tell you all about that in my next post.