Thursday, 17 July 2008 | Firetruck, I don't

One of the first venues Todd and I looked at, back in March, was a building that housed antique firetrucks. It would've been completely sufficient for a wedding, and the firetrucks were kind of neat, but it only seemed appropriate for people who have a firefighter in their family, or if the couple getting married happened to be two 12-year-old boys. (Todd was more into the firetruck place than I was, needless to say.)

Another place we checked out had a ceiling as fancy as King Tut's tomb. Although the place was lovely, it seemed way too ornate for us, and I figured our less-traditional wedding might look kind of plain and drab underneath its golden beams. (It was also prohibitively expensive, if I'm totally honest. And it was around the corner from the Museum of Sex, whose window display I worried might cause a stir among my relatives.)

We ended up settling on the first place we looked at, a venue called The Montauk Club, which was built over a century ago, and has gargoyles! I was pretty much hooked the moment we stepped inside the lobby; the only reason we even looked at other places is because it seemed like a wise idea to shop around. I love that the building has charming imperfections (like we do!) and that it's located in Brooklyn, walking distance from home. It's a bit smaller than we hoped, so we're not able to invite everyone we've ever known (which is kind of our style), but that's probably for the best in the long run.

Other places one or both of us briefly considered for our wedding: one of New York City's fancy libraries, The Natural History Museum, the aquarium at Coney Island, the High Line, the tip of Roosevelt Island, Prospect Park, and a certain extravagent Brooklyn venue that amused Todd because it's so garish, like some sort of glass castle designed for Victoria Gotti. I'm not sure how serious he was, but Todd suggested that crazy place more than once; I maintained that while I appreciate Todd's affection for the absurd, I'm not sure our wedding should be ironic. It's one of those things that's funny to consider, but not actually go through with -- sort of like the idea Todd had about having a chimpanzee act as our ring bearer (which, I'll admit, sounds pretty good).

Here are some pictures of the winning venue. (The photos below aren't mine; each photo is linked to its source. Thanks, Flickr!)