Spring Hall is located a few miles north on Buford Highway.[1] One thing that I’m not crazy about is the venue's location in a shopping center. Granted, this does provide for ample parking. However, the parking lot of a shopping center doesn’t provide most picturesque scenery for wedding photos.
However, once when we walked in, the interior of the building was a completely different story. It is gorgeous. The entrance alone makes you forget about the mediocre outside. The marble lobby floor and crystal chandelier made this one of the nicest venues we’d seen since the Emory Hotel.
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| Lobby |
Once inside, we met with Alex. He informed us the event planner was out of the office, but he would be happy to show us around the facility.
The bridal room was our first stop. What a difference between this room and the previous bridal space at the Old Courthouse!
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| Wonderfully decorated bridal area |
Spring Hall clearly cared that the bride has a beautiful area to dress and get ready for the wedding. The bridal room connects directly to the restrooms. In a sign of how much is invested in making this a great event venue, even the restrooms were beautiful and immaculate.
The restrooms consisted of four regular stalls and one handicapped-accessible stalls. There was ample counter space around the sinks. I was impressed that Spring Hall even went to the trouble of ensuring that even the restrooms appeared elegant.
We proceeded to the cocktail and lounge area. Alex assured us that we could move the furniture around as we pleased. The couple who was hosting the even that night had moved the couches to create a lounge feel.
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| Lounge Area |
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| Cocktail/Lounge Area |
The corner bar, located near the double doors leading to the main ballroom, offered a perfect location for serving cocktails. Alex informed us that non-alcoholic beverages are provided with the package, and that we could provide whatever alcohol we would like.
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| Closer view of the corner bar |
Spring Hall posed no problem for providing the amount of space we needed for the reception. The ballroom was set up to seat three hundred people. Even with seating for that many people, there was still a huge dance floor.
(Insert Picture)
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| Tons of dancing space |
We would have ample room between tables, making it easy for my wheelchair to navigate the floor and allowing me to speak with our guests. I loved the beautiful chandelier in the middle of the room.
As an added bonus, the ballroom included audiovisual equipment with a screen that we could use for whatever we would like. Additionally, the lighting in the room could be adjusted anyway we pleased. (Personally, I liked how the room looked when the lights were dimmed a bit.)
One thing that threw off my whole perception of the ballroom was a strange smell that I noticed the entire time we were in the room. I couldn’t stand the smell. I can’t describe it and I only noticed it when we were in the ballroom. I pointed it out to Rob, who didn’t notice it. We went back into the ballroom to allow for a second smell. Rob noticed it the second time around, but pointed out that the cleaning room door was open and that the smell was probably coming from that room. He thought that it wouldn’t be an issue during the reception because the doors would be closed. To be fair, I'm sure the smell was just temporary.
As the tour proceeded, Alex pointed out extra space next door to the ballroom that could be utilized for food preparation. He noted that employee restrooms were located back there, so that the staff would not be using our restrooms and mingling with the guests. (Those weren’t his exact words, but that’s the impression we got.) Rob and I aren’t that bothered by the idea of the staff using the main restrooms, but maybe it’s a big selling point for others. (Comment from the groom: Maybe I just look like a snobby guy.)
Next, we viewed the groom’s room and men’s restrooms.
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| Fancy Groom's Room |
Again, the proprietors of Spring Hall have made remarkable efforts to assure that every inch of the facility is beautiful. I would assume that the groom’s room is an afterthought for most facility. Instead, this room was wonderful as well. Once again, I was impressed with the care that had gone into making this such a lovely venue.
Alex finished by providing us with a price list and menu options. He indicated that the prices of the package would be a few thousand dollars less than what is listed on the package. I’m not certain how this works, but he seemed adamant that it would be the case. Apparently, the main event planner will often waive a number of fees. For example, he suggested that what was listed as an $11,000 package could end up closer to $8,000. (Alex did note that if we chose to use outside caterers, it would cost an extra $450.)
Spring Hall was also wide open for the following summer. I’d prefer a late May or early June wedding, but most of the places we’d visited so far had late June (Trolley Barn) to August (Old Dekalb Courthouse) as their first available weekend. Alex told us that nothing was booked for May or June.
As a precaution, we also asked how our wedding plans would be affected if Rob happened to be called for a deployment with his National Guard unit. In the event of a deployment, Alex assured us that adjusting our date would be no problem and there would be no extra fees involved.
We left Spring Hall being quite impressed by the attention to detail, space, and beauty of the facility.
Pros:
Completely accessible.
Beautiful facility with ample amount of space.
Plentiful parking.
Reasonably priced.
Available early next summer.
BYOB.
Full kitchen.
Beautiful Bride and Groom’s rooms.
Cons:
The location in the shopping center limits our options for outdoor pictures.
The smell in the ballroom. (I know this would probably be gone for the event, but it bothered me at the time. I would probably want to have lots of scented candles at the reception, just in case.)
Aside from the lobby, there is no natural light.
45 minute drive from Grace Covenant
[1] An interesting quirk about the area is the large number of Korean businesses along Buford Highway on while we were driving to the venue. It really surprises me that the area, while not technically a “Chinatown” in the way that those areas of a city New York are, is pretty much a Korean neighborhood dropped into the middle of an Atlanta suburb. We mused about when and how the Buford Highway area had become an attractive area to Korean immigrants. Perhaps a few successful immigrants informed their friends and families back home about the prosperity they found opening businesses there.
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