The Hendry House
We scheduled an appointment to see the Hendry House — part of Fort C. F. Smith Park in Arlington, Virginia — last weekend after eliminating a number of other potential locations for various reasons (convenience, flexibility, cost, etc). The park is situated just off Spout Run Parkway, which runs towards the Potomac River and feeds into the George Washington Parkway. Sharon, our erstwhile tour guide, met us in the foyer of the house.
The house itself is lovely. It was built starting in 1901 — a "20th century mansion", as the Arlington County website calls it — and the interior and exterior have been recently renovated. We were taken on a tour around the ground floor of the house, and then up to the second floor. Sharon went to retrieve a book of photos from past weddings held at the Hendry House, and Aly and I took the time to put our heads together and discuss the merits of the venue. It didn't take us long, and we quickly came to the conclusion that this would be a perfect spot to hold the ceremony and the reception.
Having an indoor wedding — particularly the reception part — will undoubtedly turn out to be a large exercise in traffic management. The Hendry House has two large rooms, two porches, and a foyer; we're going to use all the available space to encourage our guests to mingle and move from room to room. A lot of thought and effort will go into setting up the floor plan for the wedding; however, it will be really, really cool to see how everything works out* on the big day!
* "Working out" is defined as guests mingling, moving about, and generally having a good time.