Talking wedding venues with family and friends put me in mind of my tenure as Executive Director of the Nez Perce County Historical Society. That's the part-time job I got when Hallie announced I would have to find something to do because as a first-grader she would be in school all day.
Anyway, one of my duties was to manage The Heritage House next door to the museum. The house is the oldest residential building in the downtown Lewiston historic district and the Historical Society owns it. Prior to my hiring, the board had "rehabilitated" the house and hoped that it would appeal to prospective brides as a wedding venue. White chairs were purchased when a wedding chapel somewhere went out of business.
There were rules and I was responsible for enforcing them. Rental was based on $100 for four hours, including set-up and take-down, with both hours and fee non-negotiable. It was a tough sell – most people need more time. Eventually I learned to allow brides the opportunity to set up in advance if they would agree to be out of the house not later than four hours after the start of the event.
Renting the house was trial by fire, believe me. I never knew what prospective renters were thinking or how they would contrive to stretch the rules with which I had been entrusted. On my very first rental, the bride asked if she could get ready in the bedroom on the second floor. "Of course," I replied, not realizing that she imagined herself bathing in the tub, which was not functional. When she discovered the day before her wedding that she couldn't bathe there, she was one unhappy lady. She said I had lied to her because I had told her she could get ready upstairs. She went through with her wedding but called afterwards to say her family was most displeased and would not recommend our facility. "Well, we don't recommend her as a bride!" laughed a board member.
Thereinafter we placed a sign on the tub and I always specifically mentioned to prospective renters that the bathtub was not functional, to which they would reply incredulously, "I wouldn't expect to bathe here." KW
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