No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem

Mr. Newport and I are getting married at a venue that also happens to be a restaurant. Our venue is kind of iconic in Newport, but not for weddings. Whenever I tell people where we're getting married, they think beach, bikinis, cocktails, bands, flip flops and summer. I've been asked way too many times if I've tried their famed Astro Bomb.

The venue is on the beach and has a patio bar with live music during happy hour. I know many people who travel from boston for the day for happy hour at the ABC. It's pretty legendery, but when I say we are getting married there, people are kind of confused. It's known as a restraunt, not a beautiful wedding venue. To be honest, I was pretty skeptical myself of the venue.

Mr.Newport and I had been there many Fridays during our senior year for the happy hour buffet. All you do is buy one drink and you get free food. Awesome for a college kid on a budget. I don't know why people didn't take advantage of it more. This is how we knew the ABC. It was a happy hour spot to meet with friends and enjoy some free food. We spent two years living a block away from the site, and never noticed a wedding.

When Mr. Newport hinted about a proposal, I started doing research on Newport venues. I knew they had a long wait and wanted to know our options far in advance. While searching I realized that the ABC did weddings. I wondered where, because it seemed random to do it in the restaurant area, but because the venue overlooks our college campus, I knew we had to look.

We went and the ballroom upstairs blew us away. It was elegant, spacious and has amazing views of the ocean, the cliffwalk and of course, Salve. My visions of beach goers drinking astro bombs went away and we chose our venue on the spot.

Since then we've been back to the ABC many times and I still had not tried an Astro Bomb. Well, that changed this weekend. Mr. Newport and I headed to Newport to finalize some wedding plans. After meeting with our wedding coordinator, we went to the outdoor patio and enjoyed the ABC for what it's known for.

I love that our venue isn't all about weddings. We'll be able to go back for celebratory drinks and anniversary dinners in the years to come.

Is your venue known for something other than weddings?