AUBREEVISION - Observations from the far side of the dial

Here's a challenge for the un-faint of heart -- find a wedding reception location on two months' notice!

To give some context as to how I find myself thus pickled, here's the long-story-somewhat-short version of my life in recent months:

- March 2006 -- became engaged to a handsome American

- September 2006 -- began the application process for the Visa required for me, as a Canadian, to marry Eric and remain in the US

- Fall 2006 -- began making wedding plans for June 9th, 2007, our research having indicated that this would give us ample time for the unfolding of all necessary legalities

- March 2007 -- as my target move date of May 1st quickly approached, began probing the US Consulate for concrete information on our application status

- April 2007 -- intervention by a duo of fearless senators notwithstanding, received confirmation of our worst-case scenario -- there would be no Visa by June 9th. Wedding plug duly pulled.

- End July 2007 -- Received one week's notice to show up in Montreal for Visa interview/final approval

- August 1st, 2007 -- 11 months into the process and a couple thou in wedding deposits down the drain, we have Visa! With the requirement that I enter the US and be married within about 120 days, time was of the essence -- but we couldn't just throw together Wedding Version 2.0 overnight. With our desire to give ourselves a minimum of breathing space but have an outdoor wedding before the frost threatened to freeze our most personal bits, we decided that October 13th, 2007, would be the big day -- and one with the added significance of being Eric's parents' wedding anniversary and four years to the day since we began dating.

All of the vendors on tap for our late great June 9th wedding were exceptionally understanding and since we had already put money down, offered to hold our deposits for our new wedding date, provided they weren't already booked. Which brings me to our current dilemma...while we've found that many of our original vendors are thankfully available for Oct. 13th, one big'un -- the reception venue -- ain't. Since the obvious venues tend to book up more than a year in advance, we're doing some major scrambling. Eric, who's been doing most of the calling around given that I'm still in Canada, has been getting a pretty consistent reaction to his inquiries: "October 13th? Of this year?"

Fortunately, I don't think our guests will be left out in the cold. We have at least two solid, if not immediately lovable, possibilities:

-- a local function facility with an opening. Unfortunately, said opening happens to fall between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., translating to morning wedding/afternoon reception (definitely not our preference). The seemingly cookie-cutter nature of their reception packages also chafes at my creative sensibilities.

-- Chunky's Cinema Pub -- and you thought they only did burgers, beer and blockbusters! I was actually quite proud of myself for my outside-the-box-thinking on this one, and pleasantly shocked that it might actually be a viable candidate.

We may also contact the high school Eric attended on the off chance they have a big, empty space crying out for Canadian content.

So on that note, if anyone knows of anything remotely conducive to a wedding reception in the Derry, New Hampshire area, I'm all eyes!