Alycia Kuehne.

Written from
the venue floor.

Alycia Kuehne is co-owner of The Chestnut Hall, the second-floor event venue she and her husband Ben built at the corner of Chestnut and Louisiana Streets in historic downtown McKinney, Texas. Where others saw a deteriorating structure that had been passed over for years, they saw a room with a view over the square — and built it.

She writes The Chestnut Hall Journal, the venue's collection of planning guides. The perspective is deliberately specific: these are notes from the person who answers the inquiry emails, walks couples through the room, and watches what actually works on the day. That means honest numbers on what a DFW venue costs, real reception timelines rather than idealized ones, and the questions worth asking a venue before signing.

The Chestnut Hall operates on a fully open vendor policy — a choice Alycia writes about often, because it changes how couples and planners approach nearly every other decision.