finding our venue, part two

... recap...

we were leaning towards the bentley projects... but there was the issue with parking, possibly having to split our guests between two rooms, the issue of some unruly children that might be in attendance (bp has a strict policy that kids have to be suuuuper well behaved and essentially micromanaged the entire time they are there - or will be kicked out!), and the length of the rental (only for 4 hours). so we figured it MIGHT be a good idea to look into other options....

after some more research, we discovered the tempe center for the arts! i had originally dismissed this location as i thought it was too small (max 220 in their main room), and was again faced with the dilemma of splitting guests up. after much consideration and seeing the super low rental costs, we decided it was worth a drive down to tempe to check it out. beautiful! the lakeside room is usually used for wedding receptions - but holds only 170 with a dance floor. bummer, since i googled "wedding receptions at tca" and found a GORGEOUS reception there - with about 30 people. boo

have i ever mentioned what we wanted in a reception venue? i think it's best to describe our "style" as being clean and modern - as evidenced by our choice of photographer... more on that in a later post. however, my uber-feminine side (which i hide under lock and key) has begun to seep into that, so if i had to choose 3 words - i'd go with clean, modern, romantic. And by romantic i'm talking lace, fluffy flowers, etc. so.... eh. we shall see how this all works out. at any rate we wanted a really different location that embraced our style and captured quintessential modern phoenix. ok, so at least that's why i was looking for - i think mr. ramen, would probably say he just wanted something cool and different.

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so back to the TCA... it's set on the edge of tempe town lake, kind of isolated.... it is a GORGEOUS venue. absolutely beautiful! and the rental prices are phenomenal - we seriously considered renting out the entire venue... until we discovered that the ONLY event scheduled in alllll of the month of december was on our day - the 19th. right?! what in the world. so.... obviously... this wasn't going to work out, since we would need to have the entire lobby and lakeside room to facilitate all of our guests. big bummer, especially after getting all worked up!

so what is a girl going to do with 1.5 business days left in Phoenix and 3 days total before returning to school in CA? obviously, stress out and eat some ice cream.

after recovering with some dreyer's samoa ice cream (uh, hello lover, where have you been my whole life?!).... i decided to check into the children's museum of phoenix.

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yet another downtown phoenix location, housed inside the historic Monroe School. a little bit of vintage, but very playful. while the children't museum is absolutely charming, it was not right for us - the room was too small as they are going to be building a permanent play structure in the main room, and in general, just couldn't possibly hold all of our guests. it would definitely be fun for a smaller wedding (250 max for the entire facility) or birthday party. and since that was a no-go...

i decided on a crazy whim to call the phoenix art museum, crossing my fingers and praying hard that maybe maybe maybe? they would have a cancellation or something. luckily i have a highly unusual name (no, really) and the event coordinator, Jackie (i love her!) remembered me.... and informed me that they had cancelled their huge blockbuster december event! and
our date was now available!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the GORGEOUS entryway to the lobby, where we will have our "cocktail" hour

i think i peed my pants a little. you can't believe how giddy i was - i think i actually giggled on the phone (gross) and started feeling lightheaded. what a CUH-RAZY turn of events! and how completely perfect. so the perfect venue really is... perfect! it is one giant room that accommodates up to 350 people, the chair and table rentals are included since the museum owns enough for 350, we could continue working w/ the awesome caterers we had been chatting with, it was in central phoenix, it was modern and clean and beautiful, kids can be kids (w adult supervision in the galleries), the rental was just right for a 6 hour event, and.... we loved it! HUUUGE sigh of relief!!!


the Great Hall, where our reception will be held

God totally provided in the most perfect timing.
and like the really cool person i am, i didn't take any pictures - we just took videos of almost all the places we viewed.

* if anyone is interested in seeing these venues.... let me know bc i have videos! and if i have to i could upload them to youtube.... or something.

** when i say "we" i really mean i, with some loving input from j