Thursday, August 26, 2010

Vendor Search: The Venue Part Deux

So when we last left off, I was having a nervous breakdown about finding the perfect venue handling the venue search like any other mature, rational adult would – by opening up a bottle of Yellowtail, sticking a straw in it and consoling myself with profound television like Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami.

I felt like I had tirelessly gone over the list of possibilities. None of them made the cut - kinda like me and all school sports teams growing up. People would ask me where we were having the wedding and I would tell them that we'd exhausted every option and had no luck. The general response was, "Have you tried The _____ yet?" Well...no, I hadn't. Most couldn't believe it and some practically forced the phone in my hands. But I wouldn't call.

The ______. Oh The ________ how I loved it so. This was the place I would drive by, wondering “Which organ would garner more cash on the Black Market so I can have my wedding here – kidney or lung?” I just knew it wouldn't fit within our budget. But I was at the end of my rope. So I did what I should have done a long time ago and…wait for it…are you ready? I…picked up the phone, called and ASKED! Talk about tons of effort, right? (Well, at least the mistakes I make now will save me lots of time the next time I get married. Kidding!)

I talked to the Director of Sales and Catering who quoted me prices that made my jaw drop - in a good way. I was so mad at myself for assuming the place was out of the question budget-wise before even checking to make sure. (Does this make me a “glass half empty” kinda girl?) She sent over a copy of their Rental Package which I perused during my lunch break. I wasn’t even 5 minutes into said break before I had already flooded the Mr.’s inbox with texts that may have resembled OMFGICANTBELIEVEITWTFWHYAMIANIDIOT OHMYGAHHHHH!!!$%$%^!!!!! Might as well throw in a few voicemails of just me squealing for good measure.

It turns out they were just what we were looking for and they were within our budget. As luck would have it, our date was open! My parents just happened to be coming into town for a visit the next week so I asked the Sales Manager to put a two week hold on the date for us until we came to check it out.

That’s right. I put a hold. On a venue. For my our wedding. Holy shiz.

When the parentals got to the land of salsa, we went and met with one of the Event Planners who showed us around the entire place. It was even better than in pictures! The four of us knew it was THE place for our wedding!

So where is this magical venue that I have made seem like it’s dripping with gumdrops and candy icicles and lollipop trees? Without further adieu, I present to you – our wedding venue!
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The Witte Museum is San Antonio's premier museum focusing on South Texas history, science and water resources. It has so many awesome features and we plan to take advantage of each one!

Our ceremony will be held here in the Native Plant Garden:
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Guests will then make their way to the cocktail hour will be held along the banks of the San Antonio River, intermingled with the Log Cabin Exhibit in the background (one of the Mr's only requests...I had to oblige even though log cabins just...well...they aren't my thing). To give you an idea of the layout, the Native Plant Garden is on the other side of the building on the right.
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And dinner, dancing and grubbin' will take place here (dinner under the tree, dancing and grub on the surrounding covered patios):
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The Witte is without a doubt the right place for us. It's so unique and has TONS of spaces separated into sections so we can have the ceremony, cocktail hour and dinner & dancing all at the same place, without our guests feeling like they are being shuffled from one identical space to the next. It's also located on the river (the same river that feeds the Riverwalk) so, if we're lucky, maybe a groomsman or two will fall in after a few too many beers and give us all some added entertainment - free of charge! SCORE!

Since our wedding is 100% outdoors, one thing the venue needed to have was a rain plan that didn't blow. It's not going to rain so we aren't going to use it BUT just in case we maybe perhaps had an instance where we needed to use a rain plan, we have one. And the Mr and I both agreed...if it rains, we're doing our ceremony right in front of this homeboy:

That's right...if it rains, we're gonna say "Eff it!" and get married in front of a dinosaur. For the win! But, it's not going to rain.

The pictures absolutely do NOT do it justice! I have some pictures of the venue all set up for a wedding and I'll save those for a rainy day since this has obviously been a ridiculously long post.

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