It's Official

People, brace yourselves. We have a date and a venue!

Please mark your calendars for July 30th, 2011, because we will be celebrating our wedding at the Delaware Park Marcy Casino!

We have to be honest, though.... we've been holding out on you guys for a while. We pretty much knew we wanted to have our reception here back when we were first talking about venues. So when my office was planning an event there, I got the opportunity to talk to the events coordinator and I put a hold on a date! Today we went in to talk details and we are very excited to tell you that we officially booked the venue.

All we have to do now is talk to the caterer and send in our deposit. And then find a place for the ceremony, finalize the guest list, sort out guest accomodations, find a photographer.... Okay, so there are like a million things we have to do still. But it's nice that this is sorted out. It's a weird mix of scary and exciting, but we both feel really good about it. So, yay!

Anyway, here are some pics!

Interior pic I nabbed from the Marcy Casino Facebook.

This is what the interior looks like set up by the caterer we plan to use.

Schmancy, right?

So here are some of the reasons why we love Marcy Casino:
- Its location in Delaware park, where we got engaged

- The building was designed by E.B. Green, so it has architectural significance for us aspiring architects
- Beautiful, natural surroundings of the park and Hoyt Lake

And some more practical pros:
- The entire facility is air-conditioned (imperative for a July wedding)

- Includes parking with an attendant, which is great for a city location

- Great photo opportunities (in the park, the rose garden, and on the steps of the Albright-Knox)

- Indoor/outdoor space that can accomodate all our guests
- Great caterers, including Sample

- If we choose to have our ceremony at Forest Lawn Chapel or Christ the King at Canisius, they're both very close to Marcy Casino

The only immediate drawback is that the cost to book was a little more than what we had expected. It's definitely manageable, but I don't think mama's gettin' a new bike anytime soon. I think that we're coming to terms with a more realistic budget (the scary part), but I think we are well on our way to planning a pretty amazing party. We hope you think so too!

Love,

Gabby