FI & I went and visited our venue tonight. We saved the date with them and picked up a copy of our contract to finalize!
It's a Prairie-Style mansion. We get full access to the house and the grounds. Upstairs is a series of rooms for us to get ready in, downstairs will be our potential cocktail hour/Plan B space. If the weather looks cooperative we'll do most everything outside. If not, we have plenty of space to set up the ceremony and/or reception indoors. There are tulip motifs everywhere - woodworking, stained windows, mantles, moldings, etc. We also have access to their banquet & card tables, padded banquet chairs, serving-ware, dinnerware, glassware, flatware, linens, vases, archway, etc. if we so choose. We found out that there's a Cajun festival downtown that weekend. (After party, anyone?) Unfortunately, it looks like the hotel I would have preferred to block is sold out due to its proximity to the festival ;( It's probably for the best though; I'm sure parking near downtown (including that hotel) will be a nightmare that weekend. There should be other hotels running shuttles to & from. Hotel block is next on my list. Also, I guess now we need to make a final call on lunch vs. dinner!
I grabbed a few of their promo photos for you guys
Formerly known as flutterbride2b