septbride08's Chocolate wedding

In the two years before we got engaged, Ryan and I had something like 15+ weddings that we were invited to. So, when it became our turn to plan I wanted to make sure that we would do a few things differently so that our wedding felt personal, not just a culmination of everyone elses.
When the search for our reception site began my preferences looked something like this...*St Paul (not Minneapolis) side of the Twin Cities.
No golf courses..too many recent wedding receptions at golf courses.
No hotel ballrooms...we're paying for entertainment, so I didn't want people ditching our party for the hotel bar (I've seen it happen more than once).
Some form of unique architecture.
Most importantly, 250+ maximum seating preferably with no need to tear down tables to make room for the band & dance floor.

Despite my "wish list" when all was said and done, picking the reception site came down to just two detail...the capacity and date availability! I definitely had delusions of grandeur hoping for a truly unique reception site that could hold the number of people we required and would still be available on a Saturday during one of the busiest wedding months in Minnesota.

My [poor] mom called I don't know how many venues asking about availability, and only one place on my list was open for one of our possible dates. Luckily, Mom also remembered going to a work banquet at a venue in Lake Elmo. She called them to find out that they also had one of our possible dates open, which gave us two possiblilities.

First we visited the Visitor's Center at Como Zoo, and while Ryan and I both thought that it had some really great features, we also had some concerns. The Visitor's Center would have provided a truly unique location and a stunning night view, however the maximum seating was a tight 250. In order for us to fit in the space we would have had to move at least four tables from the dance floor, and we would have been limited in the size of band we could get for the space. Another concern for us was that the space was very bare, and would have needed a lot of extra decorating (read: more money) to create the special feel we would want. At this point we had also been asked to choose one of the two dates that were open at the church and make a deposit in order to hold it. The date we chose was already booked at the Visitor's Center, so it really was no longer an option for us.