Venue, Venue...where art though, Venue?

I know that there is a venue out there for me somewhere, but it has been eluding me. I've researched the subject up and down and contacted quite a few places that I thought 'were the one' but I still haven't been able to nail it down.

Places I really liked, but cannot do, due to either budgetary, logistical or ginourmous guest list reasons:

River East Arts Center. Le sigh. This place looks awesome, but it just isn't feasible for monetary reasons.

A new leaf. My friend is having her wedding here and it sounds so nice. Our guest list runneth over...no a new leaf for me.

Prarie Production. A friend's cousin got married here and had her wedding featured in the Knot magazine. It looked very pretty. But...it only fits 2 hundo. Waaa Waaa. It's very pretty though:

Catalyst Ranch. This is hands down, the most popular suggestion that I get from people when I say what I'm looking for in the city. Unfortunately, we have too many guests...are you beginning to see a trend here? I love this place. I attended a wedding there and this was the first time I was ever exposed to a wedding that wasn't trapped inside the banquet hall box. I haven't ever stopped raving about it. :)

Isn't it darling?


Sean enjoyed himself too.

We've been to a couple places so far. One I actually really liked, Architectural Artifacts. We ventured to Ravenswood to check this place out. It's a gem...super cool. But it just wouldn't work out for logistical reasons. It's really remote and would be a logistical problem. I took some photos while I was there.

The four photos below show where the dining and dancing area would be.

The left hand side.

The right hand side.

The middle.

This is where the dancing would take place.

I normally hate chandeliers, but these are all different, vintage light fixtures. The one below was particularly charming.


The event coordinator said that they would be willing to pull 'artifacts' that we liked from around the space and use them for decor. I didn't really see anything I loved, but found some things that would be interesting to have showcased if you had an event there.


Very "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"


They have a very large collection of stained glass.

My friend and your's. Ol' J.C.


I said I liked this one and Sean said "That's what you're gonna look like in 10 years." Not sure he realizes the jokes on him if I gain 1000 lbs and start swigging rootbeer floats.

These are photos from the Web of the outdoor area. It was filled with stuff when we were there, so you couldn't really get a good idea of what it would look like.



A couple other things I thought were cool

Never nude.


They had a TON of these. Glove molds, pretty cool.


Stay classy.

Today we went to look at the Museum of Contemporary Art. It's really the first place I really liked when looking for something in the city. We haven't been able to go see it because they only do facility tours during weekday business hours. But they were setting up an event so we were able to come take a peek. I basically have a major crush on this place. The coordinator is awesome and the space is so unique. It's a city space, but it's "suburbanite" friendly, being that it is in the mag mile area and close to hotels and transportation as well. I have to get some more information on catering costs, etc. But I was really, really stoked on this place. Sean was too, and I'm glad since he was nice enough to coordinate making the appointment to go see it, ect. I knew there was a reason I was marrying him! I didn't take any photos, but there are a bunch on the Web site. Things I loved the most: ummm. Everything. Like I said, I have a crush. I hope my heart doesn't get broken!

Tomorrow, we are going to visit Cantigny , which is out here in the 'burbs. I've heard it's beautiful in the spring/summer and they are building a new venue in the garden area which sounds really nice. It's called Le Jardin. They sent me some artist mock ups:

Instead of the square tables, it would be rounds. The only thing that kind of stinks is that they said the dancing would have to be in the next room, because of course we have too many people to fit it all in one. I know that I won't be able to see the venue in person, but if anything, I'll at least get a feel for where it would be located. Funny thing is that people are booking this place up like crazy, even though it isn't even going to be finished until August 2008. So, we'll see.

One other place I want to look at is the Morton Arboretum which is our here in the suburbs as well.

After today, I'm feeling more positive. There may be an end to my search in sight!