Ooooh, pretty

I know I've talked a lot about our reception space, and done a fair amount of joking with friends and family about how it's the local senior center (no, really, it is) and we're going to have to hope there's no old people sleeping in the lobby the night of our wedding... BUT, I've never posted pictures of the space here before (mostly because a few of the times we've been there I HAVE seen old people sleeping in the lobby). So, since Dan and I were already going out there on Friday to meet with the staff and it just so happened to be absolutely gorgeous outside... Dan snapped a ton of pictures and now I'm here to share them with everyone!

I had heard rumors from Mr. Lawler about how pretty this place looked when it wasn't the dead of winter, but had yet to see it for myself since we got engaged. As usual, he was right!

I'll admit that I've been a little nervous about fitting our 175-200 in the room... so you can imagine my excitement when I learned they were setting up for a wedding of 226 and everything fit just fine with room for a dance floor to spare!

Since we'll have less people than the 226 the room was set for, and I won't be using chair covers, I'm hoping the space will look even more open than it did when we saw it.

Every space comes with some imperfections. In our case, it's stuff on the walls that I've been told I'm not allowed to remove. Thankfully, I AM allowed to cover the things I don't like... so I'll be getting creative with some paper to take care of what Manda and I affectionately refer to as "The tree wall" -

 And these plaques...

And this giant wall of pictures of people who I'm sure are very nice and important, but just don't really fit into my "vision" for my wedding reception...

I've begun to obsessively check the weather every day to see if September guesses are up yet, because I am really really praying for weather that allows our guests to enjoy the incredible outdoor landscaping.

I am currently brainstorming like mad trying to figure out SOMETHING to use this awesome gazebo for. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

This here is the fountain I plan to jump in at the end of the night... wedding dress and all. We'll see how that goes.

We also found this guy hiding in the bushes. Haha. Definitely need to get a photo with him on the big day.

I've already got all of the perfect decor for this amazing little patio... so really people, cross your fingers for good weather!!