Venue? Check!

After a months of (me) agonizing, we finally did it! (Ok, Chris finally did it!) We have a venue, and therefore a wedding date! We'll be getting married at the Alexis Hotel on First Avenue in downtown Seattle on a Saturday next September. It's actually the first place we visited, and then, after dragging Chris to a ton of other wedding venues, we decided to go back because we knew that we would get the most for our money there. Even if it was not the least expensive option, it was close, and it is definitely the best value. Chris knew that he wanted to get married at the Alexis from our first visit and I have to agree that the Alexis is great. They were really willing to work with us on food and beverage minimums and room fees much more than other hotels. And, we don't have to worry about renting anything such as tents/plates/silverware/chairs, etc. like we would have if we had used a community center. Plus, we get to use both the ballroom and their Library Bistro during our event, which makes the room switcheroo from ceremony to reception a lot easier. It's a relatively small hotel, so we'll basically be taking over the whole place, which is fun! Oh, and did I mention the free suite that's practically as big as my house? No?! Well, I think I may have drooled on the carpet underneath the skylight! I also may have peed a little at the sight of the GUEST bathroom. Um, Chris and I barely have 2 bathrooms between both of our homes! LOVE! Chris informed the hotel that they're going to have to evict us from the room because we would never leave voluntarily. It's true. :) I'm extremely excited, and I know that we picked the right place. It just took me longer to come to the conclusion than it did for Chris, as usual! Here's a couple of photos, just for fun:





Also, I bought Chris' daughter's dress today on Zulily.com. It's such a beautiful color and I think it's the perfect amount of grown-upness without being too grown-up for an 8 year old. (OMG - she'll be eight!) I plan to replace the pink ribbon with a creamy one and we'll figure something out if she wants a broach or something on it as well. And, it was 55% off. Hooray for sales!