THE LOCATION
The Time
My family lives all over the country, so regardless of where we hold the wedding, they will have to travel. We're trying to make life easier for everyone by holding the wedding in an off-season, so we've set the date as Friday, April 23, 2010. To simplify matters, we're seeking one venue for both the ceremony and reception.
The Place, Part One
Our first choice was the Tenaya Lodge, a beautiful four-diamond resort just outside Yosemite National Park's south gate. Aside from being a gorgeous hotel that offers surprisingly affordable wedding packages, we also favored the Tenaya because Jer used to work there, and one of his brothers still does. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get as good a deal as we'd hoped, and so the Tenaya is unfortunately more than our budget could handle.
The Place, Part Two
So we began the search for a venue that is fun, interesting, and different, with a greatly reduced guest list in mind. After an extremely fun trip to Las Vegas when Jer took me to see Cirque du Soleil's KÀ as a Valentine's/graduation gift, we decided that we wanted to honeymoon there, and when plans at the Tenaya fell through, we thought that we might like to get married there as well.
The lovely ladies on the Las Vegas board suggested that an in-suite ceremony and reception might be the best option for us, and we love the idea! We liked the Terrace Suite at the MGM Grand, but decided instead to book the Vista Suite at Mandalay Bay. We haven't seen it in person yet, but we're hoping to tour it soon.
