The Reception- Venue

Now I have to admit that for me this will be one of the hardest places to cut costs. I just absolutely hate all those generic banquet halls offered at hotels and other typical wedding venues, and since I hope to have an outdoor ceremony but an indoor reception there won't be a way of having one location do double duty (which would be a great money saver if I was willing to budge a bit). My idea of a great reception venue is an art gallery. For the most part the one's I'm going to mention are all pretty reasonably priced considering how lovely they are, plus you can save a ton on decorations since the place will already be decked out with art.
My first choice would be City Arts Factory in Downtown Orlando, it's got an art deco feel from the outside but inside it's all modern, plus they already have a beautiful built in bar so it would save on the hideous plastic rental bar. Here are some pics.


that second one is of the upstairs portion of the gallery, the part usually rented out for larger events.

and that's the downstairs portion also available for rentals.

Here's another beautiful lil downtown gallery just down the street from City Arts Factory called Gallery at Avalon Island.


The only rental info I've been able to find on the websight is for the cafe portion or the upstairs theatre so hopefully they'd be up for renting out the actual gallery as well.

The third Orlando option is actually not a gallery but the local science center, if I have a change of heart about the indoor reception I would definitely consider renting the Sun Trust Terrace, especially for an evening reception.

I havn't gotten a quote on this one yet but I'd imagine it's not too cheap, but as I said the reception venue is pretty important and I think worth splurging for.

The last one I'm currently considering is my favorite choice if we go for the Bok Tower wedding in Lake Wales, it's the local art center (surprise;) and it's prices are definitely reasonable. Although honestly I'm not super excited about the Spanish Mission look of the outside and inside it's nothing to write home about compared to the other 3 list here but hey it is Lake Wales so what can I really expect.




A few other back up options are to keep it outdoors like the ceremony if we go for the Garden option at the Maitland Art Center or at Lake Lily Park. I think outdoor receptions are just adorable my only worry is the unreliable Florida weather, hot and then rainy and then humid spells disaster!