It's supposed to be a simple arrangement.
Mar. 4th, 2002 10:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reynardoThe place for the reception is a rather nice restaurant overlooking the Domain (big grasslands) and opposite the Art Gallery (1870s columned overblown creation). Close by are the Botanic Gardens
with lots and lots of beautiful places to stand and declare my intention to be with my beloved for life.
Except...
The wedding is in July - midwinter. This pretty well restricts one to one of the two places with cover. They also happen to be the most expensive places, but I can live with that.
If the rain is absolutely pouring, there's no refund. None. Zilch. $500 down the drain. And the only "pluvius event insurance" (legalspeak for "rain-out cover") starts at $300, because it's usually for things like outdoor concerts. So t'would be silly to pay $300 for $500 refund (which would probably also include an excess of $100 per claim). Luckily, the restaurant has a reasonable space inside that will do as an emergency ceremony location. The restaurant is also "elegant casual", not "utterly formal", so suits the mood I want for the reception perfectly.
So let us assume that the day will be fine. This gives the two previously-alluded-to locations.
The Lion Gate Lodge Garden is a small garden just inside the walls of the Botanic Gardens themselves. There is a rain-cover that would just hold 80 (the number we have now been persuaded to invite) next to the neglected 1880s stone cottage with a view directly into the dusty locked-up ground floor, storeplace for a few mouldy chairs. There is one bench available for the elderly members of the party to sit, and any other chairs have to be brought in (maximum 12) and removed afterwards. Although the road is right next door, the hassle of bringing a car up and dropping the chairs... And it is a depressing location. The garden part is pretty-ish, but not great. However, the mobility-impaired members of the party can be dropped right outside, and would have only one small set of stairs to negotiate. The Pavilion is close by and would involve very little walking.
(sigh)
And hiring the actual lodge (not just the garden) is $1600 for the day. No. Way.
So the Rose Garden is my choice. Good points - shelter, lots of seating, beautiful surrounds, firm pathways (which in winter after rain will be important).
Bad point - 500 metres from the restaurant, and 100 metres (and two enormous sets of stairs) from the nearest roadway.
So for the less-agile among the party, it's not possible unless we can get the Gardens' admin to allow a small minibus in jsut to take them to and from the reception venue. It looks like 17 years experience in the Public Service is now going to give me the skills necessary to write a submission to allow this.
(sigh)
If it wasn't for the traffic noise from the Cahill Expressway, I'd consider the Domain. And if it wasn't for the sculpture nearby, I'd be happy to be married next to the Art Gallery, with the magnificent high pillars and the names of Greek artists and philosophers above me. But the scuplture looks exactly like a giant cat turd, and I have no intention of being married next to that.
At all times, I must remember...
a wedding in the Viva Las Vegas chapel with Elvis singing "Love Me Tender" will take 15 minutes to book, 30 minutes to happen, and 1/10th the price of this whole shebang.
Guess which option is starting to look really really inviting.
with lots and lots of beautiful places to stand and declare my intention to be with my beloved for life.
Except...
The wedding is in July - midwinter. This pretty well restricts one to one of the two places with cover. They also happen to be the most expensive places, but I can live with that.
If the rain is absolutely pouring, there's no refund. None. Zilch. $500 down the drain. And the only "pluvius event insurance" (legalspeak for "rain-out cover") starts at $300, because it's usually for things like outdoor concerts. So t'would be silly to pay $300 for $500 refund (which would probably also include an excess of $100 per claim). Luckily, the restaurant has a reasonable space inside that will do as an emergency ceremony location. The restaurant is also "elegant casual", not "utterly formal", so suits the mood I want for the reception perfectly.
So let us assume that the day will be fine. This gives the two previously-alluded-to locations.
The Lion Gate Lodge Garden is a small garden just inside the walls of the Botanic Gardens themselves. There is a rain-cover that would just hold 80 (the number we have now been persuaded to invite) next to the neglected 1880s stone cottage with a view directly into the dusty locked-up ground floor, storeplace for a few mouldy chairs. There is one bench available for the elderly members of the party to sit, and any other chairs have to be brought in (maximum 12) and removed afterwards. Although the road is right next door, the hassle of bringing a car up and dropping the chairs... And it is a depressing location. The garden part is pretty-ish, but not great. However, the mobility-impaired members of the party can be dropped right outside, and would have only one small set of stairs to negotiate. The Pavilion is close by and would involve very little walking.
(sigh)
And hiring the actual lodge (not just the garden) is $1600 for the day. No. Way.
So the Rose Garden is my choice. Good points - shelter, lots of seating, beautiful surrounds, firm pathways (which in winter after rain will be important).
Bad point - 500 metres from the restaurant, and 100 metres (and two enormous sets of stairs) from the nearest roadway.
So for the less-agile among the party, it's not possible unless we can get the Gardens' admin to allow a small minibus in jsut to take them to and from the reception venue. It looks like 17 years experience in the Public Service is now going to give me the skills necessary to write a submission to allow this.
(sigh)
If it wasn't for the traffic noise from the Cahill Expressway, I'd consider the Domain. And if it wasn't for the sculpture nearby, I'd be happy to be married next to the Art Gallery, with the magnificent high pillars and the names of Greek artists and philosophers above me. But the scuplture looks exactly like a giant cat turd, and I have no intention of being married next to that.
At all times, I must remember...
a wedding in the Viva Las Vegas chapel with Elvis singing "Love Me Tender" will take 15 minutes to book, 30 minutes to happen, and 1/10th the price of this whole shebang.
Guess which option is starting to look really really inviting.
