more venue madness!

yesterday we checked out the armory center for the arts.  it had some really neat features, like a big engraved 'CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD' above the door, high ceilings, and a weird little 'bunker'-style thing in the floor under glass near the entryway, complete with a robot drinking a bunch of beer, and cool old typewriters and other mechanical things.  i didn't get a good photo of that (too much glare) but here are some of the outside as well as the studio space that we would rent:

it's located in the middle of pasadena, just a couple blocks from colorado blvd, which is lovely.  across the street there's a park that MIGHT work as a ceremony place, but i wasn't able to walk around it and see.  it's also quite close to pasdadena city hall, which is GORGEOUS.  so gorgeous, i wouldn't mind a ceremony in their parking lot...a quick, standing-only, unauthorized wedding.  then we would escape...to the armory.  how cool does that sound.

the price is right - rental of the studio is only $200/hr.  plus some extra stuff, as always, but still - not pricey.

i'm also still totally in love with the idea of armory-themed things - save the dates, invitations, menus, etc.  that would be soooo cool.

now, on to some problems with it.  first, there's no reserved parking.  there's a public structure nearly adjacent to it, but it was full when we visited on saturday afternoon, so i'm not sure if it would be helpful.

second, the galleries themselves would be closed unless we pay to keep them open, at various rates.  i wouldn't necessarily need them open i suppose - actually this brings me to my next downside:

the art that was featured was TRULY terrible.  case in point: a 3d exhibit, of a bunch of ducks in military uniforms, with breasts for eyes, which shoot colored paint at each other through little metal penises.  the coup de grâce?  one duck, shooting paint INSIDE another duck, from behind.  yeesh. 'the absurdity of combat' indeed.

but, if i want a gallery wedding, awful art is kind of a given - galleries with really nice art are probably outside my budget, tbh.  plus i need to reserve so far in advance, i won't know what art will be on display.

finally, the studio looks...unfinished.  that's something i can talk to the events lady about, though, to see how well we could make it reception-appropriate.

WHEW that was a lot.  i really like the armory theme, but i like the eagle rock a bit more i think.  of course, these are the only 2 places i've actually seen, sooo...i have some research to do.