The Engagement Gala

Per dictionary.com, a gala is a festive occasion, a celebration, or a special entertainment ... Per the folks at Crazy Venue II, a gala is an afternoon of meeting with some of their vendors and seeing the ships. I suppose you could argue this is "special entertainment," but still. I find the whole idea that I was at a gala a little amusing :)

Still, they had a chocolate fountain - that's gala enough for me!





















I mean really - how cool is that? I would love to have a chocolate fountain at my wedding! Unfortunately, my parents, Ryan's mother, and Ryan have all said: no. Boo. And I suppose they're right. I mean, I will be wearing a super expensive white dress - not a good mix with a chocolate fountain... Besides, we tended to sometimes drop the food right into the fountain:















One day I will have a party with a huge chocolate fountain ... just not this one, unfortunately.

But getting back to the allegedly important stuff.

Crazy Venue II gave me a pin just for showing up, which ranks them pretty high in my book. I collect pins:



And they were offering free chair covers to anyone who signed a contract on that day. Free chair covers!!! But we have already signed a contract and we were not offered any such perks! Boo. "We should try to negotiate," said my mother. "We totally should," I agreed. We actually attempted negotiations, only to discover we were talking to a woman who worked at the hotel, not on the ship. Oops. About half an hour later, my father disappeared - one minute we were standing at the door waiting for a tour and the next minute he was gone. Ryan found him, can you guess where? Yep, he'd found someone official and he was making a pitch for why we should get free chair covers, lol. We'll see if that goes anywhere :)

(chair covers)

There were several photographers present, but we already have a fantastic photographer lined up. Ryan's sister-in-law is great! :) Still, we peeked at some of the things they offer. I'd love to have a photography book like this:



We also got to see some of the table settings and to see what the set up will look like. And my mother got to meet the person I booked as our florist, so that's a good thing. Hopefully we can all get together for a meeting soon and figure out what sort of flowers we're going to want :)

All in all, it was a very successful day, complete with free mimosas :)