Lake Wales Arts Center

We had our reception at the Lake Wales Arts Center. It was absolutely gorgeous! For those of you who don't know this building used to be a Catholic Church, it was built in 1927. It has hard wood floors, a stage (we had our sweetheart table on the stage), and beautiful stained glass windows. You HAVE to get a tour to see the inside (I couldn't find any pics online when I was researching it). The ceiling is valuted and has a dome section with a painting on it. There are lights that look like lanterns hanging from the ceiling. There is also an antique chandelier in the stairwell (this is where the guests will enter the hall). Allison was so helpful and pleasant to work with. She let us come in to decorate a couple of days prior to the event, but that was because they didn't have any other events going on. Even though our vendors took longer than planned to clean up (which caused us to pay for another hour of rental) and our caterer "accidentally" used some wine that belonged to the center, Allison was very understanding. We got to have our cocktail hour downstairs in the gallery which has different art exhibits at different points in time, for ours there was a photography exhibit. They have a volunteer that sits at the front desk during your event. That was nice because I got locked out of the bridal room at one point and she was able to let me back in. Just keep a couple of things in mind...We had a little over 100 people and it was a little bit of a tight squeeze with the dance floor (using a mixture of rounds and rectangles), also they say they have rectangle tables but there are 2 different kinds (they are the same length but the plastic tables had the legs VERY close to the edge which made it uncomfortable for guests who sat at the end). We sat 10 people at the 8' ft. rectangle tables but for comfort you should seat 8 at these tables. Even though we had 10 at each table, the chairs are wide and comfortable so that really helped. The only reason I put a 4 for responsiveness and professionalism is because Allison is also the bookkeeper there at the moment and she is very laid back. She is not an event coordinator. Just know that going in. It didn't present any problems at all for me. She was very helpful and even gave us her cell number and offered to come in on weekends to meet with us.