The Basics: The Ceremony & Reception Site

I read somewhere that all you need for a wedding are a groom, a bride, a location, an officiant, a witness, and a marriage license. The rest is, well, optional. So given that we are all acutely aware of who the bride and groom are, we shall now venture into the wonderful world of locations!

Now after plenty of mind changes (I think I've had about 5), I feel like I've finally found a reception site that fits the bill, so to speak. We had decided early on that we did not want the "cookie cutter" banquet hall reception that is popular in the Chicago area (not that there's anything wrong with those, they're just not for us...). We wanted something unique and personal, but wasn't crazy out of left field, either. Previous choices (Door County, Meson Sabika, Walter Payton's Roundhouse, Chicago Botanical Gardens) had illicited responses from T like "Oh, cool," or "That works." But when I first brought up the idea of Lake Katherine, his immediate response was "Really? We can actually have it there?" More conversations ensued, my favorite one being this:

B: "So, this whole Lake Katherine thing --- you really want to do it?"
T: "Definitely."
B: "Even if it costs more money?"
T: "Even if. Oh, there'll be air conditioning there, right?"
B: "Only if we pay for it."
T: "Oh. Oh well. Let's do it!"

The fact that T was willing to engage in a conversation about the wedding that lasted more than 2 sentences and contains more than 5 one-syllable words had me thinking I was on the right track. Plus, it all sort of made sense...we've spent countless hours here over the past 5 years, it was close to home and our churches, and was unique. Since we're able to choose our own caterer, we can avoid the costly wedding packages that include crazy things like ice sculptures that we don't care about...

Having planned and run several events back in college, I feel fairly confident that I can pull this off with little stress, but the added challenge of coordinating the rental/arrival/set-up of the tent, generators, air conditioning, lighting, chairs, tables, bars, flooring, and sound equipment seems a bit overwhelming. Hopefully the rental manager at LK will be efficient and helpful...