My fiancee and I recently completed a great site visit, during which we fell in love with Living Seas for our reception. We're now trying to figure out our preferred dates/times to pencil in for the wedding. The consultant that we met with warned us about the fact that the lights in the aquarium tanks at Living Seas are turned off "starting at 9:45 pm," so if we had a 5:00 ceremony and 6:00 reception, the final hour or so of the reception would be after the tanks go dark.
We don't love that the lights would be turned out at the end, but we would really like a 5:00 ceremony so our guests (almost all will be traveling) would be able to fly in on the day of the wedding and easily still make it to the event if they choose to. We're just wondering if anyone has attended or hosted an event at Living Seas and could attest to how it was when the lights went out. Some questions:
First, did the lights actually go out at 9:45? The consultant stated that the lights go out "starting at 9:45", and we're not sure how definite this timing is. We had a late dinner reservation at the Coral Reef last year, and we were still at dinner well after 10:00, with all tank lights still on. When I mentioned this to the consultant, she said she really didn't know if a 9:45 shutoff is an everyday thing, just sometimes, etc., but that we should plan on 9:45, which makes sense.
Second, regardless of what time the lights went off, did it change the feel of your reception in any significant way? We don't want to end up with the reception feeling like it's finished an hour before it really ends. Did you feel like guests behaved differently or acted as if the event was over early due to the tank lights? We feel that between cocktail hour and the several hours of the reception during which the lights would be on, there would be plenty of time to enjoy looking at the tanks, taking pictures, etc., and that it wouldn't be a big deal to have them go off at the end.
Thanks in advance for any insight you have!
We don't love that the lights would be turned out at the end, but we would really like a 5:00 ceremony so our guests (almost all will be traveling) would be able to fly in on the day of the wedding and easily still make it to the event if they choose to. We're just wondering if anyone has attended or hosted an event at Living Seas and could attest to how it was when the lights went out. Some questions:
First, did the lights actually go out at 9:45? The consultant stated that the lights go out "starting at 9:45", and we're not sure how definite this timing is. We had a late dinner reservation at the Coral Reef last year, and we were still at dinner well after 10:00, with all tank lights still on. When I mentioned this to the consultant, she said she really didn't know if a 9:45 shutoff is an everyday thing, just sometimes, etc., but that we should plan on 9:45, which makes sense.
Second, regardless of what time the lights went off, did it change the feel of your reception in any significant way? We don't want to end up with the reception feeling like it's finished an hour before it really ends. Did you feel like guests behaved differently or acted as if the event was over early due to the tank lights? We feel that between cocktail hour and the several hours of the reception during which the lights would be on, there would be plenty of time to enjoy looking at the tanks, taking pictures, etc., and that it wouldn't be a big deal to have them go off at the end.
Thanks in advance for any insight you have!
