**alert** Wedding question

[pisces2473]

Okay all you brides and grooms and spouses to be...

The effing knot is taking forever to load right now...and I have a question!

How many reception sites did you look at? My original list was for 8 places, we went to one on Saturday and didn't like it. Because we might have a problem with "too small of a wedding" we might have to look at restaurants and stuff...which might bring us to well over 10 places.

Uggggghhhhh I wish I had attended more local weddings so I'd know what these places were like.

Thanks in advance.

[summergold]

Too bad you can't move the reception to RI and have it at the Venus DeMilo or Twin Oaks :razz:

[capella]

One, really. And then we decided to hit up Vegas. :huge: But that's probably not helping you much. Congrats by the way! I think I missed the big announcement!

[wordsmith]

Our family's one this past weekend was at the clubhouse of a small country club, which was really pretty and the architecture is antebellum/plantation style, in a forested area. I believe it's the only site they really considered. But the options are fairly limited locally. There just are a finite number of places that are appropriate for banquets/receptions. Sometimes it's better to have fewer choices, as long as there are good ones among the few.

[red]

we looked at 4 or 5 maybe. and we had a small wedding- ~50 ppl. we looked mostly at inns.

[SmilesSoSweet]

I'm obviously not married, but my brother is. They looked at different hotels that had banquet rooms and decided from there. The hotel they picked was also the hotel that the guests stayed at as well.

Some larger venues may have smaller rooms that hold less than 100 people or so. I do know that when I was helping out with prom back in high school and checking out different places. We had ours at the convention center. There were many different size rooms to choose from and we basically used whatever banquet room would fit our needs.

[steph78]

I had a small-ish wedding, too - the ceremony was in the chapel at the college my husband and I attended and we actually had the reception at the faculty club on campus - a small historic building with a garden out back. The building actually did not have any rooms large enough to fit everyone inside one room at one time so we set up the food (buffet-style) in the largest room inside, and then put tables and chairs in the garden out back. When we cut the cake people were kind of spilling out the doorways, standing on their tiptoes trying to see! LOL. Anyway, check out historic building - they are often not as large as you would think and provide a super picturesque setting.

Good luck!

[pisces2473]

Too bad you can't move the reception to RI and have it at the Venus DeMilo or Twin Oaks :razz:
LMAO @ Venus DeMilo...you do know that's where my parents had their reception...almost 30 years ago, right????

Twin Oaks is HAWT. HAWTTER than Jawnstin gahbige.

[pisces2473]

We'll probably have between 100 and 125, but since it'll be a Saturday night, people want 150 minimums. SORRY that I don't want a huge wedding and that my fiance and I have small families and not tons of friends and also we don't want to make my parents spend a ton of money. Pisses me off!

One of the places we really like (on paper) has a 125 min. for Sat. night, so that's good. We're going to see it next Weds.

Capella--Carol did a shoutout on Just for Fun. We got engaged on June 2, which was probably when you were still in school and not on the boards as much. Thanks for the congrats!!!

[imhappy]

If you want to get married on a Saturday night, things get booked up quickly. Sundays have more dates available. I looked at around 6-8 places for about two or three weeks before I found somewhere that I liked.

[coll214]

Hey jen- Are you just looking in the New Haven area? Maybe expanding the area would help... One of my friends from college had her smallish wedding (no more than 80-90 people) at a little restaurant they rented out in Southington... it had a little waterfall outside and gazebo too...

[bleepbloop]

the Aquaturf is in Southington too I believe, and it's beautiful and might be the perfect size. Has a little moat like thing when you first walk in and also has a garden/gazebo. Very very nice.

[coll214]

the Aquaturf is in Southington too I believe, and it's beautiful and might be the perfect size. Has a little moat like thing when you first walk in and also has a garden/gazebo. Very very nice.
yeah it is and does (my senior prom was there), but they're wicked expensive I believe and have to be booked eons in advance.

[weary]

oh i went to a nice reception at a restaurant in new haven a couple years ago...blake street something???? shoot, i can't remember the full name. i know it was blake something and they have a very popular sunday brunch too. maybe other CT folks will know it and chime in.

congrats and best wishes!

[coll214]

oh i went to a nice reception at a restaurant in new haven a couple years ago...blake street something???? shoot, i can't remember the full name. i know it was blake something and they have a very popular sunday brunch too. maybe other CT folks will know it and chime in.

congrats and best wishes!
That'd be 500 Blake St. you speak of... actually I think my mother went to a small wedding there if i'm not mistaken not too long ago too...

[bleepbloop]

Oh boo... I didn't realize it was so expensive :( There are really nice inns in CT though. Maybe a country club? That would definitely be pretty, I don't know about price though.

My only experience in New Haven with formals and events that you'd expect to be held in wedding-like places have actually only been held in bars/clubs. I don't know any places that are superb. Unless you have it on the Yale campus in between semesters; I think that would be beautiful (like at the chapel) but maybe not what you're looking for.

[weary]

That'd be 500 Blake St. you speak of... actually I think my mother went to a small wedding there if i'm not mistaken not too long ago too...

yes, yes, that was it! it was very nice and the wedding wasn't much more than 100 or so people. cocktails upstairs for an hour then the formal dinner and dancing downstairs. lovely pictures on that staircase and the size seemed to work well.

[cheshrcarol]

Unless you have it on the Yale campus in between semesters; I think that would be beautiful (like at the chapel) but maybe not what you're looking for.LOL - Jen, that's perfect - have it at YALE! :razz: .

[bleepbloop]

LOL - Jen, that's perfect - have it at YALE! :razz: .


I love it when my ideas make people chuckle

[coll214]

I love it when my ideas make people chuckle
Just read some olllllllld posts and you'll get why ;), believe you me.

[coll214]

LOL - Jen, that's perfect - have it at YALE! :razz: .
LOL, i wasn't gonna touch the suggestion with a ten foot pole ;)

[pisces2473]

If you want to get married on a Saturday night, things get booked up quickly. Sundays have more dates available. I looked at around 6-8 places for about two or three weeks before I found somewhere that I liked.
Yes, I know that about Saturday nights, thanks. I can't do Sunday--I'm having a Catholic Mass on a Saturday. It's not allowed in most Catholic dioceses.

Are you just looking in the New Haven area? Maybe expanding the area would help...
We're looking in the greater New Haven area, because it's not fair to our guests to have to travel so far. Especially when the majority will be MY FAMILY from out of state (oh, and my out of state friends too).

Re: AquaTurf--no thanks. Too far away, too expensive and I don't like how you can run into other weddings.

Re: 500 Blake Street Cafe--looking at that next Weds!!! :)

Re: Country Clubs--looking at Grassy Hill next Thurs. Possibly Great River Golf Club soon after. Any other CC's are private and I'd have to be sponsored. My current boss is a member of several clubs in the area, but I hope to not be working there by the time I get married, so I'm not taking that route. My mom's boss has also offered me sponsorship to the club in my town, but that's like $130/person. NO THANKS.

We looked at Amarante's tonight and LOOOOVED it!!!!!!! YAAAAYYYY :) Now we just have to look at some more places and figure the money thing out.

Coll and Carol--you girls are SOOOO funny. Coll, you could sponsor me for a wedding in the President's Room in Woolsey, you know ;)

[sunshine79]

Finding a reception site is the HARDEST part, but once you get that nailed a lot more flows from it. We probably looked at about 10 places - hotels, country clubs, parks - before deciding on a museum. We are going to have about 75 people.

My fiance's family is from CT and his sister had her reception at Blake Street. I didn't go (before we met) but his family still talks about how great it was. I've also heard them talk about Water's Edge.

If you watch that show "Whose Wedding is it Anyway" there was an episode where they had a reception at this restaurant somewhere in CT that was really nice.

[pisces2473]

Water's Edge is mucho dinero. I'm getting worried now about the minimums since I doubt we'll even have enough guests to invite to reach the minimum, never mind the number of guests who will actually say yes. Also, there are huge gaps between the Mass and reception. My church doesn't allow weddings past 2:30 in the afternoon (that's the latest a wedding can start) but most reception places don't start until 6 or 7. That's a long time for people to be hanging around, especially those from out of town.

We might have to get married in the morning (gasp!) and do a 12 to 5 reception...just to make things flow better. Ugh.

[cheshrcarol]

Jen, don't worry about the time gap. It's getting really common these days, I'm sure almost all of your guests will have attended, or have heard of a wedding where that happened. At the reception sites, is it the cocktail hour that's starting at 6 or 7, or the reception itself?

[pisces2473]

Yeah, it's common, but I think it's rude. A lot of people (including my parents) hate when there's a gap--and they've been quite adamant about it. I think it's just as rude as expecting your guests to drive really far from the church to the reception.

The receptions are beginning at 6 (or 7) with the cocktail hour starting then. Most of the places want the couple to be there for the cocktail hour, and it's not one of those deals where JUST before dinner is served, the couple waltzes in.

Anywhoo...I posted this same dilemma over at theknot and several CTknotties were helpful in telling me other places that are smaller and deal with lower minimums of guests. I know I'll find some place, but it's stressing me out when they fill up so fast and I don't want to be out of a place! lol

[cheshrcarol]

Are places filling up already for the date already? Wow. I would have thought with over a year you'd be ok. What time do you want the cocktail hour to start?

Oh btw, here's a random suggestion, if you're concerned about your OOT guests, book a reception site with hotel rooms either onsite or REALLY close by. That was the bad thing about where Taylor's was. It wasn't close to anything and it was hard to coordinate cars to get people to their hotels after the wedding.

[SmilesSoSweet]

My brother's wedding was at 1:30 and the reception started at 5:30-6pm. Fortunately the church and the reception were not too far from each other. The guest that were out of town had gotten rooms in the hotel of where the reception was held. So a lot of them just headed back to the hotel, took a nap or hung out with other relatives they haven't seen in awhile, then walked down to the reception hall when it was time.

While all of that was going on, the wedding party was out in the limo on our way to take more pictures. It wasn't too far, but it was enough time for us to get to the park where we took the pictures and head back. Getting back to the hotel was the fun part; that's when we started drinking in the limo and I was drunk before the reception even started. LOL

Having the reception at the hotel also made it safer for those that were drinking a lot. They didn't have to drive back to the hotel afterwards. All they had to do was walk back to their rooms.

Some guests don't attend the mass for whatever reason, so they just show up for the reception. What I did like was that the video presentation that my brother and his wife had, not only showed photos from when they were kids to when they met and their proposal, but the videography also did a same-day edit and included that footage with the video so that it was shown at the reception. So everyone that didn't attend the mass at least got to see it on the video. The time between the mass and reception was enough for the videographer to do all that editing as well.

Oh and don't forget to look at www.weddingchannel.com as well for more wedding info/advice.

[pisces2473]

Well, the first place we went to (and HATED) was booked for the evening. So that's okay...I just worry though.

Oh yeah, I would definitely want it all pretty close together--church, reception, hotels....nothing like people getting lost! LOL

[biodork]

Hey Jen when my friend got married back in May, she did an earlier wedding and reception. I thought it wasn't that bad. It was nice having things earlier in the day. The wedding started at about noon, lasted about 40 min or so, and then we all drove to the place where the reception was. I don't even think it was that long of a reception. My friend and her husband left around 4:30, although the reception went on a little longer after they left.

[SmilesSoSweet]

The only down fall of having an early wedding is the preparation. We had hair appointments at 9am for the 1:30 wedding. There was six of us that got our hair done professionally at a salon. (I couldn't style my hair for a wedding to save my life! LOL) Fortunately we got our nails done the day before, just a few hours before the wedding rehearsal.

[MetFanL]

Jen, if you don't want guests to drive, what about a shuttle? I know getting on a bus isn't the greatest, but that's what my family has been doing at weddings for a few reasons:

(1) Out of town guests don't have to worry about getting lost -- they just hop on the shuttle.

(2) No issues w/ drunk driving. This is HUGE.

Guests took a shuttle to and from the church and back to the hotel where people were staying. They could then freshen up a little and chill in the hotel bar for the in-between time (which works well for the bridal party b/c it gives them PLENTY of time to get their pictures taken care of) and then they hop back on the shuttle to get to and from the reception. Then, in my family, it's back to the hotel bar, lol.

Have you guys considered the shuttle thing?

[coll214]

Oh yeah, I would definitely want it all pretty close together--church, reception, hotels....nothing like people getting lost! LOL

Or worse case if they are far apart, make sure people have GOOD directions! LOL. I'll never forget going to my friends' wedding and getting so lost her uncle had to come find me. I guess lucky for me that it was a two and a half hour mass :googly:.

I don't think the early weddings are that bad. And this is ME saying that! H's is at freakin' 10:30am, so i'll probally be up at 6 (we're all staying at the MOH's house), then I think the reception is 12 to 5? And knowing the two of them, they'll be drinking at some dive bar following that :huge:.

[pisces2473]

Jen, if you don't want guests to drive, what about a shuttle?

Have you guys considered the shuttle thing?
I never thought of it til you mentioned it, so thanks! I do not have an unlimited budget here; my parents were more generous than I thought they would be, but still, that money will not cover everything. C and I are hoping that his dad will kick in some money, but if he doesn't, then we have to come up with whatever my parents' money doesn't cover.

I'm just concerned that these shuttles will wind up costing a lot of money, that's all. I do want people to be safe and all of that, though.

Oh Coll! I keep having horrors of people being lost, saying "I couldn't get to your reception, I couldn't find it!" LOL People got lost going from my parents wedding in Providence, to their reception in Massachusetts, just over the line! LOL Since most people who will be invited know where I live, getting to the church shouldn't be a problem...also, since it's right off of the highway.