Before the search for a reception venue began, my number one question was: Do I look for the church first or the reception hall? This of course, only applies if you or your future spouse, or in our case both, is of some sort of religious faith.
I heard both sides and decided to search for a reception hall first. The way I saw it, I had three possible churches I envisioned having the ceremony. If we booked the hall and the date wasn't available in the church, I would have two more church options. Luckily, after we found Chateau Briand, my first church choice had the date available.
So first, the church:
I lived in Woodside until I was 24 and made all my sacraments at St. Sebastian's (except for Baptism, that was Queen of Angels in Sunnyside). I went back and forth as for what my "first choice" church should be but ultimately I wanted to be somewhere I was comfortable with. The cool thing is, this church used to be a movie theater in the 20s until the 50s. You see signs of it when you walk down the aisle because it's somewhat steep and if you look at the architecture behind the altar. I can't remember what year this was but it went through a major renovation. Maybe early 90s? All I know is I have memories of the church being all black! You would never tell now though. I may be biased but it's a beautiful church inside and out. (With the exception of it being right under the 7 train.) Also, my apologies to the wedding party (though we haven't asked everyone just yet!) The aisle is pretty long. But the way I see it, by the time you're halfway down, you'll be used to all the cameras flashing, lol.
The other two choices were Queen of Martyrs or Our Lady of Mercy (JD's parish) in Forest Hills. The latter is the church that Jonathan proposed in front of and Martyrs is a beautiful church right on Queens Blvd. that looks like a cathedral of sorts. It would have been cool to get married at the church he proposed in front of, but in the end, I couldn't not go with my home parish.
Even though we haven't met with the priest yet, who is away at the moment, the date and time are penciled in. Good enough for now.
The reception hunt definitely brought more pressure. If you think about it, the ceremony is for you and your future spouse. All you need is a witness and a priest. No one else really needs to be there. But the reception is where everyone goes to celebrate....so you want to make sure you pick a place that you think everyone will enjoy. Of course, you have to really like it too but I was happy to have finally found a place after a month of searching. I thought it was going to take a good few months.
Before you go looking, write out a guest list. Start off with 3 lists: your family, your partner's family and then a list of friends. You can whittle it down to a reasonable number after the initial list if the number is too high and add the "maybes" to a separate list. It sucks to do that but you have to be practical.
So our guaranteed minimum is 200. That sounds high but there's 100 people on Jonathan's list alone. But he's Italian so there's no surprise there :-P
Jonathan keeps a blog too and I liked what he wrote about finding Chateau Briand, since it comes from a male's perspective.
Since the start of August, it has been an absolute blast. The month began with Nicole and I checking out one last hall for our wedding and that was Chateau Briand. Our friends Matt and Christy had their wedding there in 2010 and while we liked it, I originally wasn't sure if I had wanted to check it out. I kinda had this unwritten rule that I didn't want our wedding somewhere where our other friends hosted their big day. But, after checking out about 10 venues, and an email from Chateau promoting their new renovations, I figured what the heck? Nicole had a different stance than me on the whole "unwritten rule" part and had really wanted to see CB again.
So, we made the drive over there the first Tuesday of the month and Nicole absolutely fell in love with it--renovations and all. Even I was impressed with everything and had no qualms about it. When we had gone to some other halls, there was always something that either I didn't like or she didn't like. Here at CB, we were finally on the same page. The way I, personally, feel is that even though Matt and Christy had gotten married there three years earlier, the room that we chose for the reception was different from theirs and besides, they had renovated it, so I think it will feel different from theirs.
So, we made the drive over there the first Tuesday of the month and Nicole absolutely fell in love with it--renovations and all. Even I was impressed with everything and had no qualms about it. When we had gone to some other halls, there was always something that either I didn't like or she didn't like. Here at CB, we were finally on the same page. The way I, personally, feel is that even though Matt and Christy had gotten married there three years earlier, the room that we chose for the reception was different from theirs and besides, they had renovated it, so I think it will feel different from theirs.
Having said ALL of this...our wedding has been officially booked for October 25, 2014!!! We are beyond excited; no words can express our joy and happiness.
I like that Jonathan is opinionated about the planning process and has a clear picture of what kind of reception he wants. In the beginning, I didn't want a reception at all. My dream wedding was going right to the honeymoon part after the ceremony. I wasn't looking at the bigger picture, which is celebrating with family and friends. I was just seeing the stress and the unfamiliar territory I'd be treading into by planning one. I soon realized I would probably have an angry mob after us if we didn't do some sort of celebration, lol. It was very heart warming to see that many people were excited for us once we announced the engagement. And Jonathan convinced me I would regret it down the line if we didn't do a traditional reception. So, the search began.
My advice to you if you're newly engaged and about to start looking at venues is, don't stop looking once you've found THE place. I saw about three I could have pictured ourselves having it in. But I promise you, you'll know for sure when you step foot in there. We had one more venue to look at after finding Chateau Briand but since CB was the ninth place we saw and the last one planned was over an hour away, we didn't want to bother with the drive. We truly felt our search was over. ::throws confetti in air:: But I know people who found THE place just two or three venues into the search. In those cases, it's always good to see what else is out there. Looking back, the whole search was kind of fun and will for sure add to the wedding memories.
The venues we looked at, in order, are:
5. Sand Castle
Westbury Manor - I was very nervous going into the first one. I had no idea what to expect and I thought I had to love it or else we were doomed, lol. Not a very good mindset to have. When we pulled up, I thought I remembered being there but couldn't place it. Then we walked in and I knew I had been there before, but for a bridal shower not a wedding. We had a really sweet banquet manager, Heather, who helped make it a good first venue hunting experience. My sister came along that day and really amused our host with the typical Robyn antics, lol. She even brought in an extra drink for her when we went into the office to go over the details, which I appreciated. I knew I would not be going with them because it felt too small for the size we wanted. Otherwise it was lovely and there really wasn't anything wrong with it. When we left, we all agreed that it wasn't a good fit but that we wanted to say yes just because Heather was that nice and convincing!
Carlyle on the Green - Half way into the search, someone told me to research what the prices are before visiting the place, just to save yourself disappointment if you fall in love with the place only to find out that it's out of your price range. Even though that's what happened, we luckily were not in love with the place when we discovered the ridiculously high price tag. There wasn't anything wrong with this place besides that. In fact, it's really beautiful. I knew it was on a golf course but when I learned that during your cocktail hour (if outdoors) golfers can play nearby as the party is going on, I was thrown off. I don't want my guests to have to duck on occasion if a stray ball comes flying their way, so that didn't really impress Jonathan or myself, since we don't play golf...unless the occasional mini golf counts. We had a seasoned banquet manager named Elyse, who broke everything down matter of factly. I liked her dry humor and she also got a kick out of Robyn, but this just wasn't the place either.
Russo's on the Bay - Even though I was born and raised in Queens, I don't remember ever going to an event at Russo's on the Bay, which is really unusual for a Queens kid. That changed last June, when two good friends of ours had their wedding reception there. That was the first place we said to each other, that we could see ourselves having ours there. And that was before we were engaged! So I was excited to check it out and get the details. Carol, our banquet manager was easily one of my favorites we encountered during the venue search. She gave us advice outside of just picking a venue and it was extremely helpful. I loved everything about Russo's (their bridal suite is sweeeet) except for the fact that there isn't an outdoor cocktail hour option. But even then, this was close to being the place....until we saw Chateau Briand of course. I liked the fact that the room we would have chosen had an entrance where you come out of the floor. Jonathan wasn't on the same page, though. He preferred a more traditional entrance, at least in the sense of coming out through the same doors as the wedding party. That was disappointing for me to hear but I do like that he has his own opinions about wedding related stuff. One of things I got a kick out of, was that he preferred what I call a defined dance floor. You know, like when the tables are on carpet but the dance floor stands out on its own. Russo's is all one kind of floor so I knew Jonathan wasn't a fan but that wasn't going to make or break the decision by any means.
Giando on the Water - This is a really nice place in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Great view of the water and bridge.... but not a great wedding venue if you have over 200 guests. The downstairs is a restaurant and the room for your reception is upstairs. My mom, who was joining us for the first time, was not impressed at all. The banquet manager was a nice guy whose name I'm forgetting but he did his best to sell the place even though he could tell the size was throwing us off. He even took us to one corner and said the room looked big if you stood from that angle. Haha....not a good sign if you have to say that! It really was a nice place though and I would recommend it for a shower, if anything! My mom actually sent me this text over the weekend saying Giando was featured on an episode of the TV show Unforgettable.
Pretty cool, huh?
Sand Castle - Oh I really really loved this place. I was looking forward to checking it out because we are attending a wedding there this October. The exterior of this place definitely is shaped to be like a sand castle, which I find to be cute. We were really impressed upon walking into the lobby. Our banquet manager, Dina, was really nice and personable. There was a lot I liked about the place, including the option of heat lamps for your outdoor cocktail hour in the colder months. That flexibility to have it out there was awesome. We were impressed with the ballroom too, although there's something there that I rather leave as a surprise, whether you attend a wedding there or are about to explore the venue for your own wedding. There's also an extra room for the bride and groom to sneak off to during the reception if they need a break, with TVs to watch what's going on during your reception. Very cool! Even though we did not go with this place, I'm happy knowing I get to attend a wedding here soon.
Crest Hollow - I had heard about Crest Hollow through my parents, who were here for a wedding many years ago. They raved about how gorgeous the cocktail hour was and everything in general about it. Unfortunately they couldn't remember the name of the place which was driving us all crazy. Finally, I realized I had the groom on Facebook, haha, so I sent him a message asking. We had a late appointment so that my mom could come after she got out of work. That meant driving back to Queens from LI (we had been at Sand Castle earlier that day) but it was well worth it. For starters, this was the first place that I saw Jonathan was genuinely excited about. I wasn't 100% sold on this place, for reasons I can't quite pinpoint. Easily the best offer we had received thus far price wise, with a gorgeous ballroom to boot (one of three actually). The pool outside for your cocktail hour is stunning, especially at night. I would have been willing to go with this place if that's what Jonathan had really wanted and we hadn't found Chateau Briand. Definitely add this to your list if you're searching!
Glen Island Harbour Club - We found this place randomly. It wasn't even on our original list and a last minute addition. We had one place in mind to check out in New Rochelle but wanted to see another place while we were out there, and this came up in the search. The place is beautiful, no doubt about it. I loved that we went over a little drawbridge to get to it. It's right on the water and that of course, leaves plenty of stunning wedding photos. The video package the banquet manager Jack showed us was impressive and a good way to show us how the rooms look all decked up for a wedding. I knew it wasn't the place for us but at least we got to view a beautiful venue.
Beckwith Pointe - My sister told me about this place since she had had her prom here in 2005. It certainly is beautiful, with equally beautiful water views (it's barely 5 minutes from Glen Island Harbour Club). Our banquet manager, Nicole, was so chill and personable. I felt like we were chatting with a friend. We talked numbers and other details while sitting at one of the tables in the ballroom. That's how chill it was! It looked like a fun place and it was one of Jonathan's favorites but again, we felt the search was not over...
Chateau Briand - I think I said enough about it on the first blog post but again, I thought that feeling of 'THIS IS IT!" would never hit me, until I got the tour of this place. I'm actually looking forward to dropping off the second deposit in November, just to get another excuse to walk around!
Okay, I stayed up way too late to write this but hopefully you enjoyed reading about the search process. No venue hunt is going to be the same for each couple. If you're looking and feeling discouraged, don't give up, you'll find it! If you've already done this, you're probably laughing at me and thinking "Now the hard stuff really begins!" Haha...I am a classic worrywart and thankfully, Jonathan is there to balance me out with his mellow self.
To wrap this up, check out this hilarious blog post from The Knot:
http://blog.theknot.com/2013/08/21/11-signs-youre-planning-a-wedding/?cm_ven=Responsys&cm_cat=KnotNews&cm_ite=August+26%2C+2013
