tower brides/Aliciaandbrian-timing

HilaryBaxendale

I noticed that Alicia had been caught off guard by the timing and extra costs at the towers, and I don't want the same to happen to me at my November wedding. I looked back at my contact and it says the caterer has 2 hours to set up and one hour to clean up, and 5 hours for the reception.So if my wedding is 6-11, the caterer gets there at 4 and is out by midnight? Is that enough time? We are using blackstone, any other tower brides use them and need more time?Thanks for the help!

aliciaandbrian

yes that should be fine.  I used Russell Morins AND I had a lot of things to be set up - They needed 3 hours and they almost always take 3 hours.  You are prepared to shut your band/dj down at 1030pm, right?  If not, you will be charged a fee to play until 11.

KB_RI

Butting in ... I'm not at the Towers but your caterer can tell you how much time they need; mine said they need at least 3 hours, so I had to pay for an extra hour for the venue's attendant to be there.

kerac5

I used West Bay Gourmet, and they cater at the Towers all the time.  WBG coordinated directly with the Towers on the hours and have it down to a science.  We did not have to pay for any extra set up/clean up time and WBG let me know exactly what I needed to pay Kate Vivian for rentals, timing etc well before the event.  In fact, I decided about 1 week before the wedding that I wanted to extend the reception by 1 hour to have more dancing, and Kate Vivian and WBG coordinated that with no issues.

kerac5

Also- our DJ played until 1130 (we paid for the extra hour from 1030-1130 ahead of time).  There were no other fees associated with that extension.

cbgoldfish

I used Blackstone for my wedding at the Towers in April. I did receive an email from Kate when we got back from our honeymoon stating that Blackstone needed an extra hour for set up so I owed an additional $55. I didn't know they would require this ahead of time but obviously $55 is not much in the grand scheme of things so I just paid it.

aliciaandbrian

Yeah - $55.00 isnt much in the grand scheme of things - but interrupting your rehearsal dinner - and saying that I owed over $700.00 for things not in the signed contract IS a big deal.   The sad part is that I met with her about 3 times to go over everything - timing etc and she NEVER mentioned these fees.  Even $700 wouldnt have been a big deal IF i knew before hand.

Mrs.McIrish

I just found out that they changed the 1 hour set up to 2 hours when they increased the rates in March 2009.  I bet Alicia was under the old rules that only gave 1 hour. My paperwork says 1 hr in one place and 2 hours in another. Kate is sending me out new paperwork that says 2 hrs. good to know about the music as I don't want that to stop at 10:30 with the bar. I'll pay extra but want to know in advance and not at the RD.  I'm so glad I know about this in advance. Alicia-- your suffering has helped future brides!

aliciaandbrian

Well at least something good came out of it 

HilaryBaxendale

Thanks everyone for your input!!