reception venue

suellenslater

Is / did any one have a hard time with choosing the reception venue?? I was so excited when we got engaged and couldn't wait to start planning our special day .... well after 6 venues I am feeling very frustrated, and ready to call the travel agent! Any ideas how to get through this would be most helpful!

Littlin

If you want, WE can help!  All of us have certain venues that we loved (whether we could afford them or not) - what are you looking for in terms of:

- guest count

- in city vs. out of city

- indoors vs. outdoors

- ceremony onsite?

- type - ballroom, gallery, restaurant, gardens, etc.

- where have you looked already, and what didn't you like about them?

Tell us that and I'm sure we can provide some new choices!

APW2010

I didn't have a hard time choosing... but I did get frustrated trying to find what we were looking for. Some of it was trying to find the right site geographically, that was available, and at our price point. And, honestly, the staff at some of these places are NOT helpful. I emailed one location asking if they had a smaller room since their room advertised for weddings was too big for our group. Eight (!!!) emails later I ruled out the location after the woman told me we would have to book out the whole place to have a wedding there, and she never did tell me if they had a smaller room!

But for the place we chose in the end, we saw only a small photograph on the website but knew right away it was what we wanted. Went to see it and it was pretty close to perfect.

As Littlin said, we've all looked at quite a few places so if you can describe what you want we might be able to help you out.

raynes

Am I right in assuming you're from the Burlington area?  (based on the LaSalle post below)  Because I grew up and was married in Burlington, so I might be able to help you out a bit, at least with some ideas.

After looking around and e-mailing we ended up going with the RBG.  Our original intent was to have both the ceremony and the reception out in the Rose Garden tent, but then they built the new Atrium and my parents sprung for the difference to move the reception inside.  Which ended up being a good idea, since it poured all night!

Do you have an idea of your guest count and budget?  I've got a spreadsheet around here somewhere with a lot of info for venues in the Hamilton/Burlington area.  What kind of thing are you looking for?  Ceremony and reception venue, or just reception?

unplainjane

what do you find wrong with the places that you've seen? what area are you looking in? maybe we can give some suggestions.

we didn't find it hard. we wanted the niagara wine area and decided on inn on the twenty. we figured out what our numbers were and then spent the weekend and looked at 5 venues. and that was the only one where when we walked in we said wow.

irishkatie80

Would love to help! I saw some great places I would have loved to book!! Unfortunately, I couldn't book them all for my reception! Let us know some details.

ring_pop

Even though we didn't look at too many places, I did find the venue search one of the more stressful parts of my planning. I was also going to ask you to tell us more about what you've seen, what you didn't like, and what you think you're looking for. Don't forget, there's a whole world of venues beyond banquet halls and hotels.

If nothing else, at least your visits so far have started to help you narrow down what you DON'T want - hopefully!

ring_pop

PS. http://www.eventsource.ca

sarahtisme

I found the venue hunt very stressful. I was so excited to start looking but became frusterated really quickly. We live in Oakville but ended up going with the Toronto Argonaut Rowing Club, I knew it was right as soon as I walked in the door, luckily for me it worked perfectly with our budget.
We didn't look at many places out here but we did check out the Oakville Convention center, Otello's and the Hoilday Inn at Bronte. They were all nice but out of our price range.
Best of luck in your search, I know if feels like you will never find something but you will

suellenslater

Firstly, thank you all so much for your response, its really great to see so many offers of help, and information.
Firstly, I have no idea why but I have this increadable need to have as much of our day outside, which I knew requires a tent. So a venu were the tent is part of the cost, not added is the first requirement, secondly because I am trying to focus on the fact that it is one day ... and we have a lot of travel plans we are trying to keep our budg to about $65.00 - $75.00 per person, and are planning a very small wedding of about 80 guest,  to assist with this we decided to have a late morning wedding on a Sunday and do a brunch, sounds simple, not!  Location, we are looking either in Burlington Halton, including North Halton or Caledon area. So far, Springer House, (Burl)had potential but they never got back to us with a price for the menu we gave them, Royal Ambassador, loved it beyone love, it was my dream come true, however at $100.00 per person and a very small menu which only included mimosa's passed during pre-reception it was quite pricey, then we saw a banquet hall at the corner of Airpot Rd and #9, way to much food on the proposed menu but the price was $40.00 and add $5.00 more per person for wine ... out door gazebo to get married, just very loud traffic noise and the room had no windeows and did not open onto green space, Trealee, beautiful, but way over budget, and Caledon Inn, which we went to see but no one was there, e-mailed them and have yet to hear back.
This weekend we are going to see Liuna Gardens, LeSelle Park, and I may look at Terra Cota Inn next week but there is a $2,000 charge for the tent on the patio...
What I invision is my guest walking around gardens drinking  champagne and listening to our jazz quartet ..
Raynes, I didn't realize that there was an option to have the reception in the Rose Garden tent at the RBG, do they have bathrooms out there or would guest have to go inside??
All I can think of if it is this hard to find the venue what is dress shopping going to be like!!!

PreppySailor

If you are having a sunday wedding, or a brunch wedding then geraldo's at lasalle will be able to fit in your budget. We did everything there for 79.95 a person on a Saturday evening in May including all taxes/gratuities etc. You may have to do some negotiating, but they should be able to fit your budget.

Let us know how it goes.

suellenslater

Actually Mike really impressed me on the phone, and he said he could do what we want for about $80.00 in June, or $65.00 in Late March early April...and he had lots of good ideas, thanks for thei input ..

raynes

Yup, there's bathrooms on that side, they're in the Tea Room (a few minutes walk, but really pretty).

Have you looked into Paletta mansion?  You could get married on the patio and then do the reception inside/outside.  I'm pretty sure they're big enough to do a sit down meal for 85 or a cocktail style for up to 175.  It's reallly pretty.  I did my engagement shoot there the fall before our wedding.

seeemaseema

Hey Sue Ellen - I'm a bride-to-be and feel your pain! My venue search took me all over the city.

I may have an option for you (or anyone else who is still looking).

We had a family wedding cancelled recently (nothing tragic, just the couple wasn't ready). We have a credit at a great banquet hall in Brampton that we're willing to sell for less than cost - so a win/win for all. We are very reasonable and happy to pass on some savings to some almost-newlyweds!

Please email me at eventcredit@yahoo.ca if you'd like more info.

Good luck!!