Ohio-Columbus

I need help deciding on a reception location.

Hi girls,

Ok so i have to choose for the confluence river club that has a min of $10,000 of food and beverage and the hyatt which i would spend about $10,000 after the service charges and taxes and everything is included in that. 

If i go to the river club i will totally spend at least $12,000.
But i do like the River club alittle better because of the view.

What do i do?  Do i spend the extra money or do i try and save a little money and go with the hyatt.

HELP ME

Re: I need help deciding on a reception location.

  • edited December 2011
    It depends on what you really want.  We visited both locations, and frankly we were not all that impressed with the Hyatt (maybe because it was too "hotel ballroom-like" for us). In fact, it was the first place we looked at amd we both looked at each other and said "Nope" after we were alone. Confluence Park is beautiful and has a gorgeous view.  You may be able to keep the price down by your options, or talking with the chef into making things fit into your budget. 

    I guess, with all that said, I'd pick beauty over the cheaper venue. Look at your budget to see if there are other places you can skip on (on a side note, you won't need as many decorations to make Confluence Park look beautiful, you may for the Hyatt). 
  • edited December 2011
    In my opinion the reception location is one of the biggest choices you make when planning your wedding. For me it was the biggest, so I had to pick something I was very happy and comfortable with, otherwise I would find myself doubting everything. If you only want to go with those two, pick the one you feel most satisfied with. IMO both of those locations are on the pricey end, so I wouldn't even really consider it much "cheaper" to choose one over the other.

    If you're on a very strict budget, I guess you'll have to go with the cheaper one, or find another place you like that is more affordable :) There's lots to choose from so I don't think you'll have any trouble. Good luck!
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  • edited December 2011
    I have been to events at both the Hyatt and the River Club (not weddings) and I love the River Club so much more.

    As Andria said, the Hyatt is very boring. At the event I went ot the food wasn't that impressive and also the bartenders did a poor job with mixed drinks.

    I like the idea of the River Club especially b/c you and your groom may be able to sneak off outside with the photographer for a moment and get some goregeous evening/columbus skyline pictures as the sun sets over the water.
  • Brandi143Brandi143 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011

    We had our wedding at Confluence in the Buckeye room a little over a year ago.  We had to meet the $10,000 minimum, but the price we paid for food per person included appetizers, food, center pieces, the cake (from the Cake Studio), linens and chair covers, champaigne toast, and more.  Is all that still included in the price?  If so, I would say it is definetly worth it. 

    We did not check out the Hyatt, so I have a hard time compairing the two, but we had no complaints about Confluence.


    I'm not sure if you have seen Confluence setup for a wedding, but here is a website I created after our wedding to share with our guets.  If you scroll to the middle of the page, there are three sets of pictures - pictures of confluence would be under the "wedding" album.  Pictures at Confluence start around number 551.  We didn't take too many formal pictures there because we went to Arch Park, but you can see the venue well in the pictures and towards the end we took some pictures overlooking the skyline.

    http://brandiandmatt.shutterfly.com

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  • edited December 2011
    Brandi,

    Thanks so much for the pictures... your wedding was beautiful. 
    So let me ask you this... Are you saying that the min. when you got married was $10,000 with everything included or just food and beverage?
    They are telling me JUST food and beverage. and even though i love the place i dont know if I wanna spend an Extra $4,000 just to hit that min.

    What do you think?
  • Brandi143Brandi143 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    The minimum was a $10,000 minimum for food and beverage BUT the price of the food included everything else.  A little bit of the money we paid for each food dish went towards the other things.  It's a little hard to explain, but they had different prices for the same food and what price you paid depended on what "extras" you wanted.  The extra were the things like ice sculpture, bar time, center pieces, champaigne toast.  So even though these items were actually not food or beverage, they were counted as so because they were included in the price per dish.

    Are they providing anything extra for you?  table linens? chair covers?

    After having my wedding there, I couldn't imagine having it anywhere else.  When we were trying to make the same decision you are, we sat down with our coordinator there and went through all the numbers to determine if what we wanted would hit the $10,000.  I was surprised that we were actually above it.  We did end up getting some money back because not all the money we gave them to pay for peoples drinks was used.

    If your only paying a small amount more between the two places, I would say go with the one you like the best and the one you can see your reception at best.
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  • Brandi143Brandi143 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Also, I'm not sure if you want to do this, but having a Friday or Sunday wedding would probably make the minimum cheaper.
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