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First site visit... any advice?

leahnatalinileahnatalini
in New Jersey - South
Tomorrow I have my first site visit for our October 2011 wedding.  We are visiting the Hamilton Manor first, then The Merion in Cinnaminson and then Lucien's.  I am kind of nervous and not sure what type of questions I should be asking.  If you have any advice... it would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!


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Re: First site visit... any advice?

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    Cherie516Cherie516
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I am also getting married in Oct 2011 and am having my wedding at Luciens!  I love them so far and have been in a wedding there so I think they are fantastic! They even made all of their butlered appetizers and tons of dessert goodies for me to try at the site visit. But everoyone  knows the Merion is gorgeous also so good luck on your hunt!  I haven't heard of Hamilton Manor. 
    Some things/ questions I wanted to know when I was shopping reception sites...

    Tour the Ballrooms/Bridal Suite
    What packages are available and what they include
    How much per person and does it include tax/gratuity?
    How much to book and payment structure?
    How many guests to guarantee?
    Menu/what is included and what you can upgrade too
    If you are having a ceremony, is there a charge?
    Are they providing the cake and is there a cake cutting fee?
    Will there be weddings at the same time as yours?

    Just some ideas...Good Luck!  Don't be nervous, its so much fun to visit the different places, you will know when you find the right place.




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    Cherie516Cherie516
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    A few other things I thought of for you...

    Do they provide valet services for your guests?
    Will you get a wedding coordinator and how many times do you get to meet with them?

    Remember you can negotiate at these places too!
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    RangergirlRangergirl
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    edited December 2011
    Good luck! I'm getting married at The Merion in 3 weeks!! One of the things I did on all my first visits was take pictures. This way when you get home you can upload them and get an idea of how well the venue will photograph - we had a few places we liked when we first saw thm and when we got home and looked at the pictures, either they did not photograph well or we caught little details we missed while we were there. (Wrinkled tablecloths, stains, etc) Also - I made sure I saw the bathrooms! It's something so weird probably but no one wants gross bathrooms for people all dressed up!

    Some things I asked:

    - Can I bring in a cake from the outside if I don't like the choices provided and do I get some sort of credit for it if it's normally part of the package?
    - Are there any nearby hotels you work with for out of town guests or guests who want to stay over?
    - If package price includes gratuity, who is NOT included in that who needs a seperate tip the night of the wedding?
    - What is the cancellation policy and postponement policy in case of any unforeseen circumstances?
    - If the bridal party and/or bride and groom are not attending the cocktail hour, what is provided for them?
    - When can we drop stuff off to the hall, who sets up the centerpieces and favors and such, when does it need to be picked up? (For instance The Merion's staff is unionized - they are not allowed to do centerpiece set up and since we don't have a florist we need to have someone there that morning to do our centerpieces once they drop the linens but before they set the tables.)
    - Is there a price difference for guests under 21, what is the price for vendors and what age do they start charging for children?
    - Are the bridal parties belongings secured during the reception and if there's multiple weddings going on at once, how do they ensure the guests from one event aren't crashing the other?

    Looking at halls is a LOT of fun but obviously you need to get all that important info out of the way. We went to a few venues three times before we finally saw The Merion and we literally walked in and looked at each other and said this is it before we even spoke to someone. Everyone told me that was going to happen and I didn't believe them until I saw my venue so just enjoy it, it honestly will all come together.
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    LiaAliLiaAli
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Ditto to everything Rangergirl said! I am getting married at The Merion on October 7, 2011. My fiance and I walked in and did the same thing...Wow, this is the place! And then talking with our coordinator, Stephanie, just proved to us that we were making the right decision.

    Rangergirl....how excited are you that it's almost here?! And has everything ran smoothly? Any words of wisdome or advice for a fellow Merion bride?
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    Bonnie&Clyde77Bonnie&Clyde77
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_south-new-jersey_first-visit-advice?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:128Discussion:bba7c98c-f85a-4b73-b7a6-163752c6eb8fPost:e43fb964-7c73-4a51-85ab-3e0dcd06dbc1">Re: First site visit... any advice?</a>:
    [QUOTE]Ditto to everything Rangergirl said! I am getting married at The Merion on October 7, 2011. My fiance and I walked in and did the same thing...Wow, this is the place! And then talking with our coordinator, Stephanie, just proved to us that we were making the right decision. Rangergirl....how excited are you that it's almost here?! And has everything ran smoothly? Any words of wisdome or advice for a fellow Merion bride?
    Posted by LiaAli[/QUOTE]<div>
    </div><div>I have Stephanie as my coordinator also, I love her! The Merion is probably the nicest place I had looked at in NJ, PA and DE. Plus you get a ton of food/alcohol for what you pay for. What ballroom are you using?

    </div>
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    RangergirlRangergirl
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We have Stephanie also :) She is absolutely amazing and I have to tell you, out of EVERYTHING in this wedding planning process, the venue is the ONLY thing that has gone smoothly for us. Every single issue, concern, problem or request we have had, every time the reasponse has been the same - no problem!! The owners are so involved and have really gone out of their way to ensure we're going to have an amazing wedding despite all the issues we've had during the planning.

    I cannot believe it is 3 weeks away, it seems like it's SO close now all of a sudden... it felt so far away and now it's like tomorrow or something. It's such a strange transition! If I could do it all over again, I'd tell everyone from the begining that this day isn''t about everyone else and it's not even about me, it's about my FI and I getting *married* and that is all that is important. We spent so much time trying to avoid hurting everyone's feelings or keep from offending people that the only thing I got my way on was the hall. So don't let people push you around, that's my advice!

    We're in the Skylight Ballroom, once the wedding is all done I'll be sure to post a link to pics of everything!
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    Bonnie&Clyde77Bonnie&Clyde77
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    The Skylight is amazing! I wanted to have the ceremony there and reception in the Empire but it ended up not working out so we are getting married in the Chapel and having the reception in the Empire. 
    @Ranger- who is your florist? I was totally clueless how to decorate in  there because each room is so beautiful.

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    RangergirlRangergirl
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We are using Harker's Flowers in Cinnaminson but we're only doing floral for the bouquets and such. I agree, the whole place is so beautiful and they have flowers in the halls and stuff but for us, because it's a winter themed wedding we just felt flowers would be out of place. So in the Chapel for the ceremony we're wrapping the "alter" type front with clear white lights and lining the aisle with blue, silver and ivory luminary bags that have those flameless tealights in them. We're going to do a winter wreath with ivory candles in the front of the room.
    For the centerpieces, we are doing tall square vases that are filled with pine needles, pine cones, cinnamon sticks and silver and clear balls. There's tall branches sprayed with snow coming out of the vase and then smaller blue and silver glittery branches with a white pointsetta flower at the opening of the vase. The vases will be sitting on round mirrors and will have candles around the base.

    The one room we are going to try and decorate more is the cocktail hour room because while it's a nice room, it's probably the one with the least personality also so we have blue and silver and white candles to put on all the cocktail tables, lit branches to put on the stations and snowflake themed things to put around it as well. In addition our ice sculpture will be a snowflake!

    My FI LOVED the Empire Room, if we couldn't get the Skylight that's the room we would have taken instead. It's so convenient being right next to the Chapel too!
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    Bonnie&Clyde77Bonnie&Clyde77
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    @ Ranger- I love your decoration ideas, they sound so pretty! I hope you post pics after :)  I let my FI choose the room so that's how we ended up in the Empire. It've very unique.
    I am decorating the Chapel in a very simple way. Flower petals on the floor and up the aisle, flowers twisted around the banisters and two large crystal trees. In the Empire I am doing crystal tree centerpieces with flower bases and a ton of candles. I didn't want to take away from the room. 
    I am so excited for the wedding!!!
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    danagigsdanagigs member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I loved reading the posts on here about The Merion!! It makes me feel like my FI and I are not the only insane ones out there! We Looked at 3 venues before stumbling on the Merion. As soon as I walked in my jaw hit the floor!!! The very next day I had my parents there and before I knew it my father was handing over the down payment. We are working with Suzanne who is absolutetly perfect for my FI and I. She completely gets how corky we are and i have complete confidence in her! We are going to be in the Palace Ballroom... I wanted the Skylight (obviously) but we were offered such a good deal on the palace, plus I loved the waterfall outside, that we couldnt resist!! I am planning on very simple centerpieces, sorta. Mainly 3 different sized vases filled with water and a floating candle on top with just a few orange calla lilies in the bigger vase wrapping around with the steam all under the water... Other then that, the room needs nothing!!! Im so excited!!!!
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    marianthebmariantheb member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Hi! I got married in the Skylight room at the Merion in November and it was fantastic! I have also been to two weddings at Luciens and they were both great as well! Good Luck!

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