Hi! I'm new here!

MIssSally25

Hello!

I just got engaged on Christmas, and my fiancee and I have decided on a September 2014 wedding! Being relatively new to the area, I don't even know where to begin with the planning! We both have large families, so we are looking at a guest list of around 200. I came across the Phipps Conservatory website, and LOVE their photos, so that is a possibility. Any suggestions on venues, caterers, photographers, and even a place to buy a gown will be much appreciated! 

Thanks in advance!

alm199

I LOVE the Conservatory! Unfortunately it's way over my budget haha. If you can afford it I would go for it!

jnissa

Hi, Sally.

One thing I'd definitely suggest is that you start booking right now. We have a September 2014 wedding and we booked our venue last February (almost a year ago), and while we ended up with our first choice (Renaissance) our second choice was already booked (Omni) for our weekend. September is a hugely popular month to get married in Pittsburgh and if you're looking at the more popular venues (like Phipps) you need to act right now.

My advice would be put all of your energy into two things right now and then go from there:

- Venue

- Photographers (the good ones in Pittsburgh book quickly). 

After you get a venue, a lot of the other things will naturally fall into place. 

PrettyGirlLost

jnissa said:

Hi, Sally.

One thing I'd definitely suggest is that you start booking right now. We have a September 2014 wedding and we booked our venue last February (almost a year ago), and while we ended up with our first choice (Renaissance) our second choice was already booked (Omni) for our weekend. September is a hugely popular month to get married in Pittsburgh and if you're looking at the more popular venues (like Phipps) you need to act right now.

My advice would be put all of your energy into two things right now and then go from there:

- Venue

- Photographers (the good ones in Pittsburgh book quickly). 

After you get a venue, a lot of the other things will naturally fall into place. 

I will second all of this.  May, June, September-November are really popular months to get married here and many venues book 1.5-1year in advance.

I'm getting married in October of this year, and when I was looking at venues and available dates back in January 2013 a lot of places were completely booked for September and many dates gone in October of 2014.

manjermj

Another vote for booking right away. We were engaged July 2012 and every single venue we wanted was booked from April-November for all of 2013. So we ended up with a super short 6 month engagement and a January 2013 wedding. You'll be much more likely to get your dream venue if you're more flexible with your date. If you don't want to be flexible with the date, then prepare to be flexible with the venue choice.

clickchick311

I know a photographer that has a few dates open in September, depending on date.  If you need info, pm me. I'll give you contact info.

rcooper1102

Congrats!!!!  And best of luck with all the planning.  I think you mentioned in another post you live in Cranberry (me too, just moved there about 18 months ago).  

Lyss5362

I loved Phipps but it was too expensive for us. check out the days inn in butler they have the crystal room and the terrace room, we are having ours in the crystal room. they are newly renovated and absolutely gorgeous! our dj is Pifemaster Productions and I absolutely love him! he's the nicest guy and from the videos on his website he seemed really good. he came highly recommended from our venue. good luck! oh and just some advice my cousin was planning for September 2014 and couldn't find anything available so if you aren't too attached to your date you may need to think about changing it. hopefully I'm wrong! best of luck to
you!

alm199

I was in a wedding at the Crystal Room last year and loved it! The room is gorgeous and the staff were really on top of things. I would have booked them for my wedding but most of my guests are from out of town and the hotel itself was terrible. It was really disappointing because it was the only venue FH and I both loved.

Lyss5362

alm199 said:

I was in a wedding at the Crystal Room last year and loved it! The room is gorgeous and the staff were really on top of things. I would have booked them for my wedding but most of my guests are from out of town and the hotel itself was terrible. It was really disappointing because it was the only venue FH and I both loved.

what was wrong with the hotel?! :-(

alm199

The hotel is really outdated. The air condition was almost nonexistent and the wedding was in the middle of summer so it was really hot and nobody was able to sleep. Once you walked through the double doors from the lobby into the actual hotel it was like a 20 degree difference. They don't have elevators and they put handicapped guests on the second floor and refused to move them and overbooked so that when some guests arrived thinking they had rooms booked, they actually didn't. The second floor was also infested with stink bugs. Pittsburgh has a major stink bug problem but this was the worst I have ever seen. One hallway (the one we stayed in) had them covering the light fixtures and flying around the rooms. The stink bugs and AC wouldn't be an issue in the winter though. The hotel recently re-did the breakfast room and bar and they are both very nice. It would be perfect if they remodeled the rooms.