Lakefront Brewery...help?

alclover

Hey ladies,

We've booked Lakefront and I'm very happy with the venue. BUT, we're also doing the ceremony there. I'm stuggling with how to do this, because we don't want people at tables. Any thoughts of how to reasonably break up this space? My mom and FI want the big entry, procession thing and I'm now sure the best way to do so.

Any suggestions?

mob112710

Could you have the ceremony down on the patio by the river? Not sure how much space there is down there, but it's a possibility.

alclover

Actually, we were told that is no longer an option because it is public space. Might not be enough space either.

mob112710

Have you spoken with the catering company and asked them for suggestions? They might be able to set the tables but have them pushed together against the walls and have rows of chairs with an aisle leading to the risers for the ceremony.  Then cocktail hour would be in the bar area near the gift shop while staff moved the tables into place, set the chairs around them, lit candles, poured water, etc. How many guests will you be having -- that will make a difference in the options available to you.  The greater the number of guests the harder it will be to manouver them and the set-up in the space.

boxcar

We're doing a room flip, but the tables will be hidden behind walls.  Could you rent pipe & drape to hide them?

If you really can't have your ceremony in the same space, there's a park with an awesome view of Milwaukee straight up the hill to the North of the Brewery.  There's one hill between Commerce and North Ave, and then the park I'm talking about is just across North Ave.

Jules08

I had my reception there in 2008, not the ceremony, but...

Assuming a Saturday wedding, the Brewery will be open for tours that day until about 3pm.  Sometime in the afternoon they will block off part of the main space (back by the stage) and start setting up your tables.  So there may be a way that they can hold off on pulling the tables out and only set up charis for the ceremony to start.

You would probably have the ceremony up on the stage and the tables would be set up off to the side, and very visible to all.  It's up to you if you care about that or not.

However, if you plan on let's sat 200 guests and 8 or so per table you are looking at somewhere around 25 tables which will fill up the space from the stage to the bar once it's set up for dinner service.  So that means that your guests will ultimately see the flip and likely be pushed far out of the way (by the bar and entry hall or outside on the patio) during so.

Your guests won't be allowed to show up until 5 (unless they changed their contracts) so think about the timing of the night then, guests arrive, ceremony, meet and greet after and EVERYONE will stop you, getting the guests to move into the designated space for the flip, flip the room, getting the guests seated for dinner and then finally dinner service.  So dinner may not happen until well into the night.  That's also something to think about.

I guess because the space is essentially one giant room, it's got some logistical issues to work out to be able to make it happen.  Not saying that it can't, just figure out all these details now.

Good luck!

fronkel

I had my wedding (ceremony and reception) there in last september. I opted to have all of my guests sit at their tables for the ceremony. I was also nervous but it worked beautifully. Everyone could see and was already settled so that when the cermony was over they could start mingling right away. Let me know if you have any questions/want to see pictures of how it looked. My email address is fronkel@hotmail.com

Danica

I've done a ton of Lakefront weddings and the ones that had ceremony and reception all sat at the tables. It works out wonderfully.  If you're looking for traditional, then this may not be for you.  But if you're open to thinking outside of the box a little bit and making this work for you, I can guarantee you that it will turn out wonderfully.  Besides, guests like to do something a little different at weddings.  Let it be remembered and not just another ceremony that is the same as all the rest!  I really don't think you'd regret doing it this way.