Hello!

ophiophi89

Hi,I'm new to the board and I wanted to say hi. My fiance and I are getting married in October of 2010 or early November. I am still looking at venues so the date is not yet confirmed. Anyone have any tips on cheap pretty reception sites? Thanks for reading,Ophelia

Sharpbride

Welcome! What type of venue are you looking for? Beach/inside/city/outside? Those things can help narrow it down.

ophiophi89

Yea. Tomorrow I'm going to look at the Roger William's botanical center and casino. My fiance loves the outdoors, so the botanical center seems like it would give the perfect balance of outdoor feeling while being enclosed which I prefer. Lets hope that it will be within our pricerange!Thanks for welcoming me is halloween of next year your wedding date?

Sharpbride

We went and checked that place out. I really liked it but it was too small for what we were looking for. Kinney Bungalow and the Towers are reasonably priced too.

Sharpbride

Oops, I forgot to answer you. We're getting married on October 1, 2010.

jlsimon56

We're at the Casino!  I think it's fab.  We ended up with 95 guests but I think you could fit 130 there.  No idea on the botanical center.  How many guests are you expecting? 

ophiophi89

sharpbride- wow i totally wasn't paying attention when i was seeing when you were getting married! sorry i added an extra 30 days! thats lovely though! i shall have to check out kinney bungalow...thank you for the idea! jennifer- we have about 90 so far...we're trying to keep it less than 100. thanks for the personal opinion on the place! your wedding is so soon! what theme/colors are you both going with? i'd love to get ideas from y'all.thanks!~Ophelia

Future Mrs Derouin

Welcome to the board! I am too in the beginning process of planning my speical day. I have yet decided on a reception. I keep tossing a few ideas, but nothing finalized! Good luck with everything!!

jlsimon56

Hi again!  My wedding IS soon!  But it's cool.  Haha.We are doing pewter/charcoal grey with a little bit of pale peachy-pink.  Once you see the inside of the Casino, you'll see why.  It will look really pretty in there!  We collected silver coffeepots and teapots for our centerpieces - I am most excited to see what the florist comes up with for those.  I have some pics on my blog that I don't really update anymore.  It's http://jlsimon56.livejournal.comIf you do go to the RWP, the woman you'll meet with is Heather.  Be aware, she has a no-BS personality and she's very straight-forward.  I love her for it, but she can come across as harsh.  As long as you know ahead of time, you're good.  :-) 

Dicaps55

I have no tips on any of the venues you mentioned but I just wanted to say welcome to the board Best of luck with your planning!

ophiophi89

thanks for the tips. i went to the casino today and it was beautiful! are you having your ceremony there as well? and is it in the nifty colosseum type thing out by the water? it sounds like it will be beautiful anywhere unfortunately, i am not sure whether it will be within our budget, i must talk it over with the fiance tonight. who are you having cater it? (wow sorry that this is like 20 questions, i apologize!). to the others- thank you for the welcome!~Ophelia

DansBride52911

welcome to the board!

jlsimon56

Hooray!  I love it too.  We are getting married in a church (FMIL is a minister) so not at the gazebo.  The Casino is $3K to rent but cheaper in the off season and if you live in Providence (or have a relative or friend in Prov who would "rent" it for you).  We are using Atomic for catering.  If you want to email me, I can give you all our pricing.  I really wanted to stay within our budget and to be honest, I think we did really well!  My email is jlsimon56 at hotmail dot com. 

dallface

Welcome to the board! I am also a newbie and everyone has been very helpful.

eacosta1120

Astors' was running a promotion when I booked where they gave quite a big discount on the rental fee. We had always planned on a Monday wedding (long story but basically we were going to do a Disney wedding at the Atlantic Dance Hall and Monday was the only day we could rent it) because everyone is traveling and making a vacation out of our wedding. Anyway, we ended up booking a special Monday package with Astors' with a discounted rental fee, and special catering pricing via Blackstone, Morin's, or Pranzi (ridiculous prices for open bar, cake, food, linens, staff etc). It's going to end up being at least half as much than if we had a Saturday wedding there. Plus, when you do a weekday wedding, you'll be able to negotiate with florists, photographers, and all other vendors because it's an off day for them. They were booking Mondays fairly quickly when I booked in June, but for Oct or Nov, you should be good and you can get an even better deal because it's not peak wedding season. I'm having a dream wedding at a fraction of the cost because of the day of week, so think about it. GL and email me eacosta@wisc.edu if you want more info.