Manchester Venue

scrpio421

I toured The Executive Court today and I'm seriously considering it for our venue. Does anyone have any experiance with this place good or bad? The outside gardens are amazing, but I'm not completely sold on the ballroom. I saw the linens  they were using (and the chair covers too through Divine Linens) and they were discolored and a few were stained. So we would have to use alternative linens I think. Any one else have any other info?

cg-pm52111

We toured there.  It was nice, but it strikes me as a pretty standard wedding place.  We chose to go with Fratello's instead and we were very pleased.  I personally have not been to a wedding at Executive Court, but I have family that has and they preferred the food at Fratello's.
Also, Fratello's (and a lot of places) use Divine Linens as well.  If you chose to go with chair covers through them, I would just comment that you saw some that were discolored, etc. and you absolutely do not want chair covers like that!

redsoxfan619

We are getting married at the Executive in October and so far, they have been pretty good! We weren't thrilled with the room either mostly because of the bar (small area) but it was worth it for us based on the outside (we are going to get married there), the price, and the hotel next door. If you do book, do not use Divine Linens! We opted not to do the package which really isn't necessary and we saved more money not doing it and just doing package B. We got our own linens girl.. Simplyelegantlinens.com. She has been good and she does really high end weddings so I know it will be great! (and she gave us a really good price cause I talked her down lol). Also, we have a food tasting this upcoming weekend and I have talked to someone who went to a wedding there already and said the food was pretty good, so fingers crossed! Good Luck!

redsoxfan619

And divine linens is horrible to get a hold of!

scrpio421

I listened to the commercial on the website and they said if you choose the Twin Hearts package (that all inclusive package) you can choose a DJ or chair covers, but she never said that on the tour yesterday. We would prefer the larger room, and they will give it to us if we can book 120 adults, vs the 100 we were planning on.
 So are they doing a tasting for you guys or is it for all booked couples?

redsoxfan619

They actually don't give you the option of the DJ anymore with that package. Only chair covers now. You don't have to do the Twin Hearts pkg if you don't want to. You can chose the dinner pkg with passed apps and 4 course meal. The champagne toast is extra now for $1.95 for half pour. And yes they are doing a tasting but its just us going at the Yard. You have to pay $20 per meal. If you have any other questions feel free to email me at redsoxfan619@verizon.net!

redsoxfan619

And that's pretty good about the room--we got it with 170 but we have to have at least 140.

Rachaelmb

I'm getting married at the executive court in October too!! So far everything has been great! I wanted a place we could have the ceremony and reception at the same place as well as a hotel..within a certain budget and they def. have it all. I have not picked my linens yet so that is good to know. But everything has been great - I am doing the package and after looking at individual prices it is def. worth it!! Just with the cake and floral centerpieces!! Plus getting a room for the night. The chair covers were just an extra for me. I went with PJ's flowers in Bedford he is amazing!! And they use Jacques for cakes which is my favorite - they do not freeze their cakes!
The bigget plus - keep in mind that their prices include ALL taxes and gratuities which most other venues do not. That money really adds up!
feel free to email me if you have question I've had great luck with everything!
rachaelmb2@comcast.net 

DirtyWater

My co worker is getting married there on October 14th.  The grounds are beautiful and I've been there a few times for work functions.  The food was pretty good for what they offered us for lunch.

She'll probably reply later about her feelings towards them.

I know they can be pretty short and not helpful at times.

nicoleh55

I am getting married there in October too!! wow lots of weddings in October! I have been happy so far, i was sold with the gardens! they are so beautiful. i am also getting married there and having the reception inside. we have 150 people on our guest list and used package B. We are ordering our linens through linentablecloth.com and it is 1/2 the price of divine linens and it matches my colors to a T! It also helps with the hotel next door!

redsoxfan619

Yay! I'm so excited to hear about other brides getting married at the Executive! I have been feeling like I'm the only one!

beckles403

My sister had her wedding at the Executive Court in Sept 2007. The food was good, the service was alright, the grounds were beautiful however it was also Nascar weekend so all rooms were 50% more expensive and they had Nascar cars on the grounds (which is great, if you like that sort of thing.. if not, not so good). We did notice issues with the linens so I agree that going with another linen company is a smart idea! 

Rachaelmb

When we were looking at dates, the woman at the Best Western at the Executive Court mentioned that Sept 24 is race weekend... which is why we picked October 1! I really appreciate her telling us!

redsoxfan619

rachaelmb2, you must be the other wedding next door to ours on 10/1! Congrats!

Rachaelmb

Too Funny!! Yup that would be me!! Did you say you were going to try food this week? I went a few weeks ago- everything was great! The Stuffed chicken was my favorite!! We're picking the cake on Saturday! Should be fun!  Congrats to you!!

scrpio421

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-hampshire_manchester-venue?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:101Discussion:6d26dbaa-527d-4ab2-91cc-008f9972d957Post:69fe96d1-8112-4ed3-8286-7557c7f3ee54">Re: Manchester Venue</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm getting married at the executive court in October too!! So far everything has been great! I wanted a place we could have the ceremony and reception at the same place as well as a hotel..within a certain budget and they def. have it all. I have not picked my linens yet so that is good to know. But everything has been great - I am doing the package and after looking at individual prices it is def. worth it!! Just with the cake and floral centerpieces!! Plus getting a room for the night. The chair covers were just an extra for me. I went with PJ's flowers in Bedford he is amazing!! And they use Jacques for cakes which is my favorite - they do not freeze their cakes! The bigget plus - keep in mind that their prices include ALL taxes and gratuities which most other venues do not. That money really adds up! feel free to email me if you have question I've had great luck with everything! rachaelmb2@comcast.net 
Posted by Rachaelmb[/QUOTE]

Rachael, I didn't think that the package was worth the price. You figure the difference is about 40 dollars. So for just our 100 people that would be 4,000. It's only the centerpieces(500-1000?), cake (about $400 via Jaques), hotel room ($120) chair covers (about 300-400). I think I can do this for around 2000. I think their package is ripping you off really. If you do go through them, talk to Inspired Elegance. Their chair covers are amazing and she said she will talk to Missy and take care of it with no extra charge. I saw her at the bridal show last night and she says that she's done this before.  Good luck!
I'm glad to see that there's a bunch of other executive court brides out there!!

redsoxfan619

rachael, thanks! Yes our tasting is this Sunday.. we are going with my dad. And its our anniversary haha so hopefully the food is good! I'm glad to hear you liked it, I think I will like the stuffed chicken too, that's what I'm hoping to go with in addition to a beef dish. I only wish we could sample the hor d ouerves!! haha

redsoxfan619

Btw rachael, what time is your ceremony/reception? I forget what missy told me.

Rachaelmb

Thanks for the tip about the table linens!! That's the next thing on my list!
I thought the same thing at first about the package but Keep in mind that the package includes 8% meals tax and 18% gratuities... The individual prices do not. That is huge! I figure the difference is about $2200 once that is figured in and the includes the cake, centerpieces, room and chair covers. Plus any transportation fees for the vendors.

scrpio421

I signed the contract with the Excutive Court tonight!!! Yayyy!!! It's for real now!
Rachael, thanks for the insight into what the package includes. I am considering going with it now, she said she will ask the owner about changing the chair cover company for me. So that will be the deciding factor on whether I go with the stimulus package.

redsoxfan619

I would highly recommend Simply Elegant Linens out of Haverhill.. I got a discount price from her and she has been great! She met Missy recently when she came to the venue to show me how the chair covers and sashes would look and Missy has her card.

yankeebelle44

Hey ladies - in re: to the linens comments, I do not recommend using Inspired Elegance out of Hooksett. My Mom and I are in the midst of trying to get some of our money back after we were charged $1 per custom made flower for the back of the chairs. The flowers were never constructed, yet we paid for them. The ones we were given totally clashed and were used.

To this day we've never received a final invoice for what we were charged, despite numerous requests. Vickie refuses to refund the $90 and when my Mom called to complain, Vickie's husband got on the phone, called her a bunch of names, and hung up on her!

Working with them has been a nightmare. I do not recommend them.

Dsprince730

So my sister just had her wedding at the executive court on July 29th, and i think the only thing I can say is that she looked gorgeous and so did the grounds. Other than that I dont have another nice thing to say. We had Donna for the coordinator and she was great until the rehearsal night, as of that night she became rude, ignorant and didnt help with anything. She bossed the bride, groom and bridal party around she ignored questions she didnt want to answer. So here we are already feeling completely unsure and very uncomforable for the wedding day. And then the wedding day, oh the wedding day was terrible. Donna kept disappearing we had no idea where to go the photographer was completely unaware because we had no direction from Donna, my sister was running around tryign to find where to meet with everyone, so now on a rainy humid day her flowers were limped and dying and she was sweatig before even reaching the walkway. Donna started yelling at us to hurry u-p and we ALL ended up running down the aisle and were unable to get many pics. People later came to us asking who was chasing us. The reception was terrible, they screwed up seating plans they served minors champagne, and Donna mid reception pulled me into her office (i was maid of honor) and let me know to tell poeple to stop complaining and that they were not be held responsible for any mishaps. So now we tried calling missy and she was rude and absolutely unprofessional about our concerns so my mom fought for days and finally got a hold of the owner, He was worse! He called us liars and even hugn up on the phone on my mother. This all is from her wedding July 29th, 2011. Donna even took pieces off the guys corsages on their shirts and ruined the florists ensambles against the bride and grooms wishes. It was horrible my sister is already planning their second wedding because of how bad it all went all because of Donna. Theres a lot more too but I just feel that i would sound too despressing to all the soon to be brides. My recommendation, look elsewhere for a place because this place did make a mistake and now can;t even be professional enough to deal with a brides concerns of her supposed to be best day.

Dsprince730

 we were never offered a taste testing and when we kept calling to find out what to do next after our contract was signed we were told they wouldnt do another thing with us till they were paid in full. So 2 weeks before my wedding i was running around choosing florists cakes, linens etc. it was horrible. Donna and missy were terrible and Donna absolutely ruined my entire wedding she was rude, and calous  my wedding was on July 29 2011 and my husband and I are already replanning a new wedding because of how aweful Donna made ours.