Thoughts on Down Town Club

broodc2

Hello Everyone,

My fiance and I are booked for the Down Town Club for our reception in April of 2013.  We are very excited and obviously very happy with the venue.  I'm finding that a lot of the reviews about the venue are somewhat older (1+ years or more).  I was wondering if any of you have any thoughts, both good and bad, about the venue.  Specifically, have any of you considered this place for your reception?  Have you attended an event there recently (within the last 6 months or so)?  Are there any unique situations to navigate that are specific to the venue (i.e. finding a good hotel close by, any parades or annual events near Olde City in April to be aware of, etc.)?  Recommendations for other vendors (photographer, videographer, etc.) who have experience with downtown, Olde City, and Down Town Club?

Thanks so much for your insight. 

jelybeancg

Hi!

I am having my reception at the DTC this March. I am so excited. They have been super accomodating and awesome to work with. I also read those reviews about them not being flexible and honestly I have not encountered that in the least. I had my tasting already and the food is seriously amazing and I am a very harsh critic when it comes to wedding food. The New York strip steak was better than any I ever had at any of the big steakhouses in the city.

We blocked rooms at The Omni and so far so good. No problems. The invites just went out so I have not tried to add rooms to the block or anything. But Mary at the DTC offered to call the Omni personally if they give me a problem because of her close working relationship with them.

As for vendors my band, Slippery, works at the DTC all the time and is a favorite there. They have a piano player as part of the package who will play that piano in the cocktail hour rooms.

Also, my florist, Carl Alan works there all the time and Adam has a great relationship with Mary.

My photo, Craig Single, has not shot at the DTC specifically but will have after March He does however have tons of experience downtown / in Old City.

I am not aware of any circumstances that would affect Aril in Old City but talk with Mary she would know better.

Any other questions please feel free to ask or send me a PM.

Also, Cackle was at a wedding there over the summer. I can ask her to come and let you know her experience.

broodc2

Hi Jelybean,

Thanks so much for your post!  We also think it makes the most sense at the Omni given the closeness.  I have to call them all this afternoon to see what they offer.  It would be much appreciated if you asked your friend to provide their thoughts.  We are planning the event out of town so it would be really helpful to get as much of a "feel" for the place as we can.  

We booked without seeing it based on my future bride's parents opinion and the pictures look very nice.  We'll probably fly up to see it in person sometime in March.     

jelybeancg

The only issue I can see with you being out of town is the tasting. They only do Wednesdays at lunch time. I know that has been a problem for people planning from out of town.

Cackle6

As Jelybean mentioned, I was just there for a friend's wedding in October. It was pretty amazing. Specifically the cocktail hour and dessert room were outstanding. The room is gorgeous, and the views are spectacular as well. All the even staff are super professional and everything was wonderful. As a guest, I was very happy. And after speaking to the bride and groom afterwards, they had nothing but great things to say about everyone they worked with. You've def made a good decision for your venue.

kmhw712

We are having our reception there in May and are very excited!  So far everything has been great!  We are going for our tasting next week.  Yes, the only thing about being out of town is the Wed afternoon tasting.  We also have a wedding block at the Omni-its very close and they have been very nice.  We stayed there the night we got engaged and it was very nice!  The staff at the Downtown Club can probably tell you about issues with hotels and your date-they warned us to book early as it is around graduation time in the city and we are very happy we did as it is already sold out!  Our photographer is Chris Hensel.  He's great-we found him because he had a sample photo album at the Downtown Club.  He's very experienced and has done many weddings there in the past.  Best of luck with your planning.  The Downtown Club is beautiful and I hope we all have amazing weddings there!

broodc2

To kmhw712, how was the tasting?  I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the steak if you tried it.  We will probably do our tasting when we come up to visit around Christmas since our date is 4/13/13.  We called the Omni and they don't even have block rates yet for 2013 so they are supposed to give us a call back.  To be honest I don't really like any of the other hotels in the area and the ones I like are too small and/or too far away.  We're going with Annie Hosfeld for our photographer.  She seems very sweet and truly seems to love what she does. 

I'm excited to see the place.  To be honest my fiance and I haven't actually been there!  We were only in town for a short amount of time so we didn't get to go there.  Her parents endorsed the place so much we decided to go with it before our date was taken.  The location seems to be perfect for our out of towners (especially my good ole' boy southern friends who have never been north of the Mason Dixon Line). 

One thing with the Omni though, for your exit, are you guys just walking down the block to the hotel?  We think it's silly to rent a car or carriage to go one block.  But at the same time I guess it's funny to just wave at everyone and then walk away.  Or are you not planning a send off.  Honestly it would be nice to just walk down there with everyone to continue the party.  How's the Omni bar?