New and completely lost...

Lidia1001

Hello Ladies, just got engaged and need some wedding locations in the Phoenix, Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, Scottsdale area... I'm from NYC so this is all new and confusing...fiance is great, has lived there forever but I'm kinda feeling lost and overwhelmed planning this from NY. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!  Thanks!

bibliophile2010

Welcome! There are a million amazing places in the East Valley (where you described), but we might need some other information to give you really good ideas:

How many guests are you expecting? What is your budget?  Are you looking to have the ceremony and reception in one place, or is there a church/religious location involved too? Where does your fiance/his family live (does this impact the choice of location)?

Good luck and, again, welcome to the board!

sarahbutchin

Welcome and Congrats! I am just going to name off a bunch of locations that I am aware of and you can look them up!!! I will start with places I went to visit! There are expensive options and more economical options.

Phoenix:
The Ritz Carlton Phoenix- ballroom atmosphere, gorgeous chandeliers.
Royal Palms Resort- Spanish and amazing. Great view of Camelback Mountain
The Phoenician- views of mountains, huge resort, old hollywood
The Biltmore- Frank Lloyd Wright design. Large resort.
The Wrigley Mansion- Quant and Luxorious
Boojum Gardens- Outdoor spaces, greenery
The Farm at South Mountain- Outdoor spaces, beautiful pecan trees.

Scottsdale:
Sassi- Restaurant with gorgeous grounds, nice ceremony area
Troon North Golf Club- Beautiful windows that overlook AZ landscapes
Four Season Troon- Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous
Westin Kierland- Large Resort, never been inside
InterContinental Montelucia- Beautiful grounds, variety of ballrooms
Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain- Incredible views
Doubletree Paradise Valley- great location, nice woman to work with
Firesky Resort- Beautiful ceremony location, nice ballrooms, cocktail hour locations

Hope this helped a bit!

acnahm

We definitely need more info to help you with venue suggestions and such (although sarah has some excellent suggestions).  I, myself, am planning from Baltimore and am originally from Phoenix.  Planning from a large distance CAN be stressful and difficult, but if you organize what you want and need, it can also be incredibly easy and fun.  I have not had any real problems yet (fingers crossed!), and all my vendors have been wonderful.  We basically put planning into a few trips to Phoenix.  Anything that we needed to look at or if we needed to meet people in person, we arranged during trips to see families.  Other things, we just did over email or the phone.  Let us know what you are thinking and we can do our best to help!

Lidia1001

Well we both want something small and intimate.  Its my second wedding his first and my family is all from the NJ/NY area, and not many will come out for another wedding.  So it will be close family for me and all of his friends and family.  Something that can accommodate around 100-110 ppl and isn't going to break the bank.  He and I will be paying for most of it, my parents can not and will not contribute to another wedding, especially since my wedding was just over 3 years ago.  I'm moving to AZ come March, so it will be much easier to plan once there. Just going through the motions now to get it all set.  Not sure how things go there. I know here in NY things get booked pretty quickly and far in advance. So really any advice would be awesome. 

Lidia1001

I am estimating our budget to be around $15,000 for everything except attire.  His family lives in flagstaff and he is in phoenix now.  We are looking to live in Gilbert once we find the right house.  We are both fine with being married at the venue no church.  Some out of town guests, so we were thinking maybe a hotel venue, so its all in one, if that makes sense, so the guests do not have to do additional travel to and from a location.  This is all just really new to be planning something from far away in an area i'm not familiar with.  And as much as he is familiar and willing to help, I just want to get as much information from other brides as possible.

sarahbutchin

I believe that you could possibly get a good deal at the Ritz, Biltmore, Firesky, Wrigley Mansion, Doubletree Paradise Valley, the farm at South Mountain (though it's not a hotel- I think there are many around there).
There are several locations in Gilbert, Mesa, Chandler- I'm just not that familiar with them!
Hope this helps a bit :-)

acnahm

I found the Arizona Weddings magazine incredibly helpful for first starting to look at venues.  They list most (if not all) of the venues in the valley, some general price points and pictures of some select venues.  If your FI is in Phoenix, maybe he can pick you one up and send it to you?  Or they have a website.  My bridesmaid sent me one and I still have it.  It's pretty organized which is nice.  Good luck

LedZeppelin

I am going to recommend the Valley Ho Hotel in Scottsdale. They have a garden area, a rooftop area, and two ballrooms and they weren't too terribly expensive.

LaurelPetriello

Hey Lidia, I'm a fellow New Yorker now, but I moved here from Phoenix a few years ago after living in the Valley for 17 years. I'm planning a destination wedding to Mexico and an at-home reception in Phoenix from NY, too. Feel free to email me laurelpetriello [at] gmail.com to pick my Phx/NY brain.

Things in Phoenix don't book up as quickly as they do in the NY/NJ area, but it's still helpful to book as soon as you know where you want to host the wedding. What kind of vibe/decor are you going for with the hotel? Modern & hip, swanky 1960s vintage, southwestern, spanish charm, classic & elegant? Do you want to have any of the wedding outdoors? If so, keep in mind the heat is a huge factor. The best months for outdoor weddings are November to April.

On a $15K budget for 100-110 ppl, I'm thinking you could try the Hotel Valley Ho, either of the Doubletrees, Firesky Resort, Tempe Mission Palms, the Pointe Hilton at South Mountain (right near the Farm at South Mountain, which is a really beautiful venue for a wedding), or the rooftop deck of The Clarendon (if you're into modern & edgy).

Beautiful resorts that might be pushing it for budget, but would be worth it to look into: The Hermosa Inn, The Royal Palms, The Biltmore, The Ritz (the thing about the Ritz, too, is that they don't have the beautiful grounds that a lot of other Valley resorts do)

Best of luck and feel free to email!

kimheartsscott

We are doing the Hotel Valley Ho (ceremony in the palm courtyard, reception on the rooftop) and it should be good for your guest list and budget.  Different areas have different food and beverage minimums (rooftop $8000, small ballroom $10K and large ballroom $12K) plus a $2000 site fee but that includes tables, chairs, linens, a hotel room for the night etc. 

As far as your guests go, depending on THEIR budgets it could get pricey if they would like to stay there.  And the HVH's room block policy sucks ass.


We also initially looked into the Farm at South Mountain which was very nice and more budget friendly.

sld0618

This site really helped me find a place for a reception (I'm a destination wedding bride, so I only need the reception site).  There's still a lot of beautiful places to get married as well here.

http://www.cvent.com/RFP/Venues.aspx?ma=14&vtt=1&WT.mc_id=DG_CSN_Search&csn=1