Garden Room in NWA: who looked at it? who is using it?

ChicagoHog

I would love to hear any feedback regarding the Garden Room on Dickson in Fayetteville.

Also, anyone know of any other reception sites? Here's what we have on our list for about 130 guests max:

- Garden Room
- NWA Botanical Gardens
- UARK Bowl
- Fayetteville Town Center
- Scarpinos

Anyone know of any other places?? We are planning long distance and I haven't lived in Fayetteville for 7 years.

stephhamblen

From my own experiences attending/being in weddings around Fayetteville and scouting around for my own Fayetteville wedding...

Garden Room: I was a BM in wedding and the reception was here.  Lovely big windows, great terrace, but now that paid parking is on Dickson, I don't know how parking works there.  They definitely don't have a huge parking lot out front.  It's a popular venue, though, so it must not be too big of an issue.

UARK Bowl: Fun, spacious venue.  It's run by the people at Inn at Carnall Hall.  You can use their caterer (Ella's) or bring in another, but you do have to use their bar service if you wish to serve alcohol. As of November 2010, I was quoted a rental price of $2000 for the space for a November 2011 wedding.  The thing I fell in love with was they will put your names and date on the marquis out front.  Oh, and there was some sort of deal where you could get passes for your guests to be able to park in the Underwood deck for free or cheap, instead of making them pay for Dickson parking.

Fayetteville Town Center: I used this venue for a non-profit event/celebration.  It's very basic, which means you have to do a lot for decorating, but it means you can make it what you want.  And the whole place inside is moveable walls so they can make big or small rooms easily.  I can't remember what the cost was, but it was pretty reasonable.  They have a great catering prep kitchen, and they have their own parking deck.

I don't know much about Scarpino's or the Botanical Gardens for weddings, but they are both beautiful venues as is.  I looked into Scarpino's, but it seemed like it was much more space and cost than what we needed.  You definitely wouldn't need to spend much on decorating, though!  It's very charming in there.

I am using Pratt Place Inn for both my ceremony and reception.  I am using the dining room and terrace of the inn itself.  If I were having a bigger wedding on a non-home football game weekend, I would love to use the barn.  Check them out at www.prattplaceinn.com

The other venue I seriously considered was Inn at Carnall Hall.  It's a very charming venue on campus.  They were reasonably priced.  They do require you to use the onsite restaurant (Ella's) for your catering, though.  Amazing food at a decent price, but not a huge selection.  (That was what helped me make the decision...they don't have mac 'n cheese or tomato soup shooters as options on the catering menu!)  )

And I'd like to give a shout out to my wedding coordinator, Karie Sutton.  She has been the biggest help in figuring out vendors and stuff.  I'm not having her plan, but she is available for any questions and will be doing the day-of coordination, which really starts a couple of weeks out when she takes over all the vendor communication and final prep work.  Her website: www.weddingsbykarie.com

Good luck!

 

srieske

Second on the Pratt Place.  It is just gorgeous. 

I don't know how far out you'd be willing to go from Fayetteville; I'm doing mine in Bentonville at Colonial Courts (colonialcourtcelebrations.com), and the maximum there is 112 people.  The owner April is great, probably 50% of the reason I went with it.

This place also looked amazing:  http://treesatwaterside.com/contact/

Scarpino's is gorgeous, but it might be a little cramped if you're having 130 people.
  
We didn't actually check out** this venue, but it also looked cool:  http://www.stablesonthehillar.com/#!.

**I haven't lived in Fayetteville for 3 years, so my FMIL is the one who looked at the venues. 

Good luck!

stephhamblen

Ooh, Trees at Waterside is pretty cool.  It's right by Lake Fayetteville, on the south side by Veterans Park.  One of my employees got married there and the pictures are pretty cool.  Big windows with lots of trees around.  And I think he said it was very reasonably priced.