The Loft at Smith Brothers

LVK033

Hello all!

I am very recently engaged and am trying to get a move on locking a venue down. I have a question regarding Smith Brothers. I saw some other posts but none that addressed this.

I am not concerned about it being split levels at The Loft- but what do you do about the first dances, etc? Is it a little awkward to ask everyone to come downtairs to the dance floor?

Has anyone been to a wedding there or are planning yours there? How do you plan to address the issues with the split level?

tiffanydaniels

We went and saw the loft and we were having 200 people and I did not like that it was split level because not everyone could be dancing at once, even though i know this does not happen, it really would not happen there. He told me you could do it down there or you could probably do it by the cake table, leave a little space to do it. Good luck

MissOwl

i've heard from others who have been to weddings there that they ushered their guests upstairs to take their seats for dinner after cocktail hour and then when the guests were seated the bride and groom did a grand entrance from the stairs to the brick wall area at the far end (where their head table was i guess). they then shared their first dance on the second level just in front of their head table/sweetheat table. after dinner, the bride/her dad and groom/his mom opened the dancefloor for their dances (i guess they both did these at the same time to one song) and most people followed them downstairs or looked down from that cool overlook thingy. sorry if this is confusing. i've been in the venue but haven't seen this done. i'm trying to explain from a story a friend told me. she said it worked really well.

jnkreager

Mrs. Owl said it well.  I think many couples do their first dance upstairs before dinner, but the other formal dances take place downstairs.  It is a good way to encourage your guest to migrate downstairs for the dancing part of the reception.

LVK033

Thank you guys so much this is really helpful! I love the idea of an exposed brick space its very "us" and my fiance and I don't want a super formal space so I think this may be perfect if we can work out the logistics of it all.

megan888

I did a wedding there a few years ago and it was similar to what MissOwl said. It actually worked out great and they packed the dance floor pretty well without it being too crowded. Some people went outside, and it was nice that some people were able to stay upstairs and talk. The bar was downstairs so they would still wander down there but then they'd head back up where it was quieter. Most people went downstairs though. I thought it worked out really well and the space is awesome.

osuchica85

I went to one there too...ditto....first was upstairs and then after all of the other stuff (speeches, cake cutting, etc....) we went downstairs. Basically everyone stayed downstairs for the dancing/rest of the reception.

xjulie2188x

I actually just had my reception there on August 5th. It was wonderful! I'll do a full set of reviews soon, but it was much like MissOwl said. We had cocktails downstairs, then ushered people up for the dinner. The cake cutting was upstairs following the dinner then we invited the guests down to watch our 1st dance. Only a few people stayed up stairs and looked on from the cutout. So they could still see.

They gave us the option of having our dance upstairs or down. We prefered to have it downstairs so it would help encourage people to come down & dance, which it did. We actually really liked it since the people who wanted to talk & mingle could stay upstairs where it was quiter & the people who wanted to dance could be down stairs.

LVK033

Thank you Julie!! That seriously makes me feel SO good about it!!! I cant wait to read your review!

pam22pamela

We had our wedding this past March at the Loft.  It was the best decision we made!!!  Just this weekend at a shower, one cousin (a guest at our wedding) commented on how amazing the Loft was, especially because of the brick and the levels.  We had about 100 guests and it worked perfectly.  We loved taking some pictures looking down from the top level; got one of the first dance, and plenty other group shots.  We did the ceremony upstairs, cocktail hour downstairs (while they set up the upstairs), dinner and cake cutting upstairs, and then the dancing downstairs.  We had plenty of room (would have been fine too if we had more guests), and people were both up and downstairs for our first dance.  We wanted something that felt and represented "us" more, and not just a typical banquet hall.  Here's a few pictures from ours:

http://iqfoto.com/BLOG-POST-WED-PAMELANICHOLAS.html

Hope this helps!!