Barker Tavern vs. Atlantica

josie332

Hi everyone! I am planning a wedding for 12/31/2010 and am trying to decide between the Barker Tavern and Atlantica in Scituate/Cohasset. I really loved both venues. Has anyone had their wedding or attended weddings at either place? What did you think? My concern about the Barker is that I think they heavily decoriate for Christmas and I don't want it to look over-the-top, and my concern about Atlantica is that the room is pretty much in the middle of the restaurant and people can see inside.  Any feedback is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Shazzie116

I am a Barker bride and I think if you book as the first wedding after Christmas and into January, you can decide whether or not you want the decorations to stay up or not. FI and I were the first January 2010 wedding to book and we decided to keep the decorations because I felt like it warmed the room up and went with our color scheme. I am going to be speaking with the coordinator there soon and ask if we can have the Christmas tree and wreaths taken down though. I don't mind the garlands and ribbons, but the wreaths and tree are too Christmasy for January. My parents have been to some weddings at the Atlantica. It's a nice harbor location, but I don't think they're too keen on the service for the price you pay. I think Ainslie's rehearsal dinner might be there, you should page her and see how her experience with the Atlantica has been.

Ainslie325

The room at the Atlantica may or may not be in the center of the restaurant (and to me, neither of their rooms feels too "public" for a reception). The smaller room (the one with the best view of the water and the smaller food and beverage minimum) is indeed centrally located, but not in such a way that I'd feel as if there were lurkers watching us from the dining room. One entire side of the room is windows, and the backside doesn't face a dining area. There's a portion of the back wall that is separted from the larger function space by a series of overhead garage-style doors, but the only windows on these are relatively small and above the sight line of seated guests. The side of the room closest to the dining room has a half wall for separation, and the room itself is sunken, which makes for a feeling of privacy. If you're talking about their larger function room (the one with the fireplace), that space is well removed from the general dining space. We considered both Barker and Atlantica for our rehearsal dinner this coming January. Because Barker had a wedding booked the following day that wished to make use of their holiday decorations (Hi Shazzie!), and because it is further away from our guests' lodgiing in Cohasset, FMIL chose Atlantica. She wanted to stick with our navy and champagne color scheme, and was trying to go in a nautical direction. Honestly, it was a toss up for me. I like them both. Our wedding reception is at The Red Lion Inn.

josie332

Oh my god, this is so helpful...I didn't know if anybody would really respond!! I am excited to know that I am not the only ones concerned about the Christmas decorations! I asked Becky at The Barker about the decorations...and she said we could only take something down if it was easy to put back up because they have other parties into January. The only thing that is really bothing me is all of the wreaths!! But I am thinking those have to be easy to take down. How has Becky been to work with? She seems so nice.  Thanks so much for your help!

julanhunt

I just had my wedding at Atlantica on 8/15.  I loved it there!  We had 195 people so we used the little side area off the big room too.  They close the doors to the rest of the restaurant so it is definitely separate from the people at the bar and eating dinner.  You do have to go into the restaurant part to go to the bathrooms though.  The food is delicious there.  The views and the place itself are so pretty. I do have to say that the one thing I didn't care for at Atlantica was the event coordinator.  Once you book noone contacts you at all unless you contact them.  Even when the first deposit was due you don't get a letter or anything.  I'm sure if we didn't pay on time they would have been after us maybe.  The lady who is the event coordinator has an attitude.  We messed up and didn't put "and guest" on one of the place cards because we didn't know the name of a guest so the event coordinator wouldn't let my cousin and her guest sit down until I arrived to tell her what to do even though the guest was counted in the table count.  They also ran out of tp in the ladies room and when people were asking for it the event coordinator snapped at them.  So, anyways overall... all my guests loved the place and said how great the food was.  Also, the Cohasset Harbor Inn is right there.  I have been to Barker's Tavern for a wedding and it was also nice... just a different feel there.  The food was really good there too.  I had too many people for Barker's tavern so I didn't look there.  There is also no hotel right there to stay at.  I have heard really good things though.  I'm not sure what the difference in price is.  They are probably both pretty similar.  Atlantica wasn't too cheap for sure.  Let me know if you have more ?s!

josie332

You guys are like a gift...I have been dying for these kind of opinons! I have been getting that bad vibe from the woman at Atlantica, and that is why I am trying to convince myself to go with Barker. I just get a better feeling and I trust the coordinator there. But I just love the room at Atlantica and can't get passed it! Did you guys find that the dance floors were big enough at both places? Any band recommendations?Thank you again so much!

julanhunt

I love the room at Atlantica too.  Its really nice.  I think with the fireplace on and everything it would be really so pretty.  The dance floor was definitely big enough at Atlantica!  We were wondering if it would be big enough too, but it definitely is.  One thing though... the event coordinator made the dj stop the music at 11:45 even though we had the place until 12.  Since it is New Yr's Eve for your wedding you def. want to make sure that you can have music and go until 12am if not just after.  Everything turned out great at my wedding though and people loved it and even though the coordinator wasn't awesome they set everything up for us great and served everything well.  For music we used this guy MattyB... he is so funny, he's a dj/entertainer.  He was great!  MattyB.com.  I wanted a band too, but a lot of them were pretty expensive so my fiance talked me out of it.

KBackus12

I booked the Barker over Atlantica for a few reasons. I had some rather rude emails with the woman at Atlantica because I wanted a more "us" reception than a cookie cutter one. But I still went and visited both places with my future mother in law. (I was mildly kidnapped for the afternoon) We didn't have appointments and the Atlantica was very like heres the room, dont be long. When we went to Barker the guy gave us a full tour, answered all my questions and checked to see if our date was available. Since booking with Barker tavern, Becky has been SUPER nice and great answering all my questions and working with us (She was super nice to me and answered my trillion questions before we officailly booked too). When you add up all the fee and stuff with Atlantica, Barker was alot cheaper.

Shazzie116

Becky has been fabulous so far, I loved her the moment I met her and gave her a hug after our tour of the Williams Room. I will be more in touch with her now that we're down to 4 months, but I know other brides who have worked with her and they've all loved her. There isn't a "big" hotel near the Barker, but we have a room block at the Clarion in Hull, and we're trying to encourage as many guests as possible to book at the Inn at Scituate Harbor which just reopened this summer, which is a 30 second drive from the Barker (it's at the traffic light at Jericho Rd. and Beaver Damn Rd.). They only have 29 rooms, but it's good to have an accommodations option so close to the Barker for a winter wedding! Let me know if you have any other questions! One thing that always stuck with me about the Atlantica was something my mom told me...they were there for an event, and if you got up to go to the bathroom or to dance, the waitstaff kept clearing their drinks, no matter how full they were, so they had to keep going back for new drinks...$$$.... GL with your choice!

tastefulpatty

I went to my friend's wedding at Atlantica last summer. It was beautiful and the food was good. The only thing I didn't like, though, was that they used both parts of the room (the main function room and the smaller side room down below). I was seated in the side room and we really didn't feel like we were part of the wedding...couldn't even see the bride and groom, the cutting of the cake, or anything else because we were essentially separated from everyone else. Once we got up on the dance floor after dinner, though, it really didn't matter.