Experience with Millennium or State Room?

Pesapenny

Hi everyone, thanks so much for your advice so far!

My fiancee and I are considering the Millennium Hotel in Boston or the State Room in Boston.

Has anyone had any experience with either of these hotels, either good or bad? Any advice/suggestion would be very appreciated! The StateRoom has a minimum to meet, while the Millenium does not- but the minimum at the StateRoom includes florals/lighting/music-it goes beyond food/bev.

Thank you!

megandjay

That minumim is what scared us about the State Room, and that you have to use their vendors or else pay a fee. So it cut out the possibility of finding more affordable vendors.
My friend was married there, and it was great food and of course an unforgettable view! Are your guests from Boston? We had a lot of people coming from Worcester and it is kind of a hard place to navigate to. But again, the view is unbeatable!

SummerBoston10

We got married at Belle Mer another one of Longwood Event's properties.  Carrie, our event coordinator, actually works out of the State Room which was a lot more convenient for me than working with a coordinator located in Newport.

Belle Mer and Carrie were awesome.  The food, the service, everything the night of was amazing.  The planning process was also so easy and a lot of fun too.  Longwood gives you and event coordinator and that person will help you book any of your other vendors that you are booking through them and applying towards your minimum.  They do NOT make you use any specific vendors.  When we were planning our wedding they didn't even have a preferred vendor list.  The sky was the limit, anyone you wanted to use, they would contract for you.  They take care of the payments due to the vendor, tips, vendor meals, etc. 

Longwood's contract and method is not for everyone.  In our case, we had a fairly small wedding and would have had a difficult time meeting the food & beverage minimums at many other good locations.  Because we were allowed to apply our band, linens and ceremony music towards our minimum, we could meet the minimum with only 80 people.  It worked really well for us.

I don't know much about the Millenium other than going to a seminar there.  The ballroom area had some windows but the view wasn't that great. 

If you can afford either venue I would hands down say the State Room is the choice based on the space and view alone. 

Lauren6277

We're getting married at the Millennium on 10/10/10 and so far, working with Kimberly has been great. We visited the State Room but we found that there were too many moving parts. Everything is a la carte so it's difficult to figure out what your final cost will be. The view is amazing but it felt very isolated. We have a lot of people coming from out of town so we felt a hotel was the best place for us.
The ballroom is recently renovated with a very modern look compared to most ballrooms. Because of the glass windows and ceiling, it's not clautrophobic. The view is actually pretty cool (especially when your guests are seated at the ceremony or dinner). We're doing an evening wedding so the lights of the city will add to the ambiance. The Millennium also supplies votives to  put along the window sills. The cocktail area has plants which helped us minimize our floral spending. You also get Chivari chairs (in your choice of color) included in the package.
I will say that the room is small. They say they can fit 160 but I would be nervous over 140. Just something to consider. We felt the same way about the smaller room at the State Room.
We visited about 7 places in town and we're excited about our venue.

Pesapenny

Hi Lauren6277,

Thanks for your input...looks like we've looked at the same venues! We're deciding between Liberty, Millennium and Stateroom...our wedding is 130, so I think that room would be a good size-- any comments on the Liberty? I'm from NY, so I will be having a lot of out of town guests as well.

I'd love to hear more about your decision- making process!

Lauren6277

I'm originally from NY too but just moved to Boston from the Midwest

We also visited The Liberty hotel because a co-worker of my fiance got married there. The lobby is very, very cool (reminded me of the Hudson Hotel in NYC) but we were really disappointed by the ballroom. It didn't fit the cool vibe of the hotel. The cocktail hour is on the top floor overlooking the lobby but it's a skywalk so space is an issue. They also only have two elevators to get people down to the ballroom (we were afraid our guests would feel like a herd of sheep). We also didn't like their package specifically the bar package. The Millennium has a pretty good deal for open bar.

We seriously considered the State Room and if we had had an unlimited budget that probably would have been our choice. The Great Room (I think that's the name of the bigger room at the State Room) is the nicer one but it's very big for a smaller wedding. I was a bit disappointed by the smaller room.

The Millennium was the last place we visited and we just loved the modern, airy vibe. It just felt right.

The only issue we're having is our room block. Because our wedding is on a holiday weekend, they can't extend it to accommodate everyone. It's not a big deal but just something you should know. I sent my hotel info with our save the date and the people who didn't book right away, may be in for a surprise.

If you have more questions, feel free to email me at lauren6277@yahoo.com

JBs_Bride

Another view on the Liberty: I went to see this with my husband when we were looking for a venue and it was set up for a wedding. The coordinator said it was set up for 120 and it looked packed in the ballroom.  The dance floor was also on the smaller side - something my husband did not like.