Crane Estate

sobrien9302

Hi everyone!

I'm new around here and I don't really have the "bride gene" so I'm having a tough time with a lot of the planning stuff. We struggled with picking a venue - it took forever to decide!!! I decided on the Crane Estate (even though it was a little pricey) because it was so gorgeous that I was sobbing all the way up the driveway. But as soon as we signed the contract I started having all kinds of anxiety about it.
I'm a little nervous because I don't want to do the tent and our wedding is on the large side so our guests will be split into two rooms for dinner. We'll be setting the bridal party up in the smaller room that adjoins them so that nobody feels like they got the shaft and everyone can see us. Has anyone been to a wedding there or had their wedding there? Just curious as to how the different rooms things worked and if it was annoying for guests?

Thanks!

LexiMS

Hi!  Just had my wedding there in July.  The two room thing was not a big deal for us at all.  We had a sweetheart table in the main room.  All the "older" guests, family, parents friends, etc were in the main room, the smaller room we had all our cousins and younger friends. Everyone was happy with the situation. 

We did toasts out on the patio right at the end of cocktail hour, then we did cake cutting, and first dance, right after dinner when everyone went back out to the patio.  We had all our dancing outside.  Our guests were not at the dinner tables for very long, we had a quick paced dinner service, and then moved right into dancing.

One thing to note, we booked a band before totally figuring out our timeline.  We ended up paying for longer then they actually played because you can't really hear them when you are eating dinner.  Potentially we could have had our cocktail hour musicians, then nothing during dinner, and then paid the band for just after dinner until the end.

ctag416

I went to a wedding there this summer.  The view was amazing, I can totally see why you love it.  As a guest I really enjoyed the ceremony, and the cocktail hour but didn't stay in my seat for dinner very long because it felt very secluded in the second room.  The bride and groom did their introductions, first dance and the toasts on the patio which was great.  I did feel a bit divided though during dinner and we didn't see the cake cutting or anything.  Thinking back there was no music during dinner and I didn't miss it.  I like your idea to put the bridal party in the smaller room.  In the end I didn't feel like I got the shaft or anything, I just didn't want to stay in my seat because it seemed out of the way.