How did you choose your reception venue?

Rangergirl

Hello all!I am new to these boards (well to posting anyhow, I've been reading them for a bit now) and it is coming down to a bit over a year to our wedding... (January 16, 2011). We have not booked a reception venue yet, we have looked at a few but nothing has really made me stop and say "Oh this is it, this is the one." But all of them have things I absolutely love so I am sort of wondering how everyone was able to finally pick a place and say this is it... we are on a bit of a budget so price is a concern however I am not necessarily going to go with the least expensive place if I can justify the extra money someplace else. So far we have looked at The Primavera Regency, The Manor, Seasons, The Shadowbrook and the Venetian. (Ironically I realized after I wrote them all out it was pretty much in order of price as well.) Have any of you had (or are having) your wedding at any of these places? Or perhaps you can recommend someplace? We are having between 150-175 people and our budget is probably around $125 per person including the tax and gratuity. Because it is January we are hoping for a place that will not look... barren, in the winter and we are definitly looking for a nice cocktail hour and viennese hour. Any help would be so appreciated, thank you ladies!!Laura

tmcd13

I had a similar issue where I didn't find anything that I really loved or had everything that I was looking for..in my price range.   And I looked at a lot of places.  The best tip that I could give is figure out what is most important to you.  For us, we wanted good food and a place that had a different look to it.  In the end, I sacrificed on a great outside view (which I thought I would never give up) for a place that has great view and a different look.  So I would keep that in mind when you are looking.

mbcdefg

We looked at 6 halls. (Unfortunately none of them were the ones you've mentioned, although I went to a prom at the Manor years ago and remember that it was nice.) Our biggest concerns were the pricing and the driving distance from our church. I asked for recommendations on this board for places that we could afford and that people liked. I also e-mailed or called them and honestly I didn't bother visiting places that wouldn't give me a price quote because I didn't want to waste my time. Two were knocked out right away because we disliked the managers we met with. We weren't nuts about the halls themselves, either, but the managers put it over the top for us (and they didn't get good Knot reviews). We knocked out another place because it seemed too small for our group and their "outside grounds" was basically a little backyard. Our third-choice place was flexible on price but we didn't really like the menu options and didn't feel like they included very much in the price. Plus the grounds weren't all that nice, either ... a big draw was a cute little area for an outdoor cocktail hour, but if it rained then everyone would just be having cocktail hour in the same dining room. The second-choice place offered a lot for our money, but they weren't very flexible on pricing or menu options. It seemed very, "It's our way or the highway," which turned us off a little bit. And I saw some bugs on the ballroom's ceiling. But I liked that it was easy to get to from our church and I liked their outside grounds (good for photos). The place we picked offered us a lot of food and amenities and they had nice grounds and gardens in the back. It's set back from the road and looks nice when people are driving up. The manager seemed very willing to work with us. That was the one place where, when we got in the car to leave, we didn't immediately start our conversation with, "I didn't like how they XYZ."I also researched both Knot reviews and other resources (weddingwire.com, yelp.com, citysearch.com, random Google searches) for reviews on the places we considered. The top 3 picks consistently good good reviews and our top 2 places have been booked by a lot of Knot girls.

Denise91980

The Imperia, Mayfair Farms, Ravello's, The Tides Estate....I think that there are definitely quite a few places that will be within your budget, especially since you are a January bride.

kewltif

I would be surprised if you could get Seasons or the Venetian for that price, even in the winter. I had my wedding at The Villa at Mountain Lakes and bargained with them to get it below that price point.

Rangergirl

Seasons is within that price range including everything... The Venetian is within it if we don't include the Viennese Hour. They gave us an AMAZING price... The Venetian is actually my top choice but the problem is the budget we set is based on 150 and we need to guarantee 175 so obviously that ends up being a LOT more over budget when you take that into account.I actually tried Ravello's but no one responded to my phone call or email... I'm not sure if that means the date wasn't available but I gave up after that.I think we may actually look into the Tides after seeing so many great things about them here!

kewltif

My advice- book seasons. It seems like you can't go wrong with that place.

alliecarrie41

i felt that "omg this is it" with my reception venue more than anything else, even the dress.  i did have a runner up that i liked quite a bit, but it was a very distant runner up.  i negiotiated with the place to get the price i could afford and that was it.  i wouldn't have settled for anything less.

newgate309

I visited about 10 places. I really fell in love with the third, but we wanted to do thorough research before we chose. We found that we kept comparing everything back to the one that we loved... so we booked there. I'm also getting married in winter with the same budget, and these places were affordable: Westmount CC, Rockleigh CC, Tide Estates, Graycliff, The Manor, Crystal Plaza... I'm blanking on the rest. But in the winter, most are willing to significantly drop their prices. The only outrageous one we visited was Pleasantdale and I didn't even think it was very nice.

jaimelody

Venetian is beautiful but I'm not sure it's in the price range that you mentioned. I went to njweddings.com and used their listings for reception hall vendors because they give a price for most of them. I narrowed it down to the ones that were in my price range and then to 6-7 because we only had a certain amount of time in town to look at these venues. If you're talking "barren" as in outside, you could always choose a pretty photo spot that's not at the reception location. People are going to drive up and go inside so don't let the outside of the facility play into your decision too much. And as far as pictures, you can always take some elsewhere. We booked at the Graycliff for May and would be in that price range so maybe it's cheaper in January... I don't really know. There isn't much curb appeal at all there, but we are going to blvd. east and a park by my house to take pictures before the reception. We chose them because of the price and everything that was thrown in "the total package."

alliecarrie41

i havent seen a bad review of seasons yet; it's a lovely place.

hcer0708

The Seasons quoted me @ 150pp incl tax and grat for off season. If they gave you a price of 125 then i would def go for it.

yusi196

I would book The Venetian if they gave you an amazing price. Maybe you can negotiate their minimum. I think Seasons are the same owners as The Venetian so you can't go wrong with either. You can't compare The Primavera and The Manor to Seasons and The Venetian.  

Melissa66

We chose the Women's Club of Ridgewood because: It's a beautiful space: large ballroom -- perfect for dinner/dancing, with good acoustics; a living room that had tasteful furniture, lovely fireplace and a nice rug -- perfect for the cocktail hour. Reasonably priced: $2,000 for 8 hours. Under 5 minute drive from the church. The manager was extremely nice and we were on the same page from start to finish. I can't recommend the Women's Club of Ridgewood highly enough. It was the perfect venue for our reception and guests were raving about it all night.

melissa721

Looked at them based on how nice they looked in pictures and if we had heard good things about them. We didn't bother looking at places we knew were well out of our price range. Then once we visited them it was more about price and what was included. We had that "this is the one" moment with out venue before we even left our appt.

melissa721

Re: Venetian hour...that was also a must in our book and out of the places we looked at The Gracliff was the only one that incl. that in our per person price. That was a major deciding factor.

soontobemrsdavis

we looked for the best option within our budget and fell in love with the Valley Regency.  After getting amazing reviews of food and service from them we didnt hesitate to book.From what I hear the prices you have gotten for venetian and seasons are very good so you probably can't go wrong with either one.  If you are still looking though check out the Valley Regency in Clifton NJ.  Looking at one more venue can't hurt in my opinion.  I also have a list that i can email you if you still want to look some more.

yetta18

We too had that OMG feeling when we first saw our venue.  In order to have it where we wanted we adjusted our budget of other things.  Basically we did everything besides food, place, photography and dj ourselves. DIY STD's, invites, flowers of all kinds including centerpieces, favors, menu everything you name it.  But it was totally worth it to have it at Mallard Island.

Karma01

We looked at 3 places. The 2nd one we knew thats where we wanted to get married. We did go back to the others to just make sure.

Dancer2873

For me it was about the way staff treated me the day I came to see the place, I was looking for something with a neutral pallette, and when my place said they had sushi at cocktail hour and shots all night I was sold. And I loved twinkly lights on the outside grounds without looking cheesy!

Rosie24

We looked at like 20 venues. It came down to 3 that we really liked. We originally booked Westmount Country Club bc I had always wanted to get married there (I grew up like down the road). We had issues with the date, so we visited our venue Rockleigh County Club, they had a date we liked available and that was it! I am SO GLAD it happened that way.

Lola Minnie

I find it pretty impossible that the venetian falls within this budget incl tax/grat being that im booked there, however i dont know off season & sunday pricing. anywho, if i were you, i'd go for there or seasons based on your choices. just a tip, if you are looking at the palazzo room, it may be way too large for your amount of ppl. the grand ballroom may be a better fit. good luck

Rangergirl

Thank you for all of your advice ladies, I really appreciate it!! Seasons including everything works out to about 117 a head for our date... I think part of why we were iffy about them was because of something mentioned earlier... we were concerned that people driving up weren't going to see something like when they drive up to the Shadowbrook or the Manor... but it really is going to be a matter of them getting out of the car and going inside. I LOVED the room (the upstairs room is where they told us we would be best suited for) and I have heard nothing but good things about the food.The Venetian WITHOUT the viennese hour works out to 132 a person which we would be willing to do because it's only 7 dollars over our budget BUT it's the minimum being 175 as opposed to 150 that is really what we are struggling with... It is the Grand Ballroom that we would get, we're way too small for the other room. If we added in the Viennese Hour it brings the total to 152 pp and at 175 minimum, it brings us WAY over budget... We are paying for the entire wedding by ourselves so I have to be realistic about how much over budget we can go so as much as I know the price is awesome for the Venetian and I know that it's hard to justify NOT going there for that price it's just.... can we. So I am thinking that Seasons may be the way to go because we can afford it in budget and from everything you have all said, it looks like we cannot go wrong with them. I guess I was just waiting for that "omg this is it" moment that some of you have discussed but I suppose I was lucky enough to have that with the guy and I shouldn't be greedy looking for it everywhere

Rosie24

I thought Seasons/Venetian gave me a FANTASTIC deal but honestly I think you got a steal.

kewltif

Quite frankly, I paid $115 for my venue with a venetian hour. I would have booked Seasons in a HEARTBEAT for $117. That is way less than what a lot of other people pay for that place.

Kelly&Timothy

not to force you to make a quick decision but...i found that weekend to be a popular weekend with venues because it was a 3 day weekend with MLK day.   FI weren't hell bent on that weekend so we ended up with Jan. 23rd, 2010. (we obviously were doing this a year ago) but if you really really want that date and they gave you a good price then go for it before someone else takes the date.

acablitas

Seasons is really nice.  I would recommend checking out Atrium Country Club in West Orange.  It was our second choice.  I forget what the range is for January though, but it should be decently priced.  Viennese hour is included from what I remember.We chose the Estate of Florentine Gardens, and I'm really excited for it.  It had that wow factor that I was looking for, and I'm looking forward to the food and drinks

reneel828

I got married at Naninas In The Park in January. The place is gorgeous, there is tons of food and its amazing. If you look on the website menu, you get all of it. I have some pics in my bio. Since we got married in Jan we were offered an amazing per person price compared to their normal pricing.