Manor Brides..Need some help!

mfarl007

Hey so I got my contract today and nocticed something. They talked about basically being able to control the volume of the music during the wedding. I understand the public is around eating..but did this bother anyone? Like how much did they really control the volume??? And my next question was..the rehearsal..i think its alittle annoying you can only have it mon-fri BEFORE 4:00pm but..it says id hafta pay someone to help out with it or I have to do it myself. Did anyone do this alone?? was it hard?? And is someone helping on the day of the wedding?! or would i be all alone then too? Thank you so much for the help!!

peaches178

I think that when they mention controlling the volume it's really just written there to safeguard against a DJ who's going to come in with the bass pumping like crazy.  I attended a wedding at The Manor last year and the volume was like what you'd expect at any wedding.  FI and I then went around the outside of the building just to see what our room (the Imperial) looked like at night and that wedding was crazy in terms of how loud the music was.  We couldn't hear the Imperial room's music from the Virginian room even though it was loud as anything and, as far as I know, they were never asked to lower the volume.  Also, our DJ has worked with The Manor before (though he's not one of the vendors they recommend) and he had nothing but good things to say about them, so I wouldn't be worried about that.

The days and times for rehearsals definitely suck, but it is what it is.  I wouldn't pay anyone to help you with it.  In all honesty, there's nothing that The Manor staff can do that your officiant can't at the rehearsal.  In my opinion, it's not worth it to hire someone and even the banquet manager we worked with said it really isn't necessary because on the day of your wedding they will literally take care of everything and make sure everyone knows what to do (when you think about it, all you have to do is walk down the aisle when someone tells you to start moving... it's not all that complicated, haha).

And yes, someone will definitely be there on the day of the wedding.  You'll have a maitre d' with you and you'll likely know who he/she is going to be beforehand.

StefaniBel

I asked one of those managers about that part of the contract (I forgot which one of them, but it's okay).  He told me if someone's music is really loud, the guests would complain about the music volume before they went there to lower the volume.  So it basically what Peaches said, that part of the contract is just to safeguard The Manor from some crazy DJ.

ginabean82

I could answer the second part of your question.  They say before 4pm on a Friday for rehearsals because they usually have weddings going on Friday night and most likely everything need to be set up for that wedding around that time in case guests come early ect.  Usually your officiant will conduct rehearsal.  If your officiant is unable to attend then you will most likely need to pay someone from The Manor to conduct it. I know this because I asked this question and this is what they told me.   

Tara2316

We had our wedding at the Manor in October. It's like Peaches said, its a way to control crazy DJs. We didn't have a problem with the volume and it sounded like any other wedding. We actually did a little blurb with our videographer outside in the main hallway outside of the Imperial Room and the music wasn't so loud that it would interrupt the other wedding going on. I wouldn't worry about it.

Also, about the rehearsal times, we didn't have our ceremony there but I assume that they only do it Mon-Friday before 4pm so it doesn't clash with other weddings/events going on.

mfarl007

Thanks guys, and yeah after thinking about it I realized why rehearals should be before 4. With my wedding being on a Friday I wouldn't want anyone rehearsing right before my wedding either!

And if you guys don't mind anwering one other question. Who are you all working with, or have worked with?? I'm sad to say that i'm getting cold feet in sending in the contract just because i'm not fond of the person i'm working with..at all =( And i'm just so shocked because I read about how accomadating and nice everyone is there. But this guy is rubbing me the wrong way..and its making me nervous about sending in the contract and deposit!

peaches178

I've worked with both Rolf and Preston so far and they've both been great.  Some people have said that they think Preston is creepy, but FI and I agree that he's one of the friendliest people we met out of all the venues we checked out.

Who are you working with?

mfarl007

I feel bad giving names, cuz I don't want to give anyone a bad name..just yet I've only met him once when we toured the place and he took my info..He seemed OK. My boyfriend actually was the one who said he got a weird vibe from him. Then my mom has called a few other times and he kind of just rushed her off the phone and brushed her off. I had a request of starting the ceremony 15 min early..and he completely blew it off and said no without a second thought. But i said ok whatever..i love the room we're in and the place. But then..We had done alil research and found other venues to be giving alil more for alil less money. So my mom had called to talk to him about it..he told her to fax those menus to him and he would ashow the ownerand see what he could do. Great. After rushing around and 10 bucks later..he called her back and told her ur comparing to completely diffrent places, blahblah. And said if we need somewhere cheaper, then do what we needed to do.

We don't NEED somewhere cheaper..we were just trying to get teh best possible deal is all. And i feel he could have said to my mom, what places have u looked at?  and then said our facility is much nicer then those thast why were are more expensive. Instead of making her rush around for no reason. I also feel he could have said it in a little but of a nicer way! Just with everything so far..I'm not happy with him. But i'm torn becauseI love the place..and most people are saying that most of the ppl they work with our great. I guess we just got unlucky =/

peaches178

Ugh... that sucks.  What you could do is set up an appointment to meet with someone else via the main number.  If the person you speak to tries to get you to meet with your original guy again, just say that you'd prefer to meet with [enter someone's name here based on recommendations you get from girls on this board] because a close friend referred you to The Manor and said they had a great experience with that person, so you'd really like to work directly with him/her as opposed to the person you originally met with (or something along those lines). 

It's really unfortunate that you're having such a crummy experience because we've had no issues whatsoever negotiating, getting things thrown in for free, etc.  If you really like The Manor then definitely request an appointment with someone else (I wouldn't specifically say you're not getting along with the original person only because you don't want to burn any bridges if you wind up signing a contract with The Manor).  Otherwise, maybe you should start looking elsewhere because you don't want to feel like you're getting the shaft from your wedding venue, you know?  It's sad that one lousy, lazy, or unaccommodating banquet manager can give an entire venue a bad name (I feel like I met quite a few of those types of people during my venue search, haha).

Good luck and keep us posted!

Smidger

We are working with Rolf and we love him. He has been extremely helpful and an absolute pleasure to work with. We just met with him a few weeks ago to do our menu and cake and he never once rushed us to make decisions or gave off a vibe of being annoyed by our endless list of questions. He gave us about an hour and a half on a Saturday morning without ever making us feel like he needed to be somewhere else. If you can work with him I think you'll be very pleased with your experience!!!

ginabean82

We are working with James.  He seems nice, and very accommodating when we put down our deposit, but he just seems out of the loop every time I called to speak with him.  It's probably no big deal, just a little concerned I guess.  

mfarl007

Thanks for all your help guys! I decided to send the contract. I love the place too much, It's exactly what we were looking for. I might have a friendly chat with our guy and try to work everything out. I'm sure ill be speaking to u guys soon..esp you peaches since ur a manor bride to be! lol

thanks again!!

peaches178

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-jersey_manor-bridesneed?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:90Discussion:f506389f-0804-48f9-81cc-2effaceb3019Post:26fc8dca-b930-4571-9f2c-31c88910a9e8">Re: Manor Brides..Need some help!</a>:
[QUOTE]Thanks for all your help guys! I decided to send the contract. I love the place too much, It's exactly what we were looking for. I might have a friendly chat with our guy and try to work everything out. I'm sure ill be speaking to u guys soon..esp you peaches since ur a manor bride to be! lol thanks again!! :)
Posted by mfarl007[/QUOTE]
Oh good!  Glad you made up your mind and you're happy about it!  :-)  If you have any questions just let me know... I'm going for my last appointment with them next Saturday to finalize everything!!  And you can obviously post to everyone on the board, too, because there are TONS of Manor brides (both former and soon-to-be) on here.  :-)