Anyone Have Feed back on recent experience with Highlawn Pavilion

akaufman85

I'm interested in Highlawn Pavilion we are having a smaller wedding of 75 to 90 people. Has anyone been to Highlawn or heard anything about the food?

JCbride2015

We checked it out and we are 99% sure we are about to book there.  Just bringing my FILs around so they can take a look before we make it official.  We already have the contract drawn up, and will probably call later this week to finalize things.

I love it and am so excited to have my wedding there, but I haven't been to an event there before.  I feel like for the area, the value is really great.  We are paying $120/pp on a Saturday night in May with several upgrades thrown in for free.  Chris has been great to work with so far and is flexible about the deposit schedule.  Uplighting is also included for free, and the view *is* the decor, so I think we'll save money on over-the-top floral arrangements and other decorations because you don't need them.

If you have not gone there, go look at the view!  It's incredible.  The only negative is that there is a cell tower thingie close to the ceremony site.  But it's behind the guests, and they are seated looking out over the mountains/NYC, so even if they notice it as they walk up, they won't see it during the ceremony.

I've eaten at the restaurant and the food is crazy delicious.  I think it's a different chef upstairs though, but it bodes well for the general high standards of the place.

Caveat-- they book up fast.  We are planning for May 2015, and we just got the last Saturday that month, about a year and a half in advance.  I was really surprised but I think it makes sense given the view and the price.  Hope this was helpful-- good luck!

akaufman85

Thank you for your feed back we are going next week to look at it. We also wanted a view and first went to the Liberty House. We felt like all we were paying for was a view and it was 130 pp for a Friday night with a striped down menu. I am hoping Hilghlawn is the venue for us.

JCbride2015

Liberty House is gorgeous but I totally agree, it's way overpriced because of the location.  We live in Jersey City and would have loved to get married here (we can actually see Liberty House from our street, across that little inlet) but it just didn't make sense.  If you end up going with Highlawn, PM me!  It would be awesome to have a venue buddy to bounce ideas off of.

majesty318

We looked at Highlawn and I thought it was going to be too small for our guest list. However, my fiance loved it and Chris also seemed great to us. Not sure what date you are looking for, but we were looking at April or May 2014 and he was pretty much dying to give away a date at such short notice. He took $20 off the normal price and would have given us the ceremony, Viennese, & filet mignon as an entree choice, all for free. So if you are looking at a short notice date, you can get a crazy deal!

akaufman85

We went to see the Highlawn tonight and we loved it , 99 percent sure we are going to lock in a date. How large is your wedding? Did you have a tasting ? I read somewhere they give you a gift card to the restaurant. I'm very excited and agree 100 percent the room and view are the decor you can get away with minimal table decor! 

BrianaJane

I am getting Married at the Higlawn May 2015 also! They give you so much for the money there and the view is awesome! We are getting married the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend and they gave us 99pp! Everybody is off Monday so it's like a Saturnday. No other venue I looked at would give me the Sunday price that weekend
. I agree that minimal centerpieces are needed because the view is breath taking. I hope to keep in contact with other highlawn brides to see what you are all doing. I heard that whole foods was a good affordable place to use for floral arrangements, and there is one right down the street.