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Wedding Decision

LGaff1LGaff1 member
First Comment
in New Jersey
Hello Everyone,

My Fiancé and I have visited several wedding venues in Northern NJ and have narrowed our search down to three places.  Each of the venues have there positives and negatives.  Please post any comments or suggestions you have on the three.  We are planning to get married in the Fall of 2012.  Below you will find what our take on each place was.

Il Villagio:  Pro's: Extensive food menu, beautiful ballroom, Only wedding, good food reviews, Bob the banquet manager was very personable.  Con's: Price was over our budget, doesn't seem to be anything on the outside for quality pictures, not sure about the flow of the cocktail room.

Royal Manor: Pro's: Price was in our budget.  Offered plenty of food.  Had a nice outside area for cocktail hour.  Good flow of cocktail hour to ballroom.  Park across street for Pictures.  Con's: watching the online video the presentation looks a little sloppy in the cocktail hour, no windows in the ball room, entrance room looked very plain, questions about quality of food.

Waterside Restaurant: Pro's View of NYC is amazing, outside bar area looked nice, good reviews of food quality.  Con's: Price is over our budget, ballroom seems a bit small, food selection was much smaller then other venues (Viennese table wasn’t included in our price).

Thanks for all your help.
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Re: Wedding Decision

  • maddie7maddie7 member
    500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    It seems like you are leaning to Il Villagio? I would say that one looks really pretty- but how is the surrounding area?
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  • vanillaxsugavanillaxsuga member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    il Villagio is where my brother got married.  Many people said it was the best wedding they've ever been to.  If food is more important to you than good outside pictures, definitely go with il Villagio, the quality and amount of food is worth the price.  Is there an option for you to take pictures somewhere else?  My brother and his wife took pictures in the back area and they actually came out really cute. 

    Royal Manor: a coworker is getting married there: more than one wedding at a time but they are definitely less expensive and it looks really nice online.

    Don't know anything about Waterside.
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  • wallyworld81wallyworld81
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    If you were thinking about Il Villagio, did you look at/consider the graycliff just 5 minutes down the road? they might be in your price point and they have amazing food.  the outside isnt much better than villagio but at least its not right off rt 17! Cathy at the graycliff is beyond amazing and will work with you on anything you want!
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  • Pharo47Pharo47
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I'm getting married at il Villaggio and I too had questions regarding the outside space and the flow of the cocktail hour. However, the people, food and ballroom outweighed the cons. Even though the cocktail hour is split up into two areas, it should give everyone enough room to sit and move around. (plus the tall ceilings and chandeliers everywhere is a nice touch).  Don't forget to try and negotiate the price down.

    We're getting married at First Presbyterian Church on 1 west. passaic ave. in Rutherford. There's a little park with a gazebo right next door called Lincoln park. Rutherford has cute shops and could provide nice pictures walking around the streets with the vintage looking lamps around. It's only 5 minutes from il Villaggio.
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  • altimat873altimat873 member
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Im also getting married at Il Villaggio, working with John, the food is amazing and the ballroom and bridal suite are to die for, they have the best client service I visited.  Graycliff doesn't come close lookwise (no offense). We didnt mind that there was no outside bc we are getting married in Nov and plan to do pix before the ceremony (we are also getting married there) and they have plenty of places to take amazing pictures inside. Like PP said, maybe think about going to a local park or castle etc if you want outside pix.

    Waterside is sooo nice looking however, the food was not great, very catery-ish LOL The restaurant made delicious food there but for some reason the wedding food was nothing special, esp for the price.

    I don't know anything about Royal Manor.

    Good luck in your decision.
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  • Pharo47Pharo47
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I concur about the Graycliff. We felt it was worth the extra money to go to with il Villaggio.
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  • brendapcbrendapc
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I like Il Villaggio but we went with the Graycliff....I honestly liked their food better. And for the price, I felt the flow of the Graycliff was also better. 
    I also agree that Rutherford makes for a picturesque shot. 
    Good Luck!
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  • mcjaysmcjays
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I went to a wedding at Il Villaggio last November and was really impressed. I called them when I was researching venues for my wedding but they were completely booked. The food was bountiful and really good - it was the first time I had Viennese hour and they even had a cotton candy machine. I agree, it's not the most scenic area and the wedding we went to was at night so I'm not sure about the grounds, but even after looking at a ton of places for wedding, I think Il Villaggio had one of the nicest ballrooms.

    Waterside was one of my top choices. I loved the rooms and when we met with Frances, she said they were going to do some minor upgrades. But, after comparing the packages with other venues, their offerings were a lot smaller. I was also worried that we would pay for the amazing view and end up having bad weather and ballroom did look a little tight.

    I don't know about the Royal Manor but maybe you should do a second visit if you haven't already? After we narrowed down our top two choices, we went back for another visit, just to walk around the grounds and take pictures.

    Good luck!
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  • LGaff1LGaff1 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thank you everyone for your posts.  We are doing a tasting at the il villagio and royal manor next week.  Royal Manor took some time to get a hold of as they didn't originally call us back which is getting us worried but we will see.

    Thanks again.
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