Any Brides in the Sarasota Area? I am from NY and trying to plan my wedding there and need some advi

anifitz · July 2009

Hi Ladies,I am newly engaged, and am hoping that some of you who are further along in your wedding planning might be able to provide some insight about some of the locations in Sarasota which I am considering for my ceremony and wedding. My fiance and I are from Rochester, NY, but I spent a lot of time in Sarasota growing up and my parent's have some real estate there & spend a lot of time on Anna Maria, and since I have always wanted to get married in a warmer place than home, we are trying to plan our wedding to take place in the area. The locations which we are looking at are: the Ca d'Zan & grounds, the Colony on Longboat, the Longboat Key Club, the Ritz Carlton Beach Club, and the Powell Crosley Estate. Since I will be planning (majorily) from afar, I am interested to see if any of you have tried to plan weddings (or even other events) at any of these locations, and how it was working with the people who run their event planning areas? I am still considering getting a planner to coordinate everything since I won't be right there all the time, but if anyone has any good things/bad things which have happended to them with relation to these venues, I would love to know upfront.Many thanks for your help and time, and good luck with planning your wedding!!!~Annie

Golfer'sLady · July 2009

I was married in Sarasota in Nov. 2008. Although I didn't use any of the locations you noted, I do have plenty of helpful vendor information at the bottom of planning bio. My only comments are that my MOH was married at Crosley which was lovely and I've heard the restrictions at Ca d'Zan are insane because of it's historical significance. Good luck!

erins_ku · July 2009

Hi Annie. Welcome. I'm getting married in Sarasota on 10/24/09. My fiance is from Rochester, NY although we both live in Tampa. Have you set a date? We considered a lot of the places you mention, but the date was an issue...we actually changed our date because nothing seemed to be available...I guess Oct/Nov is really popular. I can tell you that in the instance of the Ca d'zan and Crosley that you have to pay for the location ($4Kish) and the catering, liquor, etc are all extra. They also have restrictions on which vendors you can use, how late the party can go, and how loud it can be - which I really didn't like. They are beautiful locations though.We are having our "wedding weekend" at the Longboat Key Club. His parents are members and we love it there. All in all the planning is going well...there are a lot of extra/specialty items we are requesting, so that has taken some extra effort, but otherwise all is well. If you would like to talk more, email meesolomon_ku@yahoo.comErin

lrenna18 · July 2009

I'm getting married at the Longboat Key Hilton. Its on Longboat Key--real amazing space for a wedding. I have 80 guests so it works out great. Its not too big--real intimate. I'm also doing BBQ on the beach that the Hilton is hosting the night before. Good luck with everything!

moonstone523 · July 2009

I am getting married at Selby Gardens in February. I looked into getting married at the Ca d'Zan and the Crosley but my dates were not available. All in all, I'm very happy with Selby. We are allowed to bring our own liquor per our caterer which will save a lot of money. We are having 180 guests. Ceremony at the Pavillion.Cocktails under the Banyans.Reception in the Great Room... which is ugly, but Affairs in the Air should spiff it up a bit.Hope this helps.

JDechen · July 2009

I am getting married in October at the Ritz Carlton Hotel and Beach Club and planning from NYC. I looked at the Colony and Longboat Key Club too and both were very nice, but just liked the Ritz venue better & the staff was just wonderful too. I tried looking at the Powell Crosley estate, but had a hard time scheduling and getting in touch with someone. Ca d'Zan is a beautiful venue, but I've heard mixed things about it, mainly because it has a lot of restrictions about who you can use and such, as others said. I would definitely recommend a coordinator. I just booked one a couple months ago, and my only regret is not doing it sooner. All the hotel venues you listed come with on site coordinators, so at first I thought that was enough, but a seperate coordinator really does so much more (and I'm just having one for the day of). HTH!

moonstone523 · July 2009

Since we've rallied the Sarasota brides... who are yall using for hair?

erins_ku · July 2009

I'm using Michelle Renee...she was recommend by my hairstylist although with some of the posts I've seen I'll admit I'm a little nervous. I've heard she's great, but I've also heard some girls have had issues. I scheduled my trial the other day and found out they do have another wedding or 2 booked on 10/24/09, but have been assured Michelle will be with me. If this is also anyone's date and you're working with Michelle...I'd be curious what they told you about the date.

Golfer'sLady · July 2009

I had a family friend do my hair as a gift. I'm no help!

JDechen · July 2009

I'm using Michelle Renee too-- for 10/25. I was told initially when booking it was going to be her, but when I scheduled my trial, they wouldn't say for sure that she would be doing my trial or wedding, so that + the recent issues has me pretty worried.

anifitz · July 2009

Ladies, Many thanks for all of your responses and time! I feel very fortunate to have all of your input, and am appreciative that you took the time to respond. I'm sure I will be talking with some of you in the future as I continue my planning for Sarasota.Good luck with all of your planning and I hope you all have terrific weddings!~Annie

longboatbride · July 2009

Hi and welcome. I'm from NYC and got married in Sarasota in February 08. We looked at all of the places mentioned, but ended up at the Lido Beach Resort, the sister hotel of the Hilton because I wanted the ceremony on the beach and their Sunset Terrace is lovely for a smaller wedding. Our final decision was actually based on the food. Weddings at the Lido are catered by their award winning restaurant and we were able to customize our menu. My DH and all his frinds are in the NYC restaurant business. Good food and liquor was very important to him. Our second choice would have been the Colony because I love the food and the villas there.

[Deleted User] · July 2009

Hi there... congratulations!! I am getting married at the Member's Beach Club at the Ritz Carlton in May 2010. I've been trying to plan as much for the wedding as possible this summer because I am moving to England and so far the staff has been great! I usually hear back from them the same day or the day after and they are swift with emails. Not to mention the site is gorgeous. As for planning from afar, they said they do destination weddings all the time and are very accustomed to it. I'm sure most of the places you are looking at are... Unfortunately it was the first place I looked in Sarasota and I never checked out any of the other places. As for hair and make-up I'm using Julissa from Beauty Brought Out. HTH and good luck

luvstomodel · July 2009

We are getting married on 7/10/10 at The Beachhouse on Anna Maria Island..it's a little more causal than I'm sure some of the other places that have been mentioned are..but I plan on dressing it up a bit! It was soooo affordable and convenient as well..the ceremony takes place on the beach and the reception is within walking distance under a porch area that is private. It was only $500 to save our date which goes towards the costs for the reception and $400 for the site fee (ceremony and reception). The buffet dinner is $40 a person with kid's seperate..fountain drinks, coffee, tea, etc. included..they give you a lot of different option on the bar bill to fit into your budget. I was really impressed and the two wedding coordinators have been a huge help to us.

L8yGator · July 2009

I have to say the Powell Crosley Estate is amazing. I was hoing to have my wedding there, but do to price I went with Phillippi Estate Park. They are both historical estates. Both are unique places to have weddings, not your everyday country club or hotel ballroom. I have had no problems with Phillippi. It is county run and easy to work with. I know the Crosley Estate books fast, so if you are interested in that one I would call soon. If you need a planner, I have a great wedding planner. She is local here in Sarasota. She is very detail oriented and a huge help. Her company is Fusion Events and the website is www.FusionEvents.net Hope this helps! Kim

bkkimx · July 2009

Hi,I am getting married at the Crosley on August 22. I had November 15 (Sunday) booked, but had to move it for personal reasons. So far the Crosley has been great to work with - in fact when we had to move our wedding, they offered to refund our deposit if we ended up moving the location, so long as they were able to find someone else for November 15. No one else offered us our deposit back. Their website lists a bunch of their approved vendors but the only one they care about is your caterer. That is because your caterer does 90% of the work. They do have an 11pm strict event end time, but that seems pretty reasonable.The mansion of the Crosley has three rooms for dining. about 70-80 fit comfortably in the main room, but you can get up to about 110 or so inside total. We looked at a LOT of venues and here are our thoughts on why we went with the Crosley:1. Ca d'Zan: Way too expensive (somewhere between $1000-3000 more than the Crosley depending on specifics) and they have restrictions on when your event can start that didn't work for us. (The venue is open to the public in the day, whereas you get the Crosley from 11-11).2. Selby Gardens: Beautiful grounds, but the Banyan Room (their indoor reception facility for larger parties) was a bit disappointing to us. It would require a lot of decoration to make it look comparable to the Crosley. We figured we would end up spending more than the rental price difference to make it look the way we wanted.3. Lido Beach Resort: The Sunset Terrace (their only reception facility with a beach view) only holds 70-80 people max. Their ballroom holds more people but has no windows - a total waste given their great location.4. Hilton Longboat Key: Beautiful ballroom surrounded by glass overlooking longboat key. Holds 100 people, but looks like it would be kind of tight. Given that our guests were mostly going to be from out of town, we wanted them to be close to downtown and St. Armand's Circle. This location is a bit far from St. Armands. Not much else for guests to do in the area. Anyway, good luck. Hope that helps!

moonstone523 · July 2009

PP, good list of pro/cons.I am getting married at Selby and I totally agree... the reception room is horrible. Despite thinking I wanted to get married at Crosley or Ca D'zan, we are having enough time getting our number to 180 for Selby, we could never have a wedding as small as 110. Decorating the room can happen tastefully but it costs a pretty penny. Something to take into consideration if you are getting married there.To the original poster, how much do you want to spend and how many people will be at your wedding? ALSO consider that Selby does have a smaller mansion so you can get married on the grounds and have your reception in a mansion for about 70-80. FYI

melissa.clayton.2003 · July 2009

Hi.. check out YTUBE.. Crosley weddings. Our caterer, Milan Catering started posting past weddings.. AND.. they started with the Crosley. We decided against the banquet halls.. no reason to spend the $'s and end up in a hall that looks like the hometowm halls.

Any Brides in the Sarasota Area? I am from NY and trying to plan my wedding there and need some advi

Re: Any Brides in the Sarasota Area? I am from NY and trying to plan my wedding there and need some advi

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