Pennsylvania-Pittsburgh

How to book Heinz Chapel? Any advice??

hey all I am interested in booking Heinz Chapel in the future. I know the website says call one year out ( to the month) that you are interested. Does anyone have any good tips or advice? I am EXTREMELY nervous about booking this.


TIA,
C

Re: How to book Heinz Chapel? Any advice??

  • cgyvhucgyvhu member
    Combo Breaker First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    not a HC bride so one of them will tell you their tips, but:

    - The first of the month in which you will get married the next year.  Call on that day.  Have a lot of people call for you.  Calling from an internal Pitt line *might* help.

    Be flexible with the time/date...good to be flexible either with the time or the weekend.

    aaand that's it! hopefully someone else will give you more specific advice.
  • Britt0412Britt0412 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I had about 8 people calling for us. I put together a full info sheet for each one of them, including all information that HC needs to know: bride and groom's names and full contact info, University of Pitt affiliation, as well as a ranked list of four combinations of days and times that we were interested in booking.  Being flexible helps.  I also gave them detailed instructions on when they could begin calling (exactly 8:30 a.m.) and what to do if they got through. We were on gmail/gchat so we could easily notify others when we got through.

    Most of all, just be patient. Be prepared for a lot of busy signals, but keep trying. Also, for your planning purposes, note that the full reservation fee is due within 30 days.  Good luck!
  • edited December 2011
    I was a HC bride, but didn't go the normal route for getting in. I called mid-month because that's when I decided HC was the way to go! (I was a June bride too, go figure!)

    We picked our wedding date based on availability of the chapel. I'm not sure if you're that flexible or not, but I think that's the least stressful way to approach it. Also, seriousy think about the time slots and what ones you would NEVER go for. If the other ones can work for you, I'd be flexible. It's the most beautiful venue. It was so stinkin perfect. :-)

    Best of luck to you!!
  • edited December 2011
    Call on the first day of the month you want one year prior to the year you want to get married - i.e. you want your wedding in December 2012? Call December 1, 2011. You'll want to have as many people as possible calling for you. It's super competitive. Calling from an internal Pitt line is rumored to help. You should also be super flexible with your date. If you're VERY flexible with your date, call anytime and ask for any available dates.

    Good luck!
  • edited December 2011
    My plans for having numerous people call in for me didn't work out. So I called by myself on June 1st this year starting right at 8:30. I called from both my cell phone and house phone, got through at 9:15 am and was able to pick from all of the times for the date I wanted. I was really nervous about it as well, and even more nervous when I had to call myself, but it wasn't so bad and like I said I got my first choice. HTH.
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • eddiesgirl11eddiesgirl11 member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I am still trying to decide between booking a venue first and then making the available date work around HC open times or just having an open schedule and then booking my venue afterwards... Any thoughts on this? Thanks for all your help ladies!!
  • Britt0412Britt0412 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Regarding which venue to book first - in my case, my reception venue was willing to hold two weekends for me for about two weeks until I was able to book HC. This would probably only work if you are booking HC relatively soon, but if you have your heart set on a paritcular venue, see if they would be willing to put a short-term hold or give you right of first refusal on a few weekends until you know what you get at HC. That way you have a little bit of flexibility when booking HC. Otherwise, it's up to you which venue is more important to you.
  • edited December 2011
    I had my reception venue you first which was pretty risky. I had about 6 people calling in for me on the day. We got the time and date that we wanted. It took about 30 minutes of busy signals. It probably helped that we had an April wedding which is right before peek season. The website has all the instructions. Good Luck!! We had a great experience there. To me, it was worth it.
    image
  • eddiesgirl11eddiesgirl11 member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thanks for all the advice ladies. It's helpful!
  • edited December 2011
    Tip: It is not air conditioned!!! Just in case you're thinking of a summertime wedding!
    image 145 Invited
    image 121 Are ready to party!
    image 24 Will be missing out!
    image Everyone has finally RSVP'd!!!
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards