Fontainebleau Inn questions

Re: Fontainebleau Inn questions

• whereismymind32 member

  

  March 2011 edited December 2011

  My FI's coworker is having her wedding there in June. She also fell in love! I considered it for my own wedding, but ultimately decided against it. She arranged for a shuttle from Ithaca and listed hotels there and in Watkins Glen. Sorry I don't know the details about the $ for a shuttle or even which company.
  
  As for a consumption bar, there are positives and negatives to both options. At least that way you will only be paying for drinks actually consumed instead of paying $9 an hour for your elderly "lemonade will do for me"  aunt. But if a large majority of your guests enjoy throwing them back, it may be cheaper to have a flat rate. Many places will let you set a "cut-off" amount for the bar so you won't blow your budget.
  

  

  Report0 Reply
• sbolger17 member

  

  March 2011 edited December 2011

  Hooray!  I am a Fontainebleau Inn bride!  I'm getting married there in September.  I obviously have not had my wedding yet, but I LOVE the place.  It is beautiful!  I have heard nothing but good feedback about the place and the owners.  I've been out there several times (once to decide that my FI and I wanted it and then on separate trips with each of our parents).  It looks just like the photos you see online.  It's definitely not as nice in the wintertime, but you should probably talk to them about visiting sometime soon as it fills up pretty fast, I think.  We visited it in August '10 and almost didn't get our first choice September '11 date (although they did have other nearby weekends open).
  
  We're having us plus part of our wedding party stay at the Inn itself.  We managed to get room blocks at 2 hotels in Ithaca (not an easy task in the fall b/c of all the college events).  You could also do Watkins b/c it's kind of in the middle, but we live in Ithaca, so we figured it would be better.  Plus, the big hotel in Watkins is pretty expensive. 
  
  We are using 2 school buses (they each seat up to 45) to shuttle people to/from the Chapel/Inn; they are from Terp's and unfortunately, they are pretty expensive.  We are paying around $1400 for them.  School buses were close to $700 each and regular buses were $1000 each.  We called a ton of places and really couldn't find anything cheaper.
  
  We were initially worried about the consumption bar too but most people seem to say that it's often a better deal than the per head.  Plus, when you meet with the owners, Terri will go over it all in detail.  They have a range per head that it generally ends up costing people and they also will tell you what the highest price per head it has ever been.  I want to say the average was between $23 and $32 per head and the highest ever was around $35; I have it written down but don't remember the exact numbers.
  
  Hope this helps!  Happy to chat more about it if you want.  We also toured a few other places in the Ithaca area, but Fontainebleau was hands down 'it' for us!
  
  EDIT: Just saw that you want to get married in Spring/Summer of 2012; I doubt you'd have a problem booking a date because you've still got well over a year.  But I'd call them anyways and see what they say about when you should go visit.

  

  Report0 Reply
• sarahgoldfarb

  

  March 2011 edited December 2011

  I looked seriosuly at Fontainebeau Inn. It is gorgeous -- and in my opinion, there are few good wedding places in the Ithaca area ... and this is one of the gems.
  
  In the end I decided not to go with them, because my biggest concern with it was drunken driving. Most of my guests are heavy drinkers ... so I didn't want them driving 30 or so minutes after the wedding. Of course, this wouldn't be that big of a deal to many Ithaca-area people who are used to the ruralness, but I live in a big city now and most of my guests would be from urban areas, so they'd be thinking, "where the heck are you taking us???"
  
  My other problem was booking all 6 of the rooms was required for TWO nights. My parents thought of just absorbing those prices and offering up the rooms to grandparents and stuff as a gift, but that was another expense on top of shuttles that had to be thought about.
  
  I still think about how it would have been a dream place. No ugly ballroom -- just wilderness and an old-fashioned Inn. Go check it out ... I'm sure it's not all booked!
  
  
  
  

  Report0 Reply
• coupdefoudre

  

  March 2011 edited December 2011

  Thanks for all the feedback so far! Both my and FI's extended families are heavy drinkers, so a shuttle of some sort will definitely be necessary if we end up at FB. It's too bad, because I don't love the idea of shelling out for something that wouldn't be necessary if I just did the reception at a hotel, but that is really not the kind of vibe I'm going for so I guess I'll have to get used to the idea. 

  Report0 Reply