New York-New York City

All I want is a simple, but elegant….party!

 

I’ve been engaged for over 6 months, and still no idea what to do for the wedding, I need some serious help!  I’m convinced I was born without the “bridal gene”.  I’m extremely happy with every aspect of my life, except the fact that I have to plan a wedding.  All I’m interested in is spending a weekend (preferably) or an evening with our friends and family to celebrate our life together.  My fiancé and I are actually considering skipping the ceremony - we would leave for our honeymoon right after the party and get married on a beach, just the two of us. 

 Here are a few things important to us:

 

  1. Food! – we are big foodies (thank god for good genes!), I would like our guests to enjoy the meal.  I always thought that if you go to a wedding where the food is terrible, that’s all people remember, not the dress or the decorations, just that they went home hungry, or worse.

 

  1. Location – we live on NY Metro area and would like to find a place within a 2 hour drive.

 

  1. Hotel accommodations – we would like to offer our guests the option of spending the night. 

 

  1. Activities – ultimately, we would like to have a sort of local destination wedding.  A place that offers activities for people to spend the weekend and enjoy themselves.  Kid friendly, of course.

 

 I’m sure there are many other things I haven’t mentioned that will need to be planned out.   Right now, I’m trying to start off with a location, and not really sure where or how to begin searching.  There are so many options, how do I figure out which is right for us?  Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions??  Any help or advice would be much appreciated!

 

 

Re: All I want is a simple, but elegant….party!

  • JadziaDaxJadziaDax member
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Hi! You want to have a wedding reception before the actual ceremony??
    I'm not too good with these kind of things as well. I'll try to help though. I was thinking maybe Atlantic City could be fun, but i'm not sure how kid friendly it is.
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  • Carried2Carried2 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    There is a little restaurant in the West Village, I believe it's called Palma. French/Italian Bistro. I don't know how small you want your party to be but if you want your closest friends and family, I think around 15 people, they have a beautiful back room. The restaurant is small and holds approximatly 35.

    http://www.palmanyc.com/

    If this is too small, check out local restaurants that you love and see what they can do. Even cater.

    Since you are a foodie they offer these food tours around the Village,  SOHO, etc. I think the website is Zerve.com

    Once you know where you want your small reception to be, it will be easier to find other accomodations.

    Hope this helps!

    Carrie
  • sgutkinasgutkina member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thanks Ladies!!Smile
    Unfortunately, one thing we will not be able to cut down on is the amount of guests, probably looking at 100+ people.  I guess the idea is more of an engagement type party, where the two of us are the guests if honor; like a wedding, but without the typical wedding stuff like first dances, walking down the isle, the bridal party, etc... 
  • edited December 2011
    Not sure what your budget is but I just went to a wedding at the Allegria hotel in long beach. It was GORGEOUS--ceremony on the beach, reception in their ballroom, and cocktail hour both in side and outside on the boardwalk. The food was aaaamazing and it was about an hour drive from NYC (although with traffic, a little more). And it's a hotel, so guests can stay over there if they want.
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  • edited December 2011
    what you want sounds like fun, though i'm not sure i woudl be thrilled with the idea of going to a "wedding" where i didn't get to see the ceremony. have you looked on indiebride? you would have to search the archives a bit but there are a ton of funky weddings on the Kvetch boards, many of which are in the NYC area.
  • AdamLAdamL member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    There are a lot of halls in long island or even brooklyn if you want to go for a big wedding. My fiance wants to stay local (we live in NYC) so shes looking at a few places in brooklyn right near the beach. They may be a bit too big for your dream day but who knows, maybe it will inspire you!
  • sgutkinasgutkina member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    That's a really good point about wedding without a ceremony.  We'll need to come up with a clever way of presenting this to everyone...
    To be honest, I'm being a bit rebellious Tongue out - trying to find a way to have a celebration without it being a typical wedding. 

    It would be great to find a place outside the city.  I looked at some hotels in the area, they are very expensive, I can't possibly suggest people pay $300-400 for a night.  Maybe central or northern Jersey?  Westchester?
  • csudiacacsudiaca member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Hi,  If you are still looking for a vendor for invitations we would be glad to help.  We are a fun, energetic letterpress / design studio specializing in custom wedding invitations.  We believe every invitation should tell a story.  Let us tell your love story and help set the stage for a magnificent wedding.  Let us help you leave a lasting impression on your guests.  Thank you... LOL

    LOL Letterpress
    lolletterpress@gmail.com
  • edited December 2011
    SIMPLE!!  yes!  We too are foodies and did more of a passed, station food setup, had a much warmer feel than the traditional sit down dinner... I'm planning my sisters with my mom, and she (my sis) wants a sit down...  Working on dissuading her...
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