Highlawn Pavilion/Richfield Regency/The Tides

cindy91788 · May 2010

I recently got engaged and we are hoping to book something for September 2011. I have contacted tons of places for pricing and so far I think our top 3 (based on Price and what we've seen on their websites) are: Highlawn Pavilion, The Richfield Regency and The Tides.

If anyone has any experiences with any of these 3 venues and can give me any input it would be greatly appreciated. If you've seen any of these in person and/or had your wedding there, or have booked one of them, please fill me in!

On a side note - we really like the style of the Newark Club but its just a little over our budget. Any recommendations for somewhere similar to Newark Club but a little less expensive? (We are trying to keep it under $100 per person, plus tax and gratuity).

sgdc2011 · May 2010

The richfield regency was nice when we went to visit. No outdoor space for a ceremony though. The cocktail room seemed a little small for the number of guests we were planning to have, we really wanted there to be enough seats for everyone IF they wanted to sit down, we have a number of elderly guests. It was beautiful though, I really liked the clean look of it. My colleague's daughter got married there and raved about it/

Heather822 · May 2010

The Tides is amazing!!!!!
Can't say eneough good things about it ~ and you get so much for your money!

Lolyalyssa · May 2010

Check out the Manor too in West Orange for your price range. Also, I like the Valley Regency in Clifton.

Of the ones that you mentioned the Highlawn Pavilion has the best food but the most awkward ballroom shape so that no one on the ends can see you dancing in the middle. Also, if the weather is foggy you can't see the city which is the whole draw there.

I'm not a fan of the ballroom at the Richfield Regency and The Tides but that's just me. A lot of girls on this site use the Tides though and have great things to say.

I'm using Season's in Washington Twp. just to give you a perspective and I heard that they were doing a 9/11 deal for around $100 pp otherwise its more. But you may be able to bargain with them. I'm getting married there on 9/4/11 and we are paying $118 a head which comes to $150 with the tax and gratuity. Good Luck!

matiffbengy11 · May 2010

I've heard great things about the Tides, I looked into Highlawn, they had great prices but I didn't like that they had no cocktail hour room and that the resturant was right down stairs. Hope that helps! Newark Club is very pretty, can you maybe do a Friday night to get a better price? I went to an Oct wedding there and it was very very nice.

cindy91788 · May 2010

wow thanks for all of the quick input.

as far as outdoor space for a ceremony, that is not neccesary, because we plan to get married in a church.

sgdc2011 - you said the cocktail room at the Richfield seemed small? How many guests are you having? We are inviting 150.. so it will be less than that who actually come.

I've heard things about the layout of the Highllawn - but I guess I still want to see for myself. Also, if the Highlawn doesn't have a cocktail hour room, where is it held? That could be a deciding factor for me. I don't want people in the main room for the cocktail hour!

I did see Season's online and hadn't gotten pricing from them yet, but that sounds like its going to be too expensive.

Yes, we are planning to do a Friday night to save money, but the Newark Club said $115 plus tax and gratuity so that's over budget. I went to a wedding there and loved the different feel of it.

mbcdefg · May 2010

My wedding reception was at The Tides last month and it was a great experience.

We visited six halls and they gave us the best bang for our buck. We never looked into the other two you mentioned, though, so of course I can't say if The Tides was better than them. But we got a lot of compliments from our guests, we had a lot of food and it was tasty, and there was nothing noteworthy that went wrong. I'd certainly recommend it. It was a great choice for us.

If you click my bio link below, I wrote up a review of The Tides in the Vendors tab. There are also pro photos from the reception if you'd like to see what the downstairs ballroom looks like (the upstairs ballroom is bigger and has windows, but it didn't work for us because it required a higher minimum and a higher PP price).

Our runners-up were Bridgewater Manor and Costa Del Sol, if you'd also like to add those to your list.

maddie7 · May 2010

You really need to visit each venue. Websites dont show you them, there were places that looked good online, then you get there and you are like yuck- same with house buying

... Seems like you are looking North, Ive been to a wedding at the Tides and its apparently very reasonable and I wouldnt have known that because the spread was amazing! My friend is marrying there- she has 250 guests so it was a good price for her. The wedding I went to the cocktail hour was on the patio out back and so nice!

cindy91788 · May 2010

mbcdefg - If we did the Tides - it would have to be the downstairs room as well for the same reasons. I am going to check out your review now.
I had read some stuff on here about the cake at the Tides being badly made. Did you experience that?

I went to a wedding at the Bridgewater Manor and really liked it as well. I am still waiting to get pricing from them. And I've been to an event at Costa Del Sol also and think its beautiful! I am waiting on pricing from them too. Costa Del Sol would be very convenient because I live about 10 minutes from there in Hillside.

cindy91788 · May 2010

Maddie - I know exactly what you mean about house buying! We bought a house a year ago and that's exactly what happened - they looked good online and then in person - yuck!!

mbcdefg · May 2010

The cake was O.K. It wasn't super-ugly, but we knew going into it (again, from this board) that the cakes there aren't gorgeous. But I think most people wouldn't have seen the little imperfections unless they looked really close. A lot of people said it was pretty (but who's really going to tell you to your face, "Wow, your wedding cake sucks!", lol). It tasted very good, although there's such a huge Viennese spread that most people probably won't eat it anyway ... I wasn't paying super-close attention during dessert, but most people I saw were eating something other than the wedding cake. I got a slice of it, but I know MH and my mom didn't because they ate other stuff.

There are close-up pictures of the cake in my bio. Unless you *really* have your heart set on a gorgeous cake, I would personally pick a simple design out of their book and just take what you get. We had asked the florist to put some fresh flowers on the cake to dress it up a bit, but apparently that never happened. I know kvarrone (another Tides bride) bought sugar flowers and asked her florist to decorate her cake and the results were beautiful, so that's another option for you.

I think Bridgewater Manor and Costa Del Sol were about the same price as The Tides. BM was our front runner until we saw The Tides - no real reason why BM came in at #2, we just had a better feeling when we walked out of The Tides. BM has an 8% gratuity charge whereas most places in NJ have 15-20%, so that's great for a budget. They also offer a lot of promotional packages, especially for winter weddings and daytime weddings.

Costa Del Sol's outdoor ballroom is really pretty because of the giant windows, but we thought we'd have at least 150 people show up and we were concerned that it'd be too small (although we ended up with 120). They were willing to negotiate with us on the price. The menu seemed very seafood-heavy, but they seemed willing to change that around a bit for us.

viviannac · May 2010

Tides - I've heard good things about it but never been there for an event.

Highlawn - We checked it out, it has a beautiful view but I could not get over the odd shape of the ballroom and the fact that most/all of the chairs were on casters.

Richfield Regency - Not a big fan of their ballroom, either. If you like Regency, check out Ravellos in Parsippany.

cindy91788 · May 2010

Thanks Viviann - Ravellos looks really nice on their website. Do you have personal experience with them?

Denise91980 · May 2010

I am getting married at Ravello's in October. They are 100pp for a Friday night throughout the year including tax and tip. The gardens are very pretty and the food was really good at the food tasting....I didn't hear a peep from my dad because he was too busy shoving his face. I like that they do one wedding at a time.
If you don't mind having other weddings you may want to look into The Manor or Mayfair Farms too. Also the Atrium may be within that range, but I think you need to guarantee a high number for the upstairs room and I wasn't crazy about the downstairs room.

viviannac · May 2010

I have been to a wedding at Ravellos and thought the food and service were good. There was a knottie named Sinthya that used to post on this board, she had her reception there last year and had great reviews on the place.

I do agree with pp, websites are ok but you really do have to make a list of places and visit them. That is the best way to see what you like or don't like and whether they are willing to negotiate.

maddie7 · May 2010

Thought Ravellos offered a good deal but didnt like that the elevator entrance was outside and that staircase was kind of steep to get to upstairs ballroom. (sad for handicapped/elderly guests) Also didnt like cocktail hour room, reminded me of a pancake house. But overall good deal and ballroom ceiling was nice!

USER876 · May 2010

I would skip the tides unless you can get the upstairs room. Can you negotiate a lower minimum for the upstairs room? I know they were willing to really negotiate with us for off peak days and months.

Richfield Regency is nice, if the color scheme fits your style it's a good bang for the buck.

Highlawn Pavilion......same comments as others...odd shaped rooms, and the food never leaves an impression on me. I go once a yr for a company party.

I would also check out Mayfair Farms, Ravello's (FI shower was there in the downstairs room), Hanover Manor, and the Knolls CC.

RainLaurel · May 2010

I don't know why the Crystal Plaza never gets mentioned on this board! I've been having a wonderful experience so far working with them!

Lolyalyssa · May 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-jersey_highlawn-pavilionrichfield-regencythe-tides?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:90Discussion:9697048c-2c30-4da5-aee4-20d88c35b27dPost:ecf4c184-f96d-464a-ae0e-b3facbd1f434">Re: Highlawn Pavilion/Richfield Regency/The Tides</a>:
[QUOTE]I don't know why the Crystal Plaza never gets mentioned on this board! I've been having a wonderful experience so far working with them!
Posted by RainLaurel[/QUOTE]

Yes but see above for the $100 pp price range....that's not going to happen at Crystal Plaza.

cindy91788 · May 2010

Anybody have experience with the Rosewood in Edison? they are 81pp on Friday, 90pp on Saturday...

sgdc2011 · May 2010

Were were hoping for a min of 125. I'm sure the space was fine, but we just kept comparing it to our 1st choice which is the Primavera Regency and their cocktail room is huge!

The Rosewood has good food but they are still doing renovations and it needed a lot of them... might not be done in time for you're wedding.

cindy91788 · May 2010

i've heard mixed reviews about the Primavera.. that the food is not that great.

Denise91980 · May 2010

Is the Rosewood the old Victorian Manor?

Denise91980 · May 2010

Ohhh it is....Everytime I think of the Victorian Manor I think about the girl that had her baby at prom in the bathroom there, threw the baby in the garbage and went back to dance as if nothing happened...lol

goaliegirl · May 2010

I got married at the Tides and highly recommend it. There are great to negotiate with and they give you a ridiculous amount of food for what you pay. The cocktail hour spread was amazing, and we had the Venetian hour which was amazing as well. That being said, we used the upstaris room. If our minimum was lower, I probably would not have used the downstairs room at the Tides. I am not a fan of that room, there are no windows, the cielings are very low, and the Bridal Suite is very small. Despite the great service, these things would have kept me from booking there if I had to use the downstairs room.

mbcdefg · May 2010

I agree, the Tides' downstairs bridal suite was pretty small now that I think of it ... but we only had eight people in there (me and MH, four attendants and two dates), so it was fine. If you will have a large bridal party, though, then that's something to consider.

I also agree that the lack of windows and the low ceilings can be a dealbreaker for many people. That was our major gripe with the place, and we fretted about it a bit in the couple months before the wedding, but there was nothing we could do about it at that point. I'm sure that not that many people noticed. I think we tend to notice it more because we all look at a lot of places and we chat with each other about these details.

The only complaint that I heard was from a friend who said that she had a hard time getting cell phone reception in that room. If anyone else had a complaint, I never heard about it. Plus there was a patio outside for people who wanted to smoke or just get fresh air, and some people were hanging out in the cocktail hour space a lot because that's where the bar was (although most of them were our busiest dancers, so it's not like they were there all night). So it's not like everyone was stuck in that room. Our guests seemed to enjoy themselves.

Another point ... there was a Knottie here a while back who booked the downstairs room at The Tides, and about a week before the wedding they let her have the upstairs room at no extra charge because it had not been booked. We inquired about the same thing, but there was a larger wedding there on the same night as us. I never saw them on the wedding day, though.

maybride527 · May 2010

my sister had her reception at the tides- it was AWESOME!! scott was wonderful and took care of everything from start to finish. the grounds are beautiful and the food was great - pm me if you need anymore info or want to see some pics from the reception.

carlaspeed · May 2010

the atrium is beautiful

capecod1986 · May 2010

I don't like the room at the Highlawn. You cannot see the dance floor from much of it. We couldn't see the first dance or parent dances at all through the crowd. Nor could we see what was going on on the dance floor the rest of the night. Felt like we were shoved in a corner.

sgdc2011 · May 2010

I don't know who gave you mixed reviews about the Primavera... everyone I talked to BEFORE we even looked at it told me the food was great and they did an excellent job. We went to the tasting.. the food was excellent. I work with a lot of people who have been guests there and LOVED it.. it's worth a look. It's in your price range and they give you a lot of food for what you are paying.

cindy91788 · May 2010

Actually - it was my parents that said they didn't like the food at the Primavera! LOL they've been to 2 or 3 weddings there in the last couple years.. so I guess I have to take their word - especially since they are paying for it! Who knows, maybe I'd like it - but I couldn't book something that they disliked..

I called a ton of place yesterday to get pricing and made some appointments.
this weekend, we are going to see Costa Del Sol, Ravellos, Mayfair Farms, Highlawn Pavilion and Richfield Regency.

If anybody is looking for info on places, let me know, because I have a whole spreadsheet I made up for myself!!

Highlawn Pavilion/Richfield Regency/The Tides

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