We were initially very, very excited about this place. It's in a location not far from where we live, the reception area is beautiful and elegant without being "frou-frou", and best of all they let you bring in your own booze! Let me tell you that it is soooo hard to find venues that let you do this anymore, but it can save you piles of cash. I RSVP'd for the open house with the highest of hopes and told Luke that I really wanted this to be our spot. Looking back, I was jumping the gun. Leaping and soaring over the gun.
For starters, when we got to the venue I was a little surprised at how close it is to the road. Although the area is actually very quaint and intimate, it was literally right by the road. Okay, no biggie; I'm flexible (to a point). The building itself was built in 1909 as a bank, and it has a tremendous amount of character. We walked in and I was very happy right away. Gorgeous wood floors, beautifully-restored brick interior, and very tastefully done with small crystal chandeliers and twinkly white lights. They even still use the original bank vault as a place to store your gifts during the evening! But then...
...we walked into the reception area. While it was indeed lovely, it was astonishingly small. So small, in fact, that with only 75-80 people milling about it was very crowded. Now, this may be okay for someone who's having a wedding of about 50 people. What pisses me off about this is that we were specifically told by both the consultant and in all the published materials that the venue can accomodate up to 150 people. My first question was: where? In the damn bathroom and the parking lot?! You might, might be able to cram 150 people into the room (as long as none of them are overweight!) but they would have to stand. When you consider that each of their tables sits a max of 10 people comfortably, and accounting for the food tables and DJ space, I figured we could never get more than 60 people. And even that would not include a dance floor! In the pictures below you'll see a lovely cake set-up, but what you don't see is that these people expected me to set up a dance floor immediately in front of it. Because that's definitely what we need: a bunch of drunk people attempting to dance around a cake that costs several hundred dollars.
The next disaster was the food. They don't allow outside catering, and they provide what is basically 3 different packages for food. One was barbeque. For anyone who hasn't already gotten a sense of my personal style, be it from this blog or elsewhere, allow me to fill you in: I am not the kind of person who serves barbeque at her wedding. I am about as likely to serve Bud Light in cans and encourage the groomsmen to wear John Deere hats as I am to serve freaking barbeque. The other options included some kind of horrid, fattening pasta and some soggy sandwiches. The food all sucked! And the desserts were equally unappealing. In general, I wouldn't serve that food to my mother's dog. And I don't even like my mom's dog!What I found to be the cherry on top of my disappointment sundae, however, was the attitude with which the head consultant spoke to me. The sum total costs for this hovel, including the ceremony, would have come to around $14,000. For that obscene amount of money I would get a grand total of 4, count 'em, 4 hours for my ceremony and reception. I stated very plainly that 4 hours was completely inadequate (nevermind that I wouldn't pay $3,500 an hour for this joint even if I had it for 12 hours). This man had the nerve to say, "Well, by the time of the wedding and reception you will have been with the same people all day long. 4 hours should be more than enough." I was flabbergasted. First, don't tell me what we want for our own party, little man! Secondly, what a lame line. You're asking for $14,000 and you can't even take the time to practice your salesmanship? Come back to me when you've prepared a script, buddy. So the day was a bust. But at least I learned what to do differently next time.
- Never, ever walk into an open house or vendor meeting bursting with joy. You're really just asking for a fat let-down if you get your hopes up too much. It also makes you prone to glassy-eyed, mindless agreement to pretty much anything the consultants offer (or charge).
- Don't discuss finances until you've seen and sampled everything. Look at every inch of the venue, including the parking lot, bathrooms, and areas surrounding the venue. If you have to use their caterer, try the food. It gives you greater bargaining leverage if you already know what will have to be altered or substituted in order to satisfy your needs. We saw at least 4 or 5 brides at this open house who had already signed contracts and reserved dates and had never tried any of the food!
- Take lots of pictures and, if you're really feeling the place, measurements of key areas like the dance floor and seating areas. These open houses are rarely set up like they would for a real wedding. For example, the above venue only had 2 round tables set up in the reception area. It might have been easy for some people to walk around and think to themselves that the place was bigger than it really was; however, measurements can bring you down to earth when you realize that you could only get all your guests in by leaving a half inch distance between each table.
- Don't take the consultant's word on how many people you can seat in the venue, how many people can fit on the dance floor, or how much space you need to set up for food. Never forget that their job is to sell, sell, sell! They will talk you into a venue that's inappropriate for your needs if you allow them to. While their input is certainly important, trust your instincts. If she tells you 250 people can be comfortably seated for dinner and you don't see how that can work, listen to your gut. Talk to your caterer, or your DJ, or any other vendors you've already hired and ask them to come out and see if it will work. But bottom line is that consultants for all kinds of vendors will try and make you feel like you don't know what you're doing and that you need to trust everything they say, and it seems to work on a lot of brides. That's why all the consultants who work at Sunday's fail-fest drive $50,000 cars.
- Be patient and accept that you'll probably have to visit several venues before you find a decent contender. Hang in there! You absolutely can get what you want.
The day wasn't a complete loss, however. I learned the above lessons, and I also have a very clear idea now of what we want and don't want. I adored the atmosphere and decor of this place, and we both decided we want to shoot for that kind of ambiance at our own wedding. As of today I've got 3 other places on my list to visit. Let's hope those venues turn out to be a little more satisfying.
No comments:
Post a Comment