Let's start from the beginning....
March 22, 2008 - M (my darling finance) proposed while we were on vacation in SF. It was a beautiful day and we were sitting on the steps in Union Square. I had no idea what he was planning. It was nice to be surprised in the middle of a huge public square. We were in our own world though. Looking back, I loved how he proposed with hundreds of people around us but not one of them knowing what was going on.
M is the love of my life. I don't want to get too mushy (that's for another blog), but he (yes, I'm going to say it) completes me. (You can all throw up now.) I also have to add that I'm in love with my ring. It is amazingly beautiful and I can't stop looking at it. I steal looks while I'm in the ladies room at work - not at my desk since my co-workers will think I'm obsessed.
Skip ahead a few months....
August 15, 2008 - The search for a wedding venue. I know now why people elope! M and I have only looked at a few places and I'm already ready to pull my hair out. M doesn't want to do a catering hall so this rules out 90% of the places in NJ. He actually wants to do a destination wedding, but I had to veto his choice (although with much guilt) because there are so many people I want to invite and who wouldn't be able to attend if we did destination.
Money is definitely a factor since M and I are paying for most of the wedding. It's incredible how much more money people in the NYC area pays for weddings. I've been reading wedding message boards from people outside of NYC and for some their entire wedding is less than what our bar tab will be.
What we can agree on is that we both want a place that is more modern than traditional and to have the ceremony, cocktail reception and dinner all in the same place. (That doesn't sound like a lot to agree on or to work from...)
So the places we've seen already:
1. Liberty House Restaurant, Jersey City
Location is great. Decor is great. It's a really pretty place that looks towards the Manhattan skyline. There are high vaulted ceilings which I love. The rooms for the cocktail and reception are well-sized. The price ($180pp) is too high for us though. Plus their bridal changing room is a balcony that is covered with a cloth. I wouldn't feel comfortable changing so high above the dance floor with only a white curtain covering me. Very strange.
2. Tavern on the Green, NYC
Location is great. Price is decent ($167pp). Decor does not match at all what we're looking for. It was all glass and frilly. The Rafter Room was low with wood beams. We went on a day that rained and it smelled like mildew. The kicker was the room we would have had was T-shaped where a few tables would be set in the corner and wouldn't be able to see into the rest of the room. I asked the catering manager how they deal with this and she said that you would put work people or people you didn't really want to come at those tables. At that point, it was No Deal for me.
3. Manhattan Penthouse, NYC
Location is great. Price is pretty good. Decor is minimal, but works with our style. The only negative was that the space was small. We went on a Sunday and it was set up for a wedding later that night. The ceremony would be in the same room as the reception so the dinner tables were pushed all the way to the back and separated from the ceremony with white screens. I really liked it at first (I think b/c I was tired of searching for places) but M thought it was too small. After looking at the pictures we took earlier that day, I realized that the space would be much better with less people and without doing the ceremony there. The screens separating the ceremony from the dinner tables reminded me of a backyard bbq wedding which would be too casual and cheap.
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