You Can't Fight City Hall

Yes. that's right...don't do it! Just go to our welcome reception venue!

We'll be just having people meet up at City Hall restaurant in Tribeca the night before our wedding.

   

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We ended up falling in love with City Hall in part because it was the relaxed feeling we wanted for a varied group of people that would be congregating that evening. Also the owner, Henry Meer, was so lovely to us and a pretty great salesman. We went on a Friday after work, and I guess we looked a little bit lost and like a snoopers. The next thing I knew Henry was asking us about ourselves and had ordered us a glass of wine. In addition to being a pretty space, Henry charmed our pants off (figuratively of course).  We ended up returning an hour later and having a great dinner there. 

We looked at a variety of places in lower Manhattan in an effort to try to find a place to meet up with our out of town guests the evening before the wedding.  Since we're not having a wedding party and therefore the whole rehearsal is sort of going to be more of a run-through, we're also not going to have a full fledged rehearsal dinner. Egads! No rehearsal dinner, my friends!

I know that there is a great debate about whether or not one should have a rehearsal dinner with all of the out-of-town guests, but we really couldn't do that. It was just not budget friendly for us. We had much more grandiose plans prior to Mr. Swan losing his job, but as you can imagine that got thrown by the wayside. Instead, we've invited our guests to join us for drinks for a 2 1/2 hour period the night before. I may even dip out a little early since I've got an early morning ahead of me the next day. 

Are you foregoing a traditional rehearsal dinner? 

Just In Case You Were Wondering

I realized that after all of this time I've never written about our venue, Battery Gardens. We'll be having our ceremony outside (at least it's the plan...please pray to the weather gods for us) with the restaurant facing the New York harbor. While I love the water view (Mr. Swan and I are really coastal people), it does not have the "Va VaVoom" view of the River Cafe in Brooklyn (we looked there too), but I think it's pretty nonetheless.

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Above are some photos courtesy of Mrs. Firefly. (Thank you, Mrs. Firefly!!) If you look really hard in the photo on the left, you can see the Statue of Liberty.

In case of rain, we'll have the ceremony upstairs. I'm still thinking nice dry warm thoughts. The upstairs portion of the restaurant will also serve as our reception space. Since we're having a summer wedding, I wanted our guests to have the option to be able to have access to outdoor space to enjoy the sunshine, which they can enjoy on its lovely balcony. Here's the reception area set up for Mrs. Firefly's reception. It's my understanding that you might get them to budge with the setup and be a bit more creative. We'll see....

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We ended up picking Battery Gardens for many reasons:

1) We loved its sleek, modern look (Mr. Swan and I are definitely lovers of modern, clean lines).

2) The easy to access (The Staten Island Ferry and two subway lines are right next door) and very pretty location.

3) We didn't need to look at multiple places for a ceremony and reception, and we didn't need to look for a caterer (if you haven't realized I can be pretty lazy on the wedding planning front).

4) We didn't have to rent or bring in items (see above re: laziness).

5) The size of the space was right for the price (although we did compromise on a daytime wedding).

Were there any features that you were looking for your venue search?

By the way, here is a link to another beautiful Battery Gardens wedding and another.

Reception Search - Little House..... in Greenwich Village

I realized that I have yet to finish chronicling my venue search, so here it goes...

I was at the tail end of wanting to see reception venues. I had seen places small, fancy, big, plain and everything in between, but I wanted to see 632 on Hudson for myself in person. It's a townhouse originally built in the 1840's in the West Village. It has amazing architecture and is a beautiful, intimate space. 

I was originally attracted to 632 on Hudson because of the artwork and beautiful decor. Plus it would be different from the traditional catering/banquet/restaurant private room options that we had been looking at in general. 

When you see these photos, can you blame me for wanting to see it live? 

(source: moi)

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(source: me again)

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There's even a roof deck! 

While I really like 632 on Hudson, I have to admit it looked a little smaller in person than on the website (isn't that always the case?). I was told that it could fit our group, but wasn't sure if people wouldn't feel a little cramped. I think it would be a wonderful space for up to 60 or 70 people. 

Also I wanted to have a dedicated space for people to be able to have a sit-down meal and to not be divided between the 632's multiple levels. Luckily, a new gallery/open space was being built on the lower level. I got to take a sneak peek on the tour (pic is below). The room could easily fit up to 100 people seated. If I remember correctly, they were still working out the pricing for renting both spaces. I think a fun wedding would be to have cocktails in the main area upstairs with dinner downstairs and then back upstairs for fun!

While 632 on Hudson seems like a fun space, it didn't necessarily seem like the right space for Mr. CPF and me. I hope someone I know has a wedding there soon just so I can experience it at night! I think this is a great option for the couple having a small wedding with an opulent house party feel. Please, friends, someone have a wedding here!

Venue Shopping #2 - Raw?

Raw space that is. One of the venue options we explored was using a raw loft space for our ceremony and reception. It's a popular option here in NY as there are many industrial buildings that have been turned into live-work residential loft and event spaces. Since Mr. CPF and I were looking to have our wedding in Brooklyn, we looked into Pochron Studios in DUMBO.

Pochron Studios's event space is wide open with white walls. For some people this is like a beautiful blank canvas; to me it's SCARY. I wish I was one of those people who could envision the amazing uses for a space like this. I'm pretty darn visual in that I need something to anchor my vision or idea. The great thing about a raw space is the ability to create any and everything that your imagination can conjure, but I need a bit more .

I will say that Pochron would be a little helpful in creating a great vibe than other loft spaces because of this:

This view is amazing! There is a lovely huge patio/terrace that is a great place to have a ceremony and cocktails. Here it is set up for a wedding (sans view):

At the same time I was still wondering if using a raw space was for me. I was jazzed by the view and thinking about the major challenge of a blank space, when I began to think about some of the drawbacks of this kind of space.

A minus for some people possible considering certain types of loft spaces is not having much space or equipment for a caterer to throw down and do his/her thang in the kitchen.

While Pochron gave us a list of caterers that were experienced in using this space, it was definitely something to think about for me.

In the end we decided not to go with Pochron because well...I think Mr. CPF and I are pretty lazy :) I knew that we really wanted to streamline the process of wedding planning as much as possible. The extra steps of thinking about decor, renting tables and chairs and finding a caterer were all a bit too much for us. While Pochron was definitely cool, we kept on truckin'.

Did you use or considering using a raw, simple or otherwise challenging space for your wedding? What were some of the benefits or drawbacks of these spaces?

Finding a Venue #1 or What's a Foodie to Do?

One of the things I knew would be important to me in planning this wedding was the food. As you can tell from my previous post, I am a bit of a foodie. I have a hard time spending tons of money on a pair of shoes, but if I can find a good meal somewhere, I am all over it. Yep yep! Needless to say, I know that I wanted to find a reception venue that had great food or at least a good culinary reputation.  Unfortunately, that does not always happen in wedding planning. There are just so many things going on in the decision-making process that something's gotta fall by the wayside. I've already learned a few months into this process that you will never really figure out how you got where you did until you get there....ya know what I'm sayin'? 

Case in point...our chosen venue...I NEVER EVEN TRIED THE FOOD!!! That's right.. NEVER! I'm going on complete blind faith here, which for someone like me who wants to know everything ahead of time (yep, I'm a planner) is pure hell. 

This leads me to our top choice at the beginning of the venue shopping process: the River Cafe in Brooklyn.  In addition to having amazing food, the Terrace Room, the River Cafe's private room, has beautiful views of the Manhattan skyline.  At the beginning of planning, I really wanted a venue that would highlight the beauty of NYC. I grew up here, love with all my heart, and I find something new and beautiful about it almost everyday. I really wanted the feel of NY in all its beauty to be a part of our day. 

When you walk into the Terrace Room you see this amazing view.

(photo credit to yours truly)

Honestly, this pictures does not do it justice. Sigh...

We would have tried to have our ceremony on the deck here:

(I took this one too)

Even the inside is pretty..I mean come one..they've got a stream running through it!

(ditto)

I was in venue love, BUT this place costs mad loot, yo! I'm not even buggin' with you. Mr. CPF and I contemplated this place for awhile. We thought about cutting our guest list; buying sardines to eat for the next year; and just plain sucking it up. In the end, we couldn't justify the price. I lost my perfect foodie venue in the blink of an eye...okay fine, in the blink of a perfectly rational adult decision. Oh well! What's a girl to do. I soon realized that the C.R.E.A.M (Cash Rules Everything Around Me. You know you recognized the Wu-Tang Clan reference) factor was going to be sooo much a part of this process. 

So Mr. CPF and I kept on movin' ...stay tuned for more on the venue saga. 

Was there anything that you may have felt strongly about in your venue search or in wedding planning in general? Were you able to get it in the end? Please let me know what it feels/felt 'cause I'd sure like to know.