Just booked our reception site!!!

[JCJD]

We signed the contract about an hour ago! I''m so excited!! It''s a beautiful loft, plush green carpet, huge kitchen/serving area, and a beautiful view!! You can''t really see it in the picture, but the chairs are burgundy with gold stripes, the building has been restored and extensively renovated, so the brick walls and exposed wood frames are all gorgeous!! It''s very cozy and intimate - and perfect!!

Inside our reception loft!! This pic is taken from the door, looking at where we''ll have the dance floor (in the corner). The kitchen/serving area is to the left, and on the right is a fireplace (by sofas on wall) and then a Master bedroom suite with a jacuzzi and private bathroom. We can stay there overnight for an extra fee, but I think we''ll end up putting the sofa and loveseat in there and use it as a quiet "conversation" area for the guests.

Outside of the building!! The loft is on the top (5th) floor, on the right-hand (south-west) side in this picture.

 

[MelissaSue]

it looks beautiful! Unique and cozy and intimate. I really like the look of the old building! Neat that it has its own bedroom too. Do you have to get a caterer, or do they do it right there! Congrats on booking your site! Sure wish I could book mine.

 

[lmurden]

Good for you!

 

[abradabra]

Congrats! It looks like it will be absolutely beautiful....

What happened to having it at home, though? Or am I confusing you with someone else?

 

[JCJD]

Thanks lmurden!

abradabra - No, you're right. That was me. But we ultimately decided that renting a tent ($900) and all the tables, linens, dance floor, etc would be way too expensive, and the reception site is cheaper than renting a tent alone, and we get a bunch of that stuff included. We're having too many people to comfortably fit in my dad's house in case of rain, so we'd really need a tent for it. C'est la vie, right!

Melissa - Thanks!! It's perfect for what we were imagining our reception to be like! We can choose any caterer we want for it, which is nice. I actually heard about the loft from a caterer. He'll probably get the job unless we can find someone lots cheaper. Apparently it's a great site to cater at - really easy to bring everything in and set it all up. Woo-hoo!! One more thing to cross off the Knot checklist!
How is it going with your hopeful theater site? I've been MIA from PS recently and there's so much to catch up on!

 

[MelissaSue]

JCJD - I''m really happy for you that you have a reception site.. No news on mine yet. My dad said he is going to call them on the 10th to see if they have heard from the bar mitzvah people.. so unless they call us first, we won''t know until at least then.
We looked at an alternate place.. It was beautiful.. but i didnt'' LOVE it like I loved my theatre.. and they were really pushy.. told us we had to put the deposit down THAT DAY if wanted it.. or otherwise they were giving it to someone else.. So we said screw it..

So now we are back to just waiting for the theatre. If we DON''T get that I have a few other options in mind..


This is one of them

I think its pretty.. it would be a nice second option. There are a few drawbacks though. One is that Jeff and I both had high school proms there.. Which is a little weird, I think. Another is that I don''t even know if they have my date there.. ANd I just don''t love it as much as the theatre.



This is the OUTSIDE of another option. I can''t find any pictures of the inside.. but if I remember it correctly its just a big open room.. with maybe some sort of loft or balcony or something

Main drawback here? No air conditioning. I know my wedding is only in May in Buffalo.. but I remember a May weekend here (it was actually the one of my PROM at that other venue.. lol) where it was like 90 degrees.. and we all sweated to death in our limo. So if something like THAT happened again.. the lack of AC would be a BIG problem.

Oh there I go hijacking your thread again. I am SOO bad about that.. sorry!

 

[MelissaSue]

okay. so here i go hijacking again. I found some interior pics of the second reception site. Its the Historical Museam in buffalo

And here is a better exterior shot. This is actually the back...

 

[icekid]

MS! man, you''re going to be planning my wedding soon for me- cause i''ll have less work to do if i just copy yours since it looks like you have so many great ideas!

but those are both reeeally pretty alternate sites! where are they??

 

[icekid]

oh, forgot!

and big congrats JCJD- it looks great!!!

 

[MelissaSue]

Ice Kid - I''ll be glad to plan your wedding. Lol.. I really LOVE wedding planning. I want to get married every year (Except for all the expenses).
The first location is Rich''s Renaissance Atrium
The Second is The Buffalo Erie County Historical Society (Pan Am Building).

I don''t know the exact like.. location or directions to either one of them. I think the historical society is right near delaware park and the art museum. Rich''s might be on Naigara St? I obviously have not been to either of them yet to look as a wedding site, but I have been to both of them for other reasons.

The first alternate was actually the Terrace Room at the Statler. I would totally recommend looking at it! Its beautiful. The Golden Ballroom at the Statler is AWESOME too if you''re having a BIG wedding (it seats 600!)

 

[JCJD]

"Oh there I go hijacking your thread again. I am SOO bad about that.. sorry!"

LOL!! You''re so cute Melissa! No worries!

It sucks that you have to wait so long to see if the theater will even be available for you! But I think your back-up sites are simply gorgeous!! What time is your reception going to be? Will you serve a seated dinner? If you''re having a meal, the second place (museum) might have a better layout for that, so people can all sit at their tables and still see you and Jeff. But I LOVE that waterfall in the first one!!! You''d get some incredible pictures there!

I agree with icekid (Thanks!!!) - you should plan my wedding too!! LOL!! I don''t know if you''re having to deal with this, but since getting engaged, my schedule has gotten so tight, I barely have time to use the bathroom during the day!! My sister has been calling me at least daily, as well as sending emails about the wedding, my dad keeps stopping by my office to offer ideas/advice/nag me about the planning (and then lectures that I should do more schoolwork!!), and then I have classes and meetings with various vendors for the wedding! AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! THIS is why I wanted to elope!!!! But NOOOOOOOO, he wanted a real wedding!

LOL - OK, I''m done now...

 

[MelissaSue]

oooh.. JCJD - that comment about the waterfalll reminded me.. There is a FANTASTIC picture of my friend (The one that just got engaged) and her high school boyfriend (Who is gay now.. lol) in front of that waterfall.. I should FIND it!

 

[MelissaSue]

sorry - I got so excited about that picture before that I forgot to post the rest of what I was going to say. It turns out that either that picture doesn''t exist (there is a picture of them in that BUILDING.. but if its near the waterfall, you can''t tell), or its in my personal junior prom album, that I can''t find..

Anyway.. We are having a sit down dinner. My sister had "stations" at her wedding and it was a nightmare, plus my father thinks that anything but a sit down dinner is tacky. He''s been in the restaurant business since he was 16, managing restaurants since he was 19.. so he has some pretty strong ideas about these things. I know what you mean about the atrium being set up poorly for that. My father also has a freind who is a DJ and also has a daughter who just got married.. and he sort of commented on that.. that people are sort of separated.. but he said that the same thing is true of the historical society. If it is anything like my prom, the place we sat to eat is WAY far away from the place where the dancing took place which is also a little awkward. I remember having to go over bridges and stuff to get to the dance floor. lol..

As for balancing school and wedding planning, I''ve just lost all motivation to do school work. I am just doing my thesis this semester but I haven''t really gotten much of a start on it. I''m not running any experiments for it, because my school could really care less about their masters students.. so I''m just doing a lit review, which will still take a while.. but i just have no motivation to get going on it.. Mostly because I don''t care about psych anymore since being a masters student in that program has sucked all the enjoyment out of it for me. I don''t really even have an area that I want to research. I''m thinking of doing something related to Domestic Violence, but I don''t know if I want to focus on the victim or the perpertrator or WHAT.

 

[blueroses]

JCJD, that space is fantastic!! Elegant, intimate, beautiful!! Hooray!!!!

MelissaSue, I''m with the others: you''re hired!!! Love all of your options, and love that you will have a gorgeous venue regardless of the theatre!!!

 

[Nicrez]

JCJD, it looks amazing, I hope you take los of pictures for us to see once it''s all dolled up!!! Congrats on getting a reception place!

MelissaSue, can I hire you too? I am so noncommittal I couldn''t make one rational decision! I like your choices! (I personally love the museum!)

 

[MelissaSue]

Sure you can all hire me. I was tempted to apply at a bridal shop today to be a sales associate.. but I resisted, and then I was glad I did because Jeff reminded me how BITCHY brides (and their mothers) can be!!!

My reception location was my main concern with the wedding (well besides my gown of course..) My only prerequisite was that it was NOT a "traditional" wedding location.. (i.e. not a hotel or a banquet facility). I didn''t want my wedding looking like everyone elses wedding. I didn''t want to have it outdoors because I would be way too nervous counting on the weather not to turn. So.. then I had to seek out non-traditional wedding locations in buffalo.. which is NOT that easy. My father kept suggesting very traditional places.. banquet halls and groves and country clubs.. blah blah blah..

I saw someones wedding pictures from Shea''s (the theatre) on the knot (They just had their pics there, not the whole reception) and I knew it was just what I was looking for. Luckily.. my parents had gone to a wedding there several years ago and they thought it was like THE best wedding ever.. FI loved the idea and you should have seen the look in my Future sister in law''s eyes (she is majoring in musical theatre in college) when I told her the idea.

I sort of went with that idea in my head for finding the alternate locations.. big open space, maybe old-ish architecture.. etc.

This was actually the original second choice thats not going to work out. Its the Terrace Room at the statler (they just finished renovating it, and this was when it was in the process of being cleaned up after renovation. We took these pics ourself so they''re not fantastic. But is a beautiful space

 

[MelissaSue]

There is a raised area like this on both sides of the room. This is where the dining areas would be.