Wedding Venue shopping & decision (soon)

[lliang_chi]

Busy weekend this past weekend! FI and I flew down to Florida to do some venue evaluation. We have a top two choices.

1) Country Club/development community that rents its clubhouse for events. The plus, it's really nice looking, cheaper than the 2nd choice, the areas we'd use are quite nice (e.g. not having a cocktail hour in the "foyer" (nicer word for hallway). Landscaping is nicely done, although flat because it's a golf course. The minus, it's 10 miles from where we want the OOT guests to stay. And the room is kinda small (e.g. 200 ppl is capacity, 175-80 is standard event size). My mom and I started going through our guest list with the "they'll probably come, they'll probably not" evaluation, and the count looks like it'll be around 180. Below is a pic of the room and the cocktail area

2) Hotel. It's in a primo location. Even if we don't use this place for the reception we'll still want to use it for our OOT guests. The coordinator was quite nice and helpful, and all the locations are very nice looking. The minus is that we'll have the same hotel reception that FI was kinda not going for. And it costs more than the 1st choice.

So we kinda all agreed that we like the same top 2 choices. What have you guys done in regards to reception venue capacity? Come up to capacity or go the safer larger room route?

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Sounds like you have some great choices! Does the at capacity place include the space for the dance floor? If not, then you might want to consider the larger option.

BTW, is the fur baby you''re cuddling with in your avatar a black chow chow puppy?

 

[lliang_chi]

The 200 ppl capacity does count a dance floor. I'm pretty sure it'll be cozy, but not quite sure how cozy.

And the monster in the avatar is a Spanish Water Dog, puppy. She's not that bad, but FI likes calling her a monster. Now she's too big for me to pick up like that, she's about 40lbs.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Okay, so is option number 1 the semi-rude people? I wouldn''t worry if you think the list will stay at 180. If you think it will go up at all..then you may need the larger room. I am going to be near capacity, but absolutely refuse to add anyone to the guest list. So it''s whatever you think will work. I like that number 1 looks better. However, it is a minus that it''s farther away. I can''t say enough for how nice it would be to have people able to walk up to their room. I guess I am not being very helpful..

 

[lliang_chi]

Update
So the venue guy emailed back! On Weds. He just said, "Glad you saw the place. Let me know if you need anything." I do have a few more questions, so I''m going to call him today. Also, FI and I went through the guest list again and realistically went through the probable attendees. We went down to like 166, so I''m pretty confident we can use option 1. FI wants to compare packages & food etc. I keep tellling him, it doesn''t matter what the food is, we can always ask them to make something. Whatever. I''m hoping to call early next week to sign a contract at either option 1 or option 2. (Leaning towards option 1 though) Yay!!!