Wedding Venue

[ilovethiswebsite]

So I already posted in LIW- but here is the post again!

Please let me know which venue you think is best for an intimate summer wedding:

1) Restaurant wedding with a ceremony on the outside garden patio http://www.oliverbonacini.com/aubergemovie.html (click on gallery to view pics). Very intimate setting - and minimal planning will have to occur... Also food is 5 star and will be AMAZING.

2) A castle wedding (which only lets you rent the entire floor - which is huge - but gorgeous - but maybe more $ than we wanted to spend and very grandiose)... also - they only have Friday and Sunday available. http://www.casaloma.org/Catering/ Ries on pricescope has beautiful pictures of her wedding there... ex. https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/this-is-for-you-skippy-our-wedding-non-pro-pics.71822/. Beautiful location, unique, but food might not be fantastic and it''s not the original type of intimiate wedding we had in mind...

3) A local historic inn which has a hotel, spa, reception hall and garden outside http://www.oldmilltoronto.com/index.php Great because all our family is coming in from out of town but it''s not really our style per se... very rustic and I doubt food will be as good as at the restaurant (#1)

Please let me know what you guys think .... we are having a hard time decided as all three locations have pros and cons.... We are trying to keep our costs reasonable (10-15 k range- 100 guests).

 

[Sabine]

Definitely #1 for the kind of wedding you want!

 

[karasue91]

Hmm well I'm partial to #3, but if it's not your style, go for #1. #2 is gorgeous but a castle definitely doesn't say intimate to me...

BTW I see you are in Toronto, I'm in Calgary and I would KILL for beautiful venues like that around here!!

How many people is "intimate" anyway?

ETA: looked through more pics of #3....there are so many different rooms!! it looks like there are more modern ones too, and smaller spaces that would definitely be intimate. i'm in love with #3.

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

Date: 7/3/2008 4:58:06 PM
Author: karasue91
Hmm well I''m partial to #3, but if it''s not your style, go for #1. #2 is gorgeous but a castle definitely doesn''t say intimate to me...

BTW I see you are in Toronto, I''m in Calgary and I would KILL for beautiful venues like that around here!!

How many people is ''intimate'' anyway?

ETA: looked through more pics of #3....there are so many different rooms!! it looks like there are more modern ones too, and smaller spaces that would definitely be intimate. i''m in love with #3.

Yesh me in Toronto... My family is from Montreal though and my fiance''s is from North Bay... so everyone will be coming from out of town.... #3 is pretty nice too - just not what we had in mind originally. There is even a chapel on site which is fantastic... Another minus is that there would probably be other weddings at the Old Mill that night (cause of all the rooms)... That wouldn''t be the case at Casa Loma or the restaurant... The room we would do it at at the old Mill would probably be the Westminister.

I guess the next step is to go see them in person one more time and take pics... Perhaps I shall post them soon.

In terms of intimate - we just didn''t want a traditional hall wedding with a huge room and lots of people. We wanted to invite our closest friends and family and keep the venue intimate so people had a chance to mingle with everyone... I hate weddings when the Bride and Groom are up at the head table and no one really ever gets to speak with them or spend time with them...

 

[marchswallowbird]

I love #1. Beautiful. And if the food is amazing the guests will be happy no matter what else happens.

 

[newbie124]

I also really love #1. It''s so beautiful and the 5 star food is another big plus, if it''s in your price range. Only concern would be what their capacity is. And with 100 people, will you still have room for a dance area (assuming you plan on having dancing after dinner)?

I think the castle is kind of neat, but might be a bit too large/grand for only around 100 guests, so my second choice would be #3. Except I personally don''t like the idea that there could potentially be other weddings (not even just one, but several) going on at the same time. But it is really unique.

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

Hi Ladies,

Soooooo I think we are going to go with #1. We went to visit yesterday and we just fell in love all over again. They recently did some renovations and the place is perfect. Romantic, intimate, and beautiful. Here are some pics we took. Feel free to let me know what you think and what colors you think would work best for flowers and bride's mate dresses.

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

2

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

3

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

This is the patio where the ceremony would take place - we would have to rent chairs and stuff but it''s so pretty!

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

Bride comes down these step during the ceremony... there is a secret passage to the Bride''s preparation room... hehehe. I am sure the garden hose will be gone.

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

entrance

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

inside the resto

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

inside #2

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

inside #3... likely the dancing and band will be set up here.

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

last one!

 

[gwendolyn]

Looks fabulous to me!

 

[miraclesrule]

That place is TDF!! I wish they had venues like that here for that price range.

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

Date: 7/6/2008 1:20:10 PM
Author: miraclesrule
That place is TDF!! I wish they had venues like that here for that price range.

Hi Miraclerule,
It''s just a fancy resto that lets people rent out the whole place for a wedding. The prices for the diner are pretty good - but they don''t include any drinks. In the end - it will probably cost the same as any hall wedding reception but the food will be way better and it will be more unique. I think our 10-15k budget is going to get blown pretty quickly... Damn it all! Weddings are wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy $.

 

[Amandine]

Glad to hear you are going to pick #1...it is beautiful! I really like #3, too, but don''t like the thought of other weddings at the same time. Blech!

 

[Independent Gal]

Hi there,

That looks like a very similar set-up to what we had for WP2, and it was WONDERFUL! Plus, people are still talking about the food. If they have an experienced event coordinator, I would jump on it in a second.

One thing... dancing? Do they have an area for that? Are they set up for a dj or band? And can everyone eat in the same area? Those would be my only two concerns.

Otherwise, I would say it looks perfect! It worked great for us and I''m sure it would for you too.

 

[zoebartlett]

I think I replied in your other thread about how much I love the first venue, and now that I''ve seen more pictures, it''s still my number 1 choice...hands down. It''s beautiful, elegant, and perfect for what you''re envisioning (you''re doing a luncheon reception w/o dancing, right?). I love it!!!

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

Hi Ladies,
Thanks for the replies! Just to answer some questions, we decided to go with an evening affair on a Sunday. Not ideal - but we really wanted a dinner and not a lunch reception. There is room for a dancing area but we aren''t really fond of the idea of putting in an actual dance floor in. We will have a live band though (no DJ) and a dancing "area."

 

[Maisie]

I really love the venue you decided on.. I espcially like how bright and sunny the ceremony are is! Great choice!

 

[absolut_blonde]

Ooh. It''s lovely! I think it will make a great venue. Good choice.

 

[pocahontas]

Yah for #1

What an awesome venue - beautiful, intimate and yummy food

By the way, did you end up checking out the Old Mill?

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

Date: 7/6/2008 9:13:21 PM
Author: pocahontas
Yah for #1

What an awesome venue - beautiful, intimate and yummy food

By the way, did you end up checking out the Old Mill?

hey girl - we are going to check out Old Mill on Tuesday but our hearts are pretty much set on Auberge... I want to check out the Old Mill just for fun anyway... We will probably have a deposit down on Auberge (unless the Old Mill completely blows us away) by the end of the week.

So funny ur from Toronto too! Small world! Are you from here originally?

 

[pocahontas]

Date: 7/6/2008 9:34:18 PM
Author: ilovethiswebsite
hey girl - we are going to check out Old Mill on Tuesday but our hearts are pretty much set on Auberge... I want to check out the Old Mill just for fun anyway... We will probably have a deposit down on Auberge (unless the Old Mill completely blows us away) by the end of the week.


So funny ur from Toronto too! Small world! Are you from here originally?

I like your thinking

. It doesn't hurt to check out additional venues (just in case) and you never know maybe you can get a free sampling of their menu

.

Yep, I from Toronto originally...kinda... I was born in Guyana actually, but have pretty much grown up in Canada my whole life. When my family first immigrated to Canada we stayed with relatives in Etobicoke, but once my parents got settled we moved to Brampton and I've lived here ever since. I find it's usually easier to say I'm from Toronto unless I'm speaking to someone who's from the area, otherwise I get "Bramwho?" You're originally from Montreal, right?

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

hey hey - ya from Montreal. Moved here to do my PhD... will likely be here for another 3 years or so... My Fiance and I would like to end up in Ottawa some day cause it''s closer to both our families...

Have you booked a venue yet?

 

[pocahontas]

Date: 7/6/2008 9:52:14 PM
Author: ilovethiswebsite
hey hey - ya from Montreal. Moved here to do my PhD... will likely be here for another 3 years or so... My Fiance and I would like to end up in Ottawa some day cause it''s closer to both our families...


Have you booked a venue yet?

Are you at U of T? What are you studying? FI and I are having a destination wedding. The only thing that we''ve decided on at this point is that we''re going to get married in the Dominican Republic. We''re still trying to decided whether we''ll get married in April or May/08 and we''re still deciding on the hotel. Either way we''ll be having a church wedding so it won''t be a typical destination beach wedding. Thanks for asking