People keep asking me if I am "excited" for our wedding. Until today, I wasn't exactly sure how to answer that. Last weekend, we went to the third of four weddings we'll be going to this year. The fourth will be our own! While we were anticipating and attending these other weddings, I really didn't feel like I wanted to talk about mine, because I didn't want to distract from the weddings that were actually happening. People would say things (all the time) like "you're next!" (nudge, nudge!) and I'd be like "yeah, but..." just wanting to concentrate on where we were that day. Not thinking ahead to us. Basically, I didn't want to be all about my wedding while we were celebrating someone else's.
Last night we saw our friends P. and S. (of the wedding with the bus debacle that should never be mentioned again, but surely will, again and again). They just returned from their honeymoon the other day. Now I feel like everyone's married, honeymooned, returned, and our friends are turning their attention to us. It is actually kind of exciting to talk about the wedding and not feel that I am detracting from another bride who's making 600 tissue paper puffballs for next week.
I also feel like it is becoming more real. It seems less and less like some abstract thing that's going to happen in the distant future. Today we took G.'s parents and sister to the Metropolitan Building to check it out, because they had not yet been. G.'s mom wanted us to get married in their family church, and has taken some time to warm up to the idea that we're doing our own thing, so to speak. We spent awhile looking at the space, talking about decorations, and asking Carlos (who really runs the show at the Met Building) all sorts of questions.
Luckily, G.'s mom has very similar taste to me and my mom, so I am happy to incorporate her suggestions. She is a big fan of Michaels, as am I. She has a snowflake-shaped hole punch, so we decided we'll make paper snowflakes to sprinkle on the tables. Awesome.
Then we took a trip to the Ravel Hotel, which is this new and super chic hotel in a quite improbable section of Long Island City. We took a look around there, and were super-psyched about the awesomeness of it, not to mention the (totally great-for-NYC) room rate they gave us.
Now that our friends' 2009 weddings have happened, and all parents have seen the Met Building and started thinking of ways to make it even more awesome, this really seems real.
When did things start to seem real for you? Or did they always?
PS - Thanks to Miss Sunbeam for posting her Etsy loves. Thanks to her, I am afraid I am going to be $300 in the hole for this gorgeous knitted shawl. I don't want to wear a winter coat over my wedding dress, but a girl does need a little something in December, right? (I plan to get dressed at the hotel and drive over to the ceremony.) I haven't decided whether I'll buy this or not, but damn, it's nice!
Showing posts with label venue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label venue. Show all posts
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Choosing the Venue
Once I got engaged, I surprised myself by going into full planning mode right away. I didn't think I was the type of girl to start devouring wedding magazines right out of the gate, but I did. My friend Carolyn gave me The Knot's New York City magazine, and I was all over that ish. (Incidentally, she also gave us not only a sweet-ass bottle of fancy champagne, but also a 100 Grand candy bar. Is this an engagement tradition that I don't know about? It was delicious frozen.)
Anyhow, we knew we wanted to get married in New York City, and not in a church. We also knew that a Manhattan wedding would be big-time expensive. We live in Queens, so a Queens wedding seemed perfect. And convenient!Many friends of mine had planned long-distance weddings and finding a hairstylist in Santa Fe or whatever was not a headache I wanted to take on. Ten minutes away by car? Perfect!
I have to admit: I started snooping around on the internet, looking at wedding dresses and venues before we even got engaged. I made up arbitrary rules for myself about what was "ok" too look at in advance and what wasn't. (Wedding dresses and venues, totally ok. Full-on wedding sites like Weddingbee, not ok. Who knows why!)
By the time we got engaged, I had half of it planned out already. Then I totally changed my mind about everything. The perfect Queens venue that I found turned out to be way too expensive. Apparently, they had recently filmed an episode of "Gossip Girl" there, so it was not in the slightest bit an undiscovered Queens gem. Also -- more importantly -- my mother hated it.
Then I regrouped and I googled "Long Island City weddings" and found a "real wedding," which had been held at the "Metropolitan Building" as the ceremony and reception venue. I looked at the pictures of the building online, and loved it.
Six days after we got engaged, G. and I drove over and took a look. The neighborhood is mainly warehouses, and the Metropolitan Building is an old electrical parts factory. We like things that are a little offbeat, so this was excellent. When we looked at the space (an entire floor!) we just about died. It was so perfect for us: affordable (most importantly), very shabby chic, a little Parisian-looking, and overall pretty weird, with random skulls, romance novels and Buddha heads scattered about. We loved the idea of our guests arriving at a run-down warehouse and then finding such a wonderful, romantic space inside.
A week after that, my mother came to visit and we put down a deposit. Two weeks after engagement, we had our spot! I couldn't believe it was so easy.
In addition to loving the space, it is run by a very eccentric woman named Eleanor. Eleanor keeps a little dog with her, and was quick with the jokes.She told us that the cost of the site would be free if we used their catering, which we will. I am a one-stop-shopping sort of girl, so I am super-psyched that I don't have to worry about choosing a caterer and linens, or ordering tables and chairs. We just have to supply alcohol, the cake, the flowers and the DJ. I did another Google search and found a message board where former brides raved about the Metropolitan Building catering, so I know I won't have to worry. (An aside: Eleanor politely requested that we not ask for baby lamb chops for dinner. Apparently, they are a very laborious dish. Who knew?)
When we met with Eleanor in February, the space was either $6,000 flat fee, and you bring your own catering, or you get the space for free and you pay $150 per person for their catering. Also, they are very relaxed about how much time you spend there. We are able to drop stuff off the night before, and have the whole floor from 9:00 a.m. until midnight on the day of our wedding. Also -- I know, right? The awesomeness continues! -- they are a prop rental business, so they have a whole floor of crazy antique furniture that we can use at no extra charge. So if I desire a purple velvet chaise lounge and orange banquettes, I shall have them!
Did you pick your venue easily? Did they offer you any cool perks?
Anyhow, we knew we wanted to get married in New York City, and not in a church. We also knew that a Manhattan wedding would be big-time expensive. We live in Queens, so a Queens wedding seemed perfect. And convenient!Many friends of mine had planned long-distance weddings and finding a hairstylist in Santa Fe or whatever was not a headache I wanted to take on. Ten minutes away by car? Perfect!
I have to admit: I started snooping around on the internet, looking at wedding dresses and venues before we even got engaged. I made up arbitrary rules for myself about what was "ok" too look at in advance and what wasn't. (Wedding dresses and venues, totally ok. Full-on wedding sites like Weddingbee, not ok. Who knows why!)
By the time we got engaged, I had half of it planned out already. Then I totally changed my mind about everything. The perfect Queens venue that I found turned out to be way too expensive. Apparently, they had recently filmed an episode of "Gossip Girl" there, so it was not in the slightest bit an undiscovered Queens gem. Also -- more importantly -- my mother hated it.
Then I regrouped and I googled "Long Island City weddings" and found a "real wedding," which had been held at the "Metropolitan Building" as the ceremony and reception venue. I looked at the pictures of the building online, and loved it.
Six days after we got engaged, G. and I drove over and took a look. The neighborhood is mainly warehouses, and the Metropolitan Building is an old electrical parts factory. We like things that are a little offbeat, so this was excellent. When we looked at the space (an entire floor!) we just about died. It was so perfect for us: affordable (most importantly), very shabby chic, a little Parisian-looking, and overall pretty weird, with random skulls, romance novels and Buddha heads scattered about. We loved the idea of our guests arriving at a run-down warehouse and then finding such a wonderful, romantic space inside.
A week after that, my mother came to visit and we put down a deposit. Two weeks after engagement, we had our spot! I couldn't believe it was so easy.
In addition to loving the space, it is run by a very eccentric woman named Eleanor. Eleanor keeps a little dog with her, and was quick with the jokes.She told us that the cost of the site would be free if we used their catering, which we will. I am a one-stop-shopping sort of girl, so I am super-psyched that I don't have to worry about choosing a caterer and linens, or ordering tables and chairs. We just have to supply alcohol, the cake, the flowers and the DJ. I did another Google search and found a message board where former brides raved about the Metropolitan Building catering, so I know I won't have to worry. (An aside: Eleanor politely requested that we not ask for baby lamb chops for dinner. Apparently, they are a very laborious dish. Who knew?)
When we met with Eleanor in February, the space was either $6,000 flat fee, and you bring your own catering, or you get the space for free and you pay $150 per person for their catering. Also, they are very relaxed about how much time you spend there. We are able to drop stuff off the night before, and have the whole floor from 9:00 a.m. until midnight on the day of our wedding. Also -- I know, right? The awesomeness continues! -- they are a prop rental business, so they have a whole floor of crazy antique furniture that we can use at no extra charge. So if I desire a purple velvet chaise lounge and orange banquettes, I shall have them!
Did you pick your venue easily? Did they offer you any cool perks?
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