More visits

Last week Marielle and I visited three more locations together: The Metropolitan in Glen Cove, Westbury Manor, and The Sandcastle in Franklin Square. Each had unique offerings, and since I had only seen one other catering hall prior to this trip, it was an eye-opening day for me.

The Metropolitan had a pretty cool two-floor setup, with the cocktail hour happening on a balcony above the ballroom. Also, it would have been a nice setup for our cocktail hour entertainment (hopefully Keyth Hart @ http://www.mysmoothsounds.com/), since he would have been setup on the ballroom floor and spotlighted from above. However, we didn't love the chairs that they had in there, and would probably have had to incur some extra expense to bring different ones in. Overall, it was a nice place and I had a good feeling about their food, but we felt that it didn't really suit us properly. Also, the only outdoor area was small and right on a busy road, though screened. Still, not a huge fan.

Westbury Manor was beautiful and Felicia, the Banquet Manager who assisted us, was very accommodating. It has great options for both indoor and outdoor cocktail hours (although I much prefer the outdoor, obviously) and the ballroom is a good size for our party. It also has really nice old windows surrounding the entire room, which we liked, and french doors behind the sweetheart table that open up onto the gardens (right onto the spot where the ceremony would take place earlier, in fact) that can be open during the entire reception. We'd have to have it on a Friday if we went there, as they can't do a ceremony for us on the weekend, but the the tradeoff is that we get the place all to ourselves all day, which is great. In fact, the only negative thing I've heard about the place is that it was abit confusing with two events overlapping a bit at a friend's wedding.

The Sandcastle was a really nice place as well, much newer, a little guido, but eager for our business. The Banquet Manager there was nice (Will), although the owner was a slight turnoff. The outdoor cocktail hour space was magnificent, and although we didn't get to tour the gardens where the ceremony would take place as it was raining by then, the pictures of them were gorgeous. Mainly, the value here was incredible. They presented the entire package including tax and gratuity for a "seven-hour" event (one hour of hospitality with full open bar and some food before the ceremony), unlimited everything in the cocktail hour including raw fish, and, here's the kicker: an all-inclusive 7-day stay at their hotel on the isle of Crete, which looked pretty sweet as well. So, wow. Problems we had though: no windows in the ballroom; again, slightly guido atmosphere; the owner was pushy and arrogant; and the place was just a bit overdone in general. But that might well be the perfect location for someone else! That honeymoon looked great.

So we're leaning toward the Manor. We're meeting with Felicia again this coming Tuesday to nail down some more date options and discuss pricing. I was really glad that I enjoyed visiting there so much last time, as Marielle was already very taken with it. It has lots of different rooms, plenty of dark wood, and an olden feel that lends an air of gravity to everything. And of course the gardens were lovely as well, as pictured above.

As much as I loved the atrium at Flowerfield, they really are just too pricey. And Marielle has visited about 15 places now, none of which she likes so much as WM. Stay tuned for more updates once we re-visit. Looks like our venue is almost decided :)