2006/2007 Brides

I know there are a few of us on here! Have you done any planning?

We're waiting for $$ reasons!

But we've registered. FH is moving inot an apartment that we plan to keep once we're married. And I want to book the hall, ceremony and photo this summer! I want it all planned ahead b/c I'm so picky!

Sorry to butt in Marymoon, but did you finally decide on which reception halls you were going to look into? Hope everything works out!!

My list right now (off the top of my head)

I'm going to look at :

Westbury Manor
Millerridge Inn
Riviera
North Ritz Club
Meadow Club
Inn @ East Wind.
Windows on the Lake

I'm definiely going to look at those. It all depends on where the ceremony is going to be. If it's at the recption hall or close to it then I can go to Suffolk, but if it's going to be nearby where I like (Queens) It's gotta be w/in Nassau!

So far I have the hall and DJ booked...it is too early for the church (so they say) and I am working on photographers/videographers now.
I also have certain little things like the garters, ring pillow, toasting glasses, cake knife and server, ceremony rice, programs (not written out yet!), and I ordered my save the dates but they haven't come yet. I like to get things done early!

Technically I am getting married in 2006 but really it is the first saturday of the year...it is not like I have time in '06 to plan anything!!! I have to keep reminding myself that it is really like the end of '05!! Good luck all!

We've booked the hall and we've called the Church just to have our names put in the book. We're getting married around the time that a lot of kids will be receiving their first Communions so we wanted to make sure they had that reserved for us. Other than that, right now we're just getting ideas on what we like, what vendors we want to talk to, and what special touches we want to add to our day. Most people are saying it's too early to really book anything else, because some vendors may either go out of business, or change personnel by the time the wedding comes around. I mean if you have your heart set on a particular vendor now, I say go for it! With most, you'll lock into their price now, rather than paying more if you book next year. We'll probably start aggressively looking at places probably in the summer. We want to take our time, and try to enjoy every minute of the planning!

I am going to book a curch as soon as they let me. Honestly, I really don't care if they get annoyed that I booked the hall first!! IMO it is BETTER to book to hall first. I was able to guarantee this years prices and menus. Plus, I have a much better understanding of how to better budget our savings - the hall is the biggest expense so with that booked I know what we'll have for everything else.

Churches have told me that they usually only book weddings up to a year in anvance...but halls book up WAY before that and finding the perfect hall is more important to me than finding the perfect church. (I don't mean that the party is more important than the ceremony AT ALL...however, the majority of that day will be spent in the hall & the majority of guests sadly go the the reception and not the church, so I do feel that chosing a great hall to cater to us and our guests comes first).

I live in Brooklyn and it is sad to say but churches are like a dime a dozen. I don't particularly have my heart set on my church, in fact I don't want to get married in my church for personla reasons, and FH's church is just ok. Most churches will marry people outside of their parish. We went to look at about 7 churches in my neighborhood and know the top 3 that we would like to get married in. When the time comes to book, I will do it early enough so that I shouldn't have any problems.

Yeah, I hear you! Just don't wait too long! AHHHH!

FOr us the ceremony is going to be the hardest b/c we are interfaith and have NO clue what to do.

I can understand how that is going to be challenging...the best advice I have (and what everyone tells me) is that it is great that there is so much time to plan and research things like that.

And trust me, I have already called all 3 churches and they told me to call back 1 yr before...so I will call in October!! Good luck!

Definitely Marymoon! I agree! You want to get the hall out of the way, and you don't want to feel rushed at all on that either. I've always been told that the hall is the one thing that people will remember most. FI and I were lucky because we fell in love with our hall! We booked before we called the Church. Most of the time, if you leave a deposit on the hall, you can call the Church and tell them of your intent. They may be able to at least pencil you in for your date. That's what mine did. Then they'll probably ask you to call back at the beginning of next year. Worst case, if they don't have your date, you can always change your hall date if you're not completely attached to it, but by that point you will have made a commitment to your hall. Also, for 2006 not a lot of people have requested dates for Churches, so we're lucky in that sense too!

As far as the other stuff, I think our next priorities are going to be DJ and photog too! I think those are the two that book up the quickest.

P.S. The Riviera is BEAUTIFUL we had a holiday party there last year, and it was just so nice!