Chateau La Mer versus Historical Thatched Cottage: questions

Hi Ladies, I've been visiting places for months now, and I think I have it narrowed down to these 2, but have some concerns about each:
(1) Are there any nice hotels near the thatched cottage ... our cab driver out there told us the closest place that would be acceptable was the Melville Marriott, about a half hour away. We were worried about having folks stay that far away.
(2) for CLM, we would get the upstairs room, and I was hoping to hear about how that room has worked out for people with another wedding going on downstairs ... my mom felt like our guests would feel trapped upstairs and couldn't go outside to get air, smoke, etc b/c they would intrude on the other wedding? Is this a valid concern?
This is my first posting and I've heard great things about the advice offered on this site, so I truly appreciate any feedback on these 2 places. Thanks!!!

you don't have to worry about what goes on outside, its not intruding not like your guests are going into the other room, it wont be noticeable.

Also you mentioned how with thatched cottage the hotel is 30 mins away, well just so you know the recommended hotel for CLM is Holiday inn and that is also about 20 mins away or a little more

Hey, I haven't been to a wedding at either, but I love down the street from Thatched Cottage, and there really aren't any hotels in the immediate area. There's the Chalet Moter Inn, but that's not a place I'd ever ever ever use

The area is beautiful though! I'd call the hall and see who they rec for hotels

I have the upstairs room at CLM and I'm not worried about that at all! Once the weddings are going on, I'm sure there's no problem with guests going outside. The only time it would affect you is during the cocktail hour times, I would think. That's because the cocktail hour is also outside.

If you're unsure about this, just FM Jen2999- she had her wedding in the upstairs room!

I'm so happy I have the upstairs room! At first I was worried about it but now I love it! The service at CLM is unbelievable- we just finalized our menu and I am beyond happy with our choice. FM if you have any more questions!

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Posted by kim_spring08wedding

Hi Ladies, I've been visiting places for months now, and I think I have it narrowed down to these 2, but have some concerns about each:
(1) Are there any nice hotels near the thatched cottage ... our cab driver out there told us the closest place that would be acceptable was the Melville Marriott, about a half hour away. We were worried about having folks stay that far away.
(2) for CLM, we would get the upstairs room, and I was hoping to hear about how that room has worked out for people with another wedding going on downstairs ... my mom felt like our guests would feel trapped upstairs and couldn't go outside to get air, smoke, etc b/c they would intrude on the other wedding? Is this a valid concern?
This is my first posting and I've heard great things about the advice offered on this site, so I truly appreciate any feedback on these 2 places. Thanks!!!

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We didn't really care for CLM at all when we went to see it. They rushed us completely and acted like they didn't want our business. We found the guy that we spoke with a little rude.
We're getting married at TC, its a lot more intimate and prices were almost the same. Just so you know, I wouldn't say its a 30 min drive from Mariott, more like 15-20. We're probably telling people to stay at either Four Points in plainview or hauppauge.

Good luck!

I booked clm over the thatched cottage, here are my reasons but you need to make a list like fh and i did and really figure out pro's and con's in the situation. Thatched cottage could be better for you then it would of been for fh and i.

FOR ME the negatives:

WAY to far away for most of my family & oot guests

No hotels

Nightmare to find for most people - my mom had a luncheon there and half the people couldn't find it even though its RIGHT there but you miss the turn.

TC was pricer then CLM

I kinda had the run around if my wedding was small they would book another wedding which made no sense when they said they could spit the downstairs up so it wasn't so big for my small wedding and do both the cocktail and reception there so they can book another function upstairs. So they made no sense. Fh tried to clarify what room and if two weddings were going on and was told we needed to have a 100 people for it to be a single wedding. In the end that wasn't such a big issue for us but it was the confusing back and forth talk that we got.

there is a time when the tide is low and the water drains out from that area usually happens late at night but has happened during the day. Verify with them!! My wedding at the time happened to be during low tied before we changed it to a nigh wedding so we would of ran into a problem originally.

Positives:
Great outdoor area but in March no one would of cared for my wedding.

different extra's they had to offer

Went with my theme MY biggest positive.


As you see i had more negatives then positive so we went with CLM. FH really pushed for CLM from the beginning and i honestly have to say it was great for us. We had amazing service and got a tasting even before getting pricing, we went to two functions there with excellent service and great food.

great reviews with food

I live 5 min away from CLM and I've been there a bunch of times and its always been nice. They re-did it a few years ago and it looks awesome. For me, it wasnt even an option because FH and I grew up in Lindy and we didnt want a RH in our town (or one that we hung out in the parking lot of when we had no other place to go!)

We looked at Thached Cottage and really liked it. The pricing was fair and comprable to other places that we looked at and the BM was nice. She set up a food tasting for us to try the food before we booked.

The food that we got at the food tasting was ok. they gave us LOTS and LOTS of the passed around stuff for the CH. That stuff was very good.

Then after leaving us alone for like 45 min someone finally came back to check on us. Another 15 min went by when they brought us 2 of the entrees. One was chicken with spinich on top of it and the other was salmon in a puff pastry
shaped like a fish. They were just ok to me. (My friends liked the entrees but I didnt- I like plain stuff)

Then they left us for another 1/2 hr. The funny part was that no one else was at the hall.

Needless to say it really P.Oed my FH and the friend who was with us. However, we were still gonna possibly book there. I figured that they were trying to leave us alone to talk and eat without being annoying.

This was until I went back with my mom and best friend to show them the place a few days later. We had a 2pm appointment. We got there a little before 2. There was a boy scout function going on. We couldnt find any one to tell them we were there. I ended up showing my mom and best friend the hall myself and we just left because no one was around to help us.
What annoyed me was that no one called me to ask me why I didnt keep my appointment. Til this day, I havent received a call from them about anything- not even to see if we were planning on booking.

We ended up booking somewhere else!

I looked at both CLM and Thatched. Since you want honest opinions here it goes.... I had CLM at the top of my list for a while, gorgeous place, but then I went to the 'wedding of the year' Great time!! But I was surprisingly disapointed with the food we had, so we schedualed yet another tasting with them and gave it anotherchance, and My opinion along with my family, the food just tasted t plain and dry to us. FOOD is very very important to us.

Thatched, I never heard of it before In my life, I passed by it and just decided to go in to give it a shot, because I was getting frusterated, We loved the way it looked, came back for the food tasting, which they do very intimatly!!! It was jut amazing! Very romantic! and from our opinion along with others the best food we had yet.! Ive never had a problem with anyone keeping in touch with me, they arent pushy at alllll during the process or up your butt lol , you make payments when you can and you call with a question they call you back.

Personally I would do a food tasting everywhere you look

If you are looking at places on the water, a place I found to also be great it Captain Bills and the Riverview.

We looked at both places as well, and were also concerned about accommodations. From what I recall, CLM recommended the Best Western in Massapequa (yuck!) & Thatched recommended the Huntington Country Inn. The HCI is about 15 min. from TC and we were not impressed with it at all - it was more of a motel than a hotel. We then contacted the Marriott in Melville & the Huntington Hilton which we liked the best (the Marriott was more $$). I clocked the ride to the HH one Saturday afternoon from the TC & it was about 20 min, which I'm actually ok with since it will put our guests on Rt. 110 where there are TONS of things for them to do & they'll be between all of the major parkways. The HH also offers you the option of renting one or two 11-passenger shuttles for $450 each (+20% grat). The vans will make continuous runs between the hall & the hotel until all of your guests are back. HTH!

I don't think the hotels in Woodbury would be that far from Thatched Cottage...hmm... but maybe the same amount of time as the melville marriott--I would have to do a mapquest. Did you ask the Thatched who they recommend?
I've been to many functions at CLM and it's always well done, but I've also heard great things about the Thatched Cottage.

My sister got married at TC and it was fantastic...one of the best weddings we went to. For my FH and me, it came down to TC and CLM. We chose CLM. Both are great places and treated us very well. TC was going to give us a very good discount because my sister was married there.
CLM just fits our personalities better and was a little more flexible with what we wanted....and the food is fabulous. My godparents are caterers and went to the foodtasting and loved it!
The really good thing about the Holiday Inn hotel is that they will provide a shuttle service to and from CLM for registered guests...this is great so people aren't tempted to drink and drive.

Don't worry about the upstairs/downstairs issue at CLM...all weddings are staggered by 1.5 hours, so there is no overlap of guests.

Good luck!

CLM says that there is only 1 wedding at a time because of the cocktail room but there was another wedding going on during mine. It didn't bother either of us at all!
At one point the other bride and I were both outside taking pictures with our DHs. It was not a problem.

Infact, my DH's aunt was outside chatting up a storm with someone from the other wedding and they didn't even realize it until we told her weeks later.

CLM has the Best Western in Massapequa which is only about 5-10 minutes away.

As for TC- Our hotel was only 5 minutes from our church, but was 40 minutes away from our Reception hall. It was the only thing we could do since our church and RH were so far away from each other. Our guests didn't seem to mind as long as the church was at least close to it.
If you are planning a ceremony at TC, then they would just have to go there and then could stay there all afternoon. Follow your heart and book with the place that you really fall in love with.

I was so new to LI when I booked our hall I wish I knew then what I know now.
If you like one more than the other then you should go with whichever one you are really inlove with

Good Luck!

For CLM, they have a relationship with the Holiday Inn in Hauppauge. They provide a free shuttle. Unfortunately, I felt Hauppauge was too far from my church and I have alot of OOTers. i wanted them to stay where it's most convenient and cheapest- so we went with Best Western Massapequa. It's really not a bad hotel. Not the greatest, but it's way more reasonably priced.

There is now a new hotel opening on Route 110 in Farmingdale. I want to say it's called Marriot Republic Airport or something like that. They will provide a shuttle to CLM. UGH wish I would have known about it sooner. But like I said, Best Western is the cheapest.

If you go with TC....you can't go wrong. My sister cannot stop raving about the wedding she went to last year- she kept bugging me to book there!

We were going back and forth between both.. In the end we decided Thatched..

Both places are great..Fiance just didnt want to be so close to the docks, he kept hearing the bass from cars, while we were there and he just pictured that during cocktail hour.. Personally, I loved both, Thatched is European and unique, CLM is classy and what 'most girls' envision for the reception room, tall ceilings, gorgeous views for both..Cant go wrong!

Oh and we booked Sheraton Happauge..20 min drive the most, right on the LIE.