HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

hlc200 Posted: Oct 05, 2006 10:12 AM

HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

Hi, I am deciding my wedding venue between De Seversky Mansion vs. Palm House in Brooklyn. Girls, I need your opinion:

Here is Pro vs. Con:
Total Capacity: We have about 120 - 150 guests, DeSeversky -150, we can have the wedding on Sat..
Palm House (300 total capacity) -will have wedding on Friday.

Location: alot of my guests live in the city or Jersey City and they may not have cars. It may be easier to do it Palm House because they can travel there by Subway.

Venue: DeSeversky -historical mansion vs. Palm House - garden + green house.

Services: Heard alot of complaints about DeSeversky management -they don't do alot of wedding and I have hard time to get in touch with the management. I may need to hire a DOC to handle them.

Food: DeSeversky should be better because it's a cooking school.

Here are their websites:
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/791651/3/35151692

www.palmhouse.com

I am soooooo confused.... Please help me!!!!!!

bride2b92006 Posted: Oct 05, 2006 10:20 AM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

Palm House is gorgeous.

SeptBride70 Posted: Oct 05, 2006 10:30 AM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

DeSeversky is very pretty

BUT The Palm House is magnificent and so breathtakingly beautiful... It's so unique and it just seems like something that will BLOW people away!! Plus, the location does seem better for your guests and you might not want to chance it with the capacity-- since DeSeversky seems to be very close to your # of people invited-- take it from me, the list always grows and sometimes the people you think will say NO say YES and it might be better and more comfortable at the Palm House b/c it is MUCH larger...

Not to mention that your pics will be AMAZING...

Good Luck!!!! Both are beautiful so either way you are good to go-- it's up to you now, follow your heart

EastEndBride Posted: Oct 05, 2006 10:33 AM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

While both are beautiful my personal preference is for the Palm House hands down! It is gorgeous & unique- and the brooklyn botanical gardens are amazing. Have you seen the pics of Jaime Lyn Siegler's ( she plays Meadow on Sopranos) wedding there? they are stunning!

Bridex100 Posted: Oct 05, 2006 10:34 AM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

I'd personally pick Palm House. It would be so convenient for you take your wedding pictures.

ChrissynRicky Posted: Oct 05, 2006 10:36 AM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

In all honesty, I always dreamed our wedding would be at the Palm House. After attending my boss' wedding there, my thoughts changed - it's gorgeous (don't get me wrong) and there is nothing like it out there, but the $$ you pay, compared to what you get....was not worth it in my opinion.

I think the DeSeversky Centre is GORGEOUS, and they are very generous in their offerrings.

hlc200 Posted: Oct 05, 2006 10:57 AM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

Trust me! With amount of $$ that I spend on De Seversky is about the same because I have to add so much extra such as 1) cake 2) DOC 3) Transportation for out of town guests

Amount of food we get from De Seversky in fact is less than Palm House.

Bridex100 Posted: Oct 05, 2006 10:59 AM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

When I first looked at venues, my top picks were Palm House and Tribeca Rooftop.

I was ready to book Palm House but my mom vetoed it saying it was hard to get to.

Till this day I regret not booking Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.

I actually looked at over 25 halls before booking my venue.

tml1024 Posted: Oct 17, 2006 12:11 PM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

The Palm house was one of the first places I looked at, but when I went there I didn't get that feeling. Went to deSeversky and that's where we are booking. I love the feel of the place, the grounds are beautiful and i love the ballroom. The pictures of the Palm House are pretty too but I didn't love the greenhouse as much as I thought I would. We have been dealing with the deSeversky Center and I they have been really accomodating.

lucite Posted: Oct 17, 2006 12:13 PM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

Palm House is gorgeous

luvabul Posted: Oct 17, 2006 12:40 PM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

palm house if its easier for ur guests to get there...

KateB Posted: Oct 31, 2006 10:31 AM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

I got married at De Seversky in late august. You're right: De Seversky management is AWFUL to deal with; I hired Rosalie as my DOC and it's a good thing, since the maitre 'd was fired at 2 pm the day of my wedding and Rosalie had to completely run the dinner service. It was hard to get responses from Debbie, though my husband was better at getting replies than I was (he would just drop by when he was near DS and check on her). They make you think the chef, who they brag about all the time, will be involved in your meal, but in fact he NEVER cooks for weddings. Our guests said the food was really good, and I worked hard to streamline and simplify the menu so it would be appropriate for a summer event, but I wasn't pleased with my entrée. I also think it's very weird that they don't allow you a tasting; you have to just attend one of their wine dinners. Feel free to email me if you want to see pics of our event (which was stunningly beautiful) or have other questions. It's hard--DS is so beautiful, and our wedding was incredibly lovely, but the stress of working with them there was really upsetting. They didn't make one part of the process fun or simple. All sorts of stuff, like refusing the allow any of my vendors into the building until 2 hours before the guests were arriving--even to let the florist DROP OFF, not even set up, even though there's only one event per day. Yuck. That said, if you can cope with it, you'll have a wedding people will keep talking about! They have nothing at DS except an unbelieveble space.

ponzon Posted: Nov 06, 2006 10:29 AM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

I have seen the Palm House and thought it was hands down the most gorgeous facility and I was going to book. Here is the problem, I work in a catering hall and so there are particular things that the Palm house does not have. First off, the initial service... you are no one to them unless they get your $4000 deposit. Yes most things are included... but you get a very limited menu selection (not even a choice of three), if you want more you pay more. There is no bridal suite. If your guests want to leave the main room for air or just to have a chat somewhere, and its raining.. where will they go. I was very impressed with the Palm house orginally... but I have called them 5 times so far.. and they don't even know who I am. In my opinion.... that type of 'non-service' means a lot to me. Just a thought.

I was also looking at the De Seversky Ctr.. and would like more feed back. Anyone know about the Glen Cove Mansion and the Royalton Mansion????

greta Posted: Nov 06, 2006 12:41 PM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

not sure if you made your choice yet but i wanted to weigh in as i've been a guest at a palm house wedding and we held my sister's bridal shower at deseversky.

my impressions:

palm house- beautiful setting as it is in BBG. loved the pond outside the venue but was not terribly impressed with the interior of the venue itself. food was very good, but if you're used to big LI weddings with tons of food this was not like that. it was more HDs and such at cocktail. one thing i didn't like was that the cocktail hour went way over- i don't know if the bride & groom were late or what but they didn't replenish the food during all that 'extra' time.

deseversky ctr- beautiful ballroom, service was great, i did not have any problems reaching debbie- she was easily accessible by phone/email. one thing i wasn't too hot about was the food. it was ok, but definitely institutional type food.

also wanted to add about DS- it was very small. i know they say it accomodates like 150 ppl, but we had 60 ladies at my sister's shower and honestly, more than 100 with dancing would crowd the room.

CASJLL Posted: Nov 06, 2006 12:47 PM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

Sounds like Palm is the way to go! (and the place is amazing!)

Shiv Posted: Nov 06, 2006 12:58 PM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

Palm House is gorgeous, I wanted to get married there but couldn't do the site fee.

Also, it's not that easy to get there by subway, so I wouldn't make that a deciding factor. It'll be quicker for your city guests as they can take a cab there, but subway is not easy- transfers and walking...

tbone66 Posted: Nov 07, 2006 01:22 AM

Re: HELP!!!! De Seversky vs. Palm House

I have been to DeSEveresky for a Mothers' Day brunch. I thought that the food was okay but I was little disappointed. I also thought that the space was really small for 150 people. You may want to consider how small the dance floor will be with that many people.

I have been to the BBG (not for a wedding) and think that it is very beautiful and convenient for the city people without cars but I would not base your decision solely on the convenience of your guests.

If you want your wedding at a mansion maybe you should look at some of the other mansion on LI: Woodlands, Bourne, Vanderbilt, etc.

Good Luck!