Now that I booked...Mini Hall Reviews and Prices 1 of 2 LONG POST
Hi Ladies,
I am in the process of getting rid of all these menus and books and wanted to start my reviews of the places I visited.
I want to start by saying thanks so much to the ladies on this site. Although, I am just getting started with most of my planning, you guys have been sooo helpful. I have pictures of some of these places in my album, feel free to take a look.
Here is a mini review of the halls we visited. They are in no particular order and are simply my opinions, so please don’t take offense if one of the halls listed is where you are having your wedding. I have also included the price quotes below as well as on the Reception Price Quotes for 2008 thread.
We originally started out looking for a place where we could have reception and ceremony on a Friday or a Sunday in August 2008 for 200 people. We would have loved to consider a Saturday but since we are paying for it ourselves, we knew we could not afford it.
The Fountainhead - www.thefountainhead-ny.com
180 person guarantee for Friday evening ($85 with cake and $88 without cake). Ceremony Fee- $500. This is our hall, it’s aesthetically beautiful. It’s modern, it has huge ballrooms and it’s us. We are very happy with our choice. I had this site listed on my “reception halls to visit spreadsheet” but almost forgot all about it since I fell in love with Long Island. We were driving back from Westbury Manor discussing how much we loved the place and how important a day vs. night wedding was to us, when FH asked if there were any other places I would like to see. I told him NO, I was tired of seeing reception halls (I saw like 18 in total although he only saw 6 or 7). I ended up looking at the list and picking this one, gave them a call to see if we could come check the place out and really loved it. At first when I walked in, I was like this is nice but no grounds, and then I saw the chapel and the Banquet room and fell in love. There are pictures in my album of our site and the food tasting.
Fox Hollow - www.thefoxhollow.com
185 person guarantee for Friday ($89) and Sunday ($85); Ceremony Fee- $750 and a Comp room the night of the wedding at the Fox Hollow Inn. We really liked this place and would have used the Garden Terrace. The outside is cute and makes the place look smaller than it really is. It’s a great surprise when you walk around the place and see how big it is. Our BM would have been Dawn. She is great; if you book there please request her. I first went to visit this place with my Maid of Honor and was basically sold on it. Dawn gave me a run down of the day from beginning to end and since she had just gotten married this summer, she was speaking from first hand experience. I went home and praised her to FH and when I brought him back he felt she was very casual and didn’t sell him on the place. I feel that what happened was that she figured I had told FH everything and thought he would just have some questions. I had told him everything, but we went here right after Westbury Manor who gave him the same treatment I had on my first visit, he also was not convinced that the ceremony site could fit our guest list. Not Dawn’s fault at all. This was still one of our top choices, and I could have convinced FH to go with this place, except that I got sent out of town for work and when I returned that dates we were interested in were booked. With that said if you are interested in this place, BOOK IT! There are pages upon pages of food choices, perfect wedding planner option, large bridal suite, cordial cart after dinner at no charge and ceremony fee includes fresh flowers.
Chateau Briand - http://www.chateaubriandcaterers.com/
Chapel Fee- $750, Sun am- $80; Sun pm $99; Friday pm- $104. Let me first start off by saying that the only day in our budget was Sunday am and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to have a day wedding considering I had always dreamt of an evening wedding. We spoke to Frank, he was helpful but kind of seemed like he didn’t want to be there that day. FH did not like the place, he felt it reminded him of a cruise ship and that the room was kind of dark. I thought it was cool and loved the cocktail room and the art deco theme but it just was not what we were looking for.
Crest Hollow - www.cresthollow.com
175 person guarantee for Plaza room; Chapel Fee- $950 outdoor and $750 indoor; outdoor cocktail- $500; August/ July 2008- Friday pm- $88; Sat pm- $102.50; Sunday pm- $83. Our BM would have been Eric, both FH and I really liked him and would encourage anyone interested in the venue to go speak with him. I visited this place twice, the first time with my maid of honor and then I brought FH back because I liked the place. FH thought it was really nice and this was actually one of top 3 choices. The banquet rooms are huge, and this was one of the things we loved. The BM manager showed us a slideshow of the grounds (7 gardens), since we could not go outside to see them. Eric said that because there was a chance of ice patches, and no flowers we could not see any of the gardens. We were concerned with the fact that there are so many events going on at once and that we would hear the music of the next party. After speaking with some of you, we decided not to go with Crest Hollow and then got a call from Eric saying that we could have our date but would not be able to start until 8 pm for the ceremony because there would be a ceremony before us at 7. That basically sealed the “no” to having our wedding there. I have heard horror stories of people’s weddings getting pushed back really late because of the wedding before them. This is also the only place that charges for an outdoor cocktail hour, we had a problem with this, especially since there was no guarantee that we would be the only wedding having cocktail hour at that time around the pool. I felt that would be weird. If you have specific questions about Crest Hollow FM me and I will let you know the other concerns we had. One thing, if you do go with this place please talk to Eric, he is really nice, and really tried to work with us on price.
Leonard’s of Great Neck - http://www.leonardscatering.com/
180 person guarantee for Friday and Sunday. Friday pm- $80, Sunday am- $70 and Sun pm- $78. Ceremony fee- $700 and they provide fake flowers (didn’t care for them but nice gesture). This was the only LI hall that we visited with an 18% vs. the 20% gratuity charge. We spoke with Ernest, who seemed very nice, however, I got the feeling that everything was an add on, would you like bread? Ok that will be an additional $5 (exaggerating but that’s what it felt like). This place seemed easy to find and was reasonably priced. They were about to have an event and the food smelled sooo good. One of the things that made this a no for us is that the ceremony site, both inside and out only sat 170 guests. Ernest said that most people do not show up to the ceremony, but everything I have read states that usually when the ceremony and reception are at the same venue it is that more likely for all/ most of your guest to show up. FH also thought it was a little gaudy.
Westbury Manor- http://www.westburymanor.com/
160 person guarantee for Sunday @ $83 and a 200 person guarantee for Friday- $101 and $650 ceremony fee. Our BM manager would have been MEL. Let me start by saying that there are not enough GREAT things I can say about this place. This was our second choice and if it wasn’t for the fact that I truly wanted an evening wedding, I would have booked this in a heart beat. FH and I really went back and forth over picking our hall because of how much we liked this place and how great MEL was. To this day, FH and I said we are going to have dinner in the restaurant just because sometime this summer. I had to go over what was important to me for my wedding, and almost committed to the Friday evening, even though it was not in our price range and we didn’t want to guarantee that many people. They give you soo much food, so many beverage options (daiquiris, martinis, whatever). We went here right before going to Fox Hollow and when we sat down with MEL he gave us the run down of all our options, including the menu without even looking at a piece of paper. He was Amazing, FH would have almost signed our co-op away to him lol. He was like ok, ok, Mel you won. They have beautiful gardens, stationary bars, lovely room (we would have been in the big room). FH only concern was that if it rained and with 200 people in the indoor cocktail area, once the food was set up, he thought it would be a tight space. Other than that he loved the place. I am serious, he literally was going to write the check right there. We told my best friend who is not even engaged and like 4 others , that we want them to get married there (she has more money than us ;)
Feel free to FM me if you have questions
I am in the process of getting rid of all these menus and books and wanted to start my reviews of the places I visited.
I want to start by saying thanks so much to the ladies on this site. Although, I am just getting started with most of my planning, you guys have been sooo helpful. I have pictures of some of these places in my album, feel free to take a look.
Here is a mini review of the halls we visited. They are in no particular order and are simply my opinions, so please don’t take offense if one of the halls listed is where you are having your wedding. I have also included the price quotes below as well as on the Reception Price Quotes for 2008 thread.
We originally started out looking for a place where we could have reception and ceremony on a Friday or a Sunday in August 2008 for 200 people. We would have loved to consider a Saturday but since we are paying for it ourselves, we knew we could not afford it.
The Fountainhead - www.thefountainhead-ny.com
180 person guarantee for Friday evening ($85 with cake and $88 without cake). Ceremony Fee- $500. This is our hall, it’s aesthetically beautiful. It’s modern, it has huge ballrooms and it’s us. We are very happy with our choice. I had this site listed on my “reception halls to visit spreadsheet” but almost forgot all about it since I fell in love with Long Island. We were driving back from Westbury Manor discussing how much we loved the place and how important a day vs. night wedding was to us, when FH asked if there were any other places I would like to see. I told him NO, I was tired of seeing reception halls (I saw like 18 in total although he only saw 6 or 7). I ended up looking at the list and picking this one, gave them a call to see if we could come check the place out and really loved it. At first when I walked in, I was like this is nice but no grounds, and then I saw the chapel and the Banquet room and fell in love. There are pictures in my album of our site and the food tasting.
Fox Hollow - www.thefoxhollow.com
185 person guarantee for Friday ($89) and Sunday ($85); Ceremony Fee- $750 and a Comp room the night of the wedding at the Fox Hollow Inn. We really liked this place and would have used the Garden Terrace. The outside is cute and makes the place look smaller than it really is. It’s a great surprise when you walk around the place and see how big it is. Our BM would have been Dawn. She is great; if you book there please request her. I first went to visit this place with my Maid of Honor and was basically sold on it. Dawn gave me a run down of the day from beginning to end and since she had just gotten married this summer, she was speaking from first hand experience. I went home and praised her to FH and when I brought him back he felt she was very casual and didn’t sell him on the place. I feel that what happened was that she figured I had told FH everything and thought he would just have some questions. I had told him everything, but we went here right after Westbury Manor who gave him the same treatment I had on my first visit, he also was not convinced that the ceremony site could fit our guest list. Not Dawn’s fault at all. This was still one of our top choices, and I could have convinced FH to go with this place, except that I got sent out of town for work and when I returned that dates we were interested in were booked. With that said if you are interested in this place, BOOK IT! There are pages upon pages of food choices, perfect wedding planner option, large bridal suite, cordial cart after dinner at no charge and ceremony fee includes fresh flowers.
Chateau Briand - http://www.chateaubriandcaterers.com/
Chapel Fee- $750, Sun am- $80; Sun pm $99; Friday pm- $104. Let me first start off by saying that the only day in our budget was Sunday am and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to have a day wedding considering I had always dreamt of an evening wedding. We spoke to Frank, he was helpful but kind of seemed like he didn’t want to be there that day. FH did not like the place, he felt it reminded him of a cruise ship and that the room was kind of dark. I thought it was cool and loved the cocktail room and the art deco theme but it just was not what we were looking for.
Crest Hollow - www.cresthollow.com
175 person guarantee for Plaza room; Chapel Fee- $950 outdoor and $750 indoor; outdoor cocktail- $500; August/ July 2008- Friday pm- $88; Sat pm- $102.50; Sunday pm- $83. Our BM would have been Eric, both FH and I really liked him and would encourage anyone interested in the venue to go speak with him. I visited this place twice, the first time with my maid of honor and then I brought FH back because I liked the place. FH thought it was really nice and this was actually one of top 3 choices. The banquet rooms are huge, and this was one of the things we loved. The BM manager showed us a slideshow of the grounds (7 gardens), since we could not go outside to see them. Eric said that because there was a chance of ice patches, and no flowers we could not see any of the gardens. We were concerned with the fact that there are so many events going on at once and that we would hear the music of the next party. After speaking with some of you, we decided not to go with Crest Hollow and then got a call from Eric saying that we could have our date but would not be able to start until 8 pm for the ceremony because there would be a ceremony before us at 7. That basically sealed the “no” to having our wedding there. I have heard horror stories of people’s weddings getting pushed back really late because of the wedding before them. This is also the only place that charges for an outdoor cocktail hour, we had a problem with this, especially since there was no guarantee that we would be the only wedding having cocktail hour at that time around the pool. I felt that would be weird. If you have specific questions about Crest Hollow FM me and I will let you know the other concerns we had. One thing, if you do go with this place please talk to Eric, he is really nice, and really tried to work with us on price.
Leonard’s of Great Neck - http://www.leonardscatering.com/
180 person guarantee for Friday and Sunday. Friday pm- $80, Sunday am- $70 and Sun pm- $78. Ceremony fee- $700 and they provide fake flowers (didn’t care for them but nice gesture). This was the only LI hall that we visited with an 18% vs. the 20% gratuity charge. We spoke with Ernest, who seemed very nice, however, I got the feeling that everything was an add on, would you like bread? Ok that will be an additional $5 (exaggerating but that’s what it felt like). This place seemed easy to find and was reasonably priced. They were about to have an event and the food smelled sooo good. One of the things that made this a no for us is that the ceremony site, both inside and out only sat 170 guests. Ernest said that most people do not show up to the ceremony, but everything I have read states that usually when the ceremony and reception are at the same venue it is that more likely for all/ most of your guest to show up. FH also thought it was a little gaudy.
Westbury Manor- http://www.westburymanor.com/
160 person guarantee for Sunday @ $83 and a 200 person guarantee for Friday- $101 and $650 ceremony fee. Our BM manager would have been MEL. Let me start by saying that there are not enough GREAT things I can say about this place. This was our second choice and if it wasn’t for the fact that I truly wanted an evening wedding, I would have booked this in a heart beat. FH and I really went back and forth over picking our hall because of how much we liked this place and how great MEL was. To this day, FH and I said we are going to have dinner in the restaurant just because sometime this summer. I had to go over what was important to me for my wedding, and almost committed to the Friday evening, even though it was not in our price range and we didn’t want to guarantee that many people. They give you soo much food, so many beverage options (daiquiris, martinis, whatever). We went here right before going to Fox Hollow and when we sat down with MEL he gave us the run down of all our options, including the menu without even looking at a piece of paper. He was Amazing, FH would have almost signed our co-op away to him lol. He was like ok, ok, Mel you won. They have beautiful gardens, stationary bars, lovely room (we would have been in the big room). FH only concern was that if it rained and with 200 people in the indoor cocktail area, once the food was set up, he thought it would be a tight space. Other than that he loved the place. I am serious, he literally was going to write the check right there. We told my best friend who is not even engaged and like 4 others , that we want them to get married there (she has more money than us ;)
Feel free to FM me if you have questions
