Pros and Cons of Water Mill???????????

Most people who have gone to the Water Mill as a guest say how much they love it. I just went to a wedding there and I've been there once before. I would say the only con is that there are a bunch of weddings going on at once. I saw at 4 tables of place cards while I was there. For this reason, everthing is on a very strict time schedule.

The wedding I went to was really small so the cocktail hour was in a very small room and they only had 3 people working it. That was kinda rough. But the food was awesome and the place is so pretty. I really like the Water Mill.

I can tell you why I chose the watermill;

1.Food is excellent. I really cant say enough about the food, and the way the food is presented is so artfully done, especially during vienese & cocktail hours. FH and I are half Italian, and the Watermill has the best homemade fresh mozerella--it has authentic 'pork store' taste...If you are even a teensy bit Italian, you know how good that is!

2.the scotto reputation

3.Classy Classy Classy decor (IMO). The watermill is done in dark rich woods, and ivory granite, there are always fresh flowers everywhere--in the lobby, hallways the bathrooms you name it. (To me, this was so much better than silk arrangements I saw at other halls or worse...no arrangements!). To me, It's just very warm and inviting inside..and they always change it around! Literally the drapes were different when I went there one day than they were the night before when I was there. There's a piano in the lobby, and a fireplace in both banquet rooms. There's a larger bar area in each banquet room where guest can actually hang out at but still be at your reception. I dont know.. i just got the feeling it was very 'Gatsby' if that makes sense. Very early long island posh...but tastefully done.
One con aboutthe decor in the watermill is that there are no windows...but then there wouldnt be much of a view either!

4. I like the people who I met with when I intially went there...my banquet manager, and Samantha, their coordinator were easy to talk to when I met them, they made me feel really comfortable and welcome, and I also liked all the packages and add-on options they presented me with.

5. I have been to two weddings there and they were the best weddings I have ever attended. They were the most fun weddings I ever attended (which may have more to do with the guests than anything else) and this makes the place have a positive connotation in my mind.

Well....now..that sounded like a commercial! And a long one at that! But these are my real reasons, and they are fresh in my head because I have been thinking about this lately. Mostly because I have been reading some recent posts, and I feel really bad for brides who are going through bad experiences, so I asked myself Why the Watermill? And these are my reasons.

I hope that my reasons help you make up your mind either way! I have been to the eastwind too, and it is very lovely. But for me it wasnt the 'one'.

Good luck & let us know what you choose!

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Posted by Snoogie

I can tell you why I chose the watermill;

1.Food is excellent. I really cant say enough about the food, and the way the food is presented is so artfully done, especially during vienese & cocktail hours. FH and I are half Italian, and the Watermill has the best homemade fresh mozerella--it has authentic 'pork store' taste...If you are even a teensy bit Italian, you know how good that is!

2.the scotto reputation

3.Classy Classy Classy decor (IMO). The watermill is done in dark rich woods, and ivory granite, there are always fresh flowers everywhere--in the lobby, hallways the bathrooms you name it. (To me, this was so much better than silk arrangements I saw at other halls or worse...no arrangements!). To me, It's just very warm and inviting inside..and they always change it around! Literally the drapes were different when I went there one day than they were the night before when I was there. There's a piano in the lobby, and a fireplace in both banquet rooms. There's a larger bar area in each banquet room where guest can actually hang out at but still be at your reception. I dont know.. i just got the feeling it was very 'Gatsby' if that makes sense. Very early long island posh...but tastefully done.
One con aboutthe decor in the watermill is that there are no windows...but then there wouldnt be much of a view either!

4. I like the people who I met with when I intially went there...my banquet manager, and Samantha, their coordinator were easy to talk to when I met them, they made me feel really comfortable and welcome, and I also liked all the packages and add-on options they presented me with.

5. I have been to two weddings there and they were the best weddings I have ever attended. They were the most fun weddings I ever attended (which may have more to do with the guests than anything else) and this makes the place have a positive connotation in my mind.

Well....now..that sounded like a commercial! And a long one at that! But these are my real reasons, and they are fresh in my head because I have been thinking about this lately. Mostly because I have been reading some recent posts, and I feel really bad for brides who are going through bad experiences, so I asked myself Why the Watermill? And these are my reasons.

I hope that my reasons help you make up your mind either way! I have been to the eastwind too, and it is very lovely. But for me it wasnt the 'one'.

Good luck & let us know what you choose!

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Ditto for all !! - I have been to 2 weddings @ East Wind and had not so great experiences so i'm not a fan of that place.

My best friend had her wedding at East Wind and it was fantastic. The food was amazing, the place looked beautiful, service was outstanding. There was a little wait at the bar during cocktail hour, but never anything extensive. The desserts were amazing as well. We had such a great time and teh place was beautiful (she had it at the 'estate').

I really don't think you can go wrong either way. I like that East Wind is not on a major road, set back a little bit from teh road it is on, and only 1 wedding at a time in the Estate.

Good luck!

I like the Watermill very much. Food was great, service was good.

My sister in law got married there on December 5th...the day of the blizzard and they dealt well.

Only problems she had with them:
- Her BM never returned her calls when she called afterwards to inquire about a credit they promised her due to the storm.

- BM was a little mean to the little kids at the wedding (that was my personal view on it). He asked them to sit down but was not too nice about it. Could have been stress or a rush to start.

- My fiance was the Best Man and we couldn't find the Captain or the Bridal attendant after the first hour of the party to tip them.

- At the end of the night, there was a drunken couple from another wedding just hanging out at her party door just staring in. Not entirely their fault but it shouldn't have been overlooked.

These are things that you can go into Watermill and tell them you heard and you want to make sure wont happen at your's. The major things were amazing! It is a really nice place.

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Posted by Sanna

I attended a wedding there this past May and I enjoyed the food and atmosphere very much. However, my only problem with them occurred at the end--the valet was so SLOW. There were people arriving and two parties leaving and it was a complete mess. My DH just asked for the keys to our car and we got it ourselves.

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i had the same experience there.
also, when we were in the reception, i would take a bite of my food, turn around to say something to the person next to me, and when i turned back around, the waitress had already cleared my plate!!! that happened several times to a few other people as well.

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Posted by kazee525

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Posted by Sanna

However, my only problem with them occurred at the end--the valet was so SLOW. There were people arriving and two parties leaving and it was a complete mess. My DH just asked for the keys to our car and we got it ourselves.

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i had the same experience there.
also, when we were in the reception, i would take a bite of my food, turn around to say something to the person next to me, and when i turned back around, the waitress had already cleared my plate!!! that happened several times to a few other people as well.

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I had the same exact experiences there. I just went to a wedding at the Watermill in the spring. The place is beautiful and I loved the decor. However, I didn't think the food was spectacular - it was pretty bland actually. The CH had a great display, but nothing stood out. I think my favorite was the eggplant rollatini. My dinner itself, the salmon, was dry and so was my fiance's steak. Also I have been to weddings at many places where there is more then one at a time, but here it was quite obvious. At other venues, they try to stagger the parties and keep you seperate, at the Watermill the lobby seemed like mass confusion, never mind the valet. It will look great in pictures though.

Although I am extremely biased (since I got married there), I would definitely recommend the Watermill. We had no problems dealing with anyone there- from the moment we booked to the moment we left as husband and wife. The bridal attendant was amazing. We arrived earlier than they said we could to take pictures before the ceremony and they were extremely accomodating. Any questions please feel free to ask. Good luck!

I've been to weddings at both and must agree that both are wonderful.

Watermill: many many pro's; cons: more than 1 wedding

East Wind: again, many pro's; As for cons, its far away and the service was not as good as Watermill...

I actually have been to weddings at both venues. They are both very nice but I like the food better from East Wind when comparing both. I posted a review on both on the thread 'Have You Been to a Wedding at?'. I will bump it for you. Good Luck and let us know whom you choose!

This is what I posted about the East Wind Reception I went back in July....

I went to a wedding this past July 2004 at East Wind on a Saturday night. As we pulled inside the venue in our truck, they had someone asking which reception we were going to(so I gather they have more than one) and they pointed us to which ballroom to go to. As we arrived at the main entrance of the South Grand Ballroom for Valet parking, the person in charge asked us if we were staying overnight. I guess this is common since they have an INN in premises and also because it is not very close, many people probably prefer to stay overnight that way they can really drink and not have to worry. We didn’t stay overnight and the gentleman was very poised and nice. He took our truck and we proceed to come in. They had two gentlemen announcing their guests and playing trumpets. I thought this was really cute. As we proceeded into the building, I fell in love with the ambiance and the elegance of the place. They had another staff letting us know where the Cocktail Hour was going to be. The food at the Cocktail hour was delicious and they had a lot of variety. The mussels and stuffed baked clams were delicious, the pasta was incredibly tasty and the cold stations and the fruits were fresh and delicious. There was plenty of space to sit at the CH, which I thought was great. The staff was very cordial and removed the empty plates from the tables very quickly. We were then advised that the reception was going to start. The room was setup so beautiful. The bride had a mix of tall and low centerpieces of roses that looked amazing. I thought that was a great idea and it looked very pretty plus it will save some $$$ as well. I wasn’t too crazy about the layout of the room because I felt all the guests were really away from the Bride and the Groom. The wait staff never asked us if we wanted drinks and they removed the places for the food but for the drinks, I had all the glasses with the drinks that we had on the table. And also, another bride to be from here wanted to know if there were more than two bartenders and there were two of them and only one bar at this room. And also, the bartenders had the bowl for the tips out which didn’t bother me but I think a bride to be for LIW wanted to know if they do that. For the reception, the food was very tasty as well. I had the salmon, which, was delicious and my FH had the beef, which was really delicious and tender. If I had seen this place before I booked mine and it wasn’t so far and the layout of the room was different and I’ve liked it, I’d probably booked this venue for my own wedding. It was really nice. The brides to be that are getting married have nothing to worry about. It was sure a nice place to have a beautiful wedding.
Hope this review was helpful and Congrats to all of the ladies that are getting married there. Now if any of the ladies from LIW wants to invite me to their wedding so that I can give a lengthy review from a guest’s point of view, Ask Away!!!

This is what I posted about the Watermill....

Watermill – Saturday Evening
They had courteous attendants directing the guests. The cocktail hour and reception food was good. The room which I don’t remember which one was was pretty. They conducted the affair in an impeccable manner.

Biased review as Im a watermill bride but the only suggestion to counter the cons about more then one wedding is it also depends on your time choices...A sat. night in June will more then likely have more then one wedding,. WE are a Friday in MArch from 8pm till 1 am and so far ( 7 months to go) they dont have any other parties at all that whole day...so take that in consideration too if your worried about overcrowded lobbies etc...

I was a Watermill Bride and of course Im going to say, I love the Watermill! The CH is amazing..(watching my video makes you hungry )
My BM was very nice to work with as well as Samantha. I was married on a sunday with a 6:00 CH and as soon as I got out of the limo my Bridal attendant told me 'your the only one here today'..I was sooo happy! I guess it depends on when you book, day and time! Keep us posted with your choice!