~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~

Good Morning Ladies,

Everyday I have such a hard time thinking of questions or moments to share to engage everyone so here I am again. In the shower I was thinking what am I going to say today and I Got IT!

I looked at over 20 venues before I decided on Woodbury Country Club. I know I wanted something with windows in the reception room for scenery, off the highway and something that was a little more modern. I was never one for a big wedding, but when I met my FH and knew he would be the person I would be with forever I wanted everyone to know that I FINALLY found someone who makes ME happy and makes me a better person. With that being said when I walked into WCC and Bridgeview Yacht Club I was in love. We decided on WCC because of the view and price (of course). Although my wedding is in December the venue is absolutely gorgeous with their own decorations for the holiday and the things I could do are endless. I can't wait for my Winter Wonderland Wedding.

So my question today is, how many venues did you look at and how did you know that one was THE one?

Enjoy your day!

~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~ - Long Island Weddings

I think we only looked at around 5-6. Bridgeview was the second one that we looked at and we really fell in love with the feel of the place. The windows, the water, the gold... and of course the price was right too! We continued our search afterwards to make sure it was the one and we kept comparing everything we saw to it. Thats how we knew! :) Can't wait!!

~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~

I looked at 5. The first one I looked at was a venue I wanted to get married at for years but the price was double our budget. The next three were ok and we actually almost booked the fourth until fail had us look at one more place in staten island and it wound up being the winner. When I walked in I realized it was where I pictured myself getting married all along. And when we were told the price that was much lower than we expected we knew it was the place.

~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~ - Long Island Weddings

I looked at 3 place before falling in love with Bridgeview, 2 steps in the door and I was sold!! I too wanted a place with windows, plus we live in Long Beach so it made sense. And I couldn't believe the price it was below budget so that made the decision even better!!

~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~ - Long Island Weddings

Just one. We used to camp a lot out at Wild Wood and when we would drive around visiting farms and vineyards and stuff, we would always pass the East Wind and I always thought, what a gorgeous property to get married. To be honest, at the time, I didn't even know they did weddings there (I'm not from LI) because the sign just said 'East Wind Inn and Spa.' Fast forward about 10 years and FH FINALLY proposes, lol. I heard about the all inclusive at The Cottage and it was a no-brainer. We made an appointment and went through the motions, but in my head I already knew it was the place.

ETA: I also didn't really need to look anywhere else. In the almost 12 years FH and I have been together, we've been to EIGHTEEN weddings together. I've seen almost every venue on the island!

Re: ~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~

We looked at 2 - Fox Hollow was the 2nd venue we saw and that was that

Re: ~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~

We looked at 5, we were torn with either getting married in March 2015 or October 2014 but when we found out we were able to still get married in the favored month of October it definitely helped narrowed down the list. Finally, the taste testing definitely sealed the deal!

Re: ~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~

Chateau Briand was venue #9. I don't know how I knew...but I knew, lol. I had been there for a wedding in 2010 for friends of ours that would be at our wedding. Because of that, we originally didn't even consider it. We were looking at places mostly no one had been before, with the exception of Russo's on the Bay, which everyone in Queens has been to, haha. I really liked Russo's. That was high on my list. Another favorite of mine was Sand Castle. I loved it there and remember texting my mom that. So when I was at Chateau Briand getting the tour, I texted my mom with excitement that this was the place and she pointed out that I was raving about others, what made this the place? It just felt different than the other visits. I could envision it there. And I am glad I changed my mind at the last minute and told FH to check out CB. We had gotten snail mail from them about their renovations and so it just caught my eye. Glad it all worked out! We found the place exactly two months after becoming engaged.

~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~ - Long Island Weddings

Let me think here, we saw Fox Hollow, Woodbury country club, Harbor Links, Crest Hollow, Carlyle On the Green, Majestic Gardens, Giorgios, and finally Bridgeview. And i fell in love several times with a few of these. I LOVED Carlyle but it was way out of our budget. Then we seeeeeeeeeeeeriously fell in love with Giorgios but his family thought it was much too far. Luckily we saved Bridgeview for last, it was exactly what we wanted. We loved the huge cocktail room, all the windows, right on the water, the big beautiful ball room, one wedding at a time, not too far from my church, and of course, the price. It just fit everything we wanted :) Since then, i've heard rave reviews from SO many people who've attended events there. One of my BMs decided to book her wedding there for fall '15 too!

~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~ - Long Island Weddings

Oh my I think we saw like 20 venues. The first place we went to was Lands End which was our ideal but it was double what we could afford. i was heart broken. So we tried to find a venue we both liked that we could afford and we definitely found that to be a challenge. We fell in love with Giorgios but that too was out of our budget. It came down to Crest Hallow, Woodbury Country Club, and Jericho Terrace. After reading some things about Crest Hallow I was turned off by it and the bm never returned my calls. We loved woodbury country club but Jericho Terrace gave us a cheaper quote and ultimately we decided to go with Jericho Terrace.

~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~ - Long Island Weddings

We went to 12, believe it or not! And the Venetian was our last. We just wanted to walk into a place and say this is it and we definitely had that with the Venetian! My FH is very detail oriented and would tear every place apart down the the painting so venue shopping was miserable! I am so happy about our choice!

Re: ~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~

we only looked at like 5 ... i hated everything until we walked into the three village inn and i whispered to my mother that we weren't leaving without setting a date. i have really strong feelings about LI wedding venues and i really wanted my guests to feel like they were not at a factory-run-of-the-mill catering hall. FH totally agreed and we booked on the spot! (totally changing our initial idea of an october wedding to an august one!)

~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~ - Long Island Weddings

I looked at 6, but my FH looked at 1. Knowing that CLM was it for us (which was the only venue he wanted to look at haha), is hard to describe - we just knew. It fit what we were looking for, and FH loved the BM we worked with (even though he's not always well receipted on here lol).

Funny story - when one of my good friends was getting married, I told her that when me and FH were ready for that step, we were going to get married at CLM. I honestly think I was just enamored at the 'bride & groom' arriving via boat to the CH. However, it ironically is where we ended up - so maybe it was fate :)

~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~ - Long Island Weddings

We went to 4 others. I honestly have a little RH regret. I do feel like I settled beacause the price was right. At the time it really felt SO right and FH loved it too! Now, I can't think of what the place even looks like inside!

Re: ~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~

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Posted by RoandJoe

We went to 4 others. I honestly have a little RH regret. I do feel like I settled beacause the price was right. At the time it really felt SO right and FH loved it too! Now, I can't think of what the place even looks like inside!

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Awww. If it helps, Crest Hollow was one of the places I saw and I thought it was really nice. It was high on my FH's list before I saw the venue we ended up going with.

~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~ - Long Island Weddings

We looked at 5 until we also loved WCC because FH wanted an outdoor space, and a place we haven't previously been to for weddings and couldn't be happier

~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~ - Long Island Weddings

3! I did a lot of research and reviews beforehand. I knew Westbury Manor was the one before we even looked there. I looked at 2 others before anyway and hated them both pretty much. As we were walking around at WM I started tearing up, I always knew it was going to be the one. We booked on the spot for May 8, 2015. About 2 months later we upped our date to October 3, 2014- best decision!

~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~ - Long Island Weddings

I looked at four including our winner. I looked at two with my mom that were not quite the right location, and just didn't give me that feeling of it being my place (smithtown cc and sunset harbor). Then FH came into town and we looked at willow creek. My mom and I accidentally discovered it (despite it being 15 minutes from where I grew up and mom currently lives) bc it is fairly hidden and fairly new. I had never heard of it before! So FH and I made appoints for there and Giorgios. He fell in love with the view of the golf course, I fell in love with the food, look, and attention to detail. When we went to Giorgios later that day and the quote was nearly double, we just knew willow creek was our place.

~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~ - Long Island Weddings

We looked at five. Online I fell in love with The Old Field club but when we got there we realized it would not work for our size guest list. We then went to Three Village Inn, Woodlands, de Severksy and finally The Royalton. We almost booked the Woodlands but since we already had an appointment with the Royalton we decided to look at it before booking. We are sooo happy that we did because The Royalton was exactly what we were looking for. We both felt so comfortable there we knew we had to book our date on the spot!

~~~QOTD 1/24/14~~~ - Long Island Weddings

Lord bless my FH, we went to 35 venues. I would've kept going if we hadn't found Giorgio's. We were looking for a Sunday afternoon wedding, so we got good prices on most of the venues. But I'm pretty much the most picky person in the world. I had to see EVERYTHING. Some of the ones we saw were Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, Lands End, Riviera, The Hamlet, a bunch of CCs in Westchester, Marina Del Rey, Flowerfield, Old Field Club, The Metropolitan, West Sayville CC, Three Village Inn, Venetian Yacht Club, Bourne Mansion, and East Wind. There were a few we walked right out of (pretty much all the ones in Westchester), and I wasn't going to settle.

We couldn't have been happier, we ended up with a beautiful venue for an amazing price, and exactly the time of year I'd wanted (I dreamed of being a June bride, but had thought it would be too expensive).