A friend of mine who found a dress she liked for her son’s wedding but the dress lacked sleeves and a jacket, her seamstress told her to buy 2 dresses and she used the 2nd dress’ fabric to add sleeves and a small jacket. It looked terrific.
That is quick thinking and creative @cbreeze . Gaining some good tips on this thread! Definite one is numbering the backs of the RSVP cards to know for sure on them!
I am thrilled to finally be part of this group! My D called this afternoon … her BF proposed. H knew all week that it was happening this weekend, because the BF called him. Can’t believe he kept it a secret, but glad he did so I could truly be surprised and happy when she called. He had just proposed, so I don’t know when they plan to get married … time to talk about that in the coming weeks. We adore him, so I am over the moon. 
Congrats, @kelsmom to you and your family!
Congratulations, @kelsmom!
congratulations!!!
@oldfort, I checked out the Brooklyn Winery. It seems like an amazing place to host a party, but unfortunately they are booked out for a wedding on our date.
runnersmom - here is another place to consider, Bar Cyrk, 88 Thomas Street. A friend had a 60th birthday party there. They rented the whole place out from 9pm on. The food was fabulous and the vibe was great too.
Thanks - I’ll check it out. I have some bar/brewery/restaurant/venue options that i need to run past the couple next weekend. I just want to get something booked and worry about the details later!
I have a question for those who have had weddings in high cost destinations. I am in the process of contacting hotels about blocks of rooms, and the rates are quite high (objectively speaking, not NYC speaking). Of course, this is NYC over a weekend and it’s also US Open weekend. I suspect that guests coming to the wedding will assume hotel costs will be high, but it makes me a little uncomfortable to be offering options that are so expensive. I know the common wisdom is to offer multiple price points, but in this city, that’s not really an option - the cheaper option is likely to be maybe $20-30 less per night and not in the same neighborhood. Since the couple is arranging buses to the event from the main hotel, there would be additional transportation costs if not staying at the “wedding” hotel. Anyone been there, done that?
It is perfectly reasonable to only offer transportation from the main hotel in NYC. It would be $10-15 uber ride. I know of someone with a wedding outside of London. They offered hotels around the venue and also around London, but they only did one pick up/drop off in London.
I just received an estimate from the venue for food and alcohol. They wanted to charge us $X/hr for premium alcohol for 5 hours. They also wanted to charge us full price for premium champagne (3X mark up) for toast. I told the event planner that I expected lower hourly rate after the first hour because there is diminishing in return. I also showed her how other caterers were charging for alcohol. She wouldn’t back down, so I thanked her for the estimate. I then asked D1 to email the wedding planner that we wanted to come up to look at few other venues because we were not happy with the pricing. D1 said to me, “Mommy, there is no other venue that could accommodate that many people.” I told her that I was open to go outside of the city. D1 sent out the email reluctantly because she really liked the venue. Within few hours we got a response from the wedding planner to say the venue’s event planner is going to re-do their pricing. We are still going to go up to look at few other venues, but at least The Venue’s pricing is going to be more in line now.
Parents - compare prices and negotiate. It is kind of like shopping for a car.
@runnersmom, is your D’s wedding in Manhattan? There are cheaper hotel options in other boroughs especially Long Island City and just one subway stop to Manhattan. I think most people who will attend the wedding know it’s going to be expensive. But like oldfort said, they can uber or subway to the main hotel, hopefully, it is close to a transit stop.
@oldfort, your D’s wedding is not in Manhattan right?
@cbreeze - they are getting married in Ithaca. It is harder to manage with no one on site, that’s why we hired a wedding planner.
It’s actually my S and they are getting married in the Bronx. Originally they didn’t want to block rooms, at all, but her mother and I disagreed with that decision. My family is all from out of town, as are some of their friends and many friends of her mom. I’m thinking we’ll choose what is most reasonable and if that doesn’t work for some they will find alternative options, or Air BnB. Once they decided to get married in the city, we knew everything would be more expensive. @oldfort, Ithaca is beautiful.
@oldfort good for you bucking getting really stiffed on add on costs. Negotiating is always good. I do think venues will reconsider when wedding planners are involved because word gets around.
Sometimes supply/demand will be such that one gets away with it. They always have their dates filled, and people will pay what the market will bear.
And I was concerned about a charge that was maybe $400 more than it should have been on the venue…but I will say something at an appropriate time at the end, if I do not see the value for the extra charge (I am comparing Catholic church hall prices in our Diocese, and outside of the security guard that is needed in the church/hall location, I do not understand the higher cost other than they can obtain it).
On Sunday, having been with at least one of us since Friday evening – she and my wife went to Washington together to demonstrate and to carry cute signs – my daughter “casually” mentioned that she and her boyfriend were discussing what kind of engagement ring they should get. And then it turned out she had been tracking available dates at various venues she might want to use. So . . . yay! It looks like I am not going to get out of Weddingland any time soon. (I spent a good deal of the day on Sunday confirming relatives’ current addresses for my son’s Save The Date cards.)
Congratulations!!
Congratulations and welcome to the thread @kelsmom and @JHS
My S sent me the contracts to look over for his venue. He wants our opinion before they sign anything. The wedding isn’t till Sept 2018 but I’m concerned if they don’t put a deposit down soon the venue will get booked. The deposit is large and I can see why my S is hesitant to put down so much money so early. I’ve offered to pay the deposit out of the money we have offered them.
A big thank you to @jym626. If not for CC I would not have known about this venue.
@walkinghome - they did not get a chance to look at your recommendation of Camp Campbell before they found their venue. It looks beautiful. My H was concerned since it is a YMCA camp it had a lot of crosses in the woodwork in the pictures online. H is Jewish and while the venue rents to all denominations H would have felt awkward.
All I can say is I wish I was seeing the type of prices that @SOSConcern gets in her state. Having a wedding in coastal Ca is costly.
@atomom years ago when I got married I remember talk of grooms family paying for alcohol.
My friend had a nice small wedding for her S and his bride who was from another country. It was just friends of couple and the grooms family. She paid for the entire wedding. Another wedding was being planned abroad. My friend got a shock when she heard that the family of the groom typically was responsible for the wedding cost in the country of the bride.
DD and Fiance’ have countered back on the catering. DD seems to believe she will have over 200 guests. They have been fine tuning the food they want and hors d’oeuvre. It is a family catering company, and know of successful events from them.
So glad now future details and costs are on DD, fiance’ and whatever gets worked out for the dinner the night before coordinated with the in-laws.
Now awaiting how things do unfold.
Yes, expensive areas (on the coasts especially) take quite a bite of money.
One of bridesmaids dresses - mix up in the dress order, and now one has to get something unique - but it will work out; two bridesmaids with same dresses, and MOH and another bridesmaid with unique (but all full length navy). I asked DD/MOH if she is carrying the same bouquet as the others and she said yes.
DD1 was asked DD2 about a girls’ night out a week or two before the wedding - so they are discussing workable things.
We just had a short visit with DDs, and all seems on track.