This is a thread that was started in our old BlissWeddings.com forums by UCF_bride on 05/13/2005.
**************************************************
posted by UCF_bride
what would you guys choose? My two choices are to have the reception in the same the hotel as the ceremony (the room will be free if we have them in the same room) or have the reception in a banquet hall or something and hire a caterer...I want good quality but something not astronomically expensive...what would be best choice be..
**************************************************
posted by Marge129
Is there a big price difference between the two? Is the food the hotel offers good?
I'm leaning more towards the hotel because then the out of town guests can party as much as they want at your reception, and then just go upstairs to their room. It would be very convenient for any O-O-Towners.
~Margie
**************************************************
posted by roseprincess
things to consider: how much time do they estimate it'll take to chage the room setup from ceremony to reception, where can your guests go during this process (like, can the hotel perhaps accomodate everyone in an alternate space for cocktails or something), and is the hotel's food any good.
I worked in a hotel kitchen (a very nice hotel) for a while and was appalled at what goes on during the preparation of food for any type of banquet. There was no way I would've ever considered using a hotel for my wedding reception. At BIL's wedding in a very fancy hotel in DC, the food was either too greasy or overcooked, and I felt like we were herded like cattle first into the cocktail area and then the reception; I heard others' comments to that effect behind me, so I know I wasn't the only one to feel that way. When DH & I got to the dinner buffet table there were no plates and we had to flag down three waiters before one of them made an effort to get them replenished (I would've been livid if this had happened at my wedding). So, unless you know several people who have successfully used the hotel for a wedding reception, I wouldn't advise you to spend the money there.
**************************************************
posted by UCF_bride
i'm not sure about costs yet....i do know that if we spend a certain amount of money then the room becomes free (pretty much a given if you use the room for the reception) ...but i chose the room bc it's my perfect idea of a ceremony location....I think they will give us a food tasting should we decide to use that room...sigh...we have to make the choice by the 26th tho bc after that date prices go up...
**************************************************
posted by syringa
Do caterers in your area have web sites? If they do, you can do some quick comparisons of what it would cost to hire a caterer versus using the hotel. Be sure to include the gratuity and sales tax when determining the total cost. In almost all circumstances, it is much less expensive to do everything in one location and particularly at a hotel. You save the cost of the rent of one facility as well as in other ways. It is quite common for a hotel to give you the room for free if you purchase double or triple the room rent in food, thus saving even more.
If you use a hall, will you have to also rent tables, chairs, linens and dishware as well as hiring a caterer? If so, who will do the set-up and clean up? If you serve alcohol, will you need to hire a bar catering service or can you provide your own? The hotel may have a liquor permit, making alcohol service easy. Some places charge a bartender fee and others don't.
**************************************************
posted by e-star
I ended up choosing a reception hall and booking a caterer. I didn't like the fact that the hotel wouldn't let me taste their food until I had already made a non-refundable deposit - what if I ended up not liking the food!? Whereas all the caterers I met with gave me and my FH a free mini-tasting so we could gauge whether we liked their food and also their style and presentation before making a decision.
I also agree with roseprincess' comment about being herded around like cattle - one very swish boutique hotel I saw would only let us use the 1 room plus 2 small rooms (for the cocktail hour). It would have meant going to room 1 for the ceremony, then being herded to the 2 small rooms via a narrow corridor. Then being herded back to room 1 for the dinner and dancing.
My friends who did use a hotel(which shall remain nameless) also had problems. The hotel decided, ON THE DAY OF THE WEDDING, to change them from the ballroom they had booked to another room - diferent in size and layout. It threw off the seating plan as the hotel had also decided to add more tables and change the number of seats per table. None of the place names matched up. Guests were wandering around trying to figure out where they were suppose to be sitting as some tables had too many people and not enough seats, while other tables were huge with only 1-2 couples were seated there. No one knew where the bridal table was suppose to go as the layout was different. It took hotel staff, the bridal couple plus wedding coordinator 20-30 minutes to figure out and threw off the whole timing of the wedding. To add insult to injury, the hotel still insisted on having us out by the original time as another group had booked that room for an evening wedding. What a nightmare!
**************************************************
posted by NovemberGal
Quote:
|
My friends who did use a hotel(which shall remain nameless) also had problems. The hotel decided, ON THE DAY OF THE WEDDING, to change them from the ballroom they had booked to another room - diferent in size and layout. It threw off the seating plan as the hotel had also decided to add more tables and change the number of seats per table. None of the place names matched up. Guests were wandering around trying to figure out where they were suppose to be sitting as some tables had too many people and not enough seats, while other tables were huge with only 1-2 couples were seated there. No one knew where the bridal table was suppose to go as the layout was different. It took hotel staff, the bridal couple plus wedding coordinator 20-30 minutes to figure out and threw off the whole timing of the wedding. To add insult to injury, the hotel still insisted on having us out by the original time as another group had booked that room for an evening wedding. What a nightmare!
|
You have to watch out for this kind of thing with hotels, or with any facility that has multiple ballrooms to choose from. They almost always have a clause in the contract that says they can change your room with little or no notice, and hotels routinely have multiple events on the same day. Even at the same time, if they've got multiple rooms: last summer a friend got married and they were moved to a smaller room than at first planned for; to get in they literally had to walk THROUGH the larger room, which was someone else's wedding reception. And the bathrooms were constantly crowded, and the noise bleed from the party next door overwhelmed their own sound system. So, keep these things in mind with a hotel or other multi-room facility (even a hall or restaurant can have these problems).
**************************************************
posted by labeadel
I'm so nervous now! My ceremony and reception are in a hotel! I hope I have better luck than some of you have seen. On the plus side, they did give us a little tasting during our first visit there, although they said we were the first guests they decided to do this for.
**************************************************
posted by bebe0315
My sister had her wedding last year at the La Playa hotel in Carmel, and everything went beautifully. The food was great, the decor gorgeous, the staff incredibly polite and helpful and everything was on time. The only problem they had was some people who didn't RSVP showed up (a whole table-full of them) and the hotel staff scrambled to make room to pull in another table and get it set up. I actually think that if you find a reputable hotel, you can save yourself a lot of stress because you generally don't have to deal with as many outside vendors. Most hotels usually supply tables, chairs, linens and dinnerware, and generally have a full kitchen and staff for the food. Don't worry labeadel!
**************************************************
posted by NovemberGal
labeadel, I don't think these horror stories are necessarily typical, they're just things to be aware of. If you're worried, you can still check with your hotel about what their policy is regarding multiple events, whether your room can be changed and with what kind of notice, etc. Since you probably have a contract, there's not much you can do, but you can be aware of what situations could occur and either have your mind put to rest or at worst not be surprised on your wedding day if it DOES happen. My story of my friend's reception essentially being moved to an adjuct room and having to walk through another wedding was at a very small place--most hotels at least have entrances off the hallway into ALL their ballrooms. Restaurants are probably more likely to have this problem. Sound bleed is probably much more common, but again my friend's reception didn't include a DJ--the next-door reception interfered with the speeches, but wouldn't have affected any music, which probably would have been able to hold it's own.
Don't stress out about it too much--most hotels handle receptions perfectly well!
**************************************************
posted by labeadel
Thanks guys!
hotel vs. hall
Linear Mode
