It's time to PARTY!

So with our ceremony location locked, it was time to decide where the party would be held! Again, I turned to the pages of NJ Bride and made a list of a dozen or so venues that looked beautiful or that were well-reviewed, and I also listed a few venues that friends and family recommended. But then I had to start crossing venues off of my list almost as quickly as I added them, for logistics had to prevail. Some venues were just much too far away from our New Brunswick ceremony location to be realistic options.

In the end, we narrowed our list down to only five venues: Battleground Country Club in Manalapan, Grand Marquis in Old Bridge, The Palace at Somerset Park in Somerset (duh), The Imperia in Somerset, and The Heldrich in New Brunswick.

Battleground Country Club was the first stop on our list.

Overall we weren't terribly impressed by the menu, by the pricing, by the decor, or by the customer service we received at Battleground. Admittedly the views of the golf course were quite nice, but as I pointed out to John and to my parents, in May it would be getting dark between 7-8pm, so choosing a venue based on a view that you would only get to see for 2 hours is kind of silly. We decided to move on.

We stopped at Grand Marquis a few hours later.

Now this was more like it! We were impressed the second we walked into the lobby. Everything just seemed so much more elegant and contemporary than at Battleground. We met with Joe, who explained that Grand Marquis had two large ballrooms: the Dome Room (the smaller room for parties of 100-200 people) and the Marquis Room (the larger room for 200+ guest affairs). They almost always do have two weddings going on at the same time, but the hall itself was constructed in such a way that we would never see the other party while we were there. He also handed out copies of the different menu options.... wow, that's all I have to say. Our mouths were watering just reading about the different choices!

Then he showed us the Dome Room:

So pretty!! The black dance floor was so eye catching and much nicer looking than the typical fold-out parquet floors you see at reception halls, and the dome was just spectacular. Plus, my parents are huge fans of oval-shaped tables at weddings, as opposed to circular ones; they feel that conversations are generally much easier to have at oval tables. Needless to say, we were all abuzz with excitement as we left the Grand Marquis and we wondered if any of our other contenders would hold a candle to it.

About a week later, we had back-to-back-to-back appointments at the remaining three venues. Our first stop was The Palace at Somerset Park, and it was most certainly impressive!

The word "grand" doesn't even begin to describe this place. It is totally opulent, indulgent, and completely over-the-top, in a good way of course! It was featured on WE's "Platinum Weddings" show, though, so I was naturally worried that the price tag could give Dad a heart attack.

And I was right. Although the customer service seemed great, the setting was stunning, and the menu options looked just as delicious at the ones offered at Grand Marquis, the price per head was WAY more than we were willing to spend... like almost double what we were hoping to hear! And sadly, the only way that they were willing to go lower would have been for us to move our beloved wedding date to one of their "off" months, such as January. Oh well, too bad, it would have been nice. But honestly, I think the Palace would have been TOO grand for our little wedding of 150 guests. The rooms were so cavernous, I think we would have felt lost.

As we walked from the Palace to the parking lot, my mom said, exasperated, "What are you DOING, Lisa?! None of these venues are going to be as nice as Grand Marquis. Grand Marquis has the Dome Room free for your wedding date. We should just call and book it!"

I was curious to see the Imperia and the Heldrich (especially the Heldrich since the ballroom was in a hotel located only 5 blocks from Kirkpatrick Chapel), but I knew deep down that Mom was right. We were all just so impressed with Grand Marquis, and John and my parents were familiar with the parties thrown there first-hand; my parents had been to weddings there before, and John's company threw their annual corporate party there for the past few years in a row.

So, I got on the phone and cancelled my appointments at the Imperia and at the Heldrich, while Dad got on his phone and called Joe at Grand Marquis. Later that night, Dad and I were sat in the Grand Marquis foyer signing contracts. It was a done deal: we would be partying all night in the Grand Marquis Dome Room on May 9, 2009!

As an aside, I always wondered what "could have been" if we ended up checking out those other two venues. As it turns out, though, it was a good thing we didn't check out the Imperia, because we found out almost a year later that a member of my extended family would be holding her April 2009 wedding there... she would have totally stolen our thunder, ha ha! And as for the Heldrich, I ended up booking a suite there from May 8-10 so that I could have a nice, relaxing experience getting ready for the wedding so close to the ceremony location. It was a fabulous, gorgeous hotel with excellent service and attention to detail. However, when I took a peek at their ballroom, I was glad I didn't choose it, as the bright orange carpet left a little to be desired ;-) Oh well! Things definitely worked out for the best, and we were so happy with our decision to have our wedding at Grand Marquis.