NYC Ceremony Dilemma

I've been humming that old Kelly Rowland & Nelly song for the past few days because I have uncovered quite the dilemma after speaking to many, many New Yorkers this week. 

We have been scouring the interweb for elopement photographers in the City - so many to choose from - and have got chatting to quite a few who have been more than willing to listen to our plans and make suggestions.  All but one suggested, to our initial despair, that we scrap the idea of getting married in City Hall. As we had suspected all along, the queues are likely to be insane as Christmas Eve is an incredibly popular date to get married in New York.  The idea of City Hall being super busy put us off a little bit - we want something more quiet, private and less of a fuss than that.

We're still very much of the opinion that a marriage ceremony is between two people, our vows are for us and between us, and we don't feel the need for anyone else to be there.  We do, of course, want our loved ones there to celebrate with us afterwards - but I love the idea that the ceremony is just between Michael and I.  No fuss, just us.

We were also a bit concerned about only having 2 days in which to have our ceremony, and the thought of something cropping up while we're there which means the City Hall option isn't going to work gives us both major anxiety!  With the City Hall option, it's very much turn up, take a ticket, and wait in line until you're called.  The idea of having a date and time booked is very appealing with this new insight!

After speaking to many different photographers, we're getting more and more excited about the different locations and backdrops available to us for our photographs.  As two very un-photogenic and awkward people when it comes to getting our photo taken, we are looking for someone who can make us feel really relaxed and who can snap a few candid shots where we don't have to stand and pose!  We feel it's important to have a few shots of the actual ceremony, and a video too so that we can show our family and friends.

A few of the photographers were really focused on the fact that we're getting married on Christmas Eve - and were looking to charge us a premium for it being a holiday - they also rambled on about photos being taken in front of Christmas Trees and various other Christmas themed shoots - and this is totally not what we want.  Yes, we know we're getting married on Christmas Eve, but no, it is not a Christmas themed wedding.  We picked Christmas Eve as we were engaged on Christmas Eve, and New York is completely magical at that time of year.  It was important for us that there was a bit of a buzz about the place, an added bit of excitement in the air - to help dispel any anticlimactic feelings following the ceremony when the realisation hits that no one will be there to celebrate  with us immediately after, which, we know, is a possibility.  We plan to have a full day planned after the ceremony to avoid this - possibly a Broadway show or something fun after a really lovely dinner. 

So with all this in mind, we've had to narrow it down and pick a photographer and celebrant for our little ceremony.  Once this is booked - we're over half way there!  Exciting!

Finding The Venue.

This weekend Michael and I spent the day at the venue that we'll be hosting our post wedding celebration - and we absolutely love it. It ticks all the right boxes for us as a couple. It's clean, modern with lovely, smiley staff and large comfortable spaces for everyone to relax in. Location is a big factor too; we wanted it close to home that our guests can get to really easily. We wanted somewhere a bit chilled out and effortless with a nice bar and hotel rooms either on site or nearby for ourselves and our guests. The price also had to be right as we want to put the majority of our budget into our trip. We wanted somewhere that could host a 3 course dinner for close family in a comfortable but luxurious setting followed by a function room with a bar and dance floor for our 80-90 guests.

I first visited it a couple weeks ago while out venue-scouting with my lovely Motherbear, Wendy. We had a real girlie day as she chauffeured me around half the country to look at various hotels, restaurants, stately homes and castles! We had a lovely afternoon tea break in Brownlow House in Lurgan.

Brownlow House is a really lovely building, with huge windows and doors. I knew it wasn't for me though when I discovered that it was jam-packed with Taxidermy! With both of us being animal lovers from a young age -and having a pet rabbit ourselves - I wasn't sure we'd be all the comfortable with the amount of dead rabbit heads adorning the walls. It's quite grand too, and I know we'd feel a little out of place there with our rowdy lot! They made me a lovely lunch though and Mum and I were able to have a good natter by the open fire.

After Brownlow we took a drive out to The Dunadry Hotel in Country Antrim. Mum was the obvious choice to take with me on such adventures - as I've mentioned before she has worked as a florist for her entire adult life and she's worked in the wedding industry in Northern Ireland since before I was even born. Check out her Facebook here. She has contacts left, right and centre and has worked in most of the venues around NI - she's my number one contact for anything wedding related! An invaluable resource - plus, it means I get to spend even more time with her than usual - she's my favourite person in the world!

The Dunadry is another grand hotel - very spacious with large rooms and halls. The staff are all dressed really well, and are polite and courteous. The Dunadry Hotel lives for weddings. They have glass cabinets all around the building filled with champagne corks signed by all the couples that have been married there. A nice touch! We were greeted by one of the wedding coordinators who, despite us not having an appointment, took us for a tour of the suites and answered some of our questions (all the while doing slight-of-hand magic tricks as he spoke. Wendy didn't even notice.)

I really liked the Dunadry, but there was something just not quite right about these old-style hotels that I didn't think suited Michael and I. I began to think that these hotels would be more suited for couples having a full day wedding there. As ours was just a party, it made more sense to focus on function rooms alone. There had to be something out there that suited us! 

In the beginning we had our hearts set on - and it still pains me to say it - Riverdale Barn. Riverdale is this fantastic rustic barn near Aghnagallon and Mum had it earmarked as my perfect venue long before Michael popped the question. I always had it in my head that I wanted a gorgeous rustic barn wedding, lots of candles and handmade bits and bobs. Very Pinterest. Infact, between Mum, my sister Laura and my sister-in-law-to-be Maygen we had the entire thing planned in one night. I had emailed Riverdale Barn on Boxing Day to register my interest and ask for a quote. It was decided, this is where I was having my wedding reception and I was buzzing to hear back from them.

As it was the Christmas holidays, they were closed and my impatience was getting the better of me. I finally decided to pick up the phone and call them and on New Years Eve I eventually received a text message with a brief quote. And my heart absolutely sank. They were quoting £3700+VAT for room hire alone, with an additional £37.00 per person. This price didn't include décor, or furniture or even HEATING. There is no way that was within our budget and my disappointment soon gave way to anger. How could they ask so much money for just a few hours in the evening? I didn't even reply. Riverdale Barn dream over. Moving on. After a few days of huffing "I don't even want a reception now" I shook myself and took Mum up on her offer to go and look at other places.

Focusing now on function rooms, we began to consider Gowdy's at the Racecourse. Both my Mum and my Uncle Andrew had held wedding receptions there before it was refurbished and both were really relaxed and rustic. I could probably still hold my rustic barn theme there. So we went for dinner (fantastic food by the way!) and had a peak in at the function space. It wasn't much to look at but I knew that with Mum's talents we could make it into a really beautiful setting for our reception, plus the price was shockingly cheap (FREE to rent - can't do much better than that). The huge open log fire in the foyer sold it.

However, Gowdy's was second only to the venue I had spotted and fallen in love with earlier in the day. A 4* hotel in Belfast. I was waiting on a quote back from them, and if it turned out to be absolutely ridiculous, we had Gowdy's to fall back on.

Mum had me well coached that the hotel may come back and be out of our budget - she'd learnt well after the Riverdale Barn fiasco. When we were being shown around I remember looking at Mum all glassy-eyed and she was like "I knew you'd like this..." in an oh-crap-what-have-I-done voice, clearly petrified that she'd set me up for a fall again. She needn't have worried. When the wedding co-ordinator emailed me with a price list I almost cried - it was so much more affordable than we even imagined and they had the date we wanted available. When I told Mum the price she texted back two words "book it."

Michael still hadn't seen the venue, so the two of us went to see it on Sunday. He was, thankfully, as enthusiastic as I was and he whipped out his card and paid the deposit right then and there. We have our date! The hotel is perfect for our needs and we're really excited. It took us a bit of coaxing to abandon our rustic barn wedding idea, it just wouldn't work in the hotel we've booked, but we've chosen a new theme that is absolutely perfect for both the hotel and for us and our wedding adventure. Can't wait to tell all!

-Rachel