Reader Suggestion

From Dave Grindon: If you get married in Santa Fe, it should be in a hot air balloon. The whole audience won't fit in a single balloon, of course, so they'd float alongside yours and Nick's in smaller, slightly less grand (but still elegant) balloons. Maybe they'd be equipped with video screens so they can still follow the ceremony in case any of them float off course. Just a thought.

Venue Options Number Zwei, Drei, und Vier

New York is veritable plethora of wedding venue options. You can get married on a barge, if so inclined (I get seasick on swingsets, so that option's out). However, a vast number of creative fees (that are not revealed until you've fallen in love with the place) has made it hard for us to evaluate the offerings across the board. There may be elevator fees. Cake-plating fees. Clean-up fees. Serving-wine-with-dinner fees. Janitorial fees. Union fees. Taping fees. Using-your-own-selection-of-vendors fees. Plus tax and 20% gratuity.

In spite of all this, we saw three venues in NYC that appealed to us. All would allow us to have the ceremony and the reception in the same space:
1) The Brooklyn Academy of Music
Official site:
http://bam.org/view.aspx?pid=383
Caterer's site with photos of the venue:
http://greatperformances.com/index.cfm/venues/bam-brooklyn-academy-of-music/objectid:D809FAF6-3048-7098-AF09FCB85DBB159A

The current front-runner, BAM is conveniently located near several subway stops, buslines and hotels. They run a tight ship in a cool space. Included is free use of their sound system, lighting setup and projector. The caterer serves organic fare and has an appealing menu. We're not sure yet what exactly the bar stipulations are, so that could raise costs beyond our reach. Ditto the fact that the wedding might get more expensive if our number of guests dips below 80. We get the space for six hours, until 11 pm. But there are lots of bars in the neighborhood we could migrate to afterwards, if the desire arises.

2) The Metropolitan Building
A link to some stranger's wedding photos, taken on the second floor (the space we would be renting):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaimejoebigday/sets/72157603768443330/
Their official web site:
http://www.metropolitanbuilding.com/

A little bit further out, the MB is in Long Island City. Accessible by subway though maybe better by cab or car service. The building is privately owned and houses photo studios and an antique shop plus furniture storage. It's got character, though it toes the line (for me, Jana) between janky and shabby chic. Nick is fine with the way the venue looks and is more concerned about the food. They don't do tastings, and we don't feel very comfortable with investing $150 a head (+tax and gratuity) into something we haven't tried. Add to that the cost of liquor, which we would provide. They're a little loosey goosy in terms of contracts etc., we've heard. On the other hand, everything looks better by candlelight and they would let us use some of the antiques they have in storage. It is the most expensive of the three, but we can arrive early and the last person doesn't have to be out of there til 2 am.

3) Twenty-Four Fifth
Official site: http://www.theglaziergroup.com/restaurants/245th/

This is a small ballroom north of Washington Square, near NYU. It's the most affordable of the three options and their wedding coordinator was exceedingly nice. They are also associated with a steakhouse, so the food would be good. But I preferred the look and feel of BAM and the MB (Jana, of course. Who else). We could rent the place for five hours.

Fake Cake

Remember the last time you had peach cobbler? Or blueberry pie? Apple pie? Picturing it? Now try to recall the taste of a particular wedding cake you've had. Still thinkin? Yeah. Dwell on that. Our decision to forgo the wedding cake altogether and serve pies instead is not just financially motivated (though wedding cakes can easily cost 600-900 dollars in NY). We found out from a (very nice and helpful) venue rep that quite a few couples have a "fake" wedding cake to cut into just for show. Only the part they're slicing into is real, the rest is styrofoam. Then this show-offy fake cake is whisked away and slices cut from a poor "ordinary" sheet cake (hidden from sight in the kitchen) are doled out to guests. Mmmmh....tastes like tacky.

Alexander Girard

I forgot to mention that The Compound was designed by Alexander Girard, who is...well...purdy awesome. He worked at Herman Miller in the 50s and 60s as head of their textile division. His fabrics were used in the furniture of George Nelson and Charles & Ray Eames. And on a more manly note, Girard also did some work for the John Deere World Headquarters.

In the late 70s, he donated his folk art collection (over 100,000 objects) to the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. Definitely worth a look.

Venue Option Number Eins: The Compound Restaurant

Deciding on a replacement venue has been much harder than we thought. Our Plan B, called Hyde Park Lodge (or in the parlance of one wedding planner's web site "The Swiss Chalet") was booked so fast it made our heads spin. Couples camp out overnight in front of the ranger's station to hook their claws into a desired date. And this in January. On a ski mountain in Santa Fe. Not that dedicated, we tried to book over the phone because one of the rangers told us that was another option "if you just call early enough." Upon closer examination, this makes no sense. When we called, the guy who picked up gave a hearty (ranger-style) laugh and asked us to call back in an hour and a half once he's worked his way through the thirty couples shivering in line. Of course by that time, our date was "loooooong gone."

Because New Mexico is one of the most gorgeous places we've ever been to (I lived there for three years and Nick for one), we'd very much still like to have the wedding there. The air smells so wonderfully of mesquite and sage you'd swear they secretly pump some kind of scent into it. Also, they don't call it mañana land for nothin'. It's pretty damn relaxing there...* Our worry is that a few people might not be able to make the trip to Santa Fe. But flights can be cheaper (around $250 roundtrip from NY, but I'll see about group rates with Southwest) if you leave early in the morning, around 6 am. That gets you into ABQ around noon and you can either rent a car or take a shuttle for the 50-minute drive to SF. There are rooms of all price ranges to be had. Starting at $18 for a dormitory spot in the Santa Fe hostel to $300-a-night places.

The trick was finding a wedding venue that can accommodate a group as large was we have planned (70-80), while still having enough space left over for dancin' and stuff. In addition, we wanted to find a place that is authentically beautiful and not of the--shudder at the thought--touristy kind of Santa-Fe style. You know. Howling coyotes bedraped with little pink bandanas and things of that ilk. Oh, and of course the food should be great. And they should be open late. And they should have outdoor space. And we should be able to have the ceremony and the reception there. And we shouldn't have to sell our firstborn to be able to afford it. And it shouldn't be too hard to get to. You see where this can start getting tricky.

Here's what it came down to:
The Compound Restaurant
http://www.compoundrestaurant.com/
The Compound has excellent food and a garden to have the ceremony in. Gardens that aren't xeriscaped (basically lots of rocks, buffalo grass, plants that need very little water) aren't a given in Santa Fe. Did I mention they have excellent food? Their wedding coordinator's been very nice, too. All the above applies to the Compound. And it's the cheapest of the venues we've taken into closer consideration.

TK tomorrow: Our New York option choices. Feedback welcome.


*Unless you WANT to exert yourself: There are lots of hikes (or walks) to go on, either in the woods, canyons or desert. Or you can go climbing, riding (on bikes or horses), shopping, eating, spa-ing, whatever...

We still love you, Galisteo Inn. But it's a love-hate thing.

Das Event: Wedding
Das (tentative) date: September 6, 2009
Das Place: TBA

In an effort to make 2009 a year to remember, I've spent the past six days covered in chicken pox. Today it occurred to me that there's more to quarantine than sitting on the sofa drinking chicken broth (ah, the irony) and watching Family Guy. Hence, Das Wedding Blog. Thank you, Laura, for dreaming up this most excellent name.
Close second: Nochocolatefountain.blogspot.com
Third: Daaah-dah-dadaaaaah.blogspot.com

This is where Nick and I will inform you of our wedding-planning travails and the fruit they bear. Or not. Due to what can only be described as shitty cosmic karma our mutual back-patting for early nailing down of venue was swiftly punished in mid December. RIP Galisteo Inn. You would've been perfect. With your beautiful rooms, gourmet cook, wonderful setting in a charming New Mexico town only 20 minutes outside of Santa Fe. But we're slowly getting over you. Just for God's sake, please take your web site down. http://galisteoinn.com/