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.