This Saturday we went to two venues and met with a caterer as well. It was a LONG day, but at least something good came out of it! We found a caterer that we really, really like. Let me start at the beginning though. In the morning we went to Spring Mill Manor and it was really pretty! Spring Mill is definitely on the high end of our per person budget though. Also, the banquet room is a bit outdated. Here are some pictures of the space:
all photos from Project Wedding
pros:
+pretty indoor locations for pictures (if it rains)
+they include more hor d'ourves, hor d'ourve statations and a desert station in their menu
+the venue has ample parking available
+nice bridal suite
negatives:
-at the top of our per person price range
-reception room decor is slightly outdated
Later that day we went to Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia. I'll start off by saying, it definitely wasn't for us. Morris Arboretum is a beautiful garden with tons of picture opportunities. When we met with our contact, she showed us the three ceremony location possibilities. They were just open grass areas, with no gardens in sight. That was very disappointing for us, and to get married in the rose garden you had to pay at extra $1000. Then we went to look at the reception space, another disappointment. It was literally just a tent over a black top area connected to the visitors center. Since we are not planning on spending a lot on decorations, this would not work out well for us. Here are some pictures of the arboretum tent area:
pros:
+tons of beautiful places for pictures
+only one event a day
+ample parking
+a choice of outdoor ceremony sites
cons:
-tent is over blacktop and you have to pay for a dance floor
-the rental fee is high
-ceremony can't start until 6 pm
-the rain backup ceremony space is not pretty
After the Morris Arboretum we met with a caterer that works with them. Carl, from Catering by Bruno's invited us to his restaurant to try his food and talk about his catering services for our wedding. We were extremely surprised by how easy it was to talk to Carl and on top of it all, the food was delicious! The waiter first brought out three types of salad as Carl showed us some pictures of weddings they have catered before. I was shocked, my fiancee was eating salad... and loving it (he usually won't touch a salad)! Since we told him we weren't that interested in Morris Arboretum he gave us some ideas of other venues he worked at and insured me that he had the proper insurance to work at any venue that allows outside caterers. After the salad we were served three vegetarian options, eggplant parmesan, butternut squash ravioli and gorgonzola & walnut purses, again all three were super yummy! They also served us two types of chicken (for my fiancee) and a small pizza for me which were all just as impressive. We asked Carl a ton of questions and he told us stories about his family, it was like being at dinner with an old friend. I loved the fact that he mentioned that he tried to buy as many local and organic ingredients that he could! At the end the chef (who is Carl's brother) served us strawberries with fresh homemade whipped cream, again.. YUM! So now I have slightly altered my venue search and will start looking at places that allow outside caters in the hopes that we can serve Carl's delicious food!
