Always a Blogsmaid

Party it up at the Royalton

Last night Mayra and I went to check out the event space at the Royalton Hotel, which is a great place for a wedding block, btw.  It's a VERY sexy suite that is PERFECT for an engagement party, an intimate rehearsal dinner or even a very small wedding reception. After we checked out the suite (and I fell up some stairs... don't ask) we went downstairs for cocktails and we realized that it would also be a GREAT place to gather guests for an informal "after-party".  The cocktails are delcious (maybe a bit too delicious) and the food is fantastic.  I highly recommend the fried artichoke, but the bruscheta is a solid choice as well.   Here are some photos of the suite.

Oh, and the suite has a terrace and the SEXIEST round bathtub ever.... perfect for floating candles and roses in....
Here is the fun, interactive and warm lounge area with the tasty food.

And, the really cool restaurant, Brasserie 44.

Tiny Weddings at Banchet

Last night I went to a pretty awesome event with Shiraz caterers held at Banchet Flowers. 

Banchet is not just a flower shop (in the trendy Meatpacking district) but also an event space that, to me, is just PERFECT for small weddings of 60-70 guests.  If you can cut your guest list, the TINY wedding is a great way to offer your guests a luxurious and stylish wedding without busting your bank account.  AND, the Banchet space is an ideal location:  the modern space, offset with the backdrop of gorgeous flowers is ready-made loft glamorous.  While I'd like to say that something this cool could only exist in New York,  I heard it through the grapevine that they are bringing that luxury to Stamford Ct. soon, too!

Site Visit: TheEventSpace

There is a new event space here in NYC, that is great for a couple looking for something loft like and having their ceremony off site, OR perhaps just a cool ceremony location. TheEventSpace is located on 26th Street in Chelsea and is an open, white space, with modern architectural details and in house sound and lighting.

I imagine a really funky cocktail reception, an amazing buffet or station dinner with tables of varying sizes and a DJ to keep the party going. It's not a traditional space, but amazing for someone looking for a place for a great celebration. The Paige Group handles the food, so one vendor is checked off the list! Here are a couple of photos!

Site Visit: How To!

I went on a site re-visit today at the amazing and newly renovated Guastavino's, here in NYC.   I thought this would be  a good time to not only tell you about the venue, but to give you Newbie Brides to Be some tips on what to do at a Walk Through.   

I remember going clubbing at Guastavino's years ago (not to date myself) when it was a good mix of soprano's extras and NY hip hop lovers, so with that in my mind, when it first re-opened as a Wedding and Event venue a few years ago, I never really "sold it" very hard to my clients.....

However, they renovated over a year ago and I thought it was worth checking out! And it was!!!! Fabulous! If you aren't familiar with the venue, it is built INSIDE of the 59th Street bridge, making it an architectural stunner with vaulted ceilings and "only in New York" vibe. It's a mix of modern and landmark and it's fabulous. It has outdoor space, ample cocktail area and a gorgeous floating mezzanine level for dinner and dancing for up to 300!

Now, onto the lesson!  A lot of time brides to be let their sales person give their spiel and then they talk menus and drinks, but there are a lot of questions that might help you make a more informed decision about your day.  First, don't go anywhere without your digital camera!!! You'll want to reference things later.   Then, I suggest going through my top 10 site visit questions!

1.  Find out the capacity and the minimums (sometimes you can't get a place on a certain night if you are too small.
2. Ask them to give you a walk through the way the space would work with ceremony on site OR off site and ask them if that effects capacity.
3. Ask them if there are any fees associated with the ceremony being on site/ or using any of the other areas of the property.
4.  Ask them to show you the chairs, tables, linens and china that they use. If you see photos, be sure that the items in the photos belong to the venue and aren't rented from elsewhere. Also ask if the lighting, etc, is the in house lighting or something other people brought in.  Finally see if there is other stuff you can use, decorative tables, lounge furniture, whatever!
5.  Be sure to ask them how large or small the dancefloor is.
6. Ask how far in advance you have access to your space and when you need to have your florist load out.
7.  Be sure to ask about required vendors!
8. If you are thinking of a DJ or a Band find out what the sound system is like and if it might need something or anything additional.
9. If you are selecting a place that has outdoor areas, be sure to find out the cost of tenting before hand! Also ask about heating options if you are looking in a weird area.
10. In cities, find out about noise ordinances! Sometimes you may need to shut the party down because of neighbors, or hotel guests or whatever.

A Tale of Two Rooftops

June was officially rooftop month as we seemed to have checked out several of New York's airy watering holes.  Two notable newcomers that we were Mad46 and Salon de Ning.  Each of these hotel bars provided us with tons of entertainment, though in really different ways.

Mad46 is the Midtown east hotspot on top of the Roosevelt hotel and as you can imagine, happy hour there is, well, jovial (and a little crowded).  We had drinks there this past Monday with their Director of Sales and chatted it up with their event space manager.  It feels a bit like  a NY secret, I have to say, because you enter through a side entrance, go up a private elevator and emerge to this great, secret hideaway.  We were told it was a ladies night thing and were perplexed to see all these dudes on our elevator, until we figured out that no party there is totally private, and they were actually just regular patrons.  Since nothing is totally private and the food is very good, but definitely HOT snack fare, I was thinking this would be a PERFECT place for Night Before cocktails with your out of town guests ($500 minimum for a table reservation on a Friday) or even to have an engagement party gathering with some of your friends and family.  If nothing else, Mayra said the Mojitos were delicious, so stop in for a cocktail.  Here, bad cameraphone photo...

Last week we hit up the opening of Salon de Ning on top of the Peninsula Hotel on 5th Ave.  Mayra had done a hard hat tour there and has been semi obsessed with the spot ever since, so we were really excited to check it out.  It is definitely, at least a sexy 7 if not an 8 on the Corey Sexy Scale, with it's awesome furniture and it's really remarkable wooden bar.  In honesty, it was quite the crowd there, but we'd invited a new friend of ours, a DJ and we spent most of the night praising and picking apart the DJ's selections.

Salon de Ning is actually kind of the perfect place for a small, awesome and fun wedding.  They do great sushi and other asian inspired dishes as well as some Indian fusion stuff.  The amazing part is really the price, it's somewhere around 15,000 for F & B for  up to 80people.  It's really decorated already and for people looking to do something special, but understated, it may be the answer.  Here's some professional shots of Salon de Ning.  Not of the party though (they also have really amazing cocktails, of which we had a few too many that evening!) This is the banquette we called home that night....