My (Our) Very Own Chateau

Finding your very own chateau in this urban jungle is like finding the perfect pair of shoes - on sale and in your size.  Luckily for me, I'm a size 6/6.5 depending on the shoe, which more often than not means that at least the sample size will be available and I can have my cake and eat it too.  But, this isn't always the case when you're looking for a wedding venue.  Your wedding's success rests heavily on the location. 

After looking at several places, all of them very much in line what we were looking for, I realized that I could go down this path endlessly if I let it.  After touring The Foundry and Smack Mellon Gallery, each time on the way home I harassed Fred about how we would never be able to find anything else like it - each time he proved me wrong.  Fred, being the cautious, tactical person that he is was not as easily impressed, so I knew that the right place would be one that he didnt feel so apprehensive about (besides me, he will never love anything more than he loves Gwar so I had to take his nod and run with it). 

The day we went to check out Metro (as I've heard it called) was no ordinary day.  It was my birthday and I was on the way home to the Bronx to spend the day with my parents.  We figured we could make a quick run and look-see on the way over despite the subway re-routing we had to deal with, and the torrential downpour that descended upon us that day. 

The Metropolitan Building is not much to look at on the outside.  Just another warehouse/factory brick monolith living happily among other similar-type buildings.  The first thing that came to mind even before going in was: "how will guests know this is a wedding venue?"  Fortunately, once inside the coin flipped.  We entered to find a smaller version of what the proud owner would compare to a French chateau, or in my eyes a Victorian home:  a little worn, a little shabby-chic, infused with vintage charm and character.  To me, it felt like that 6/6.5 shoe; it was pretty, and just my size.  While not on sale by any means, it was a good find and I was really hopeful that Fred would approve.

Several weeks later, after much research and convincing on my behalf, he signed.  And that's how our first big step into making-our-wedding-happen came to be.  With the place and date reserved, we could finally say that we had a wedding in the oven!


 "Everybody should live in a French chateau or the local equivalent thereof", Eleanor Ambos as quoted in The New York Times, April 16, 2006.

Location, Location, Location

There's a lot of debate around who first coined the term "location, location, location".  Some sources credit it back to realtors in the 1950's, but an earlier reference was found in the Yale Book of Quotations dating as far back as 1926 as covered in a New York Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/magazine/28FOB-onlanguage-t.html), but regardless of who first coined it it's a triple-word phrase that means a lot.  If you're in cinema, it means the setting for your shoot; if it's Real Estate it means property value based on access to main roads, transportation, shops, schools, etc.; and for brides and grooms it means mood and setting for their special day.

When Fred and I finally decided to start looking at venues we toyed with a few options- destination wedding?  Given my heritage a destination wedding in Mexico sounded almost dreamy.  Imagine what it would be like to be married in one of Mexico's oldest colonial towns like that of San Miguel de Allende?  Old churches, haciendas, porticos; a beautiful wedding at sunset with the Mariachi serenading the nuptials.   But, that would mean inviting 99% of our family so that only 2% could attend.  That, plus dealing with long-distance wedding arrangements sounded a bit more complicated than what we could or would be able to manage.  We would need to keep it local- NYC.  Goodbye money.

We did not have a ton of criteria for our venue hunt; rather than must-have's we had must-not's, and our most important must-not was no multiple-wedding venues. With that, a shitload of options went right out the door, and with them probably the opportunity to save a bit on cost.  Country Clubs, Grand Prospect Halls-and-the like, sorry but we cannot consider you.   Thus, the venue-hunt process began and I was in charge.  I read blogs, online wedding directories, and the more mainstream wedding websites to the extent of what became a list of venues that had captured my interest and would require further research.  

First on my list were restaurants, off-the-beaten-path venues like lofts, galleries, museums, and church-halls.  (Until Fred plainly stated: "I am not getting married in a church").  We began with the restaurants and looked at one in particular in Astoria.  It was nice, and I'm sure the food was great, but there was something about that pre-determined feel to it that didn't move us the way we wanted.  It did not synch up with our tastes, or interests, or for that matter our personalities.  We checked restaurants off our list.

We then looked at what I thought was the perfect venue, The Foundry in LIC.  Beautiful, beautiful place.  Totally in synch with Fred and my personal taste.  But, there was a big BUT: beautiful venue, out of our price-range.  It was/is so nice that despite the lofty pricetag (and this is based on a media salary P.O.V please), we were willing to consider it.  But then I found that they don't allow lose flower petals.  Say what? One of my most loved traditional mexican wedding dances is called "the flowers".  It is a simple dance where guests armed with trays full of flower petals dance in front of the bride and groom and shower them with flowers as they go.  To not be able to have that, was not an option for me.  this made it so that we could give up on The Foundry with a lot more ease.

The galleries were among the last venues we looked at, but found that as awesome a settign as they can be, they're just very time sensitive.  Some of them wouldn't host weddings unless it was off-peak season, limiting us to when we could actually be married.  For Fall weddings it would be early September and late November only.  While that would've been okay, I wasn't really willing to work around my ideal wedding month.  I felt like I was giving up something special by compromising the wedding date.  My October is like many brides' June.  Despite this, we did find that the Smack Mellon Gallery in DUMBO, Brooklyn was absolutely fabulous.  High ceilings, exposed brick; what used to be an old Boiler building has since been turned into a magnicifent canvas for brides & grooms to paint their ideal wedding.  The grey, minimalist yet bold aesthetics make it so that all attention is on your wedding detail.  The concrete columns and huge windows overlooking the river & bridge provided the perfect backdrop.  But, we couldn't do it.  In the name of all things Autumn, October needed to be my month.

Finally, one day while browsing  blogs and reading listings on wedding-friendly sites, I came across this place in Long Island City called the Metropolitan Building.  It shared similar traits to The Foundry and the loft-like aesthetics we so loved about the gallery in Brooklyn, but different.  The pictures and information on the website was promising.  Then on October 3rd, a warm but rainy morning I called up and asked if I could arrange for a tour of the venue, and sure enough, we were offered to see it that same day - my birthday!  Coincidence?