Booking the venue

We looked at two more venues for the ceremony and reception at the Hilton and Sheraton. We were impressed by both, and both representatives were willing to cut us some very nice deals for a January wedding. Obviously, since people aren't exactly lining up to have a January wedding, venues tend to be cheaper.

The Sheraton usually charges $1000 per event for prime time seasons, but for January, we were offered a price of $250 per event. Not bad, huh? The ballrooms are very lovely, have these great lighted alcoves, and are spacious and clean, unlike Savage Mill. Also, I would have a parlor-area to wait in and a complimentary suite to stay in the night before (where I could obviously get dressed and ready for the big day). This completely outshines the small, cluttered office that Savage Mill only had to offer. The menus are absolutely amazing and offer a ton of food for not a bad price. For the brunch menu (which is definitely their best deal), you get an omelet station complete with toppings, a waffle station complete with toppings, breakfast meats, potatoes, three lunch entrees, hors d'oeuvres served after the ceremony and before the reception, non-alcoholic beverages (juice, lemonade, and iced tea), and a dessert station. All of this for about $65 per person. Additionally, the staff would be setting up all of our decorations in addition to the linens and stuff. That was really nice to know.

The Hilton... there's not much to say. This whole setup is basically the same as the Sheraton. The main difference is that they don't charge room rental fees; you only pay for the food costs. They also have ballrooms that you can hold events in as well as as the hotel lobby which is very interesting looking and very nice. Since the hotel is a business hotel, a wedding event on a Sunday in January will pretty much guarantee that there won't be any unwanted bathing-suit-clad tourists walking through your reception. The downside is that the pool is nearby as is the bar. Since January is a big football month, we aren't exactly fond the idea of our guests running off to watch the game.

It was definitely a difficult decision to make. Both places were absolutely wonderful, and we were satisfied in knowing that no matter which one we went with, the ceremony and reception would be fantastic.

I suppose we were more impressed with the Sheraton overall (my fiance was so excited about the Sheraton he was literally hopping like he was high on cocaine).

When we requested a contract for the Sheraton ballroom, we found a couple of things in the contract that really threw us off. We have to call the representative back to ask for a changed contract.

The first problem was that they never guaranteed us the ballroom we wanted, or any ballroom for that matter. We want to specify in the contract which ballroom we want, since we actually did tell the representative which one we wanted. I can't imagine what would happen if we didn't have a ballroom. Where would the ceremony and reception be if not in a ballroom? The lobby bathroom?

The second problem is that the contract stated that Sheraton could cancel our reservations at any time for any reason. Haha... no. If someone comes along and offers triple what we paid for the ballroom, they could just throw us out the window and we'd be screwed? I don't think so. If we are signing with them, they are changing that part.