The Agony and the Ecstasy, Part I

I knew Thursday would be a difficult day, but I had no idea how bad it would turn out to be. We had scheduled three venues in lower Manhattan, which made Tom very excited to see what our dear borough had to offer. In the end, the cold, the distance we walked, and the general abuse we took made us feel more dispirited than an excited bride and groom-to-be. But stay-tuned for the Friday and Saturday posts to see how our dear heroes were able to turn things around! (Also, more extensive photos of each venue can be found on the Picasa site.)





We began the morning at 91 Horatio Street in the West Village. 91 Horatio is an event space owned by The Upper Crust catering company, and the name alone should have warned me off this one. The location of this venue is unbeatable and, as of today, they have a reciprocal arrangement with an orchid dealer (Banchet Flowers) whereby you can get married in the flower shop and have your party at 91 Horatio, which I found romantic and attractive. Needless to say, the space was too small, the prices too astronomically high, and I was put-off by the vendor's disparaging remarks towards do-it-yourself and "indie" brides. (Essentially, the guy assumed that I was not a native New Yorker and was simply quoting budgetary figures I had found on-line, rather than the fruits of my hard-won thought and soul-searching. The nerve!)

Perhaps the most upsetting detail to emerge from this meeting was the fact that we couldn't even afford a sit-down dinner. Our numbers, the vendor claimed, could only afford tables for half of our guests. Well, really we could afford more, but if we provided seating for the 80% that we could afford, the vendor thought guests would think we had made a "mistake." I don't know about you, but there's something disappointing about flying half way around the country and paying exorbitant hotel rates to attend a sad little cocktail party where you can't even rest your feet.

So we hustled out the door to the Magnolia Bakery for red velvet cupcakes (at 10 in the morning!) and then hopped the F train to the Lower East Side and the Angel Orensanz Center...