Loft Location Love/Hate

The venue decision has been one of the most difficult tasks I've encountered in wedding planning by far. Our problem was that there were too many options in New York City and too many places we loved that were so far out of our budget that I got a little sick to my stomach when I got the quotes.

So what's a 2009 bride who needs help finding something affordable and perfect to do but put out an ad on Craig's List? :) I know, I know, it sounds SO tacky, but I've had great luck posting requests for wedding stuff in the events section.

We started out with The Soho Loft in the heart of Soho as our beautiful reception venue. It was a little small and I was slightly worried about that, but it was really nice and very affordable. I scoured the internet to find a ceremony site that was within walking distance of the loft and FINALLY found one that we loved. We booked it immediately and paid the small fee in full, just days before we were to sign a contract with the loft. Only to have the Soho Loft manager mysteriously stop returning my phone calls or emails for almost a month, at which point we decided that for some reason, they no longer wanted our business. I'm still not sure what changed.

Then we went to the back-up option from my Craig's List search, the Howard Baden Loft, which was also in Soho:

Loft Photo Credit

It's a nice space; much larger and only slightly more expensive than the Soho Loft. We were about to go for it and put the deposit down, when we went to a couple of tastings with caterers (also found on Craig's List!) who serve Caribbean food and were a lot more affordable than what we were being quoted by the fancier caterers, whose very refined New York food I'm pretty sure most of our family members would have been unsure about eating.

With a trimmed catering budget, we were able to pull off booking a loft that we had seen almost nine months prior and LOVED from the moment we walked in, but written off because of the huge price tag. This amazing loft is called The Midtown Loft & Terrace and we are SO thrilled to be having our reception there!

Loft 2 Photo Credit

We love the beautifully polished floors, the amazing skyline views, and the RED CARPET! That's right, folks, they will be rolling out an actual red carpet for our guests to walk on when they arrive. How perfect is that for our theme? The loft is one of the things we've planned that we're most excited about.

What are you most excited about?