Weddingbee Blog

So Mr. Daisy and I have a big decision to make - how to structure our wedding. Because the Metropolitan Club is such a large space, it allows many permutations of the rooms. Now we just have to choose one.

• Option #1: Or what I call “the one that won’t confuse those of my guests ridiculously attached to the familiar basic” (i.e. what we fully expected when we booked the space, prior to our numbers blowing up and forcing consideration of the option # 2):

• Pre-Ceremony Invitational: 1st Floor, Main Bar Room

• Ceremony: 1st Floor, West Lounge
  
• Cocktails: 1st Floor, the Great Hall
  
• Dinner/Dancing: 3rd Floor, Main Dining Room
  

Pros: What I expected when I booked; more familiar to most guests; people who aren’t dancing (for whatever reason age, lameass, infirmity, etc.) will still be in the “party” room; breaks between all the food
Cons: If people aren’t dancing, the music will be quite loud and a conversation impediment with the band right there; depending on our numbers, the dinner/dance space could be a teensy bit tight (though not sardine tight, happily!)

• Option #2: a/k/a the “split”: this is more interesting/novel option in that it’s not the typical New York (or typical to me, anyway) set-up. This would entail having our dinner in one room (banquet style) with the dancing to follow (and also include the cake cutting/dessert course) in the adjoining room.

• Pre-Ceremony Invitational: 1st Floor, Main Bar Room
• Ceremony: 1st Floor, the Great Hal
• Cocktails: 3rd Floor, Main Dining Roo
• Dinner: 1st Floor, West Lounge
• Dancing: 1st Floor, the Great Hall

Pros: It’s different than what people expect, hopefully in a good way; dinner will be really roomy and “civilized” (i.e. no breaks in the middle of food or announcements about “taking your seats for the first course”); people who aren’t into dancing can still stay by their tables and be able to talk; dramatic entrance coming down the sweeping stairs into the transformed Great Hall
Cons: Everyone eats right after cocktail hour (or as us Jews–and the Swedish Chef from the Muppets, to be fair–call it, the “smorgasbord”), which will have a LOT of food, thus, people may be too full to eat dinner; unfamiliar to most of my guests; acoustics in Great Hall are not ideal for a band (55′ high ceiling will do that…); ceremony in Great Hall will be a bit tight (but ceremony is short, so…)

So what do I do?? For reference, the Main Dining Room and the West Lounge have identical dimensions. Also, the Great Hall and West Lounge are adjoining, so if we do the split, the party room adjoins the banquet room.

And please let me know if you are from NYC or not, because I went to an amazing wedding in St. Louis, where the dancing followed the dinner (in the same room) and am wondering if the dinner/dance at once (like I am used to) is a regional thing. Thanks for any thoughts at all!!!