Weddingbee Blog

After the DJ was hired, we continued our wedding planning with the Great Venue Hunt.

Crikey!

I’ve got a huge Irish family that I see at least once a year at Fourth of July. Zeb is Portuguese and Lebanese, and the running joke is that he is related to everyone. I have ex-boyfriends that are his distant cousins. We knew we would have 300+ people at our wedding. The more the merrier! We love our families, and we have a generous helping of friends. Our number of guests narrowed our choices among the venues in the area.

My initial venue specifications were that it had to be relatively cheap, in cahoots with a hotel, and somewhat different. I didn’t want to have my wedding at a venue I’d been to a million times. I’m looking at you, Venus de Milo!

I can’t tell you how many times I just wanted a listing of venues in the area because surely there are really exciting places near my small town that are cheap and unknown, right? Not so much. I am going to give you my best listing of relatively (and somewhat not) cheap places in the area to have a wedding. Some I have visited during my own venue hunt, and some I’ve attended weddings at.

Rhodes on the Pawtuxet—This is a beautiful place where many of Rhode Island’s important events are held. We visited at night and couldn’t see the view, but apparently it’s almost IN the Pawtuxet River. The event coordinator was sweet and very helpful. The room can fit about a thousand people or can be divided into three sections. I didn’t like the room dividers and couldn’t afford the room fee for the entire venue. Also, some guest tables were located on a different level (only two to three steps higher, but regardless, I didn’t like the segregation). Lesson learned at this venue: I am pickier than I thought I would be.

Atlantic Beach Club—SWOON! ABC is the Cadillac of venues in the area. Located on Newport’s Second Beach, it is on the second floor of a nice restaurant. The room is beautiful with neutral colors overlooking the ocean on three sides. Linda, the event coordinator, was helpful and willing to try to work with our budget. There is nothing wrong with this facility; we just couldn’t afford it. Lesson: you can’t talk $100/plate down as much as you need—not even in off season.

Tewksbury Country Club—TCC is not close to our hometown, but I saw it while visiting a friend in college and fell in love. It is a log cabin and completely, utterly—can’t find the proper words to describe it—beautiful. The price and location is why we did not choose TCC. Lesson: bridal shows outside of your area don’t serve any purpose.

Johnson & Wales Inn- JWI is moderately priced and offers incentives for your booking. They serve some pretty awesome meals here, too, because it is where they train all the J&W University student chefs. The elevators to the hotel rooms are just outside the doors of the reception. But DAMN!!! That room is green! Nineteen ninety-four hunter green with purple accents…Lesson: bridezilla ROAR!!

The Westin Providence—Well, let’s just start with the most important detail—it is attached to the Providence Place Mall. Trolling the mall in my wedding dress could make for some fun pictures. The room is huge and has beautiful chandeliers. It is located in downtown Providence, but where is the benefit in that if there aren’t any windows? Chicken parmesan was $100 a plate, yeah…Lesson: don’t listen to the girl who talks smack about your future venue love.

Independence Harbor—You likey flowers? They’ve got your flowers. I’ve attended two weddings here; the food is good, and the grounds are beautiful. They can only have one wedding at a time, which apparently is a concern for some people. I’ve heard of brides fist fighting in the parking lot in order to secure their wedding date. Not cute, folks. My friend had a Sunday-morning-brunch wedding. The brunch was inexpensive, and I still hear friends talking about the best buffet they’ve ever had. Lesson: regardless of whether or not it’s a wedding, the bar won’t open earlier than 11am.

Café Funchal—My brother and sister-in-law got married here last year, and our friends will be getting married here next year. It’s appropriately abbreviated Café Fun for its extensive martini list (whatup Secret Martini!). The function room fits up to 400 people and is neutral colored, and the dance floor is ginormous! The restaurant part is very modern and chic and features a sushi bar and wine cellar. The banquet room has a separate entrance with plenty of parking. Although this is a family-owned Portuguese restaurant, they serve all-you-can-eat, buffet-style American food of your choosing at the reception. If you visit, you must try the carne d’espito (pronounced carne de SHPIT). I will fully recap the broski’s wedding in the future. Lesson: don’t forget to have a martini!

Hawthorne Country Club—This venue is home to my favorite bridal show (free wine! yippee!) and middle brother’s wedding next year. HCC offers two functioning rooms on a golf course. I have attended several weddings here, as the venue is beautiful and inexpensive. The décor is mostly white, and the top floor has a huge porch and an amazing view of the sunset. There are several bars in the building. Lesson: there is a secret bar on the basement floor where the clubhouse is located.

Rachel’s Lakeside—I’m not quite sure if there is indeed a lake; there must be, but where you might think the lake is, there is a parking lot. Rachel’s is your average reception hall. There are three rooms of various sizes. I believe the largest size fits 250. However, they are very accommodating. I attended a bridal show and a wedding here. I won a free chocolate fountain at the bridal show, and they offered me one of the smaller rooms for my cocktail hour for free. They own a hotel down the street and will shuttle your guests to and from the reception. We were just about to sign the contract here when I visited…well, I’ll leave you in suspense for a post or two. I sometimes need to pinch myself because I’m afraid our venue is a dream. Lesson: you get free shit from those annoying bridal shows!

Belle Mer—Holy shit-show, this place is beautiful. Zeb’s sister (Sissy) just had her wedding here in July. The place belongs in a movie, and boy was I lucky I didn’t know about it during our venue search. The staff was super duper helpful and efficient. We had our own bridal party waitress who took care of all our wants and needs. The venue only holds 200 people, but that is really the only downside. Lesson: if the first floor floods, they will clean it up 10 minutes before your reception and act as though nothing happened. Amaze-balls!

These are the venues that I have visited and know a little something something about. No one is paying me to recommend, I promise. There are other locations in the area that I’ve never been to or are too expensive for Cheap Zeeb here to summarize.

If you have any questions, I’d be more than happy to answer them in the comments section or if you PM me. Happy huntings!