An Overly Dramatic Venue Change?

An Overly Dramatic Venue Change?

December 28th, 2010 @ 4:19 pm by Mrs. Jaguar
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I’ve talked before about our gorgeous wedding venue, a top floor room of Curzon Hall in Sydney, and how absolutely perfect it is. In the past week, I received an automated newsletter email from the venue, informing its patrons that one of its rooms has recently undergone renovations.

Why yes, of course the room they were talking about is the one that we’ve booked. Apparently, they’ve changed the carpets and some furnishings, which is fine; I’m not bothered by updates like that. What I am bothered by, is them changing the layout of the room. I’m not creative when it comes to graphics by any stretch of the imagination (Miss Waffle, you put me to shame!) but here’s a brief illustration of the floor-plan, then & now:

An Overly Dramatic Venue Change? : wedding sydney venues Table Change table-change

I know, I know—the change isn’t THAT drastic. But then, it kind of is. I booked our venue back in April 2009, over a year in advance. And I loved the room we’d booked, specifically because it was different: it wasn’t the traditional, dance-floor-in-middle-of-room set up that practically every other venue I’d visited had used. Here’s what I said a few months back, about our room’s quirky set up:

The dance floor is off to the side, so people don’t have to either a) feel intimidated by getting up and dancing or b) end up shouting over music if they choose to stay at the tables or mingle at the bar.

Well, that’s changed now. Our cozy and intimate room has literally been split in half, meaning that organising tables is now going to be that little bit more difficult—we don’t want to have the seating assignments turning into ‘his side’ versus ‘my side’. It also means that my fear of people not using the dance floor and being the centre of attention has come true.

Bah! So cranky. I’m sure it’ll pass, but I just wish that they would have forewarned us that a change was coming, so we could have had a say in its renovations. Having it sprung on us a few months before the wedding, well, it just sucks. I have to set up a meeting with the style team there next month, so it’ll be interesting to see it in person. I’ll keep you posted on how that turns out.

Did your venue have any drastic changes before your big day arrived?

Tags: sydney, Venues |

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11 Responses to “An Overly Dramatic Venue Change?”

Member

Miss CuppyCake (message) 341 posts, Helper bee

My venue just recently sent me an email stating they were going to be “embarking on major construction” for the venue starting in March. They assured me my specific ballroom would not be effected but they could give me no garuntee as to what the rest of the building would like by the time our May wedding rolled around. They said it all just depends on the how far the construction workers get and how well they “stick to plan”. I was furious and having the venue in shambles just wasn’t an option. So we complained and argued back and forth and they finally agreed to return our deposit so that we could move venues. It’s kind of devistating because I too booked a year in advance and had been picturing my wedding and making alllll my decisions based on that floor plan just to have it change 5 months prior.
Luckily we found a venue that is just as beautiful but it’s still been stressful.
My advice is to make sure you are truly happy with whatever you decide. Don’t be afraid to explore your options but also don’t feel forced to abandon the venue. Just make sure your heart is happy so you can enjoy your day!

12/28/10 @ 4:36 pm (reply)

Bee

Mrs. Trail Mix (message) 6,328 posts, Bee Keeper

That is totally annoying and stressful, I’m sorry! But I’m sure everyone will be dancing and will enjoy themselves no matter what!

12/28/10 @ 5:01 pm (reply)

Member

julies1949 (message) 9,406 posts, Bee Keeper

Renovations after booking a venue can be frustrating but the reality is- they have to do it sometime.
I did kind of laugh when I read ” but I just wish that they would have forewarned us that a change was coming, so we could have had a say in its renovations.”
What “say” do you think you would have had in the renovations? The only “say” customers have is to make or mot make a booking.

12/28/10 @ 6:54 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Jaguar (message) 4,656 posts, Honey bee

@julies1949: My suggestion would have been that if they were planning to move the dancefloor, use a parquetry based one so that it could be moved back to mirror the original set up, as when we booked.

Next step - deciding to suck it up and stay there, or find somewhere new?

12/28/10 @ 7:08 pm (reply)

Member

IlsaLund (message) 446 posts, Helper bee

I would be upset too. I would have wanted a heads up. Not to have a say, I doubt they’d listen but a hey- before you book us, we plan on doing a, b, and c. Then you could make your decision before plunking down the money.

12/28/10 @ 8:36 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Waffle (message) 1,121 posts, Bumble bee

Aw, Jag, I think you’re lovely and your computer skills beat mine hands down.
Our venue is doing a lot of renovations and upgrades, but luckily they aren’t changing any of the layouts. Am having grouchy feelings for you now. Grrr.

12/28/10 @ 10:39 pm (reply)

Member

Sunlavender (message) 553 posts, Busy bee

I went to a wedding where the dance floor was off to one side. Although it made for good table conversations, it also made it difficult to see all the wedding traditions (ie - first dance, cake cutting) unless you walked up to the first line of tables. So even though it’s a little more traditional of a layout, it may turn out to be a good thing in the end.

12/28/10 @ 10:42 pm (reply)

Member

blanket (message) 206 posts, Helper bee

I totally understand why you feel upset by this changes forced upon you, especially when you had already established a floor plan. I’m also planning to go they way you had designed originally. But you know, it really could turn into a good thing in the end. I too had an experience like Sunlavender where I couldn’t really see/hear what was going on with the wedding related activities and even felt kinda left out for siting on the last table. Who knows, maybe instead of people being intimidated by the big space right in the middle, they could actually be more into the party this way (you know, instead of having to walk all the way over there to the dance floor they could just stand up and mingle with the people enjoying themselves right next to them, I mean, why not?). Hope it all works out for you!

12/29/10 @ 12:57 am (reply)

Bee

Miss Jaguar (message) 4,656 posts, Honey bee

@Sunlavender: & @blanket: Good points, ladies - thanks! We’re sticking with it, we’ll just make it work for us.

12/29/10 @ 2:35 am (reply)

10.

Bee

Miss Giraffe (message) 4,216 posts, Honey bee

Totally lame, Jag! Think about it this way, now all those lonely tables will have no choice but to get up and boogie so that they can spend time with everyone from the other side of dance island!

12/29/10 @ 8:02 am (reply)

11.

Member

Freeze Pops (message) 66 posts, Worker bee

I, like you, would have been looking forward to the uniquely off-balanced layout.

And I, like you, would have been (CAPITAL “P”) PISSED to find out my venue’s layout changed with renovations.

But man some of these commenting ladies make a good point: The dancefloor in the middle is a way better option for entertaining your guests. This is totally a blessing in disguise! You must have done something good. Yay Bride Karma!

12/30/10 @ 6:05 pm (reply)