Venue Advice--Menu or Location?

[Haven]

Hi, ladies,

I''m looking for some advice here. FI and I are torn between two different venues for our July 4th wedding.

The first venue is our local country club, it''s a gorgeous space, beautiful golf course, great location, yadda yadda yadda.

The only negative: prior to thinking about holding our reception at the CC, we were planning on holding the entire event at my synagogue, so we contacted an outstanding caterer. This caterer made up a DELICIOUS menu for our event, and I mean DELICIOUS. Well, FI decided he doesn''t want to have the reception at my synagogue, so we put our date on hold at the CC. The CC has an in-house kitchen, so we can''t use an outside caterer, which means we have to give up this delicious menu.

What should we do?

A) Hold our reception at the country club and use their in-house kitchen. Beautiful grounds, great space, etc. (The menu is great, but not OUTSTANDING like our other caterer.)

B) Hold our reception at my synagogue, which isn''t very beautiful and a bit cramped inside, but we could use this amazing caterer.

Unfortunately, I''m way too crunched for time to seek out a third venue that would allow us to have an outside caterer, so it''s one or the other here.

What would you do?

 

[basil]

Well, I''m curious as to what is on the amazing menu!

Could you ask the country club to come up wth a menu similar to the caterer? Or are their choices pretty limited? If your fiance really doesn''t want to have the reception at your synagogue, then I think it would be tough to ask him to do it on the sake of an amazing menu. Alternatively, is there some way you could decorate the synagogue so it was more beautiful? I know it''ll never feel like a country club, though.

 

[Sparkalicious]

What is more important to you?

Treating your guests to an exceptional meal and decent setting or treating you guests to a great meal and exceptional ambience?

If the priority is on the food, then absolutely, the synagogue may be the way to go b/c that way you will not regret it if the food at the CC doesn''t live up to your expectations.

If you were looking for more of a balance between the two, maybe, the CC would be the way to go. Additionally, as a further compromise, you could ask them if they would be willing to incorporate some of your favorite things from the caterers menu into your meal with them?

I hope it works out just the way that you would like it to ... Good luck!

 

[zoebartlett]

I''d have to say that I''d go with having it at the country club. I''d choose enjoying the ambiance over being cramped any day. I''d also see if the caterer you love could do your RD (in the backyard or in a park, etc.). That way you get to enjoy both in the same weekend. If that''s not an option, could you keep the caterer in mind for another event at another time?

 

[Haven]

Thanks for your input, ladies. This is a tough decision for me because both venues have a lot of positives, and not too many negatives. I am concerned that the synagogue will feel more cramped because there aren''t as many different spaces for people to use--it would really just be a large lobby and the social hall.

I''m thinking we''ll stick with the country club, and I''ll ask them if they could incorporate some of the delicious items onto their menu, too. Zoe--I hadn''t thought of using the caterer for our RD, what a great idea, thank you!