One person, Z, asked if I was happy with Blue Hill. Was I ever. Here are her questions and my answers. The teaser pics are two of my favorite:
Pics by Sarah Sloboda
1. How was the food... the portions... did you go with the 4 course option?
If anyone has eaten at Blue Hill in the city or in Pocantico Hills, it is simply wonderful food. If you have not, do so immediately. The food served at our wedding was what one would expect if dining at the restaurant for dinner (if not better!). More on what we served in another post, but we did go with the four course option becuase the portion sizes are perfect to allow for this.
2. Did you have ceremony on site? The fee for this is quite steep after gratuity and tax? Is it worth it? Did they provide your guests with anything during that hour?
We did have the ceremony on site because we thought the farm was just so beautiful and we thought it was cool for everyone to see the farm where the food was coming from before and during the ceremony. Not to mention the ease of having everything happen in one place. The fee is typical for most venues in the area. The Union Church, with exquisite stain glass windows by Chagall and Matisse, less than a mile up the road charged the same amount (we aren't really church goers, but were curious). They also had decoration and photography constraints that we did not want to deal with.
Blue Hill does serve non-alcoholic drinks before the ceremony (I think a few of my guests had cocktails though).
3. Did you decide to have their wedding cake... or an outside vendor?
I did not use their baker. I knew one of the owners of Lulu's in nearby Scarsdale, so there wasn't a doubt I would go with a friend. Luckily they are of note and have been featured in Martha Stewart, Modern Bride, and The Knot. I HIGHLY recommend them.
4. Did you use a florist?
Yes, we did. We were so lucky again. Our very good friend, Tawana Schlegel is a floral designer and consults for florisity, L'olivier, and Belle Fleur in the city. This was our wedding present from her. If you like her work in the pictures, and are interested in using her, please e-mail me and I will put you in touch with her. She is currently starting up her own business. The containers we used were made mostly by me, so we didn't have to buy many. If you like my ceramics, I could be persuaded (simply because weddings are so much fun!).
5. Did you use their musical provider (John Rangusa?) or hooked up ur IPOD?
I don't know what most people's budgets are, but we found John Rangusa out of our price range. A one person acoustic for the night starts at $3,000. We used a local Williamsburg jazz guitarist (Shan Kenner) and his friend who plays the cajun for our ceremony and cocktail hour music. It was fine, and everyone liked them (they did get a little loud at one point, but the Blue Hill staff takes care of so much, they handled it).
We played a 20's jazz playlist on our ipod for dinner.
The one thing I wish we had done... bought an extra hour of time. Dinner takes awhile, and we had planned on a short hour of dancing (hooking up our ipod), that never happened. Everything was fabulous, but that's the only thing I would have changed... making my wedding 1 hour longer.
6. Where did you change???? I am worried about the bridal party, make up, etc... I have a listing of nearby hotels, but I'm wondering if you have any advice.
We stayed at the Tarrytown House and Estate. They have regular hotel rooms, but we did not want to come back to feeling like we were on a business trip, so we stayed at one of the King House rooms which was a little bit more, but worth it.
We did not really have a bridal party. Our nieces, 8 and 13, were our flowergirl and ring bearer. Most of the decisions we made about the wedding were to keep things simple. Neither of us were interested in asking our friends to obligate themselves for us- we wanted everyone coming to simply be a guest-- even our parents!
The green room at Blue Hill is where the offices are. There is a nice clean, but sparse bathroom. I put my dress on there. The lighting is good. There is also a full length mirror in the room. Just know that the area is not completely private or done up like a suite. They are extremely respectful and for the most part I felt I had first privilege to the space.
Z, and others, I hope this answers your questions. I loved having my wedding at Blue Hill. Good Luck!!! Please ask more questions... I love talking about my wedding.
