urgent wedding reception help

[Sebastiano]

Originally Posted by mother of the bride

future bride and groom in Rome now looking for reception venue for March 2010. Church organised but reception venue proves to be unsuitable. They need somewhere sorted in next 2 days. Reception for approx 40 young children to elderly so needs to be in a hotel in central Rome so children can be put to bed and parents stay at reception. Don't want a modern hotel (or may as well stay at home) but want nice venue with excellent food and reasonably priced accomodation budget for wedding meal approx €100 including wine. Can anyone help please

Given that it is a year off but still not very long for this kind of event i would suggest that you take a weekend in Roma soonish to look around well and decide on a venue,go there try the food if you consider it suitable NEGOTIATE ,the room/s,food,menu,wines,then price, day, time ,.what extras they will put in,many will throw in post meal drinks,( it is not usual to expect guests to pay for their own drinks at a reception here)some will allow you to have music and or dancing others not,some can assist you to get a small musical group some restaurants will make for example flower decorations for the tables meaning you don't have to effe around personally with florists.my own wedding reception in sicily we went there from milano ( a then 22 hour train journey just to sort out all these things)you cannot simply book a rerstaurant at some fixed price and think it'll all work out.there are dozens of reputable guide books in english which you could use as a basis to start looking round...good luck.

[mother of the bride]

Can you give me any idea of the cost of accomodation at Hotel Gladiatori as their website doesn't give prices?

[Ghianda]

You could try phoning them?

[Gala Placidia]

In your case, it is quite possible that normal rates would not apply and that the hotel will make a special package price for you. It is better for you to write to them or to contact them via email, explaining what you need and asking them to give you an estimate.

[mother of the bride]

Thanks looks lovely but it seems that central Rome has won over for ease of access for everyone.

[sienabride]

you can try selecting the approximate dates on their website for this year to get an idea of the price but I agree with Gala, normal rates may not apply. The location that hotel is not totally in the centre but then in order to get that i think it depends on whether your daughter is happy with not having exclusive use of the hotel as the very centrally located properties are often much bigger.

one other point on organising the wedding and wedding planners. you don't say if the bride or groom are italian. however, if they are not, they should be aware that they will most probably require the services of a wedding planner to at least assist in getting the Nulla Osta and arranging an interpreter at the wedding which i think is a legal requirement under italian law. if they're not able to travel to italy to search for venues etc it might be worth engaging the services of a planner sooner rather than later so they can get a short list of possible venues together and do a lot of the leg work for them?

[mother of the bride]

Thanks they have just come back will be going to Rome again later in the year to arrange their reception.

The legal requirements and the church are all being taken care of and they have been in touch with a photographer. They just need to sort a restaurant and decide if they are having a lunch or dinner and have a shortlist of restaurants or hotels. So we wouldn't really need a wedding planner.

[Skichi]

I agree about using a wedding planner - when they're good they're very good & could save you a lot of heartache. As I've mentioned previously, I'd just make sure that you stick to planners that don't charge commission to their vendors. Ask the question!!! The good ones will charge you fairly up front for their services and then do their best to match you up with the best vendors for you. Those that charge commission certainly don't have your best interests at heart & most wedding planning organizations forbid this practice for obvious reasons; they could just sell you off to those prepared to pay them the most. Don't accept the "that's how it's done in Italy" excuse - it's not universal by any means.

[mother of the bride]

That is really useful information and taking that onboard it may be worth their while looking at a planner for the reception which might save a lot of time and money if they can draw up a shorlist for them.