Weddingbee boards

Hi! Has anyone been married at a loft venue and can give me some advice/ tips?  (I've been following Mrs Star, which is great :), but I would appreciate some more insight).  I guess my question is really "How much of a pain in the a$$ is it?  And do you end up spending significantly more than you would at an all-inclusive?" 

My fiance and I are going for sort of an industrial feel, nothing too gold-chandelier-old ballroom-ish, for our wedding.  So of course in that way it seems like a loft might be perfect for us.  And we're hoping to get married in NYC, so there are tons of lofts to choose from.  But I have to say I've felt pretty overwhelmed when I've been to check out a few loft venues and the event managers say things like, "We'll provide toilet paper and bathroom soap for you."  Like, toilet paper?!!  I can't believe there's a remote possibility I would have to coordinate the TOILET PAPER on my wedding day! Lol. I also worry about the fact that you don't really get to see what your wedding will look like until just a few hours before the event when all the rentals arrive.  I think I may be a little too paranoid for that...

But with all that said, I think it's awesome how lofts let you really customize your wedding and make it unique.  (Plus my fiance kind of really wants one!)  So I hesitate to rule them out too quickly.  Sooo I'm just wondering if anyone's had any positive or negative experiences with lofts and can let me know how much extra work (and money!) it really is?  Thanks!!

Hi Salsals!

We didn't have our wedding in a loft, but I used to live in one! I've found that big, open spaces are a little tricky to decorate, but if you can pull it off it can be absolutely amazing.

So, while I don't have any advice about coordinating vendors, I can say one thing: take photographs of the entire space that you choose. Make sure you get every wall and get a couple nice zoomed-out shots that include at least two or three walls. Get measurements for everything. Then take those photographs home and start decorating from there. Show them to your florist, if you're using one (there's a wedding on here somewhere of a couple who held their wedding at Holocene in Portland - it's an amazing, open, loft-like space. Their florist ended up designing a wall of strung flower petals to add height and effect. It was absolutely stunning). Show the photos to any other vendors that you use. This way you can know that everyone's on the same page as far as knowing what's going to go where, how big tables will need to be, what you'll have space for and empty areas that will need to be dressed up. 

Good luck! Lofts can be amazing spaces - I hope you can make one work for you!

PS Here's the link to the Holocene wedding, to give you some ideas: http://www.weddingbee.com/2008/10/28/nicole-and-cabel-part-two/#more-71571

And here's a pic of the rose petal curtain their florist made:

Again, good luck, and have fun with this!  :-)

Thanks CellarDoor!  Those pics are great :)