A very happy bride...

After visiting 5 or 6 different venues, The Palace was the last appointment on our list. My fiancé at the time, (husband now) Jeremy, and I fell in love with The Palace instantly! The decor and presentation seemed to suit our personalities. We wanted to keep our options open and proceeded to carry on negotiations with The Palace and another venue we liked as well. The sales rep we dealt with was Christie Castellana. She was more than willing to work with our budget...the other venue not so much. That was the deal breaker for Jeremy and I. Soon after we booked The Palace, I was introduced to Melanie Wernersbach who became my wedding coordinator. And then the planning began.

I provided Melanie with a power point presentation to give her an idea of what exactly I wanted for my wedding day. I started everything early. Within the first month of being engaged we had the venue, photographer, videographer, DJ, Florist and Limo booked. I researched everything and asked questions frequently. I learned over the years to not leave anything to the last minute and I didn’t want to end up one of those stressed out bridezilla’s the last month before the wedding. I emailed Melanie on a monthly basis asking questions about marriage licenses, champagnes, measurements…etc…you name it…I asked. Melanie remained responsive throughout my entire experience. She was so helpful, knowledgeable and professional. She never made me feel as if I were an annoyance to her. I think her strongest characteristic is that she makes you feel as if you are the only bride she is working with.

Melanie provided me with all the information I needed to make our decisions, payments, and plans. I will truly miss working with her. You form a certain bond over the period of time planning the most important day of your life that it is almost sad to say goodbye.

The Palace was pretty flexible with our requests except for one thing that Jeremy and I were slightly disappointed with. We had requested a certain type of Champagne be served at our wedding. Due to NJ distribution laws, we were unable to have the champagne at our wedding. This is obviously not a fault of the Palace.

The quality of service met our expectations. Our taste testing was a blast and the food was a amazing. Every compliment we have received thus far in regards to The Palace are focused on the food and the overall appearance. All of our guests commented on how great the food was, how much food was provided, “The Palace is BEAUTIFUL”…etc!

Our Maitre d was Alan and although a very strong headed man…he really knows what he is doing. I thought, when I first met him, that we were going to butt heads a bit but in the end he really came through for us. Jeremy and I purchased sparklers…we really wanted to do a photo at night that we had seen online with the sparklers. In the photo the sparklers were set up sticking out of the ground in the shape of a heart and the couple stood inside the heart. While they were lit the photographer took pictures from a spot up above. Well Alan surprised us and made it happen! We were so excited. He ran the wedding just I as I had always envisioned it.

On the day of the wedding I had to make a decision that morning whether or not I wanted an outdoor ceremony. The week before the wedding had a consistent temperature of 75 degrees every day. On the actual day of the wedding it had dropped significantly. I was concerned that my guests would be freezing. Considering our ceremony was very short, I made the call to do it outside. The Palace accommodated my decision and worked around the weather. Even though it was cold, it was a beautiful clear evening. All the guests were instructed to enter the balcony right before we walked out so no one was outside for any longer than they needed to be.

All in all we had an amazing experience with The Palace for our wedding. I would not change one thing! I wish I could do it all over again. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.