I cannot believe the negative comments I'm reading! We had our wedding at The Palace two months ago in November and I have to say we are still getting phone calls from guests telling us how incredible our wedding was! The food was out of this world and our guests were blown away by the service. We had no trouble finding servers at any point and one of our friends even commented on how he didn't even have to go to the bar for a drink as his table's server went and got them for him.
From a behind-the-scenes standpoint, our maitre'd Anthony and my bridal attendant Maya were out of this world! Maya was only a few feet away from me at all times so I never had to look for her or wait to get anything I needed! At one point, the hook at the top of my dress's zipper broke while I was on the dance floor and I turned and headed for the stairs with my Maid of Honor to go to the bridal suite to fix it; as soon as I got to the bottom of the steps, Maya was already there with safety pins in hand, following me up to take care of it (which she did in two minutes). She was extremely sweet and at the end of the night she even had my gown packed away wonderfully for me along with anything else I ahd in the bridal suite (I changed into a cocktail dress after the cake-cutting). She was definitely a highlight of the night! (Maya, good luck on your own wedding!! You'll be a beautiful bride!)
As far as the planning experience, I called the Palace several times for vendor referrals and just words of advice. My questions were always answered by the end of the day by either Laura or Melanie, and both were incredibly kind and knowledgeable. I have even kept in touch with Melanie since the wedding. Laura gave us tips on how to select a band along with recommendations and Melanie helped me with our menu, our wine selections, our lighting (which i disagree with the other bride -- we used the lavender and it looked incredible, everyone noticed -- maybe the problem was the amber). At no point did I feel as though they had left me on my own after the contract was signed -- they assisted me through the entire process. Also, I remember during the tasting my mom ended up liking a different dessert than the one we had selected -- Melanie was gracious enough to note that down and make sure my Mom received her own personal selection the night of the wedding (a little touch that I truly appreciated). My cake was very important to me as I am a cake-decorator by hobby and so I designed my own cake. I cried when I saw how beautiful it turned out and tons of guests took photos of it, commenting on how stunning it was (and it was DELICIOUS).
Honestly, we are still being told by lots of people that it was the best wedding they ever went to and everyone fell in love with the Palace. The money per head was worth every penny. As far as the mandatory headcount -- DUH! Obviously if you don't expect that you haven't shopped around. We went to visit seven different venues and they ALL had a headcount! The Palace only required us to guarantee 140 for a Saturday night in November in the West Ballroom which is smaller and very intimate-feeling. We thought that was very doable and we ended up with 152 guests! Most other places wanted 200.
If you can afford it, have your wedding at the Palace!!! It was incredible and they truly made our reception a dream come true! Tell Melanie when you get there that Liz and Paul said hi! :-)
Also, for flowers Rosie's Posies in Manalapan was incredible to work with and their work was gorgeous! Our band was the Silk Band and everyone is still saying how they were the best! (we've already been asked for their info by three other engaged couples at our wedding) And our photographer from David Eric Studio in Nutley was excellent! Our proofs our beautiful! We got our invitations from gourmentinvitations.com, a designer who does all custom work. They were a real wow-factor and very easy to work with!
ANY place can have a bad night, but it also sounds to me from some of these comments here that some brides can be very petty and demanding about details that will NOT make or break a night. The little details are important, sure, but really the Palace took care of them all for us and they were spot on every time. As for the food being bad, I can't believe that. Our tasting was incredible and we even thought they culdn't possibly manage it to be that good with 150 dinners the night-of... we were wrong. It was great!