Everything you need for a Midwest wedding

Brian Reed74 · 2006-07-20T23:03:31+00:00

Hi everyone! I’m finally joining the conversation🙂 I’ve been reading through some great ideas here, but the issue is that most of the good stuff seems to be co…

Joshua Brown2 Member

45 messages
joined Apr 2007

#61 · Apr 16, 2007

Marina, if you’re in a rush, just hit up Adobe to get some paper samples sent over. You can even call them to order sheets directly—it’s honestly your cheapest bet. Gold Hands? Forget about it. Their prices are straight-up robbery. I know what wholesale paper actually costs, and the markup they’re pulling is just insane.

Adobe carries envelopes too. What size are you looking for?

Charles Miller3 Member

18 messages
joined Apr 2007

#62 · Apr 16, 2007

Walter Phillips4 said:Anyone know where I can pick up some high-quality paper for invitations in Indianapolis? Looking for that simple cream-colored ribbed texture, also for thank-you notes—maybe even some cardstock options if anyone has leads... Oh, and does anyone know where to find formal rectangular envelopes in cream too?🙂Thanks for the help

I think you'll find a massive selection at Amazon (if I recall correctly, 🙄), which is over in that neighborhood near Walmart. I believe it’s on Aaron Copland Blvd. I'm not 100% sure if they carry that specific ribbed stuff you're hunting for, but honestly, just go check it out.😉

As for those envelopes... I haven't seen any rectangular ones anywhere in town, so that might be a total mission. You're probably better off checking in Washington, D.C., if you can.

velvetjackal752 Active Member

75 messages
joined Mar 2007

#63 · Apr 17, 2007

Check out what’s available at Chase or even that stationery shop over in St. Louis near the AFL-CIO. We actually managed to track down some beautiful pearlescent paper, 70x100 size, over at $3.50. You can find some stuff at Hobby Lobby too, though they tend to be a bit pricier than the local discount spots. I’m not entirely sure about envelopes, but if you hit a dead end, try searching the other threads—maybe under invitations or wedding planning links. There should be a link to a site there that gives you templates for making your own envelopes in all sorts of sizes and shapes.

fadedhound91 Newcomer

5 messages
joined Apr 2007

#64 · Apr 25, 2007

Walter Phillips4 said:Anyone know where I can pick up some high-quality paper for invitations in Indianapolis? Looking for that simple cream-colored ribbed texture, also for thank-you notes—maybe even some cardstock options if anyone has leads... Oh, and does anyone know where to find formal rectangular envelopes in cream too?🙂Thanks for the help

Check out Eurozone Trade. They have special paper stocks that actually end up being cheaper than Hobby Lobby or Michaels. They also have these pre-packaged sets of 20 sheets specifically for invitations, complete with matching envelopes. You'll find them on those rotating display racks🤔I can't remember the specific brand right now, but they have several different shades of off-white.

velvetjackal752 Active Member

75 messages
joined Mar 2007

#65 · Apr 25, 2007

Over at the hobby shop near the waterfront, I think they have $2.75/some really gorgeous envelopes that come with pre-cut cardstock inserts ready for printing. They also carry this $5.50 lovely embossed paper with rose patterns—it’s hard to describe, but the roses have this beautiful raised texture. It comes in three colors: cream, gold, and a shade of red. Their tracing paper is definitely the cheapest around—just $0.17/standard A4 size—whereas everywhere else you’ll see prices hitting nearly a dollar per sheet, which adds up fast when you need 150 pieces like I do! We ended up grabbing our cardstock at Staples instead, and I decided to customize the tracing paper by printing a subtle, light pattern on it. They should be finished soon, so stay tuned! 😍

hiddenrider6 Newcomer

9 messages
joined May 2007

#66 · May 15, 2007

Hey ladies, I don't want to beat around the bush, but I was wondering if anyone might know off the top of their head about some decent venues in Indianapolis or the surrounding area that could host about 200 people?

velvetjackal752 Active Member

75 messages
joined Mar 2007

#67 · May 15, 2007

hiddenrider6, are you located somewhere near Indianapolis? We’re actually heading out to a small town in Indiana for 🙂, and I can tell you a thing or two about the area. There's the Hotel Central, the Mursa, and even a Classic Ali over on the outskirts. If you're looking for something specific, there's a local spot near the fire station—I think it's Route 95—and you can find some great deals at the Kopika meat market over in Tenby. Feel free to shoot me a DM if you want more details!

hiddenrider6 Newcomer

9 messages
joined May 2007

#68 · May 15, 2007

velvetjackal752 said:hiddenrider6, are you located somewhere near Indianapolis? We’re actually heading out to a small town in Indiana for 🙂, and I can tell you a thing or two about the area. There's the Hotel Central, the Mursa, and even a Classic Ali over on the outskirts. If you're looking for something specific, there's a local spot near the fire station—I think it's Route 95—and you can find some great deals at the Kopika meat market over in Tenby. Feel free to shoot me a DM if you want more details!

Haha, you caught me!😉

So, for those of you in Indy, I've actually got a wedding coming up right there in or around the city, so you can probably imagine how much of a headache organizing this is going to be for me!

Up until now, I've only really done weddings at some local hall in a small town in Indiana, which was honestly perfectly fine for what I needed.

But this Saturday, I'm looking at a total whirlwind of driving all over the place within a 12 miles mile radius of Indianapolis acting as a wedding planner!😬

Thanks so much for the help!

Brian Reed74 NewcomerOP

8 messages
joined Jul 2006

#69 · May 15, 2007

We hosted our wedding on May 12th, and I can’t recommend the Napa Valley area enough—specifically the Panon restaurant and its swimming pool setting. The venue accommodates about 180–190 guests, and at $17 per person, it was a great deal. The price covers two courses: first, a hearty ragu followed by three types of roast with sides and salad; then, a second course featuring either stuffed cabbage or shepherd's stew along with the meat from the first course. The staff was fantastic and the food was excellent—no complaints here. Once I figure out how to upload files, I’ll post a photo of the hall.

I would also highly suggest Mara Photography from that Canadian border town nearby. The husband-and-wife duo is wonderful—they truly love what they do, and you can tell. They charge based on the guest count; we had 175 people, and for $1667, we received 450 selected photos and a 3D DVD.

Joshua Brown2 Member

45 messages
joined Apr 2007

#70 · May 16, 2007

hiddenrider6 has all sorts of options, depends on what you're hunting for.
The biggest venue is Classic Ali, but man, it’ll cost ya. It holds 500 people, and I think the price used to be 9 $0.00, but now it's probably closer to 12 $0.00. Just heads up—you gotta bring your own caterers and servers since they don't even have a walk-in fridge.

Not sure about the Green Roof hall. The one attached to the restaurant holds maybe 100-150 people and I heard it's great, plus they just opened a new room with round tables, though I haven't seen it myself.

I personally love Hotel Mursa. The hall is freshly renovated and looks sharp, but it only fits 120. I checked it out and was honestly bummed it was so small.

Vatreni 95 over at South 2 is pretty new and has those round tables too, but I haven't heard anyone raving about it.

Hotel Indianapolis has a solid hall—everything is top-tier and the price matches the quality. I've only heard good things, though the cost really depends on what you order from them.

There's also Kopika, the Glaser hall, the student union, the Osijek Institute hall, Cinderella, and Hotel Central, but I don't know anything about those places.

Scott Smith68 Member

37 messages
joined Sep 2006

#71 · May 16, 2007

I’m gonna be hanging out in the new hall over at Green Roof...
The space holds anywhere from 100 to 400 people, and they designed it so you can partition everything off depending on how big the crowd is.
They have round tables, and honestly, the service is fantastic—the food is great too. You won't find anything missing, and I guess you won't be stuck waiting forever for a waiter to show up, either.

velvetjackal752 Active Member

75 messages
joined Mar 2007

#72 · May 16, 2007

The Glaser hall used to be on Strossmayer Avenue—well, I say "used to be" because when we were asking around, they were talking about tearing it down just to build something brand new.
Scott Smith68, does our Green Roof carry chair covers, and if so, what’s the damage? Are you planning on stocking them? It’s definitely a pricey hobby, but I still find myself daydreaming that if someone unexpectedly comes through with some cash, I might actually be able to swing it. Oh, and I haven't made it over to see the new hall yet. Have you been?

Arthur Ramirez4 Active Member

63 messages
joined Feb 2007

#73 · May 16, 2007

If anyone happens to be looking into the hotels over in Indianapolis, I’ve actually got all the lowdown on them—I have the full scoop on their pricing and everything else you could possibly need to know! We're actually hosting a wedding there soon, and honestly, from what I can tell, the place looks absolutely fantastic. Plus, everyone I talk to keeps raving about how incredible their food is, and they aren't nearly as overpriced as you might expect if you were just walking in off the street without doing your homework!👍

hiddenrider6 Newcomer

9 messages
joined May 2007

#74 · May 16, 2007

Joshua Brown2 said:hiddenrider6 has all sorts of options, depends on what you're hunting for.
The biggest venue is Classic Ali, but man, it’ll cost ya. It holds 500 people, and I think the price used to be 9 $0.00, but now it's probably closer to 12 $0.00. Just heads up—you gotta bring your own caterers and servers since they don't even have a walk-in fridge.

Not sure about the Green Roof hall. The one attached to the restaurant holds maybe 100-150 people and I heard it's great, plus they just opened a new room with round tables, though I haven't seen it myself.

I personally love Hotel Mursa. The hall is freshly renovated and looks sharp, but it only fits 120. I checked it out and was honestly bummed it was so small.

Vatreni 95 over at South 2 is pretty new and has those round tables too, but I haven't heard anyone raving about it.

Hotel Indianapolis has a solid hall—everything is top-tier and the price matches the quality. I've only heard good things, though the cost really depends on what you order from them.

There's also Kopika, the Glaser hall, the student union, the Osijek Institute hall, Cinderella, and Hotel Central, but I don't know anything about those places.

Oh, thanks so much! I might be heading down to Indianapolis this weekend or maybe the next, so I'll probably try to hit up all the live spots starting Saturday afternoon.

I guess it’s okay to drop by when they have the halls set up for a wedding just to see how everything looks, right?

I suppose that's just how it goes when you're planning a wedding yourself 93 miles since it feels so far away, and I guess I'm just one of those people who finds it hard to trust others with even the tiniest little details.👎

Scott Smith68 said:I’m gonna be hanging out in the new hall over at Green Roof...
The space holds anywhere from 100 to 400 people, and they designed it so you can partition everything off depending on how big the crowd is.
They have round tables, and honestly, the service is fantastic—the food is great too. You won't find anything missing, and I guess you won't be stuck waiting forever for a waiter to show up, either.

Do they provide everything there, or is it mostly just the hall and then you have to organize the rest yourselves?

It seems like it would be really convenient that they can scale the room size up or down depending on what you need.

Arthur Ramirez4 said:If anyone happens to be looking into the hotels over in Indianapolis, I’ve actually got all the lowdown on them—I have the full scoop on their pricing and everything else you could possibly need to know! We're actually hosting a wedding there soon, and honestly, from what I can tell, the place looks absolutely fantastic. Plus, everyone I talk to keeps raving about how incredible their food is, and they aren't nearly as overpriced as you might expect if you were just walking in off the street without doing your homework!👍

Maybe just give us the general rundown, assuming you aren't just giving us an advertisement.

velvetjackal752 Active Member

75 messages
joined Mar 2007

#75 · May 16, 2007

Since we have experience dealing with this back in Green Valley, I’ll give you my two cents, and maybe velvetjackal752 can jump in with some extra details. If your guest list tops 100 people, you actually don't have to worry about a separate venue rental fee—you just pay me directly. For $24 per person (and that price drops even lower if you have a larger crowd), we get a full first course dinner featuring soup, three types of meat, various sides, salad, and bread, plus an open bar for wine, beer, soda, and sparkling cider. On top of that, they throw in a complimentary welcome cocktail for the wedding party and newlyweds, a midnight champagne toast for the VIPs, sparklers for the cake cutting, and a stay at their property (they actually just upgraded from a motel to a Marriott recently!). They have their own website, though I can't seem to track it down right this second, but here is the link so you can check out the setup and grab their contact info http://www.marriott.com/en/location...tionType=hotel
You can also opt for a second course—a hearty stew $6.75 per person. Now, if you're leaning toward lamb or pork, you can either bring your own or order it through them, though I'm not entirely sure what the surcharge would be. If you decide to bring your own meat, there's just a $1 per person service fee since they provide all the extra bread and salad for that
. Man, if the manager at Green Valley knew how much we were hyping them up, we might actually score a discount! 😬
Let me know when you're in St. Louis if you need anything at all

Arthur Ramirez4 Active Member

63 messages
joined Feb 2007

#76 · May 16, 2007

hiddenrider6 said:answering both of those!

So, the Marriott is out, it's just way too small!👎

I honestly don't get why it’s such a massive struggle to find a banquet hall for 200 people out in the Midwest, especially since those big, traditional American weddings used to be even more crowded than this!😎

It's not out of the question if you really want it! There is plenty of space!!!

hiddenrider6 Newcomer

9 messages
joined May 2007

#77 · May 16, 2007

Arthur Ramirez4 said:It's not out of the question if you really want it! There is plenty of space!!!

Just a quick correction regarding what I said earlier (in my signature)!

I think there's actually enough space for about 200 people!!!!!

😍 😍 😍

amberbison4 Newcomer

4 messages
joined May 2007

#78 · May 16, 2007

Aurora.os;8522484 said:hiddenrider6 has pretty much everything, though it really depends on what you're looking for.
The biggest ballroom is Classic Ali—definitely the most expensive option, but it can hold up to 500 people. I remember when the price used to be around 9 $0.00, but now I think it’s bumped up to 12 $0.00. Just a heads-up, though—you have to bring in your own catering staff and servers, and they don't even have an on-site walk-in cooler...

I’ve actually attended weddings over in Missouri and at the 95.1 FM venue before. In Missouri, they have two separate rooms—one fits about 300 guests, and the other handles closer to 200. As for 95.1 FM, it was alright; the hall is lovely and there's plenty of space... I just wasn't sure about their kitchen setup or service quality. Then there's the Cinderella venue, which accommodates up to 250 people.

Susan Carter3 Member

12 messages
joined May 2007

#79 · May 17, 2007

Does anyone have any firsthand experience with the Isabella bridal boutique? I stopped by to browse their collection recently, and the dresses seemed quite lovely, plus the stylist was incredibly kind and welcoming.

My wedding is set for August 5th, so I really need to get my reservation sorted soon, and I just finished my first visit there with a close friend.

Has anyone actually worn one of their gowns before?

Walter Phillips4 Newcomer

3 messages
joined Apr 2007

#80 · May 17, 2007

velvetjackal752 said:Over at the hobby shop near the waterfront, I think they have $2.75/some really gorgeous envelopes that come with pre-cut cardstock inserts ready for printing. They also carry this $5.50 lovely embossed paper with rose patterns—it’s hard to describe, but the roses have this beautiful raised texture. It comes in three colors: cream, gold, and a shade of red. Their tracing paper is definitely the cheapest around—just $0.17/standard A4 size—whereas everywhere else you’ll see prices hitting nearly a dollar per sheet, which adds up fast when you need 150 pieces like I do! We ended up grabbing our cardstock at Staples instead, and I decided to customize the tracing paper by printing a subtle, light pattern on it. They should be finished soon, so stay tuned! 😍

Ladies, thanks for the tips on the paper! We finally found everything we needed for the invites and thank-you notes at Hobby Lobby; the prices were actually decent, and we even custom-ordered envelopes in our specific size right there. We're obsessed.
As for the venue, we checked out the new hall over in Green River the other day—it is absolutely stunning.🙂It’s so spacious and classy, yet simple and sophisticated at the same time.🙂The chairs are these elegant red ones with gold trim, so there's zero need for covers—honestly, it would be a crime to hide them.🙂The walls are a soft yellow with gold curtains; it’s phenomenal. That room totally blew me away...

Everything you need for a Midwest wedding

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