Suzanne and Michael Are Getting Married: My baroque Parisian oceanfront Asbury Park wedding

We’re in love!!!!!

Not just with each other. I mean, that too, but we’re in love together with a venue. The Berkeley Hotel in Asbury Park.

Yes, I said hotel. You know I’ve been looking for something ‘different’ and I’ve been rejecting most hotel/catering halls based solely on the pictures. But we’ve been looking at several places in Asbury Park, our preferred town to get married in if we do it in New Jersey, and I’ve had the Berkeley in mind the whole time as the place we would stay overnight. I was checking out the guest rooms online and took a peak at the ballrooms for the hell of it.

Well, well, well! They did not look like I’d expected them to. The largest, the Crystal Ballroom, looked fairly traditional- pretty, with large windows and 3 giant crystal chandeliers. Then there are 4 other rooms available for cocktail, ceremony and reception, each with a very different style- some ornate, some mod, and one that had a French gothic feel to it- chic, not costume-y.

I also saw menus from one of the approved caterers and the prices didn’t look too bad, so I figured, what the heck, let’s check it out.

Oh boy.

First, I want to mention that Michael really, really LOVED it. He’s liked a lot of the places we’ve seen, but this was the first time he was more excited than I was! He’s been slow to come around to a ‘realistic’ budget- what it costs to get married in NJ if we don’t want to go totally unconventional. But after walking out of the Berkeley, he was suddenly on board!

We loved the combination of the Oval Room for cocktails and the Versailles room for the reception. We could have our larger guest list, but we would need to cut it off at the number we’ve approximated- a little less actually, but close enough. I feel like I could get the best of both worlds here. A catering hall with hotel attached means so much less work, but I feel like this place has enough character to make me happy, and we just love love love being on the water, next to Convention Hall, in Asbury Park- you can see Convention Hall and the Wonder Bar from the balcony and windows! Like I said, if it can’t be in Brooklyn, this is where we want to have it.

I’m waiting for the catering manager to send me prices, and everyone, please cross your fingers that this could be a real possibility for us! And in the meantime- pictures!