My Boardwalk Oceanfront Round Yummy Asbury Park Wedding

This right here is a front runner. It has the best of both worlds- a lot of character, cool history, awesome amenities, and it's not a wedding warehouse. Yet, they're a full service venue that does do amazing weddings (just not every weekend): McLoone's Supper Club in Asbury Park.

It's the old Howard Johnson's! Iconic building in Asbury Park, and it has a bonus of it's own- it is directly on the boardwalk, with the best views of the ocean, plus Convention Hall, the lawn, the lake and the Wonder Bar. All the great Asbury Park photo opps are as close as possible.

Cocktail hour is on the famous wraparound deck.

The reception room is dramatic and looks stunning in the dark. Windows surround so you're looking out and seeing Asbury and the beach all night.

The room is lined with booths, and then you can customize your additional table configurations and sizes, which I love.

What's great about the awesome architecture and abundant views is that traditional large centerpieces would overwhelm the room, so it's in your best interest to go small and simple- which helps out the budget too. They will even provide glass vases, which you can simply fill with your own flowers.

The food and drink packages are reasonable, and the cool thing about using this restaurant is that the food is actually good. No wedding rubber chicken here! There are price minimums to be met according to the night and season, but our wedding will be large enough that we can choose May or even June and not pay more. And, there's a 10% discount for Friday nights- I was already open to a Friday, and now I like it even more!

Mike's parents love this restaurant. My mom used to go to shows here all the time. I used to go to art opening parties here in the between time of the HoJo and the Supper Club. We have decided that if we get married in New Jersey, we really want it to be in Asbury. And you absolutely cannot beat this place in terms of location and views. We can pop across the street and stay at the Berkeley on our wedding night, have an after party at the Wonder Bar or Beach Bar, and hang out on the beach the day after if we want.

The cons would be that if it rains, the cocktail hour moves into the main reception room, and I am a little hung up on a separate cocktail space. (It's amazing, the 'traditional' wedding practices I thought I didn't care about that have now dug there little Wedding Industrial Complex claws into me!) I didn't want to hold any part of the wedding outdoors because I don;t want to be obsessively checking the weather up to the day of my wedding. But, I think this is worth the risk. The cocktail hour is just that, a single hour, after all. And I have to admit, after falling for the grandeur and size of the Berkeley, it's hard to 'downsize', even if this place has even more character.

But all in all, when we add in budgetary considerations, location, and emotional connections, this really is our front runner. Check out timmcloonessupperclub.shutterfly.com for more pics- plus these!