Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Middletown: The Little City with Big Selections - Part II





Middletown: The Little City with Big Selections

As part two of our exploration of Middletown, CT as a local wedding destination; we’re going to take a look at a seaside venue with New England appeal.

The Canoe Club sits on prime real estate in Harbor Park, in Middletown. Harbor Park is one of those places you and your family can go on a lazy weekend afternoon to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Mattabesett River flowing into the vast Connecticut River. According to the Canoe Club’s website, the restaurant was built in 1915 and is still the only restaurant open year round on the CT River.

The Club would host your wedding on their second floor banquet room, which would include a cocktail hour on their balconies. Talk about a beautiful view of both sky and sea! The shoreline and plush landscapes of trees are more than enough beauty to draw you to this venue. If you’re into Nautical style, without overdoing it, this is the spot for you! The best and only feature of this facility is the view. But wow, what a view! You won’t have to wait until the summer to get that “Cape Cod” or “New England” feel you want for your wedding…you can get that here year round! You can be on the water, without the unpredictability of pending bad weather.

The Club can host up to 125 guests in their upstairs room, a manageable size crowd for any budget. The menu selections listed on their website are pretty standard, with a typical array of chicken, beef, and fish entrees. What I do like is that you get Wine Service with Dinner at no extra charge. Most venues add on fees for that.  I absolutely adore the Chilled Martini or Frozen Drink Station that you can add on for just $8 per person. A fab idea for that is to create a signature drink that fits your wedding theme! You seem to get a lot of bang for your buck with their menu and add ons at the Canoe Club. Banquet prices are only $89 or $99 depending upon the weekend day you select. Plated service is $25 more, but well worth it if you’re just not into buffets. So the Canoe Club would work well with a budget of $30,000 and up, since you’ll be spending about $15,000 on the reception.

The only negatives I can see with this place, was my brief interaction with the staff member who handles the online banquet inquiries. When checking out the website, at first glance it wasn’t obvious that their prices were anywhere on the site. So I sent a query and was told in a kurt tone, and grammatically incorrect text, to click on the word “Wedding” and the listing would come up. So I’d just recommend a user-friendly update to the website to fix that misunderstanding. The staff member informed me that the prices listed were 2015 prices, and the 2016 prices would increase by 10%. Pretty standard practice to increase the pricing year to year, so if you’re watching your budget closely, do the calculations and make sure the increase doesn’t affect your bottom line. The staff member also proceeded to advise that if you book The Canoe Club, you’d have to rent place settings and glassware! What the what?????!!!!! I have to wonder why the second floor room is unable to use the plates, glasses, and silverware that the downstairs restaurant uses? Or do they not have enough to accommodate an event while serving customers in the restaurant? As a coordinator, a whirlwind of questions are spinning in my brain about that. But the staff member mentioned they use CT Rental Center for their rentals…who I absolutely LOVE and am a repeat customer of. So if you should choose The Canoe Club in Harbor Park as your venue, you’ll be getting a standard meal, a great rental company, and fabulous view!

Check out The Canoe Club:

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And stay tuned for more info on the other locations! Just in time for your 2016/2017 Wedding!

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