We toured 11 venues before we finally landed on the Wythe. A few reasons: 1) It's such a beautiful space, we didn't have to add any decorations besides the tablescapes and florals,... 2) The venue came with catering, staffing, open bar, cake, tent and heating in case it gets cold or rainy, and 3) It's a hotel, so our families could stay there, and we could have our ceremony and reception in the same place. Most of our vendors were Wythe recommendations, and they were all fantastic to work with. It helped that Wythe had worked with them before, so the whole team felt like a well-oiled machine.
Cassie and Abijah were great to work with and super patient. We probably asked ~100 questions in the year leading up to our wedding, and they never made us feel like we were too much, and they were responsive and timely. I will say, you should definitely read all of the fine print and review your contracts closely — even after you've signed them, because they're living documents. Six months after we'd signed with Wythe, they informed us that they'd accidentally put the wrong hours on our contract and needed to subtract the first hour. We were pretty alarmed because we'd sent out our invitations already and hired several vendors who were contracted for our original hours. We made it clear that we would not accept different hours, especially given that it was not our mistake to begin with. (They also accidentally added a $1,200 French fry bar to our contract that we'd never asked for.) To Wythe's credit, they immediately apologized and agreed to keep our original terms. They were honest mistakes and everyone's human, but it's a good reminder to keep receipts of everything and pay attention to contracts. Don't be afraid to ask questions — sometimes I worried about being "difficult," but it's a lot of money you're spending and you deserve to know all of the details!
The day itself was wonderful. We felt comfortable knowing that our coordinator was working closely with Wythe to ensure that all went smoothly. The food was amazing, everyone loved it. We loved our wedding cake so much that we bought an anniversary cake too (we thought it was cool that Wythe had this offering!). The space was warm, elegant and inviting. Our guests loved how beautiful and sophisticated it was. Wythe was very accommodating, and even packed up meals for my young nephews and their babysitter to bring up to their room. There were still a few hiccups. There was a lag time for appetizers during cocktail hour. Most guests stayed on the lower level of the terrace and the appetizers weren't coming. When I asked, a server said that Wythe typically passes appetizers on the upper level. But none of the guests knew that, so many were left hungry and wondering where the food was. Similarly, the kitchen was behind on serving dinner, so guests had to sit around for 20 extra minutes before food came out. That being said, no venue is perfect. And the Wythe did help save the day in a big way: Earlier on, I realized that we'd completely forgotten to bring our sparklers! I quickly accepted it, thinking maybe guests could just do "the wave" during our exit. Later, though, our coordinator said that some fairy godparent at Wythe was on the hunt for sparklers in the area. Lo and behold, when we walked out for our exit, everyone had sparklers!
Overall, our wedding turned out to be everything we hoped for. It was a truly magical day, and obviously we couldn't have pulled it all off without the Wythe.