The Carlyle Revisited...

This past Saturday we returned to The Carlyle to look at the Lenox Room set up for a ceremony - I'm so anal about size I need to see it set up - imagine that.

Unfortunately, the Lenox Room wasn't set up. Fortunately, the wedding scheduled was set up outside AND in the round. It looked great. Imagine a rose-petal-strewn path leading up to a beautifully decorated huppa (L'shana tova to all you Jews out there!!!) surrounded by an audience of white chairs and candles. It really looked great. The weather couldn't have been nicer; low 70s and breezy.

No matter the weather, we're still getting married in the Lenox Room. My fears of not having enough room for guests, chairs, and Coco's HUGE wedding party, etc. were calmed. The room is much longer and wider than I remember (75'l x 29'w).

We were fortunate enough to have one of The Carlyle's maitre d's on site (Gerald) as he walked us through this weddding's entire set up. The table linens, the flowers, the themed food stations, even baskets of WC essentials (ie. breath mints, Tide StainStick, dental floss, you name it!) I must admit - it all looked stunning. Very classy. I'm sure the bride & groom were happy. I'm sure we will be also.

I definitely walked away with some things to remember:

- Enough photography lighting (reflective devices might be nice if our fotog isn't bringing them. I wonder if The Carlyle will charge me extra for some tin foil??

- I've only been there 3 times and each time I'm thrown off as soon as I turn off the Bethpage Parkway. Too many damn roundabouts if you ask me. One or two signs, placed strategically, can only do wonders for guests.

- To me, this is the biggest one yet. I'm not sure if you can tell in the pictures or not but The Carlyle has a beautiful circle cobble stone drive that welcomes guests to the clubhouse. I distinctly recall I speaking with The Carlyle representative, Cynthia Benard, about making sure Carlyle or NY state staff do not park in the spots that seem to be available due to sheer available space. I'd be livid if I pulled up an hour or two before my wedding and saw cars circled like wagons getting raided by injuns. The more I think about it the more I'm realizing I may not be able to control this - damn Friday afternoon golfers. It's killing me. Seriously.