A Cheap, Gorgeous, Huge, Perfect Venue in Manhattan. Seriously?

It's about damn time. I was seriously starting to think I'd never find a decent venue and then--voila.

By Sara Cardace

It was probably about 3 in the morning one night--a weeknight, so you can imagine how this was affecting my life and general sanity--and I was trapped in one of those obsessive Googling frenzies I mentioned in my last post. I stumbled across a post in a message board thread about Brooklyn venues in which a bride-to-be mentioned that she'd unexpectedly come across a cheaper, better place in Manhattan (of all places) that she'd booked on sight.

Intriguing! I scrambled over to the website, where I beheld for the first time, Landmark On the Park. It looked awesome--gothic, and huge, with big soaring ceilings and stained glass...see the photo above, but definitely click over to the website to get a better sense. There are tons of gorgeous shots.

...none of which, it turns out, even do the place justice! I arrived for my early-morning appointment a couple of days later and met up with Darius Lang, who wound up being basically sent from heaven in terms of the kind of event coordinator a fretful bride dreams of meeting when they show up for an appointment. He was warm, professional, enthusiastic, organized, inventive...you name it. And the space was stunning: An old cathedral-style church with a huge, cavernous main hall, big dramatic archways on all sides, and even a gorgeous raised marble altar at one end--and right on Central Park West, just across the street from the park.

All that and it was half the price of anywhere else I'd looked, and that's for a Saturday wedding. Even better, the rental price includes 20 huge round dinner tables and enough chairs to seat a small army. Amazing! Apparently fancypants designers like Manolo Blahnik and Anna Sui have had fashion shows there, but for some reason it hasn't officially landed on bridal radars just yet. Trust me, though---it will.

I freaked out and made John run over to see the place instantly and he loved it too. I made immediate plans for my mother and sister to come in and give Landmark their seal of approval (on the same day we had an appointment at hallowed gown factory Kleinfeld--shudder--more on that next week) and they were wowed as well. We booked it on the spot.

And now I officially have a date! April 25, 2009. So much to do before then...