This is for personal, noncommercial use only.
Today's Front Page
Gas Buddy
Wedding venue owner finds high-end nuptials alive and thriving
Print this Article- Font Size:
- Default font size
- Larger font size
STAFFORD TOWNSHIP - Twenty-seven-year-old bride Ashley Laura Golia said she felt like a princess Saturday afternoon as she prepared for her wedding at the Mallard Island Yacht Club. And there was no other word to describe her and Hunter Cherenack's wedding but high-end.
Even in a tanked economy, some brides and their families are still choosing to go all-out and over the top for the most important day of their lives. It could be said that weddings, like funerals, are recession-proof - they are always going to happen.
According to The Wedding Report, a Tucson, Ariz.-based research firm, the average price for a wedding in 2008 was $21,814. That number is down from $27,490 in 2007. The Wedding Report expects the amount a couple spends on their wedding to drop in conjunction with the economy, decreasing at least 10% in 2009.
For the first quarter of 2009, average spending on a wedding has dropped to $19,210. This would not even cover the cost of leasing the Mallard Island Yacht Club.
For Chris Vernon, owner of Mallard Island and Bonnet Island Estate in Stafford Township and the Stateroom in Ship Bottom, his high-end nuptial monopoly is safe in this time of economic downturn.
Meghan Nolan, spokeswoman for Mallard Island and Bonnet Island Estate, said both facilities are booked every Saturday until mid-November.
"We have a lot of Friday and Saturdays booked, too, and there is some availability next year, but all of our summer Saturdays for 2010 are already booked," Nolan said.
While florists busily arranged fresh hydrangea centerpieces on the floor where the reception would be held and cooks from Taste Catering whipped up a lavish and endless menu on the ground floor, Golia and her bridesmaids ate lunch and steamed their dresses in the bridal lounge overlooking Barnegat Bay.
Golia fingered her beaded, lace wedding gown that hung next to the steps leading up to her bed. The Romanesque bedroom features a king-size bed enclosed by white columns and heavy gold curtains.
"I always wanted to be near the water, and somehow my parents agreed," said Golia, who rushed about the bridal lounge in a terry cloth zip-up dress.
Golia said going high-end on her wedding will be worth it because she is with the people she loves the most.
"If I would have known a year ago that this would happen with the economy, we wouldn't have done it, but my parents didn't deny me. I guess we're helping the economy here. I'm from Ocean City, and I chose LBI," she said.
Golia said she did cut one wedding cost - her mother, Meridith, was her wedding planner. Meridith Golia said the decision to throw the lavish wedding was easy. Her daughter said she originally wanted to have her wedding at Bonnet Island Estate, and when it was not available, she chose Mallard Island.
"When we walked in here the first time and I saw her face, we knew we would do it. Her dad was the one who melted first," Meridith Golia said.
And high-end does not stop with the venue, the food or the dress at one of Vernon's facilities. Vernon enlisted the services of Buddy Valastro from Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken - aka the "Cake Boss" from The Learning Channel's hit show - to bake all the cakes served at Mallard Island and Bonnet Island Estate.
"It was so exciting. We went up there, and Buddy was filming, but he stopped so he could meet with Ashley at the bakery," Meridith Golia said.
Valastro said he knows other cake designers are having problems during the tough economy, but his business has not slowed. Could it partly be the success of the show? Valastro said he's not sure. Prices at Carlo's Bakery range from $7 to $25 per slice, Valastro said.
"I got very busy in January and we came in strong and that was before the show aired. I give alternatives. If you want a $10,000 wedding cake, I can do it. If you want a $1,000 cake, I can make that, too," he said.
Golia's cake even arrived Saturday afternoon in style - in the back of a Lincoln Navigator. Valastro said it is all about pampering the bride.
"First of all, it's a far ride, and second of all, I'm not cheap because we don't do too much wholesale. Mallard Island is such a unique space, it's got a certain feel to it, and it wouldn't feel right having a cheap cake there," Valastro said.
So it probably would not feel right having typical wedding food at Mallard Island. There was no rigatoni, stuffed cabbage, ham or cocktail wieners at Golia and Cherenack's reception. Try salmon lollipops, Kobe beef sliders, a lemonade station, raw bar, Ben and Jerry's ice cream cones and rosemary garlic-infused filet mignon.
Anthony Baldino, owner of Taste Catering, a division of the Boathouse Restaurant in Beach Haven, said everyone feels the economy, but everyone feels it differently. Baldino compared the cost of a wedding at Mallard Island with a ceremony in New York City and said it is reasonable. The restaurateur and caterer said he is not seeing families and brides cutting back.
"You're getting something absolutely top-shelf and on the coast. I think the other thing is that there are people out there that are affluent. And if a father has the means, he's going to go to whatever length to do this for his daughter. This is an emotional sale," Baldino said.
"Yesterday, one of the biggest things everyone kept saying is, 'Do you see how happy she is?' She was just glowing, and that's all that matters," he said.
After all the money that was spent and work that was done, Golia only had one thing to say.
"I'm just excited to marry the man of my dreams."
Sample menu
Lemonade station
Old-fashioned lemonade, fruit lemonade with raspberry and strawberry ice cubes, tropical lemonade with mango and passion fruit
Passed hors d'oeuvres
- Applewood smoked bacon-wrapped sea scallops with gorgonzola cream sauce
- Chicken Asian spring rolls
- Kobe beef slider
- Petite crab cake and avocado towers
- Salmon lollipops
- Truffle artichoke potato gaufrettes
Table platters
- Cheese and cracker assortment
- Red and yellow tomato bruschetta
- Vegetable crudite
Chef-attended stations
- A taste of China: Bamboo steamer baskets, assorted dumplings, Shaomai potstickers, assorted chili and dipping sauces, assorted egg rolls and spring rolls, Asian chicken and vegetable saute glazed with pineapple and sesame sauce, traditional sticky rice.
- Chilled seafood raw bar: Jumbo Brazilian shrimp, top necks on the half shell, blue point oysters on the half shell, snow crab claws, champagne mignonnette, cocktail sauce and lemon wheels.
- Pasta station: Penne a la vodka with plum tomato, basil, peas and blush tomato sauce; tortellini alfredo with sundried tomato and basil and gorgonzola cream sauce.
Salad
Wild mixed greens, brunoise of fruit medley, strawberry champagne vinaigrette
Entrees
- Herb crusted stuffed chicken with sun-dried tomato, roasted red pepper, pine nut, basil, fresh mozzarella, with broccoli spears, jasmine rice and roasted garlic alfredo
- Pan-seared Chilean sea bass with lobster risotto cake, asparagus and saffron buerre blanc
- Portabella Napoleon with baby spinach, goat cheese, caramelized onion, fire-roasted peppers, lemon locatelli couscous and grilled jumbo asparagus
- Rosemary garlic-infused filet mignon with caramelized onion mashed potatoes, haricots vert, julienne of carrots, and burgandy demi glace
- Children's meal: Assortment of hamburger wedges, half hot dog, chicken tenders and french fries
- Staff meal: French boned chicken breast with jasmine rice, haricots verte and roasted garlic alfredo
Desserts
- Hand scooped Ben & Jerry's ice cream and sorbet in miniature waffle cones
- Wedding cake by Carlo's Bakery: Four- tier, ivory fondant with white crystal sugar drape and white sugar roses on top.
E-mail Donna Weaver:
Posted in Breaking on Sunday, June 28, 2009 11:15 pm Updated: 11:37 pm.
2 comments:
Click here to report a comment as abusive.