Convenience or cost?

We've been looking at banquet halls feverishly in an effort to secure something a year in advance. The issue that's coming up is convenience vs. cost. Having your wedding in the New York City area presents several problems.

1. Space. There are plenty of places to have your wedding. The question is, what do you get for the money? Some places are literally empty rooms - warehouse lofts - where you can do whatever you want, but the cost is for rental of the space only. Translation: you've got to rent tables, chairs, linens, dinnerware, glassware, decorations.

2. All-in-one banquet halls. Again, what do you get for your money? Some places have stereo equipment built in, while others require renting DJ equipment. Some places include floral arrangements, others do not. Some places have a wedding chapel onsite, others do not. A place to take photos, party favors, cake - may or may not be included.

3. Is the place convenient to parking garages and cheap hotels? NYC is notorious for outrageously expensive hotels with tiny rooms. Parking on a weekend is sometimes hard to find (if it's tourist season) and expensive.

4. Traffic! We were going to have our wedding on a Tuesday (it was an anniversary date of significance to us) but that means people will have to fight rush hour traffic. Even for people coming by subway, rush hour is a major hassle. So, we will have a Sunday wedding instead.

Even by having a Sunday wedding, we're still balancing the problem of convenience for most travelers vs. cheaper cost for us. We love 202 East in Manhattan. It's a wonderful space that includes most rentals. All we have to do is get some flowers, a caterer, and possibly cake. The stereo system is built into the room so we can "plug and play" music from our iPods. But because we're dealing with 2 vendors - the space and a caterer, the cost goes up a bit. We're also considering Dante Caterers in Queens - a bit remote, but does that matter if people are traveling on a weekend? They handle all of the rentals, flowers, food, cake, and all for a bit less money. But is it less money when we consider that there is no music equipment in the rooms? This forces us to rent a DJ or haul over our own music equipment and set it up ourselves and who wants to do that on your own wedding day?

I'm curious to hear other people's opinions and wedding stories. I hope you'll consider leaving a comment! And soon, since we hope to make our decision in the next 2 weeks. Thank you in advance!