Hello, one and all! How is everyone today? Good, I hope! Today, I'd like to talk with you about the joyous (or traumatic) events known as weddings. Specifically, wedding locations!
I’ve always believed that any day is a good day for
a wedding. As long as it ended in –y and wasn’t a bank holiday, a wedding can
take place any day, come rain, sleet, or snow. Weddings on New Years would be
slightly inadvisable, unless you can afford to pay both an arm and a leg for
the event, but any of the other 365 days of the year is up for grabs.
You could have your wedding on the hottest day of
the summer or the coldest day of winter and as long as it was a day you chose
and it was filled with laughter, love, friends and family, the day doesn’t
matter. Of course, the weather could dictate your clothing choice; you would
not, for example, want to wear a dress with a long train on a day with fifteen
inches of snow. Similarly, you would not want to wear a tweed suit in the
middle of August.
(Of course, one should never wear a tweed suit,
regardless of the weather, unless one is starring in a Will Ferrell movie, but
I digress.)
No, the day of your wedding does not matter as long
as it is the day you choose and filled with people you choose to share it with.
However, while the day is inconsequential, the location is pivotal. Can you
imagine having your wedding in a place you hated? Or, even worse, a place where
some tragedy had occurred? Having your wedding in the middle of an alligator
infested swamp, for example, would, to state it lightly, spoil the day, to say
nothing of getting married in the middle of a jungle. It worked for Tarzan and
Jane, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
Fortunately, Hamilton, Ontario is notably lacking in
both swamps and jungles, and when two of my closest friends were married this
past summer, they picked a rather lovely location on Hamilton’s waterfront. Both
the wedding and the reception took place at the Sarcoa Restaurant and Bar, a
higher end restaurant located on Pier Four in Bayfront Park.
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| Photo courtesy of their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarcoa-Restaurant-Bar/233741743395665?ref=br_tf |
I had the honour of being the Master of Ceremonies
during the reception, and while I was less than stellar (public speaking is not
my forte), Sarcoa was out of this world.
Located at 57 Discovery Drive, Sarcoa stretches out
into the waterfront. The front of the building is a wall of glass windows,
leading visitors into a foyer filled with couches for guests to wait. On the
other side of the foyer, a set of doors lead out onto a walkway with a
panoramic view of the water.
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| Photo courtesy of their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarcoa-Restaurant-Bar/233741743395665?ref=br_tf |
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| Photo courtesy of their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarcoa-Restaurant-Bar/233741743395665?ref=br_tf |
On the day of my friend’s wedding, the sun was
riding high in the sky, the water was a clear blue, and winter hadn’t even
begun to invade Hamilton. During the wedding itself, which was beautiful, we
didn’t see too much of the restaurant. Afterwards, we made our way to the
reception area.
The Restaurant is broken up into three key areas. A
bar and restaurant location inside the main building with servers dressed in
black and comfortable chairs tables placed around the room. In this area,
visitors can have dinner and drinks, and enjoy a clear view of the Hamilton
waterfront while being surrounded by a classy, cosmopolitan environment.
The second part of the restaurant is an outdoor bar and
restaurant. During the wedding, this area was in full use with families
enjoying the summer sun for a good day out. The bar in this area drew the eye
with a red canopy, and arched gateways bordered the seating area. After the sun
goes down, the lights stretched overhead came to life, turning the area into
something of a garden setting.
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| Photo courtesy of Kattie Wayne. |
The final part of the restaurant was the location of
the wedding reception. It was located at the back of the restaurant, looking
out onto the patio and the waterfront. For the wedding, it was decorated in a
theme of “Diamonds in the sky”, and chandeliers hung from the ceiling that cast
separate glows over the guests during dinner. Tables had been covered with
white clothes and decorated with place settings. These included a photograph of
the bride and groom, and a candle holder with a purple candle. These were
surrounded by decorative diamonds of different sizes, spilling out over the
centre of the table.
Obviously, we were impressed by the location alone, and it is my personal opinion that the wedding party did a phenomenal job of decorating. After
we’d all funneled in and found our places, the dinner and speeches began.
Between speeches from friends and family, servers in black brought dinner to
the guests. The food and drinks were made by Sarcoa, and included seared beef
striploin, chicken skewers, quinoa fritters, roast chicken breast, roasted
potatoes, bruschetta bread, and coconut crusted lime cheesecake. (This was not
even half of the menu during the wedding, but writing it all out made me
hungry.) The food was delicious and well cooked, and while I myself do not
drink, I’ve been told by the wedding party that the alcoholic beverages were
also particularly good.
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| Photo courtesy of their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarcoa-Restaurant-Bar/233741743395665?ref=br_tf Unless I'm very much mistaken, this was similar to one of the dishes we enjoyed that night. |
After dinner, the reception room was switched around
and tables moved to make way for the dance floor. The first dances for the
bride and groom came and went, followed by the flower and garter toss, and
throughout, servers took orders for drinks and laid out snacks including a
chocolate fountain, fruit, candy and chocolate. Between 8:30 and 1am, the
guests and the wedding party danced and celebrated the happy couple, pausing
only to cut the wedding cake.
I had to leave before midnight, but I left happy. I
saw two people I love dearly be married in a beautiful location, surrounded by
friends and family. Sarcoa Bar and Restaurant went above and beyond; they
provided a stunning location, a delicious menu, and friendly servers for what
should have been, and by and large was, one of the happiest days of one of my
closest friend’s life.
Should you find yourself getting married and in need
of a venue for a reception in the Hamilton area, give Sarcoa a shot. I would
definitely return in the event of another wedding based solely on the location.
On that August evening, the location made the event.
The day was convenient for the guests, but the location was critical. The
wedding would not have been the same at a separate location, so for that, I’ll
always have a place in my heart for Sarcoa Bar and Restaurant at 57 Discovery
Drive.
To close this post, I’ll leave you with a quote from
Anatoly Belilovsky in The Immersion Book
of Steampunk that speaks to that old adage: location, location, location!
“So much of difference between a triumph and a
flop is determined by choice of venue.”.
Thank you for reading! If you've any comments or questions, always feel free to drop me a line.
Much love, Erin.
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