Lucien's Manor in Berlin, NJ was the first reception place we saw after getting engaged. I had heard really great things about it from a friend that booked a July 08 wedding there and from other people who have attended parties there.
Location: The outside of the building is beautiful and looks very prestigious. Valet parking is available out front and there is a small, but nice outdoor photo area with waterfalls. However, Lucien's is located in Berlin...next to a cemetery, down the road from the Berlin Flea Market, and right in front of "Raul's Army Navy Shop." The location doesn't exactly scream "wedding" to me. Another downfall is that there are multiple ballrooms, so you and your guests would have to share the parking, lobby area, and bathrooms with other guests.
Staff: The girl we met with was very friendly and took her time to explain everything and show us around.
Ballrooms:
The ballrooms at Lucien's are gorgeous. There are ballrooms with waterfalls and 2-story ballrooms with beautiful staircases and very high ceilings. These ballrooms are made for weddings of 100+, 200+, and even 500+ guests. However, our wedding will only have about 70 guests, so we would have to use their smallest room, the Nouvelle room. The nice thing about using the Nouvelle room is that the cocktail hour would be held in a separate, adjoining room with a nice bar.
However the Nouvelle room, in which our wedding reception would have been held, was not nearly as nice or dramatic as the other rooms. It was plenty big for the size of our wedding, but the ceilings were a little low. There was a nice wooden dance floor in the middle of the room and the ceiling above the dance floor was raised slightly and painted with blue clouds- not our style, but not too bad. The chairs weren't very nice (my personal opinion is that chairs can make or break a ballroom). I would have definitely wanted slipcovers for them, but those cost somewhere between $4-$6 a piece...if I remember correctly. Thats a lot of money just for some chairs.
Menu: The menu at Lucien's is wonderful. You get a ton of food for your money. They don't limit you to how many hors d'oeuvres you need to choose and there is a variety of food available for both the cocktail hour and dinner. Plus, they serve French style which means that after everyone is done their meals, they come around offering people seconds of whatever entree they'd like to choose. I've never tried the food here, but it sounded great!
Ceremony: Lucien's can also do wedding ceremonies on-site, although I wouldn't recommend it. The ceremony room is on the lowest level of the building, in the "basement." There are no windows or anything, just a plain room. Its not ugly, but its also not the place I would want to officially start my life with someone in.
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