Have you had a NYC Apartment Wedding Reception?
October 9, 2013 7:58 AM Subscribe
Hey all,
My partner and I recently decided to get married this May, and as we are both strapped for cash and not into the whole wedding-industrial-complex thing, we've decided to have a small ceremony at the Marriage Bureau with close friends and family on our anniversary (a Wednesday), go out for lunch afterwards, and then have an open house/cake, punch, and appetizer reception at our apartment over the weekend. We'll be moving before May, likely into a fairly small (no larger than 1.5 bedrooms, certainly, as this is NYC) apartment.
Our plan is to have an open invitation for the whole weekend--Friday night, and all day Saturday and Sunday. This sort of wedding celebration was fairly common in Russia, where I was born and my family is from, but I haven't been able to find many people who have done this sort of thing in NYC. The idea being that since not everyone will be at our apartment all at once, we can invite all our friends and family (70ish people) to stop by at their leisure, have some snacks, champagne, etc. and celebrate with us.
Have you done this sort of thing, in such a small space? It seems totally doable to us, but I am interested in seeing if there are things I'm not thinking of. Should we do something to facilitate people coming in manageable waves, instead of all at once? If so, what? Should we set aside one day for family and another for friends?
What else are we not considering? Tips? Ideas?
If at all possible, I would like to avoid answers that say we should avoid doing this altogether and instead find a different cheap/free venue. We have considered our other options, and this seems like it would be ideal for us, we just want to make it work!
P.S. We plan on informing our future neighbors ahead of time, and inviting them to stop by for snacks/champagne, and perhaps baking them some good-will cookies.
Our plan is to have an open invitation for the whole weekend--Friday night, and all day Saturday and Sunday. This sort of wedding celebration was fairly common in Russia, where I was born and my family is from, but I haven't been able to find many people who have done this sort of thing in NYC. The idea being that since not everyone will be at our apartment all at once, we can invite all our friends and family (70ish people) to stop by at their leisure, have some snacks, champagne, etc. and celebrate with us.
Have you done this sort of thing, in such a small space? It seems totally doable to us, but I am interested in seeing if there are things I'm not thinking of. Should we do something to facilitate people coming in manageable waves, instead of all at once? If so, what? Should we set aside one day for family and another for friends?
What else are we not considering? Tips? Ideas?
If at all possible, I would like to avoid answers that say we should avoid doing this altogether and instead find a different cheap/free venue. We have considered our other options, and this seems like it would be ideal for us, we just want to make it work!
P.S. We plan on informing our future neighbors ahead of time, and inviting them to stop by for snacks/champagne, and perhaps baking them some good-will cookies.
Best answer: I think some of us who didn't grow up in cultures that did this might find ourselves confused by the invitation. I would wonder, when do they REALLY want me to come? When would be the best time to come to get a lot of their attention and not get caught with friends I don't like/family I don't know? I want to come when all MY friends will be there, maybe I'll coordinate so we're all there at once! What kind of food will be there when I go? Will there be meals if I go at mealtime? I think narrowing things down could possibly be helpful.
And yes, I think showbiz_liz is correct in assuming a lot of people are going to show up in the evening hours.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:04 AM on October 9, 2013 [4 favorites]
And yes, I think showbiz_liz is correct in assuming a lot of people are going to show up in the evening hours.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:04 AM on October 9, 2013 [4 favorites]
Best answer: I think this sounds like a wonderful idea, and if you end up with 40 folks all at once it'll be fine. They'll get a taste of what it's like to live in cramped spaces like you may have back in Russia. You might suggest that they bring snacks to share, that you will supply champagne and beer or whatever.
posted by mareli at 8:06 AM on October 9, 2013
posted by mareli at 8:06 AM on October 9, 2013
One 1BR is pretty big, and if there are more than 20 people it becomes a problem. Could you maybe have people give you a good idea of when they might come over?
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:14 AM on October 9, 2013
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:14 AM on October 9, 2013
Best answer: I think this is a great idea, and could work well IF you explain it very carefully in your invitation for non-Russian friends.
posted by tinymegalo at 8:17 AM on October 9, 2013
posted by tinymegalo at 8:17 AM on October 9, 2013
Best answer: This sounds lovely, but if you don't actually have the apartment in question yet, that seems to me to be the only red flag to me.
If you end up in a studio rather than a 1 bedroom, will you still want to go through with this? If you end up in a neighborhood that has lousy parking or is a long trek from the subway or is very out of the way for your friends and family to reach, and you spend your first weekend as a married couple constantly in "guests are coming!" mode with all its attendant stresses (food prep, cleanliness, etc) only to have a sparse turnout, will that cause extra strain at a time when you should be feeling the most joy? I think your idea of changing invitations for "manageable waves" may turn out to make more sense, so I would keep it as a back pocket plan until you know your actual situation.
Making the invitation crystal clear about what hours your home will be open, and what that means will help increase your turnout - but I agree that Saturday night and the tail end of whatever time you call for on Sunday will probably get the most guests.
posted by Mchelly at 8:28 AM on October 9, 2013
If you end up in a studio rather than a 1 bedroom, will you still want to go through with this? If you end up in a neighborhood that has lousy parking or is a long trek from the subway or is very out of the way for your friends and family to reach, and you spend your first weekend as a married couple constantly in "guests are coming!" mode with all its attendant stresses (food prep, cleanliness, etc) only to have a sparse turnout, will that cause extra strain at a time when you should be feeling the most joy? I think your idea of changing invitations for "manageable waves" may turn out to make more sense, so I would keep it as a back pocket plan until you know your actual situation.
Making the invitation crystal clear about what hours your home will be open, and what that means will help increase your turnout - but I agree that Saturday night and the tail end of whatever time you call for on Sunday will probably get the most guests.
posted by Mchelly at 8:28 AM on October 9, 2013
Best answer: I would suggest explaining in the invitation that this is a tradition in Russia, how it typically works, why it's so nice, etc. I feel like this will go a long way towards allaying showbiz_liz's point about people being unsure/uncomfortable about it. It becomes less the eccentric thing you just decided to do or a way to save money and more an interesting cultural experience AND a way for you to honor your heritage.
posted by lunasol at 8:39 AM on October 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by lunasol at 8:39 AM on October 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Hey, we kind of did this! Our version worked really well for our situation but I can see it getting problematic (covered by others). We did small wedding and dinner at a restaurant that night for just the people who were invited to the wedding and an open house party the next day for all our friends.
We have a tiny house with no yard but an extra room for storage. Before the wedding we converted our coffee table to a bench (extra seating) and put it against the wall, cleared off the bookshelf and put it in another room (for beer), put most of the other furniture in the spare room and pushed everything else to the walls. We moved stools to the living room for drink-putting-down-surfaces.
Basically, we made everything we could into a seat and everything else into a place to put a drink/plate. You probably don't want to live like this for days, but a couple days were fine.
Fortunately, the weather was great and people could drift outside too but it was really tight. Especially the doorways.
Make sure your foods come out fresh. You can't just put a pile of snacks out at 2 and hope they'll be around and looking good by 6. Our families were great at baking trays of frozen snacks (spanakopita and empanadas) throughout the day so there was always something new coming out.
People ended up staying much longer than I expected. Their arrivals were kind of scattered but everyone just hung around for hours (I like to think it was because it was such an awesome party).
Also be careful if you/your friends/your family are drinkers - arriving at a party with a bunch of already drunk/rowdy/boisterous people is not fun if you're not drinking or haven't had anything yet.
It made it a long day for us. We were up early-ish the morning after our wedding to clean up and put the rest of the things together for the party. We had a lot of help but when the party was over, we were amazingly tired and socialized out. We took an extra day off to recover (family- and friend-less).
Congrats and good luck!
posted by hydrobatidae at 9:00 AM on October 9, 2013
We have a tiny house with no yard but an extra room for storage. Before the wedding we converted our coffee table to a bench (extra seating) and put it against the wall, cleared off the bookshelf and put it in another room (for beer), put most of the other furniture in the spare room and pushed everything else to the walls. We moved stools to the living room for drink-putting-down-surfaces.
Basically, we made everything we could into a seat and everything else into a place to put a drink/plate. You probably don't want to live like this for days, but a couple days were fine.
Fortunately, the weather was great and people could drift outside too but it was really tight. Especially the doorways.
Make sure your foods come out fresh. You can't just put a pile of snacks out at 2 and hope they'll be around and looking good by 6. Our families were great at baking trays of frozen snacks (spanakopita and empanadas) throughout the day so there was always something new coming out.
People ended up staying much longer than I expected. Their arrivals were kind of scattered but everyone just hung around for hours (I like to think it was because it was such an awesome party).
Also be careful if you/your friends/your family are drinkers - arriving at a party with a bunch of already drunk/rowdy/boisterous people is not fun if you're not drinking or haven't had anything yet.
It made it a long day for us. We were up early-ish the morning after our wedding to clean up and put the rest of the things together for the party. We had a lot of help but when the party was over, we were amazingly tired and socialized out. We took an extra day off to recover (family- and friend-less).
Congrats and good luck!
posted by hydrobatidae at 9:00 AM on October 9, 2013
Best answer: We've had 20 people at a time in our house, which I guarantee you is smaller than virtually any 1BR NYC apartment. To coordinate this better I would do it as an open house: invite friends on Saturday "drop in any time from 8 pm to midnight" and invite family for an "all afternoon brunch, any time from 11 am to 3 pm on Sunday" or something equally specific.
posted by DarlingBri at 9:41 AM on October 9, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by DarlingBri at 9:41 AM on October 9, 2013 [2 favorites]
We had our "reception" in our 500sqft-ish NYC apartment, but it was only our immediate family of 10 people. I have had parties where about 20 people at one time were there, and it was a tight fit. One bathroom, small kitchen, not enough seating. Even with outdoor space, it was cramped and stuffy and I was so busy making sure everyone was comfortable that I couldn't actually hang out with people. I entertain a lot, and 20 seems to be the max that the apartment can hold at any given time, although 12ish is the sweet spot.
Dividing up the nights (Friday for family, Saturday for friends, etc) is essential I think.
Move all non-essential furniture into the bedroom; rent chairs and tables (or buy cheaply at ikea to resell on Craigslist) so that there is sufficient seating and drink-setting-down-space. Make sure your apartment has a good A/C (if summertime) or sufficient windows to get decent airflow. I'd have a cleaning lady come Friday and Saturday so I didn't have to stress about cleaning up the place before each group of people.
I know you don't want to have it elsewhere, but consider renting a 2-3br apartment on Airbnb for the weekend (like this one)-- if you have out of town family/friends visiting anyway, they could stay there instead of a hotel (and help offset some costs to both parties). Then you have the added bonus of being able to go home when you feel the evening is over, rather than kick people out of your apartment and still having to clean up before going to bed. Or, you could have family stay at your apartment and the two of you stay at the rented place as a sort-of mini-moon. Then you could invite everyone to come over whenever. Before we decided on just family for our reception, this was what we were going to do (albeit just for 6 hours on just one night).
posted by melissasaurus at 9:41 AM on October 9, 2013
Dividing up the nights (Friday for family, Saturday for friends, etc) is essential I think.
Move all non-essential furniture into the bedroom; rent chairs and tables (or buy cheaply at ikea to resell on Craigslist) so that there is sufficient seating and drink-setting-down-space. Make sure your apartment has a good A/C (if summertime) or sufficient windows to get decent airflow. I'd have a cleaning lady come Friday and Saturday so I didn't have to stress about cleaning up the place before each group of people.
I know you don't want to have it elsewhere, but consider renting a 2-3br apartment on Airbnb for the weekend (like this one)-- if you have out of town family/friends visiting anyway, they could stay there instead of a hotel (and help offset some costs to both parties). Then you have the added bonus of being able to go home when you feel the evening is over, rather than kick people out of your apartment and still having to clean up before going to bed. Or, you could have family stay at your apartment and the two of you stay at the rented place as a sort-of mini-moon. Then you could invite everyone to come over whenever. Before we decided on just family for our reception, this was what we were going to do (albeit just for 6 hours on just one night).
posted by melissasaurus at 9:41 AM on October 9, 2013
Best answer: So I've never done this, but I have a huge family, and we used to do holidays in a one bedroom apartment in Queens.
You might want to consider nailing down a vague time frame for people to show up. You can let everyone know this will be an all weekend thing, but indicate that cake & champagne will be served at 7PM on Friday and Saturday, and brunch will be served at 11am on Sunday, or something to that effect. That way you also avoid lots of people showing up during "down time" when you need to clean, set up, or regroup.
Do you have friends and family who are planning on helping you out with this? I think you are going to need to have people to help set up, clean up, pour champagne, clean up spills, take coats, run to the store when you run out of cups, whatever.
If there are going to be kids there, consider having a corner with something for them to do or set up a TV with movies in the bedroom.
posted by inertia at 10:33 AM on October 9, 2013
You might want to consider nailing down a vague time frame for people to show up. You can let everyone know this will be an all weekend thing, but indicate that cake & champagne will be served at 7PM on Friday and Saturday, and brunch will be served at 11am on Sunday, or something to that effect. That way you also avoid lots of people showing up during "down time" when you need to clean, set up, or regroup.
Do you have friends and family who are planning on helping you out with this? I think you are going to need to have people to help set up, clean up, pour champagne, clean up spills, take coats, run to the store when you run out of cups, whatever.
If there are going to be kids there, consider having a corner with something for them to do or set up a TV with movies in the bedroom.
posted by inertia at 10:33 AM on October 9, 2013
So this sounds like what we would call an open house or drop-by party down here in the South.
These work fine for a house-warming, as people are used to dropping in, admiring the place, leaving a hostess gift for the new home, and then going on to other things, or for graduations, where many attendees have several other parties to attend. Graduations tend to fall on the same day of the weekend, at staggered times, anyway. So the expectation is that guests will make the rounds, stopping at each party briefly to congratulate the graduates there, and sometimes the graduates themselves head out to parties with later end times after their own parties wind down.
Generally, we would do this over the course of one long afternoon, though, rather than a whole weekend. I strongly encourage you to consider that alternative instead. Also, consider breaking up your celebration to make it more manageable for you in the limited space you have.
I have held two drop-in parties of this type within the last two years. At one, we rented a facility, and at the other, we held it at a large home with lots of room outside as well. I can tell you, pretty confidently, what to expect based on my experiences.
You are going to have a smattering of people right when the window for your party opens, which will grow to a huge crowd over the next couple hours. Then your group will dwindle down to just your closest friends and family by the end of the evening.
So, first problem, your weekend window is just too long. You have no other events competing with your wedding. Guests will naturally prefer to show up on the day of the wedding. With around 70 expected to attend? You WILL be trying to accommodate ~50 people at once.
You do NOT have enough room for that many people at once. You really don't. When we rented a facility, we had a wide-open space for people to stand around and mingle, AND a buffet laid out with food, including a cake table and gift area, AND comfy chairs and tables where people could eat comfortably. In other words, LOTS of space. And we needed it! We had over a hundred altogether, and even with competing graduations, about 75 people were there all at one time.
Even with a big home, people from our last celebration spilled out to the yard. At a party, what happens is that people tend to huddle around the food (which in your apartment will mean the kitchen area), especially if they do not have other places to sit and eat. We had guests outside, at the pool, playing homemade giant Jenga and horseshoes, and barbecuing going on, AND the house was probably about 2000 sq ft. With an open plan--and still the kitchen with the cake and drinks was always full. You'll have an apartment and no yard. It WILL be crowded, and you have no room for overflow or other activities and not much even for mingling.
Most of us do not consider crowds in small spaces a GOOD thing. The concept of personal space is entirely different in cultures where extended families live together; I think that might be more acceptable in Russia, for instance. So while you and your own family might be fine knocking elbows, don't assume your other guests will have that same comfort level.
But okay, you are set on the apartment for the party and don't want to hear about other venues.
At least consider breaking up the weekend and minimizing stress by anticipating the likeliest issues. Invite your friends to stop by the day of the wedding, when they will be expecting it, and have family come the next day.
For the open house with friends, food will be the biggest problem. First and most obvious is, where will everyone eat? In the kitchen, over the sink, or at the dining room table? What happens to the 20, 30, 40 who won't fit? You want your guests to be comfortable. But you will end up with a mess all over if you don't plan this right. Especially if your guests are trying to juggle plates of food while they're mingling. Do you have enough plates and glasses for all those people? You don't want wine stains all over your new carpet!
Guests need to have a place to eat and/or rest their drinks. if you don't have lots of chairs or at least small side tables, consider spreading some blankets around a common area so people can "picnic". And really, you might want to stick with champagne and cake anyway, because keeping food hot/cold during an open house that lasts a few hours, with just one stove and one fridge, can be logistically challenging even for an experienced host or hostess.
Save the meal(s) for when your family comes the next day instead. After the excitement and stress of the wedding and entertaining the previous day, the easiest plan is to make that day a pot-luck to take the pressure off of you! You can have family help you out and bring food that is already cooked (with covers or hot plates if necessary). You can indulge in comfort food, and everyone can take some leftovers with them when they leave so your fridge is not filled to bursting.
Set aside a small portion of wedding cake for you and your new spouse to enjoy alone together, as a newly married couple, to round out the weekend.
posted by misha at 11:26 AM on October 9, 2013
These work fine for a house-warming, as people are used to dropping in, admiring the place, leaving a hostess gift for the new home, and then going on to other things, or for graduations, where many attendees have several other parties to attend. Graduations tend to fall on the same day of the weekend, at staggered times, anyway. So the expectation is that guests will make the rounds, stopping at each party briefly to congratulate the graduates there, and sometimes the graduates themselves head out to parties with later end times after their own parties wind down.
Generally, we would do this over the course of one long afternoon, though, rather than a whole weekend. I strongly encourage you to consider that alternative instead. Also, consider breaking up your celebration to make it more manageable for you in the limited space you have.
I have held two drop-in parties of this type within the last two years. At one, we rented a facility, and at the other, we held it at a large home with lots of room outside as well. I can tell you, pretty confidently, what to expect based on my experiences.
You are going to have a smattering of people right when the window for your party opens, which will grow to a huge crowd over the next couple hours. Then your group will dwindle down to just your closest friends and family by the end of the evening.
So, first problem, your weekend window is just too long. You have no other events competing with your wedding. Guests will naturally prefer to show up on the day of the wedding. With around 70 expected to attend? You WILL be trying to accommodate ~50 people at once.
You do NOT have enough room for that many people at once. You really don't. When we rented a facility, we had a wide-open space for people to stand around and mingle, AND a buffet laid out with food, including a cake table and gift area, AND comfy chairs and tables where people could eat comfortably. In other words, LOTS of space. And we needed it! We had over a hundred altogether, and even with competing graduations, about 75 people were there all at one time.
Even with a big home, people from our last celebration spilled out to the yard. At a party, what happens is that people tend to huddle around the food (which in your apartment will mean the kitchen area), especially if they do not have other places to sit and eat. We had guests outside, at the pool, playing homemade giant Jenga and horseshoes, and barbecuing going on, AND the house was probably about 2000 sq ft. With an open plan--and still the kitchen with the cake and drinks was always full. You'll have an apartment and no yard. It WILL be crowded, and you have no room for overflow or other activities and not much even for mingling.
Most of us do not consider crowds in small spaces a GOOD thing. The concept of personal space is entirely different in cultures where extended families live together; I think that might be more acceptable in Russia, for instance. So while you and your own family might be fine knocking elbows, don't assume your other guests will have that same comfort level.
But okay, you are set on the apartment for the party and don't want to hear about other venues.
At least consider breaking up the weekend and minimizing stress by anticipating the likeliest issues. Invite your friends to stop by the day of the wedding, when they will be expecting it, and have family come the next day.
For the open house with friends, food will be the biggest problem. First and most obvious is, where will everyone eat? In the kitchen, over the sink, or at the dining room table? What happens to the 20, 30, 40 who won't fit? You want your guests to be comfortable. But you will end up with a mess all over if you don't plan this right. Especially if your guests are trying to juggle plates of food while they're mingling. Do you have enough plates and glasses for all those people? You don't want wine stains all over your new carpet!
Guests need to have a place to eat and/or rest their drinks. if you don't have lots of chairs or at least small side tables, consider spreading some blankets around a common area so people can "picnic". And really, you might want to stick with champagne and cake anyway, because keeping food hot/cold during an open house that lasts a few hours, with just one stove and one fridge, can be logistically challenging even for an experienced host or hostess.
Save the meal(s) for when your family comes the next day instead. After the excitement and stress of the wedding and entertaining the previous day, the easiest plan is to make that day a pot-luck to take the pressure off of you! You can have family help you out and bring food that is already cooked (with covers or hot plates if necessary). You can indulge in comfort food, and everyone can take some leftovers with them when they leave so your fridge is not filled to bursting.
Set aside a small portion of wedding cake for you and your new spouse to enjoy alone together, as a newly married couple, to round out the weekend.
posted by misha at 11:26 AM on October 9, 2013
Response by poster: Thanks for all the answers so far! Just to clarify, we will not be having the apartment reception immediately following the courthouse wedding. It will be 2 days later, on the weekend. We also were not planning on having hot food, just champagne and cheese plate type things.
posted by dysh at 11:44 AM on October 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by dysh at 11:44 AM on October 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I love this idea.
But it could get sticky, particularly with too many people coming at once, as mentioned above.
So I'd suggest a small modification - turn it into a few, smaller, casual parties. You could invite family to an open house type situation Friday night, one cadre of friends over on Saturday around brunch-time (might want to make that one a casual potluck), another group of friends over on Saturday night, etc. That way people won't all show up at the same time, they'll get to hang out with the people they actually want to see (a typical concern of wedding party guests) and you'll get several fun, manageable, laid-back house parties. It sounds like an awesome time!
posted by leitmotif at 2:30 PM on October 9, 2013
But it could get sticky, particularly with too many people coming at once, as mentioned above.
So I'd suggest a small modification - turn it into a few, smaller, casual parties. You could invite family to an open house type situation Friday night, one cadre of friends over on Saturday around brunch-time (might want to make that one a casual potluck), another group of friends over on Saturday night, etc. That way people won't all show up at the same time, they'll get to hang out with the people they actually want to see (a typical concern of wedding party guests) and you'll get several fun, manageable, laid-back house parties. It sounds like an awesome time!
posted by leitmotif at 2:30 PM on October 9, 2013
Best answer: I think this could work well if you assume people will have the questions that have been raised and explain in advance.
This could work with an invitation that is a little prose heavy ("As is traditional in Dysh's native Russia, we will be holding an open house of sorts rather than a formal reception. This means that..."), or if your friends are more informal, why not create a wedding website with an FAQ? You could even include questions like, "But, no, really, when do you REALLY want me to come over?"
I think if you explain plenty and center the explanation in "this is a traditional thing, here's how the tradition typically plays out" terms, people will get it and go with the flow.
Most likely folks just need some context.
Also, so what if too many people come at once? So you have a raging house party on Saturday night? That sounds really fun! Even if like 50 people come and you won't all physically fit into the apartment -- have a nearby bar or two in your back pocket and say, "OK it's getting crazy in here, let's all go to 7B/Washington Commons/Shenanigan's!" I'd pick a large bar that tends not to get too crowded, if you go that way.
Mchelly has a really good point about the potential unknowns of throwing this party in a place you don't live in yet. What if the neighbors are assholes about this sort of thing? What if you were thinking of having it the same weekend as a huge neighborhood event (ask me about the time I threw a house party over Labor Day weekend in Crown Heights)? What if the subways are all fucked up that weekend, or if folks drive, what if you throw it the same weekend as the Five Boro Bike Tour and half the highways are closed? There are a lot of variables that will depend on being secure in your neighborhood and the local culture of where in the city you end up.
posted by Sara C. at 9:10 PM on October 9, 2013
This could work with an invitation that is a little prose heavy ("As is traditional in Dysh's native Russia, we will be holding an open house of sorts rather than a formal reception. This means that..."), or if your friends are more informal, why not create a wedding website with an FAQ? You could even include questions like, "But, no, really, when do you REALLY want me to come over?"
I think if you explain plenty and center the explanation in "this is a traditional thing, here's how the tradition typically plays out" terms, people will get it and go with the flow.
Most likely folks just need some context.
Also, so what if too many people come at once? So you have a raging house party on Saturday night? That sounds really fun! Even if like 50 people come and you won't all physically fit into the apartment -- have a nearby bar or two in your back pocket and say, "OK it's getting crazy in here, let's all go to 7B/Washington Commons/Shenanigan's!" I'd pick a large bar that tends not to get too crowded, if you go that way.
Mchelly has a really good point about the potential unknowns of throwing this party in a place you don't live in yet. What if the neighbors are assholes about this sort of thing? What if you were thinking of having it the same weekend as a huge neighborhood event (ask me about the time I threw a house party over Labor Day weekend in Crown Heights)? What if the subways are all fucked up that weekend, or if folks drive, what if you throw it the same weekend as the Five Boro Bike Tour and half the highways are closed? There are a lot of variables that will depend on being secure in your neighborhood and the local culture of where in the city you end up.
posted by Sara C. at 9:10 PM on October 9, 2013
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I think you're going to wind up with A Situation On Your Hands if you do this. Everyone will come around at the same time, likely Saturday night, and suddenly there will be 40 people in your small apartment...
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:03 AM on October 9, 2013 [3 favorites]