Our daughter and son-in-law chose The Racquet Club of Philadelphia, one of Jeffrey Miller's beautiful venues, for their wedding this past September, 2017. We couldn't have been happier with the entire experience. JAM weddings come with an on-site wedding coordinator: at the Racquet Club that person is Laura Shoup. Laura, quite simply, loves weddings, which makes working with her seem less like she is doing a job (which she does excellently) and more like she is planning an event for friends. She wanted everything to be perfect for us and worked to make that happen.
We loved the Racquet Club because this beautiful venue is broken into several beautiful and intimate spaces. This setup allowed the evening to flow from space to space for ceremony, dinner, cocktails, and dancing. We have been to far too many weddings where the band plays in the same space where guests are eating, making conversation difficult or impossible. Here, the band played in the rotunda, where there was a massive amount of space for dancing (no tiny dance floor in the middle of dining tables). Guests who wanted to talk and hear each other could retire to the library (a beautiful red-walled, cozy room fitted with leather couches and chairs) or stay in the gorgeous candlelit dining room. An added bonus is that, once we booked the venue, we were able to book all 13 guest rooms at the club for the immediate wedding party. The bridal suite and groom's suite were large enough to accommodate all the wedding party for ceremony preparations. The staff at the club was lovely and took care of our needs with warmth and efficiency. When our hair and makeup crew arrived, for example, Devron (the front desk manager) took it upon himself to produce two tall stools and brought them to the bridal suite, telling them that he knew from experience that these would be important.
Throughout the process, Laura was easily reachable by phone or email. She stayed in close contact with us leading up to the wedding, and on the day of the wedding she was on-site starting mid-afternoon and didn't leave until about an hour before the reception ended. She worked tirelessly with us to accomplish my daughter and son-in-law's vision. She made sure that all the items we brought (framed family photos, do-it-yourself photo area, candles, seating chart, easels, votives, flowers, etc.) were placed exactly where and how we wanted them. When I asked her if she and her staff could help the florist move the chuppah from one side of the rotunda to the other side after the ceremony, she gladly agreed to have that done. When we ran into a snafu a couple of weeks before the event, discovering that the rectangular tables we would be using were not going to be wide enough to accommodate the floral garlands we had ordered and tableware, Laura quickly sourced larger tables and linens and, while this was an unexpected cost to us, she worked to make this as affordable as she could and was apologetic for the last minute issue.
Having Laura on site the day of the wedding to keep everything running smoothly and on time was a godsend. She did all of this efficiently and unobtrusively. She orchestrated everything incredibly well without us ever really seeing her do it. However, when I needed to check in with her about something, she was easy to find. She was enthusiastic about all of my daughter's ideas, calm under pressure, and the wedding couple's biggest cheerleader.
JAM prepared delicious food for our event. The bridal couple did their tasting early on and then worked with Laura and JAM to offer some special items while keeping within budget. Our guests raved about the food. The hors d'oeuvres were delicious and elegantly displayed and served. The bride and groom requested sweet potato gnocchi for the starter, which was possibly the most delicious thing I tasted that night. The entrees were beautifully plated and delicious. JAM includes a wedding cake, and it was both beautiful and excellent. One of the most important things to us was having excellent food at a reasonable cost. Jeffrey Miller really came through with this for us. Laura never tried to push more expensive options on us; in fact, she found ways for us to cut costs wherever we could.
The JAM staff was professional and courteous. At the end of the night, they collected all of the things that we had brought, including the extra alcohol, and placed them securely in a locked room for us to pick up and take with us the next day. The top of the wedding cake, as well as two boxed meals, was placed in the refrigerator in the bridal suite for the couple. I cannot speak more glowingly about our experience at The Racquet Club of Philadelphia with Jeffrey Miller Catering and Laura Shoup, and would recommend this as a wedding location to anyone looking for a classy, intimate and exceptional venue in Center City Philadelphia. read more