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If You're Having Your Wedding at a...Loft

  • The Tribeca Rooftop. Photo: Shawn Connell/Christian Oth Photography
No other kind of reception space is quite as New York as a loft-and like city-dwelling itself, throwing a loft wedding allows for maximum creativity while posing certain logistical difficulties. Thanks to the dozens of lofts that have opened in the past decade, you can now rent one at any price point and in any style. Many offer vast amounts of open space-in Manhattan terms-that you can subdivide into ceremony space, lounge, dining room, and dance floor to fit your needs. On the downside, filling that space can make for hidden costs; you'll often have to pay to bring in a kitchen along with the tables and chairs. Overtaxed elevators can make transporting your rented furniture and equipment a headache-and irritate your guests. Nonetheless, meticulous planning can preempt most snafus, and many couples are willing to trade the convenience of having everything ready on-site for the unparalleled opportunity for creative control. Event designers compare decorating a loft to working with a blank slate-not only will you not have to compete with the busy wallpaper or carpet patterns that doom many hotels, you'll also hold complete sway over everything from chair design to color scheme, incorporating your theme into the tiniest details if you like. The bare walls and raw space provide the ideal canvas for a lighting designer, who can use warm yellows to create an elegant dining room and then transform it to a sexy Moroccan nightclub with the right mix of sultry reds. Creativity and flexibility are the watchwords here, so prepare to let your imagination-or your wedding planner's-run wild.