Find Your Chances

After the first few days of engagement bliss, Jared and I (and my parents) realized we actually had to start planning the wedding.  The first step: find a place to have the ceremony and and a location for the reception.  Once we found a place that had an opening the same day as the church, then we would be in business.  Well, that’s not as easy as it sounds.  We knew that the ceremony would be held at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Moorestown, NJ, my home parish, but every reception location we went to visit was booked up for the Fall 2009.

Our Lady of Good Counsel; Moorestown, NJ

We drove all over Philadelphia and South Jersey looking at places like the Ballroom at the Ben, Pen Ryn Mansion, The Four Seasons, Cairnwood, Knowlton Manor and every golf club in a 50 miles radius. But every place was booked solid.  It seemed that everyone was getting married in the Fall of 2009.

After two LONG weeks, we were finally able to visit The Players Club at Jasna Polana, which is located about 40 minutes from the church in Princeton, New Jersey. Jasna Polana’s 46,000 square-foot neoclassical clubhouse was built in the early 1970s by world-renowned architect Wallace Harrison as the country home of J. Seward Johnson and his wife, Barbara (of the famous Johnson & Johnson family-owned companny — think Band-Aids, Listerine and Tylenol). Within the past ten years, the Johnson home was converted into a clubhouse.

The Players Club at Jasna Polana

The stately villa features stunning architectural details including travertine wainscoting; antique flooring; 18th and 19th Century marble mantelpieces; 18th Century English paneling; bronze casement windows; antique tapestries; original Empire furnishings; and paintings by 18th and 19th Century European artists. The dramatic Grand Foyer is highlighted by a suspended travertine stone staircase, original George II furnishings and 17th Century Flemish tapestries, while the circular Travertine Room offers panoramic views of the estate and surrounding gardens. It’s the perfect setting for our reception!

The Johnson House now serves as the Clubhouse