Franklin Plaza Banquet Hall Review – Troy, NY

I am not sure if you have been there lately, but The Franklin Plaza Banquet Hall of Troy, NY is a really great option to hold your wedding or any high-end event that demands class and elegance.

Quite often, due to the state of economy, I am the one who ends up paying attention to most of the minor details of big events myself, working as a DJ and often pinch-hitting as the client's event planner. However, I barely needed to step up at a recent gig that was held at The Franklin Plaza. If you choose to book the Franklin Plaza, I think you will agree that the staff does a super job making everyone feel comfortable, while paying attention to fine detail.

One thing that really helps is that the management do not cheap out. They are not afraid to put many employees on to make your event move more efficiently. Quite often, many halls only used 3-5 servers, but at Columbia High School's recent prom, I easily saw 8 -10 employees.

Another perk I wanted to highlight here in this review, is Franklin now has their own in-house dance lights! Greg Cushman, the hall manager, mentioned that the system is brand new, as the lights were installed only a few months ago. From the looks of things, The Plaza spares no expense in ambiance. As a great extra bonus for booking the hall, the multi-color LED lights with programmable DMX technology are free of charge to the customer, and available at the flip of a switch. The thing that really makes these lights neat is that they were installed high up in the corners of the dance floor and out of sight; perfect for photography reasons. They also have some very impressive back lighting built into the walls!

You will not be disappointed with the food either. The selection and quality is delectable to say the very least.

Overall, I give The Franklin Plaza of Troy, NY 4 1/2 stars out of 5, subtracting only a half a star for location-related reasons that cannot be helped. It is a very convenient location in the heart of Troy, right across from Dinosaurs BBQ. However, there is medium to limited parking, and I ran into a few unsavory individuals who made things difficult to unload. (I think some homeless guy spit on my car in the parking lot, because I was unloading and didn’t have time to listen to his sob story setting up!!! Incidentally, if you see this Redd Foxx look-alike, shoot me an email so I can knock the last two teeth out of his mouth.)

Small Wedding Venue - Inn at Saratoga

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of doing a wedding gig at The Inn at Saratoga, on Broadway Street. The Inn is a nice little place and I thought I would give those of you who may be planning a small wedding in the Saratoga area some info.

While a large guest list event probably wouldn't work well there, if you are planning a laid back, smaller wedding of 80-90 people or less, The Inn at Saratoga might be right for you. Their accomodations were comfortable for about what I saw there on Saturday, again, eighty people or so. Surpassing this many friends and family, in my estimation, would have been pushing it. .


CEREMONY LAYOUT - You can get married on location. The Inn at Saratoga has a courtyard with a nice white tent. This area is suitable for smaller outdoor weddings and has provisions to keep your guests safe from the elements. (On this past Saturday in particular, the tent turned out to be a godsent for the bride and groom, due to the drizzle and wind.)

COCKTAIL HOUR - This venue has an inside dining hall with a porch that leads out to the bricked courtyard. Both the courtyard and the inside area have bars and room for cocktail hour festivities. In my opinion, the outside bar on the porch by the ceremony tent would be the best bet for your cocktail hour, when the weather is nice. The inside cocktail bar is more like a hallwayledinginto the dining hall and people can't really minglenear the bar because of it. However, when it is rainy like it was the other day, it is great to know an inside bar option is available.

The Inn also has a popular public bar in the front, to compliment their actual restaurant. The public bar serves for a great hiding place for the bride and groom before their grand introduction into the dining hall, while the people are seated and waiting.


BANQUET ROOM - The room used as the main dinning hall, again, is not ideal for guest of 100plus people. It seems like a comfy and fun place at around 80 people or less. There is a small dance floor and enough space to the side to fit eight people comfortably at about ten round tables. In the eating space, they have a little fireplace, as well as a massive decorative victorian mirror by the dance floor.

FREE PARKING - Parking is limited but to no concern of the guests. The Inn makes up for limited spaces with providing a free valet service that actually works very well.

HOTEL ROOMS - It also helps that it is an actual functioning Inn. The Inn is located right near the nightlife of Saratoga city. Nearby is Congress Park and Canfield Casino. The hotel also provides free wireless Internet to everyone with no hassle. This may not seem like much to some, but being the DJ for the event, I had no problem at all downloading a random music request. (It’s awesome when you don’t need a wifi password.)

All in all, if your wedding is small, this hall is not a bad option.

For more of our wedding tips and reviews by DJ Kenny Casanova ... check out www.theDJservice.com


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