Reception Venues with Decent Chairs and Wooden Floors

While I've heard many a person claim that they will not have their reception at a venue where the chairs need covering, my needs are more pedestrian (in the walking-on-the-ground sense). I completely and utterly refuse to celebrate my wedding at a place with carpet on the floor. Hate the stuff. Tiles are also out. It's just an easy way to quickly vet venues - if the place has carpet or tiles, it just isn't going to have the feel I want. While floorboards are the ideal, the venue we're ultimately going with is part floorboards, part concrete, part pavers (yes, inside). I don't mean to be mysterious, but I'll reveal our too-awesome venue when we actually make a deposit on it.

In the meantime, here is another non-80s, be-boarded place to party: Maria's on the Terrace. The food is pretty simple, and I can't vouch for it, but I can point out that the place is in Freo and owned by Italians. And I can't think of an Italian place in Freo where I haven't had a good - albeit not nouvelle cuisine - meal.

The place looks awesome, and they do some nice packages that mean you don't need to worry your pretty head about centrepieces and linen. It's on the first floor of a place on South Terrace, so your guests can hang out on the balcony and watch the crowd at Gino's and the Saturday night boglappers (I say this with all affection for Freo and my own wasted youth). An excellent choice if your guests are likely to party on once the official festivities are over.