Brinet and Quintin Thomas were scheduled to get married Thursday at the Art Factory in Paterson, but just two days earlier, the event venue declared bankruptcy, canceling all events.
That left the couple — Brinet, an attorney, and Quintin, who works in education — with less than 48 hours to find a new place to hold what was supposed to be one of the happiest events of their lives.
Brinet took to social media, using various apps, and came across Avenue Event Space in South Hackensack.
It was midnight on Wednesday when she reached out. Her wedding was the next day.
And they quickly got the ball rolling. The vendors the couple had contracts with were flexible enough to move to a new location.
As for informing their 160 guests traveling from across the country about the new venue? "My bridal party, we broke up our guest list into teams, each person called about 10 people or texted them," she said.
More or less, the wedding went off Thursday without a hitch.
"I'm trying to put this past me right now," she said of the whole ordeal.
Across North Jersey, reception halls and other venues have rushed this week to offer relief to brides, couples and other families left high and dry by Art Factory's closing, which had thrown their scheduled events, from weddings to Sweet 16s and bar and bat mitzvahs, into disarray.
More than 150 couples were planning to hold their receptions at the Art Factory, which suffered a litany of financial woes . The owners announced on Tuesday night they will stop hosting live events.
Avenue Event Space to the rescue
Yuval Graneviz, the owner of Avenue Event Space, said he was letting couples book at this venue and pay what they can, after some shelled out upwards of $14,000 to the Art Factory.
“At this point… everybody is aware of the situation, from catering, to photographers, to flowers, to design, to event invitation,” Graneviz said in a phone interview.
So far three events have been rescheduled at Avenue Event Space since Tuesday, on top of an influx of calls and emails from brides and other event planners, Graneviz said.
Quickly shifting venues for a bat mitzvah
Marissa Olsen of Glen Rock had to move quickly to find a new location for the bat mitzvah of her daughter Brynn, who's in the seventh grade. Her eldest daughter had a bat mitzvah in 2022, so planning such an event wasn't a first.
But having the event space suddenly shut down was certainly a new twist.
“My caterer contacted me on Monday and I had to contact all these people” to quickly find a replacement venue before the Nov. 16 date. Only the Avenue Event Space responded, she said.
She toured and then booked for an undisclosed amount the next day. But the $12,000 she already sunk into the Art Factory might be lost for good unless Olsen goes through bankruptcy court.
Olsen said she was able to quickly move over the catering company, the photographer and videographer. But she’s scrambling to get in touch with all 150 people she mailed invitations to.
Not all of them are accessible via email, and might not attend the bat mitzvah morning ceremony, meaning there’s a chance they show up to the Art Factory on Nov. 16 to find a shuttered venue.
Other North Jersey venues also offering help
Moving all those services from one venue to another is easier and electronic invitations can be drafted and sent out in a matter of minutes, Graneviz said, but the trouble is securing a new location on such short notice.
“The day of their life that they dream about went bye-bye,” he said. “They don’t have any places, they don't have nothing. This was very heartbreaking to see.”
Another venue, Westmount Country Club in Woodland Park, said on Facebook it was asking any couples affected by the Art Factory closure to reach out “and we will do everything we can to help out.”
Meanwhile the Italian American Family Association said on Facebook it was offering its event space in Clifton to “displaced brides from the closure of the Art Factory.” The group could not be immediately reached for comment on Thursday afternoon.
Palmeras Entertainment in East Brunswick said on Facebook that it was offering a promotion to those couples affected by the Paterson studio’s bankruptcy, as was The Farm at Glenwood Mountain in Sussex.
Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.
Email: munozd@northjersey.com ; Twitter: @danielmunoz100 and Facebook
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ event venues aid scrambling brides after Paterson's Art Factory closes
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