Have you considered going to another place in NYC or outside NYC. You be surprised what kind of good deals you can get once you get out of the city. Also another opition to consider is WHEN you get married. A lot of places will give you a good discounted price in the fall and winter time because theres less weddings then spring and summer time. Im not sure when you are getting married, so..
How far are you away from that place in NJ? If you're to far you may want to reconsider because most people like not have to travel a long way to get to a wedding. Also consider having your wedding and reception at the same place if allowed. You generally can get a packaged price AND it would save you and your guests from having to leave the ceremony site to get to the reception.
Another tip, go with silk flowers. They are less expensive AND they will last forever. You will probably be told by MANY people you MUST have real flowers. No you dont. I didnt. All my flowers, my flowers, the bridesmaides and groomsmen flowers, the flowers for the center pieces ALL silk flowers. And they turned out beautiful. Till this day my wedding bouquet is still sitting in my wedding box and one of my center pieces is sitting on one of the speaker towers to our living room set and its been 4 yrs since we got married.
Also to save more money dont go with a professional photographer and videographer from a company. Look up independent photographers and videographers. They are just as good as professionals at a company and you can generally slash your price in half. But be sure to look at their work first and take a long someone so you can have an 2nd opinion. Such as your fiance, a friend or relative.
As for your cake, if you have a relative or a friend who knows how to make cakes and decorate them really well, you can get your wedding cake for really cheap. The cake I had for my wedding, if I had went somewhere and got it done, it would have easily costed me at least $1000. But instead my mom made my cake and it only costed $50 for all the ingredients and decorations.
Theres LOTS of ways to save money. You just have to know where to budget. First off what you need is a budget. Say OK (example!) $10000 for the entire wedding. Say $2000 for the ceremony site, etc. Make a budget and stick to it. I have done many weddings where everyone has come to me with a very strict budget. By the time their wedding comes, instead of a wedding that costed $20,000, I made those weddings LOOK like it costed $20,000 and it only actually costed them $5,000 - $10,000. I always tell my clients, I always make weddings in disguise's. And they always ask what do I mean. And I just simply tell them, give me a figure how much you want your wedding to look like and give me a budget price of what you are wanting to spend altogether. Once your wedding day comes, you will understand what I mean by wedding in disguise
So be sure to set a budget and go from there. Go through your guest list. Circle the ones you REALLY want to be there. Then go through the list of people who you want to be there but if they arent there, its not the end of the world. Another opition is do what I like to call is half-n-half. And yes a couple of my clients have actually done this. Invite half of your guests just to the ceremony and the other half only to the reception. An opition and money savings tip for your reception is if you want an open bar, have the guests pay for their own drinks instead of you. Or maybe perhaps to offer to pay for their first drink but anything after that, it would be the guest responsbility to pay for it. Also ask someone to cut the cake, like a bridesmaide or your mom. A lot of places will tack on a hefty charge for one of their employees to cut a cake.
Well I think I bascially covered a lot of the basics. If you have any questions feel free to ask!
Edit to add: I dont know what your budget is but I did find some other locations in NYC with views of the city. You can go here and check it out
http://www.theknot.com/ch_qaarticle_local.html?Object=A50316152712&keyword=&market=091
Here is another place. Not sure what the price is, you would have to call and find out. This place is in NYC.
http://www.theglaziergroup.com/restaurants/bridgewaters/index.html
Thank you so much! I may have to ask you a question here or there. We live in NYC in Tribeca we looked at places in the city in particular Tribeca Rooftop but it was ridiculously expensive, I stumbled upon this new place in new jersey.... Its modern and has a city vibe to it
u can see pics of it here
http://www.johnarcara.com/slideshows/stonehouse/index.html
p.s. i am not the bride in the pictures.lol..but it shows alot of pics of the place
Just kidding. It really is a fabulous dress.
And I like the Beatles song too! Very cool! 
Must have been all the water I drank over the week!! 
