Lucy Sullivan wanted her daughter to have a perfect wedding. But perfection can be expensive.
Then she found the Thomas Center.
“As soon as I saw it I thought to myself, ‘This is it,’” she said.
She wasn’t the only one with the idea.
The Thomas Center, located at 302 NE Sixth Ave., was ranked among the most popular wedding sites in North Florida this year by theknot.com, a wedding-planning website. This is the fourth year the center has received the title.
Sullivan’s 26-year-old daughter, Kelly, was married under the expansive branches of a live oak where Spanish moss hung like chandeliers.
The reception took place in a room with a glass ceiling and white arches around the sides.
“Everybody who went was so awed by the beauty of it,” she said.
The center charges on a room-by-room basis, said Thomas Center Facilities Coordinator Erica Chatman. Each room has its own per-hour rate.
It costs about $2,300 to rent more than five rooms and courtyards for the wedding, and Chatman said it usually costs between $1,300 and $2,500 to rent enough space.
She said weddings need to be booked about a year in advance.
Sullivan said her family made the October 2010 reservation that January. At that point, there were only two nights available for the year.
The staff also contributes to the center’s popularity, Sullivan said.
“Erica [Chatman] bent over backwards to make sure everything got done,” she said.
Chatman said she and the rest of the staff work hard to make everything perfect for the bride and groom.
“We don’t want them to really have to lift a finger,” she said.
