Find your diamond
Find your jewelry
shape
carat
color
clarity

I''m Frustrated

Status
Not open for further replies. Please create a new topic or request for this thread to be opened.
S

sugary

Rough_Rock
Joined
Nov 18, 2008
Messages
67
My FI and I visited Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa last weekend and it was absolutely breathtaking! I got an idea for a December wedding at Longwood. I contacted them today about this and they said they do not allow weddings. So I said what if I rented out their facility for the entire day (my parents have a ton of friends/clients that they would like to invite) and they said "We do not allow weddings!".
Then I contacted the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and they said yes! However, the wedding (ceremony only) can start at 9am and must end at 10 am. ( I think that is way too early) No reception on site. They referred us to The Palm House where we could have the ceremony and the reception there, but I would prefer to use my own caterer and they do not seem to want to give in to me.

Is there anyone who has rented out an estate, gardens, etc where they have allowed both the wedding ceremony and reception and your own caterer? My second option was to charter a yacht in NYC and have an evening wedding with a cruise either around Manhattan or Long Island. I would prefer to be on dryland, but FI love the idea of being on a yacht?

Does anyone know of any such estates or gardens in Connecticut, NY, or Pa where such a wedding could be held??
 
New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx, right across the street from Fordham University. Its a beautiful location and is used often for weddings--plus there is plenty of parking (my BFs sister and a few people I know have tied the knot there...they weren''t hard to work with at all). Also the Tappan Hill Mansion in Tarrytown, NY (just off the Hudson river) is gorgeous. Although both these locations have their own caterer--Abigail Kirsch (just re-read your post). Shes fabulous though!

Another location that is breathtaking, but very pricey is Oheka Castle in Long Island. Its a real castle and the grouds are gorgeous...but its like $300 p/p...I don''t know what your budget is...

Abigail Kirsch - New York Caterer - Events Catering NYC


Oheka Castle
 
On the knot''s local resources if you click Reception Sites and scroll to the bottom there are some search criteria. If you click More search criteria, it will give you an option to search for only venues that will allow you to bring in an outside caterer. Here are the ones in Connecticut for example.

CT Outside Caterers
 
Thanks for the suggestions.

The Oheka Castle is gorgeous! I don''t think we want anything as formal as this and I am concerned that the room rates will be out of range for many of my friends. But I may go to look at it anyway. My parents want to do a big wedding and I was hoping that if I did a "destination" wedding we could keep it somehat smaller.

I am also planning next weekend to go up to Mystic, Ct to look at the Inn at Mystic. There''s lots to do in Mystic so those who come out for the wedding could turn it into a min-vacation.

I just loved how gorgeous Longwwod Gardens was all adorned for Christmas and thought it would make the perfect wedding scene.
 
Sugary,

There is a very similar lesser known estate/gardens not far from Longwood (about 20 minutes) in northern Delaware. It is called Winterthur and they do beautiful weddings. I am not sure what the specifics are on what you can do as far as catering or renting out the whole place, but I would definitely check in to it.

Here''s a link: http://www.winterthurweddings.com/

Good luck!!
 
Sugary...what about the wineries on Li or in the hudson valley?? IMHO they are nicer than some of the gardens and they let you bring your own caterer. My fiance''s sister got married at Pellegrini and at the time her husband owned a catering company so he catered their wedding. Pretty awesome and saved a ton of money. Anyway, any reason why you want to bring your own caterer?
 
pan_manda: Thanks for the info. I''ve checked this one out on-line and it is on my list to visit most likely in January

EM1: I want to stay out of LI (my parents moved there a couple of years ago and they asked me not to have a wedding there. I do not think they want relatives staying with them. My dad especially does not want his brother staying with him) I''ve been to the Fingerlakes and FI and I think perhaps this is a little to out of the way, though I''d like to go back up to Lake Seneca again. We did some work for a caterer a few years ago and my brother used them for his wedding and they cut him a humongous break and said they''d do the same for me. The food was superb and I can pick whatever I want; not from a menu.

My ideal wedding would be in Hawaii, preferably Maui at the Kula Botanical Gardens or the Maui Enchanted Gardens . Both are on the Haleakala volcano. Howver, Fi said that his parents probably would not make that trip. But we have chosen Hawaii for our honeymoon. I''ve been there twice, my FI never.

My parents always go overboard and feel they have to invite everyone they know. I should add that my parents eloped so I think this is their way of getting the wedding they never had. They did not have too much say so in my brother''s wedding. So if I don''t have the wedding too close to home, hopefully we can keep it manageable. I want 100 people tops, my FI about the same, my parents about 400. That''s scary.
 
Sugary, I just wanted to say that Winterthur would be an unbelievable place for a wedding. I have always thought it was lovely; I think it would be even prettier than Longwood Gardens.

Also in that area, the Du Pont Country Club is very pretty, although not as interesting a venue as Winterthur might be. Relatives of mine have thrown an event at the country club, and they were very satisfied with it--I''d add that the food was great!
 
Thanks to all for your wonderfull suggestions. We are trying to plan things rather quickly as we would like to get married next year. Unless something else comes up, I will be visiting the Winterthur perhaps before New Year''s if I can fit it in. My family, and my FI''s family are headed up to Mystic for our engagment party.We will be doing a Lantern Light Tour which sounds like a lot of fun. Fi''s family will stay in Ct for a few days afterwards and then proceed to visit with friends in upstate NY and will join us at my family''s house for Christmas. FI''s family is from the Miami area and I hope they can tolerate the cold weather. They really want to see snow!

Our desire is to have either a fall wedding or a wedding a week before Christmas. That''s why I need to find a special place so that guests who would like to extend their stay can take advantage of all the wonderful sites in the area.

Have a great weekend! I am off and running.
 
If you like the Philly suburban location, there are a few other places that might be of interest to you, although I don''t know about the specifics regarding catering for most of them:

Welkenwier
Morris Arboretum
Brandywine Manor House
The Highlands

There are tons more places, but I tried to only post ones that have extensive formal gardens (or at least, I''m pretty sure they do -- I could be wrong). They might not be what you''re looking for, but it''s worth checking if you''re having a hard time finding a venue!
 
Sugary, Mystic is awesome so hopefully you''ll llike something there. My friend got married at a place on the conn. shore and I''ll find out what the name of it was. The places we called in Conn. in general were cheaper than the NYC surrounding area. I know what you mean about L.I. they probably would get asked to house guests as at least way out east the hotels are limited. That is primarily the reason we decided not to get married out there. The hudson valley has a ton of unique locations that are much closer than the finger lakes. I orignally wanted to get married in the Addirondacks but that is 6+ hours from here.
 
Another god place is Tarrytown House Estate... It''s a 25 acre estate that has both indoor and outdoor accomodations for both ceremonies and receptions. They also have an on-site caterer and hotel room availiability for those that want to stay the night:

http://www.tarrytownhouseestate.com/
 
I was dying to have my ceremony at Andalusia estate, but they will only do a ceremony/reception combo, and it was a little over-budget for me. Here is their website: http://www.andalusiapa.org/index.html Check out the "photos" link... the place is gorgeous. It's in Bucks County, PA. They allow outside caterers, as well.
I ended up booking my ceremony at Pennsbury Manor (also in Bucks Co). They allow ceremony or reception or both. But I'm pretty sure that the reception must be outdoors. Not positive, though, as I booked ceremony only. Here's they're linky: http://www.pennsburymanor.org/ The website's kinda cheesy, and pics don't do the place justice.
Also in Bucks is the Glenn Foerd Mansion. Also beautiful. And pricy, like $150+ a plate. Link: http://www.glenfoerd.org/ You must use their caterers.

Good luck, and let us know how the hunt goes!!

P.S. I love Longwood Gardens, too!

ETA: I now realize that a reception at Andalusia is outdoors, tented... which may not work out for a fall/winter wedding
7.gif

And I also thought of another good one, and I think you have to use their caterer: http://www.hollyhedge.com/1HollyHedge/home.html
 
We had our wedding at the Botanical Gardens.. it was upstate though, Buffalo! Probably way too far for you
3.gif
But I did want to say I''d keep looking for someone who can accomodate you and the setting you desire. We loved our garden wedding.
 
Status
Not open for further replies. Please create a new topic or request for this thread to be opened.
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP
Jewelry Blog
PriceScope-Concierge-Ad
Find prime cuts.
Top