Venues Without the Banquet Feel

Knottie96703888

Hi,

My fiance and I are interested in a venue that doesn't have the "wedding factory" or banquet facility feel. We're looking for a place where we would be the only couple occupying the space. In my online searches I seem to be coming up with the same tired list and was hoping to see if any CT brides and brides to be have any suggestions. Thanks for your help!

Blackbird230

How many guests are you thinking?

aniabe14

Have you looked into the Fox Hill Inn? That's where we are having our wedding in 2016, they only host one wedding at a time and if you choose a Friday or sunday you will be the only wedding that entire day. Its an old mansion so it is not glamorous like Aria or Riverview with marble floor to ceiling windows ect, but it is beautilful inside!!!

Knottie96703888

We're looking at approximately 120-130 guests. 

I was actually in my cousin's wedding which was at the Fox Hill Inn and it was wonderful! The ceremony, food, overall experience was top notch, you'll love it!  Unfortunately since it was my cousin's wedding, I don't want to hold it there as well. One of the venues we are looking at is The Lace Factory down in Essex. 

Yea, we're looking to stay away from places like Aria and Riverview. 

Jessie42613

The Lace Factory is beautiful!  I'm also partial to my venue, the Branford House in Groton

hyechica81

i had my reception at testas  in southington yes its a full service banquet facility but they only have one wedding going on at a time. so if you had a evening wedding booked there you are the only wedding going on.. they have two rooms one holds up to 300 the smaller room 60.

the food out of this world my guest came hungry and left full and could not stop talking about the food for weeks. the staff was amazing any questions i had  months and weeks prior they were fast at getting back to me. 

we had a full sit down dinner open bar, hot and cold appitizers, we paid with tax and tip 88 a person  we also got the add on package which included a dj cake and centerpeices 

aniabe14

Thanks for the info! we haven't been to a wedding at fox hill so its nice to hear great things about it! Now I am even more excited for the big day!

lilacck28

Ditto! I was feeling good about Fox Hill, but now I feel even better! We have our meeting to finalize meal selection, etc. this weekend. Can't wait!

aniabe14

lilacck28 how did your meal selection meeting go?  were not getting married until early 2016 so I have a lonnnngggg time to go before any of that exciting stuff hahah! when is your big day?

cj3561

We just booked Pavilion on Crystal Lake for June 2016. You are the only wedding for the day. And they typically stick to just weddings - no other parties at the venue, which is actually nice, because everything is so fine tuned for your big day - but they also let you personalize the heck out of it. We fell in love. It is a rustic barn type of look, but you get the added bonus of beautiful water front views - it's right on a gorgeous lake! Very far from the banquet feel. They have a minimum of 125-135 guests depending on what day you go with. Pretty reasonable.

cj3561

PS .. the Lace Factory is *absurdly* expensive for what it is. They nickel and dime you for everything. For example .. if you need more then 20 chairs, it is $3.50 per chair extra. The 10pm curfew was the nail in the coffin - we moved on very quickly.

Blackbird230

@lilacck28‌ my FI and I went to visit Fox Hill yesterday. It's such a beautiful venue!!! We loved it but sadly it's out of our price range. Wah

lilacck28

aniabe14 said:

lilacck28 how did your meal selection meeting go?  were not getting married until early 2016 so I have a lonnnngggg time to go before any of that exciting stuff hahah! when is your big day?

It was great! We went pretty much completely off their standard menu (we're doing a Sunday Brunch.) So pretty much everything was already decided except hordoerves. We picked those six (yum!) and the style of our wedding cake, napkin/ table colors, and got some cupcakes to go to do our cake testing. We decided on yellow cake with strawberry mousse and custard cream fillings. I was a little disapointed that we couldn't pick different flavors for different layers, but the yellow cake was great! So was the spice cake. The chocolate and white cake flavors were very "meh." Anyway, they're so nice there. Very accommodating. 

ETA: "big day" is May 24, 2015 ... it's getting closer and closer! I just ordered a TON of samples off of minted and weddingpaperdivas for invitations. Poor FI is exhausted: "THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME TO ME!"

lilacck28

@blackbird230

I'm sorry to hear that! Did you try discussing non-standard food? They were really willing to do the entrees and amount of alcohol that I wanted, for significantly less than their standard per person amount. 

ps- still interested in the Inn at Middletown? Because I think they're fantastic too! 

Blackbird230

@lilacck28‌ Inn at Middletown is still the front runner! We had no wiggle room on pricing with Fox Hill because our guest list is tiny.

aniabe14

Lilacck28 everything sounds wonderful! The cake sounds delicious!! Your big day will be here before you know it. My big day is 5/20/16 so a year after yours! So far away haha.

In case your interested I plan on getting my save the dates and invites from a small design/event planning company right here in CT (The Paper Lantern Shop in watertown CT) I know one of the girls who does event planning for the company. They can make ANY invites you want, personalized just the way you like it. I ordered invites and banners and other decor for my best friends baby shower last weekend and everything was amazing, and prices were very reasonable.

aniabe14

Blackbird 30 I'm sorry Fox Hill Inn didn't work out! inn at Middletown is just as beautiful!

lilacck28

@aniabe14 thanks for the tip! I'll check them out

lebeers

Congrats on your engagement! It will go by SO QUICKLY!

In case you're still looking...

I had the same priority and my favorites were Eolia Mansion in Harkness Park and The Branford House (both out in the New London area I believe) as well as the Carousel at Lighthouse Point Park in New Haven, where we are getting married--another May bride here! Those places are all unique and beautiful, as well as relatively affordable (under $5k). And as far as I know they never host more than one event in a day.

The Barns at Wesleyan Hills and the Society Room in Hartford were also really awesome in person (doesn't really translate on the websites IMO). We couldn't consider them seriously because we needed to use an outside caterer and I believe they were probably outside our budget, but they're worth looking into.

Good luck!

MairePoppy

My DD's wedding reception was at Society Room. It's an absolutely beautiful venue. They schedule one wedding at a time and their staff was attentive.

Knottie96703888

We have decided on the Inn at Mystic! They've been under new ownership since last spring, the location was amazing, and the prices were a steal in comparison to what they will be for 2016.