Small venue search

Blackbird230

Even though fiancé and I love the Inn at Middletown, we just want to be sure. We are going to visit the Belle Terrace at Old Avon Farms too.

Guest list: 60-75
Wanting to stay under $80 per person but open to Sunday day date.
Early December wedding so needs to be inside.

Any suggestions? Anyone know anything about Belle Terrace?

lilacck28

Don't know about the Belle Terrace... and I think I already told you about Fox Hill Inn (which is maybe farther west than you want to go) but just in case:

We're doing a Sunday Brunch (lots of food! 6 passed apps, plus chafing dishes.... smoked salmon eggs benedict, waffles, chicken dish, pasta dish, quiche, bagels, muffins, wedding cake, fruit... I might be missing something).

Ceremony at 11:30, cocktail hour 12-1, reception 1-5. We're not doing open bar-- just champagne, mimosas, and bloody mary's. Ceremony is a $500 fee, our minimum was 90 people, for $59 per person, so even though the minimum is more than you wanted, the per person is significantly less than $80.

So far I'm very happy with them.

If you're willing to go to western CT, check out the Garden House at the Keeler Tavern in Ridgefield. That was my dream venue (gorgeous!)  but their maximum is 90 people. I think its more DIY there (bring in a caterer, etc, as opposed to the Fox Hill which does everything for you), so I don't know what the budget turns into.

Also! Check out Bernard's, also in Ridgefield. They're a fancy French restaurant that also does weddings-- they're regularly listed as a top restaurant in the state. I also really liked this venue, but again, it's for less than 90 people I think.

I looked at Le Chateau in New York (north salem? south salem? one of those). It is a very nice restaurant, that does weddings. It was very pretty, very elegant. Darker than the Fox Hill (fiance compared it to Betty Draper's house haha). I think it would be more expensive than Fox Hill... but maybe not significantly? I didn't do all the math since FI liked Fox Hill better and it was a good price.

Oh! And in Danbury, CT... Tarrywile Mansion. Also better for smaller weddings I think. I drove by it, but didn't do the full tour once I realized that the guest list was going to be bigger than the initial 80 person wedding I had anticipated. The pictures are very, very pretty. Down side is its on a public park, so you could potentially have non wedding guests wandering around. And I think the parking might have been hard for elderly guests? Or maybe it was Le Chateau where the parking was hard.

I hope that helps! (you, or someone else! I don't know much about small venues in the middle of CT, even though that's where we live now, since both our parents live in Western CT.) WAIT! Except for the Pond House Cafe in West Hartford (I think West Hartford?). Pictures looked really nice, and they're supposed to have a great brunch. I really liked the look of them, from what I remember, but it was farther in state than my mom wanted to do the wedding.

ETA: I had a definite "look" in mind, and most of these places seemed to match it. Old mansion style, gardens, etc. And they all did brunch. I think almost all of them, if not all of them, also do dinner, but I was obviously focused on brunch.

ETA Again: They also, as far as I could tell, all had nice indoors (for ceremony and/or receptions), which was important to me too, in case of bad weather. I know for a fact that Fox Hill has a very pretty place for an Indoor Ceremony, and I think most of the others appeared to as well.

classicalandedgy

I'm going the non-traditional route and getting married at the New Britian Museum of American Art, their exclusive cater is Riverhouse catering, they are amazing and definitely work within your budget and you get to use the whole museum, we are doing our ceremony and reception on site. 

lilacck28

LOVE the New Britian Museum of American Art!

classicalandedgy said:

I'm going the non-traditional route and getting married at the New Britian Museum of American Art, their exclusive cater is Riverhouse catering, they are amazing and definitely work within your budget and you get to use the whole museum, we are doing our ceremony and reception on site. 

Blackbird230

We are going to be visiting Fox Hill.

aniabe14

I second Fox Hill Inn! we booked them for our May 2016 wedding and we are so happy! We are doing a Friday night wedding so we get the venue to ourselves that day, and the price is cheaper than any other venues we visited during our search.