Blithewold reviews? words of wisdom/cautions?

soon2bemrsbw

Now that we've chosen Blithewold...any words of wisdom or cautions??

Would love to hear from anyone who has attended an event there / considered the venue.

Open to all reviews (good/bad/indifferent). 

So excited!

RoyalOrient

Beautiful grounds and definitely a unique venue but rather pricey. I attended a wedding there a couple of years ago during a torrential down pour. It was really bad because the wedding was under a tent and the sidings didn't hold up well so the rain water leaked through. Everyone had to be moved into the building but it was tightly packed like sardines because the guest count was close to 200 and I don't believe the building can accommodate that many people. I think the venue only becomes an issue when the weather is severe. It was a early April wedding.

alibell123

We got married there last August, and below was my review.  Feel free to email me with any specific questions--I'm happy to help:  abahwedding @ gmail.com.  I can also send you links of the highlight pictures that we took around the property.

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Blithewold Mansion, Gardens, and Arboretum [Ceremony & Reception Venue]:  A/Highly Recommend

Bristol, Rhode Island~ http://www.blithewold.org/

Blithewold is breathtaking, especially with beautiful weather and if you can appreciate all of their gardens, grounds, and water views.  We luckily had phenomenal weather, so we were able to appreciate our venue to the fullest.  Blithewold only allows one wedding at a time, so we had the whole mansion and grounds to ourselves.  Blithewold recently started a strict new policy about when the bridal party is allowed to arrive at Blithewold before the ceremony (now only one hour prior).  Luckily we signed our contract before this new policy, and we were able to arrive an hour and a half before the ceremony to roam the gardens and grounds for pictures.  It would have been impossible for us to take all the pics we wanted before the wedding if we were only allowed to arrive an hour before the wedding.  Our contact person was Karen at Blithewold (who is known as not being the friendliest), but this did not really impact us.  Plus, on the wedding day, there were other Blithewold staffers that were there for the entirety of the event, and they were great (it might have made me feel a bit better to get to meet these ‘day-of-Blithewold-staffers’ before the wedding, but was not necessary).   Overall, I feel very fortunate to have had our wedding ceremony and reception in such a picturesque location with gorgeous gardens and water views.

soon2bemrsbw

Thank you both!!  I was just having a conversation with my mom about the possibility of rain.  Not sure if we will purchase some large umbrellas to have on hand just in case or what our rain plan will be.

Thanks Ali for the email.  I will most certainly be in touch, its so great to hear what worked and what to plan for.  We also learned of the arrival time the other day.

Thanks again!!!

alibell123

p.s. I'm pretty certain that they have large golf umbrellas at Blithewold in case of rain, so I don't think you would need to buy any yourself.

soon2bemrsbw

Thank-you alibell. It's been a while since my last check-in, my soon-to-be husband and I are also in the process of finishing school in addition to planning a wedding.  Thankfully, we booked our venue already.  How soon would you suggest before booking other vendors?  I recently attended a friend's wedding and saw florals that were amazing.

Your help is so appreciated.

kgrenon812

We are booked at Blithewold for June 10th, 2012 and are SO excited! Would love to chat about your planning process. Feel free to email me kasey.grenon@gmail.com

Best wishes!