Amber Grove Perspective?

meghanaaron

Hi, has anyone booked/held a wedding at Amber Grove? We are probably booking this week, but now I'm getting nervous about whether there might be a better options out there. How is the food? I saw some last weekend and thought it looked a bit average, unfortunately.

We are looking for an outfoor, historic, laid-back site and this seems to fit the bill, but maybe there's something better. Does anyone have thoughts on this venue or others? Thanks!

Gills2013

I went to look at Amber Grove last weekend and had the same feeling. It is nice but just nice. Nothing spectacular for the price as it is not cheap. Good luck in finding a venue!! I know I need some too...

Alcox

Check out Apple Blossom Plantation and Jasmine Plantation in Providence Forge. I posted about all 3 venues about a month ago. I believe you have already seen this Gills, but I thought it might help the original poster..

I've visited Amber Grove and Apple Blossom. I visited Amber Grove because it seems like it would be inexpensive but you have to rent all of your tables and chairs from them so it got pricey. The layout of the house was little weird because you have to walk thru different rooms to get to the food and stuff. The outdoor space is great. The gazebo is really pretty for ceremonies and you come out from this little side yard area. The guy that runs it is verrrry nice and very willing to help with day of wedding stuff. There were 2 cats running around and when we were looking thru the photo albums the cats were in some of the pictures so I don't think they put them away. They have their own in house caterer but I think you can bring in an outside caterer if you pay a kitchen fee. You can bring you own alcohol with them, just have to get an ABC license.

Apple Blossom was really pretty and the lady that runs it seems awesome! Very helpful and she is a lawyer or something so she said she will go over you contracts with other vendors before you sign if you need her to. They also have an in house caterer but you can get your own and pay a kitchen fee. I cant remember about alcohol tho. When you tour this place they tell you it was set up to look exactly like Amber Grove but I didn't see any resemblance in the house layout. This was another place that food is inside the main house so you have to come inside and then back outside to eat. I didn't choose this place because there is a pool very close to the reception tent and I didn't feel like the tent was large enough. If I heard her correctly tho, the use of the rooms in the house is *included* in the price that is listed on the website and as many people can sleep there as you can fit. At Jasmine Plantation it was almost $2000 extra and a max of 14 people can stay. If you go on a tour here, don't follow your gps. It tells you that you have arrived at a random set of train tracks. Keep driving! It's another couple miles down the road on your right. The lady says she tries to keep signs up but they blow away and stuff.

I ended up choosing Jasmine because of the grounds. After parking, guests walk over this really cute footbridge over a pond to get to the ceremony site. The tent is larger and everything fits outside. I really don't like having to wander in and out of the house to eat and get drinks and stuff. You get to rent everything youself. The owners give you a list of people they have worked with before but you can choose anyone. Basically the only "rule" they had was that if the reception goes past 11pm then the music needs to be turned down, but thats a law in the area I think, and then the reception has to end by midnight but you get cleanup time afterwards. If you are thinking of this place then take a tour soon. They said that August is their busiest booking time, typically about 15 weddings are booked for the next year. I actually had to decide quickly if I was positive I wanted my wedding there because they called last night and said someone was interested in my weekend.

CountryCity

My fiance and I had the same feelings, so we looked into a place called Farvue (near the james river) and also looked at Winterham Plantation which is in Amelia and we LOVED it and booked a week later! Beautiful country but classy feel to it! Perfect for small or large weddings and the woman who owns it, is incredible and so amazing to deal with! n regards to Apple Blossum the woman who owns that is also incredibly nice, she helped answer alot of questions for us when we were looking, it ended up being alittle to far for us to drive, but she was great with many other wedding recommendations for us! But good luck w/ your search