Hello Maryland Brides! I am researching wedding venues along the bay and am hoping to stay under $15k for the Ceremony/Reception location rentals, setup, and food/drink cost per person. I have a list of places I plan on visiting this fall and could use some feedback on pricing and thoughts of the locations. I'd like to find a place that offers rooms for my guests, not all of them of course, we will have about 150. And I'd like to stick with a water view (a dock would be nice). So here is the list: Harrington on the Bay, The Oaks (love the look but looks like more than I want to spend), Silver Swan, Eastern Yacht Club, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, Tilghman Island Inn, and Kurtz Beach. Also any other suggestions are welcome! Thanks Knotties!
Wedding Bells,
Danielle - MD
Re: Chesapeake Bay Wedding Venues (With a Water View)
I love the location. Fi and I actually signed our contract while they were still renovating-only drywall on the walls, so obviously the view made a big impression on us. They are actually in the process of opening up the indoor space more to have an expanded bar area-which will be nice with your head count.
The one thing I must warn you about is that some of the staff is not the best at getting back to you. Be persistent 'cause it's worth it. From what I've heard from other brides, they really come together and make it happen on your wedding day.
Yes I've requested information from Celebrations, the pictures look really nice but they didn't provide any prices so I'm not real sure what range that would be in. Kurtz is affordable but I just don't know if it's as picturesque as I envision for my wedding day.
Other place to consider might be Kent Manor Inn, Historic Londontowne, or Swan Harbor Farm. Good luck with your planning!
[QUOTE]. their price was coming in at around $160 per person Posted by LoveKiss[/QUOTE]
Do you know if the price per person also included the price for the locations such as the ceremony/reception as well as the setup or were those separate costs. If they are separate costs the Hyatt may be more than we were looking to spend with our budget.
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I believe it was $7800 for the summer but Joan talked about the prices going up this July.
Hope this helps!
Oh and we did look at Kurtz's Beach - it was ok, I think we may have liked it more if we had gone there before going to Celebrations. But we went after (they were having an open house) and there was just no comparison. Yes, they have the banquet area for weddings, etc. but it's also a community hall with a bingo board set up in the other room and the outside area seemed very cramped. It looks a lot better in pictures! Plus they absolutely refuse to move the ceremony indoors unless it's raining - so if you end up with a 100+ degree day and decide you only want to take pictures outside, too bad. (that was a big concern for my FI regarding outdoor weddings - he doesn't handle heat well).
Good luck with your search!
The Oaks was beautiful and they have incredible customer service. However, I think we were given an estimate of more than $32k for a 125 person wedding, so it was outside of our budget.
As some other people mentioned, SIlver Swan does have a reputation for being hard to get in touch with, so we decided not to go with them.
We ended up booking with Herrington on the Bay, which is beautiful and fitted what I wanted perfectly. It's not the cheapest place out there, but the venue worked with us to stay within our budget and gave us some suggestions for lowering costs, which was great! However, there are only 30 rooms on site, and most are pretty expensive (suites and cottages and such). You are also competing with guests who stay there regularly and other wedding parties, so you would like only be able to get a room block of 10 to work with.
Good luck on your search!
I contact Silver Swan this morning and they got back to me ASAP... maybe they just start blowing you off after you sign the contract? Either way I agree, I've seen terrible reviews on several different sites and it makes me nervous.
Thanks in advance for the help!
Any recent reviews or info?
In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_maryland_chesapeake-bay-wedding-venues-water?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:627Discussion:da71793b-ee76-4ffa-91e8-c12b902acc12Post:bb53ed79-a018-4200-b3f1-d593770b74cf">Re: Chesapeake Bay Wedding Venues (With a Water View)</a>:
[QUOTE]I am also so happy to have found this thread on here because I'm looking for a water venue within a 1/2 hr to 1 hr radius of Annapolis! I have been looking at Chesapeake Beach Resort and Spa and after reading some of the threads on here, Herrington on the Bay as well. Does anyone have any more info on either of those places? Greatly appreciated! :-)
Posted by gennahu[/QUOTE]
The Chesapeake resort and spa was a very big disappointment the walls and floors are dirty and very unattractive. I loved the Chesapeake beach club and we are going to look at the Herrington on the bay in two weeks.
[QUOTE]The Chesapeake resort and spa was a very big disappointment the walls and floors are dirty and very unattractive. I loved the Chesapeake beach club and we are going to look at the Herrington on the bay in two weeks.
Posted by lauradurso[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>Thank you for letting me know! I was just at the Chesapeake Beach Club this past weekend for a bridal show there and while it was hard to see the venue through all of the things for the bridal show, from what I saw it was beautiful and well cared for. I am making an appointment to go back and look at it again and be able to talk to someone about it more soon! Let me know your thoughts!
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Chesapeake Beach Resort was a huge disappointment for us as well. The pricing was great but it doesn't look like they've put any money into their facilities since the '80s. Their "rain" ceremony alternative was also a joke. Basically in their driveway! The photos on their website are very misleading.
Harbourtowne Golf and KMI were also disappointments. Harbourtowne looked straight out of the '80s as well and required all guests to book a minimum of 2 nights at about a $250/night rate. I couldn't justify asking my guests to do that. KMI has a beautiful exterior but we thought the glass-encased round room was weird and not aligned with our vision whatsoever.
We got engaged in August and are still struggling to find something on par with CBBC's beauty that stays within our budget! We're on the verge of throwing in the towl for a Chesapeake Bay wedding and restarting our search in an entirely different geographic area in hopes we can get more for our money elsewhere. If anyone finds anything, please let me know! Best of luck!