Feast at Round Hill

ayier626

Hi everyone, 

I'm a new knottie and though I've been engaged since October, we haven't really started planning yet. We're thinking of doing an April or May 2012 wedding for about 100-125 guests. At first we really wanted to have it in NYC where we both grew up, but financially it just wasn't meant to be. But since we want to have an outdoorsy, garden feel, we thought the Hudson Valley would be a beautiful option.

I was wondering how everyone feels about Round Hill for ceremony and reception. We've scheduled a tasting there on March 20th, but would like to hear other people's views on the place as well.

And since we're from the NYC area, I thought it might be good to visit some other Hudson Valley venues that day- any suggestions in the area of Round Hill would be much appreciated!

holli71

I had my wedding at Round Hill last year. I couldn't have been happier with how everything went. All of our guests loved the food and the atmoshpere. Everyone who works there is great. Enjoy the tasting!

Falkirk Estate is in nearby Central Valley. You may want to check it out. We planned on visiting there after our first Round Hill tasting but cancelled. We fell in love with Round Hill that quickly. We did attend a wedding at Falkirk after ours and enjoyed ourselves.

Have fun planning!

mellimel19

Welcome to the boards ayier
Your story sounds so eerily similar to mine, I had to check if this was one of my old posts! haha.

I am also attending Round Hill's tasting this Sunday, and am also looking for some other venues to visit that day. I wanted to visit Rowsley Estate at the Scarsdale Women's club but they weren't available for that day, and am now looking into checking out Lyndhurst Castle in Tarrytown on our way home from Round Hill. I am so excited about the tasting there, from all the pics and rave reviews I've heard about them, I'm hoping that they are our venue! Their pricing seems pretty reasonable too! Hope you enjoy the tasting!

LessThanZero

If you thought NYC was expensive, I wouldn't bother with Falkirk Estate. It's a beautiful place but their pricing was a bit out of control, in my opinion. They went ahead and did ridiculous amounts of renovation and jacked up their prices dramatically to cover it.

Roundhill is very nice though. It has it's pros and cons but I've been to 3 weddings there and always had a great time.

mellimel19

LessThanZero,
Would you mind sharing what you thought were some of the cons?

LessThanZero

Not necessariyl cons to me, but I've heard people mention them. It really depends on what each person cares about.

Mostly that the dancefloor is a seperate room than the rest of the dining area. Some people love that and think it's favorable to keep the two seperate but other people like having the big ballroom with the dancefloor and tables all together. Some people have said the food wasn't great, some people thought it was wonderful. I believe they also don't allow shots at the bar and I believe they call "last call" an hour before the reception ends which is something that some people mind and others don't.

I've been to 3 weddings there over the past 5 years and I've always had a nice time as a guest. Then again, it wasn't my wedding and I'm not overly critical or picky so I didn't have any complaints big or small. I'd recommend Roundhill to anyone but every person is different, you know?

We actually looked into Roundhill initially but just decided on somewhere else that was closer.

mellimel19

Thanks for your thoughts on Round Hill. I happen to be one of the people who likes that the room for dancing is separated from the tables, however, the alcohol situation concerns me a little. I guess we'll just have to see what we think after visiting firsthand.

LizColston

In Response to <a href="http://hudsonvalley.weddings.com/main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-york-hudson-valley_feast-round-hill-2?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:113Discussion:b48053d5-49ee-4115-a02f-f7bfd4821dc8Post:07d58618-4849-4b3a-92e7-09f3685632e8">Re: Feast at Round Hill</a>:
[QUOTE]Thanks for your thoughts on Round Hill. I happen to be one of the people who likes that the room for dancing is separated from the tables, however, the alcohol situation concerns me a little. I guess we'll just have to see what we think after visiting firsthand.
Posted by mellimel19[/QUOTE]

<div>I've been to a bunch of wedding at the Round Hill House and I would say the the food there is probably the best I've ever had.  The layout is a little tricky with the bar in the back but maybe you can work out a deal where they have a mobile bar near the dance floor as well.</div><div>
</div><div>Also, the staff there are probably the nicest I've ever encountered.</div><div>
</div><div>Best of luck!</div>

mellimel19

Thanks Liz! I agree that the staff there are great. When we went for the tasting we were told that the staff serving us was the normal staff at Round Hill, and they were all very nice and attentive. I actually really like the layout of the house, I think it lends itself to a lot of wandering around the house and mingling

ayier626

Thanks for everyone's replies- we did end up going to visit Falkirk after Round Hill and it was two totally different feelings. I really liked the charm at Round Hill, the staff was very nice, the cocktails were tasty and the price is hard to beat. But we thought that the house itself could use a fresh coat of paint. And the last call for alcohol concerned us too.

On the other hand, Falkirk was gorgeous but I don't think it's what we're looking for. We want a more natural setting, rather than a golf course and two stark gazebos. The ballroom and cocktail areas were very new and spacious but again, I got more of a wedding factory feel from them. 

Mellimel- how did you like Round Hill? We liked them enough to place a hold on a date, but we'd like to check out some more venues before making a decision.

Tomorrow, we'll be heading back to the HV- this time to Boscobel House and Patriot Hills. I'm also going to try to get an appointment to see Mansion Ridge and Nanina's on the Park in Jersey. 

mellimel19

Ayier,
Sorry to be responding to this kind of late, but I just saw your reply now. We liked Round Hill, but since it was only the 3rd venue we'd visited, and the first in the Hudson Valley, we wanted to see some more places to get a feel for what else is out there. We didn't put a hold on a date because they said we would have to decide by the next tasting or they'd let the date go, and we didn't feel that was enough time for us. I hear that both Boscobel and Patriot Hills are lovely as well How did you like them? I also just read about Naninas in the Park in a bridal magazine this morning, and am considering giving them a call. How did you like that venue?

We recently visited the Highlands Country Club, and truly loved it. Had a different feel than Round Hill- we thought Round Hill was very charming and quaint, and Highland was very grand and elegant. Unfortunately, I don't think that we can comfortably afford Highlands without having to seriously skimp on everything else. We also liked Stroudsmoor Country Inn in Pennsylvania, but I think Round Hill is still at the top of our list. We're hoping to make a decision soon.

Jaxx317

LessthanZero - thanks for offering your opinions having been a guest at Round Hill! The food selection, I have to say, is making me super nervous given their policy that they don't do menu tastings if you've booked there.

Ayeir - Boscobel was def on my list to see, but didn't end up making it up there due to a full schedule for seeing other venues that weekend. It looks stunning though! If you're into that kind of venue, I'd also recommend checking out the James House Mansion in Tarrytown. The views of the river are somewhat blocked by condos these days, BUT the house is gorgeous, in immaculate condition, and it's also yours for the day. Jean-Jacques caterers seem as reasonable as the FEAST folks, and very nice from my exchanges with them. Have you looked at Mount Gulian - more rustic but also a historic site with reasonable fees.

I'm getting married at Round Hill in a few months, and while I'm excited, I have been having my frustrations with them. Someone who came to a tasting with me also made the "needs a coat of fresh paint" comment too! My advice is know what's important to you. According to their info, they stop serving liquor one hour before the end of the event, but will continue to serve wine and beer till the end. This to me is actually a blessing - we have a solid drinking crowd, and potentially a lot of locals driving up for the day, so for me this is a good thing. I love the sep dance floor because we'll probably have a lot of dance music playing and the older folks that want to just sit and talk to each other can do so without being too disturbed by the music. Also, try to get as many things in writing from them as possible. While their base price seems hard to beat, I feel like they have been a little nickle-and-dimey with me. At the end of the day, if you're choosing a venue that you've never been to before for an similar kind of event, it's a little bit of a leap of faith. But go with your gut & what feels good to you! Hope you find a great place!

ayier626

Hi ladies,

We've expanded our search to Long Island the past couple of weeks (4 visits so far) and hopefully I'll have time to put thoughts on the LI board later in case anyone is also looking there.

Mellimel- No worries, I understand completely- there's so much going on that checking the board is actually a luxury now. I got a call from Peter at Round Hill twice reminding me that we have a hold on a date. The first date we held we had to give up within a week because someone else was ready to sign for it. We ended up changing our minds about the number of guests so moved our hold date to a Sunday. As of now, Round Hill is our number two pick overall. 

Boscobel House was great- we went on a cold but bright day and even though none of the trees or plants were green yet, I can imagine they'd be a gorgeous backdrop. We really liked the layout of the lane of trees (cherry, I believe) leading to the rose garden and there's a nice lane of maples leading there as well. There's also an orangerie off to the side and we were told they will be building a bridal suite around the back in time for this year's weddings. 

Boscobel has some restrictions, esp if you're doing a wedding in June-August. They host an annual Shakespeare festival so on those Saturdays, your wedding would have to end by 5pm. If you like a open hill-top view of water and trees and a tented reception, you should check it out. But just know that they don't have a back-up area in case of bad weather (they said you can re-arrange to have the ceremony inside the tent) and since the reception is tented on the grass, it's a 5 minute walk back to the museum/house where the restrooms are. For us, these were the deal-breakers.

As for Patriot Hills, we were excited to visit because so many loved it on these boards. It was definitely nice, but somehow just didn't resonate with us. (Sometimes you just -know-). They had all of the things we were looking for but I guess in the end, it just wasn't very memorable.

We haven't had a chance to visit Naninas yet- if you have, how did you feel about it? I think at this point in the search, I'm moving onto places a bit closer to NYC since most of our f&f are here, so if this weekend's visits in LI don't pan out, we'll try Jersey next.

Jaxx- thank you for the input on James House and Gullian- will keep them in mind if we look again in the HV.

I'm sorry to hear about your frustrations with Round Hill- as they are our second choice, but I am glad that there are some current experiences to read about. I hope you're able to iron it out and thanks for the advice on getting it all in writing. Congratulations ahd please let us know how it goes!

moconnolly

Round Hill typically only does 4 hours open bar and then just wine for the last hour.  Has anyone negotiated an additional hour of open bar or is the venue set against it?