New York-Long Island

Fox Hollow Inn - Woodbury, NY

I rarely ever post on here but I do read the boards and I had to share with you our experience. We went to a wedding at the Fox Hollow Inn this past weekend. While it should be said that it's a pretty venue, the gardens are probably awesome in the summer, the food was great and the wait staff was amazing… there are a couple pretty critical downfalls. 

First - My guess is that of the approximately 215 guests at this wedding, there was only seating at cocktail hour for 100 people. College friends who got to the bar first and claimed tables were all set leaving older relatives and guests standing to eat. You probably wouldn't have this problem if you're there in the summer and using the outdoor spaces but for the winter it was pretty awkward.

Most of all BEWARE-- the place has a "No After party" policy (which they didn't inform the bride & groom of until the day of the rehearsal dinner when they checked in). There's NO bar located on the property at all outside the ballroom/cocktail hour - which would be fine but you are not permitted to bring outside alcohol into your room (which makes me wonder why they have full size fridges in each suite). You're not allowed to have more than 4 people in a room at any time and they do enforce this. You're also not allowed to congregate in any common spaces, like the dining area or the lobby and all outdoor areas are off limits after 10pm. So basically, it's reception… go to sleep.

We were in a secluded section of the hotel hanging out in a cousin's room. We were not being loud, it was my fiancé & I, 2 cousins and my future in-laws, most of us were sitting in our PJ's recapping the day. There was a knock on the door which turned out to be a hotel security guard with some sort of badge around his neck (which was pretty amusing to a room with a policeman, a fireman and lawyer). We were told by said security guard that there were complaints called in from across the hall. I pointed to the door across the way & said, "that room?" He said "Yes, they've called to complain". When FI informed him "that's our room" we were all told that unless we leave and go to our own rooms we would be asked to leave. The security guard stood at the door and waited for us all to leave as if he were an RA breaking up a college party. He treated my older in-laws as if they were children being sent off to bed.

Considering how much money I'm sure the bride, groom and their families invested in Fox Hollow, I think this is unacceptable. Make sure if you use them to either book a separate room for your guests to congregate or to have your guests book their overnight hotel rooms in another establishment.

Re: Fox Hollow Inn - Woodbury, NY

  • edited December 2011
    I'm getting married here in Sept! Thank you for this review. I will make sure the my father speaks with the hotel/venue before the wedding. If someone comes knocking on my door like that, I'll tell them where to put it :D

    Thanks again for the review!!
    DX stage 4 endo 4/2005 Lap #2 7/2007 Lap #3 8/2009 uterus, tubes & cul-de-sec fused. partial bowel resection. LUPRON :( Surprise BFP 4/2010 Layla Grace 11/17/2010 Surprise BFP 12/2011 - stick baby stick! THE BLOG Lilypie Second Birthday tickers Lilypie Pregnancy tickers
  • alithebridealithebride member
    Name Dropper 5 Love Its First Anniversary First Answer
    edited December 2011

    I agree about the cocktail hour area-that's one of the main reasons we didn't even go and look at the place for our wedding. limited seating, onyl 2 bars makes for a bad cocktail hour. I also didn't like more than one event at a time-the bathrooms do get crowded!
    it seems like your main gripes were with the hotel though, and not the venue.

     

  • edited December 2011
    I just wanted to offer my own experience with the Inn.  I got married at Fox Hollow in September 08 and stayed at the Inn for 2 nights, as did some family members.  We did not experience any of the sorts of issues that you are describing.  The first night, I stayed in my suite with my cousin and other family members hung out with us and we had no problems at all.  The morning of the wedding was a complete zoo of people- there had to be almost 20 in the room at once and no one said a thing to us. 

    Yes, there's nowhere to have an afterparty, so if that's important to you, don't plan to have one there.  Go to another hotel or find a bar. 

    I really enjoyed the Inn, it was one of my favorite parts of the whole wedding.  My suite was newly decorated, very luxurious and the service was great (champagne and chocolates delivered each night, wonderful breakfast and dinner buffets with free wine and beer).  You can't really blame them for wanting to maintain a calm and respectful atmosphere.. for $300+ a night on Long Island, that's what guests there should EXPECT! 
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  • TJEPMTJEPM member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I am getting married there in April and while we were informed of the no after party thing, we were told by our catering manager that as long as we are quiet we are allowed to hang out in the area w/ the fire place when you first walk in for a little while.  We were also not informed of the no outside alcohol in the room rule.  My parents are planning on bringinning coolers for that reason exactly either to hang out in their room or in the part outside after the wedding.  Did you try to bring in outside alcohol?  Do they inspect your items as you are bringinning them in?  For what we are paying and the amount of people we have staying at the inn after the wedding I do not think this should be an issue.  Should I mention something to the person I am dealing with at the Inn now?
  • edited December 2011
    I think it needs to be said that I'm not bashing Fox Hollow, it was a gorgeous wedding and as I said - the service, food and surroundings were great and the suites are extremely nice. Nor am I "blaming the hotel for wanting to maintain a calm and respectful atmosphere". But I'm pretty sure my 60yr old in-laws weren't jumping on the couch, being loud & acting drunk at 1am - we were sitting in our PJ's, and in conversational tone - talking about the fun we had that day.

    I'm sure as a bride, groom, mother of the groom etc. you wouldn't have any problems but rather it's something to think about for your guests. We weren't aware of the policy and to be honest our bride & groom were not aware of it either. The groom walked up to the desk to check-in the night of his rehearsal and his brother had a 6-pack of bud light in his hand (a 6-pack mind you, not like they were planning a kegger or anything) and the clerk informed them of the no after party policy on the spot. The bride found out about it at her rehearsal dinner. There was really nothing any of us could do about it at that point. Had we known about the policy we would have booked a different hotel and I know both the bride & groom would have suggested a different hotel had they known ahead of time.

    They didn't inspect our luggage or anything but the whole policy is noted in the handbook/guest binder on the table in the room (we found it the next day). The guestbook does mention that a separate room (prob. a conference room or something) can be rented out with a bar & server set-up if you'd like. I'm sure it's an additional cost but in my opinion it's very much worth it (lesson learned - we're looking into renting a separate room at our venue for my own wedding). It might even be their way of making more profit but it's my opinion that they should inform couples of the policy. Our bride & groom were not able to do so on such short notice.

    @ TJEPM - I'm really happy to hear that they told you of the policy. That eliminates 90% of my complaints about the venue. We have friends who will be having their wedding at Fox Hollow over the summer - when we told them of our experience - they weren't aware of it either. They plan on speaking to someone about it and either renting the optional separate room or considering moving their guests to a different hotel post-reception.

  • edited December 2011
    I perform there as well as the live musicians I book.

    Visit me at www.johnardenmusic.com
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