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.
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.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Fox Hollow Inn - Woodbury, NY
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.
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!
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.
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