Many of the reviews are older but very similar to the experience we had with our wedding. If you are looking for a beautiful venue, this is absolutely it! The gardens are stunning and the mansion is an absolute gem. You cannot beat the beauty. We unfortunately had a very bad experience with the staff. It has been one year since my wedding and it has taken an entire year to write this. Proceed with caution. I want to remember the good parts of my wedding and this an honest review after 365 days to process this all. 1- On the wedding day, we arrived to the venue. The parking lot was roped off so no bridal party members or groomsmen could park their vehicles. 2- The table rental company (on their preferred list) was in the side driveway without room for any other vendors to park. 3- We were directed to WAIT to enter the building on our paid time that they approved beforehand. Esther informed us that we needed to wait until their staff arrived....during the time that was PAID FOR! and approved! This caused our schedule to be delayed and we could not get ready. 4- Staff are incredibly rude to guests, to the bridal party, and made up rules that were not listed in the contract. OPPOSITE of what was discussed in the walkthrough with Jessica. For example, putting a picture frame of a photo of my family member that is no longer with us on the piano was prohibited by Esther but discussed and approved in our walkthrough with Jessica. PLEASE BE WARNED : You will get a different person on the day of the event. The whole event was discussed with Jessica, but Esther was there when we arrived and it was our first time even meeting her. She knew nothing about what was discussed in the walkthrough and she makes up rules not in the contract. Esther walked around as if she was a guest, helping herself to food and drinks. This is NOT in the contract either. Had they informed us in the contract (or even had the courtesy to ask) we would have accounted for it in our budget - nowhere was this mentioned. Another warning: Our ceremony was filmed and staff will leave the fountain going so you cannot hear anything from our vows/ceremony. The ceremony was almost finished when they finally turned off the fountain. The personalized vows to each other are lost forever because it cannot be heard over the fountain. 5. "No visible garbage cans" became a new rule (not listed on their contract). Guests could not see where to dispose of the drinkware. Also, indoors, they will not allow you to use the wastebaskets they have in any of the rooms. You cannot use anything in the rooms and you do NOT have access to all of the rooms. They prohibited my grandparent (also my flower girl) from getting ready in a room downstairs. We had approval from Jessica beforehand to use the room - again, you will get the opposite of what is discussed in the walkthrough. They claim they are "handicap accessible" but they do not accommodate elderly grandparents on the ground rooms to get ready without extreme difficulty. 6. Staff locked the mansion before the contracted time was over. This was time that was paid in advance for. They also did not leave any lights on in the parking lot during our contracted time. Our vendors cleaned up in the dark while staff watched in their vehicles. Please be warned. The beauty of the mansion and the grounds come with a sacrifice. The old reviews still stand. Take my experience as a warning and address everything beforehand. read more

Strong Mansion and the surrounding grounds are gorgeous. If you have your wedding here, you won't be disappointed. We had the ceremony on the steps which back up to a reflecting pool. There are lots of flowers and green plants, so you don't need to bring any ceremony decorations. We had dinner and dancing under the tent, and took a lot of our pictures down the hill in their garden. It's really an incredible spot for photos. The rental fee is only for 7 hours and you have to add additional hours for set up and clean up. The rental fee does include a lighted tent, which was a huge bonus. That makes it quite comparable in cost to the county rental properties in VA and MD (which are relatively *cheap* compared to other venues), but it's such a nicer place! And it's much cheaper than other beautiful venues in the area - I did a lot of comparing. Patsy, the day of help (she's not really your Day of Coordinator, but helps with keeping things on schedule, lining people up, etc.) was great. She did an awesome job talking us through our rehearsal, which we had to do under the tent because it was pouring rain the day before the wedding. It's best to call them to get a response - email communication was sporadic. And book early - we booked 13 months in advance and there was only 1 Saturday slot in September left! read more

Stronghold - In the garden - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Dickerson, Maryland

See all

I was recently in a wedding at Stronghold. I have attended over 2 dozen weddings on both coasts, and this venue is by far the most beautiful, intimate, and impressive wedding space I have been to. I see many negative comments below about the coordinator Chris, who must now be gone. The coordinator we dealt with is named Amy, and she was lovely. The grounds are extremely well maintained, yet feel inviting and not stuffy-formal. They had ample space for catering to remain quite behind the scenes and the largest spaces I have ever seen for the bride and her entourage, as well as for the groom and his, to get ready. There were lots of spaces to use for the cake table, gifts, photo booth, plus plenty of room to wander, relax, and lounge, all while remaining in the immediate wedding area. The area garden areas surrounding the mansion have lots of little nooks, stairways, and grassy lands. I can imagine numerous ways to set up a ceremony, cocktails, dinner, and dancing here. There is great lighting and so much natural beauty, you have to invest very little in the way of decorations. The wedding I attended was on a Sunday evening. I don't know if that is all they had available or if it is a discounted rate (it was not a Jewish wedding). But, it was absolutely a perfect. The inside of the tent looked different than pictured here. I don't know if that is because the venue changed the tent or if the bride and groom rented extras - there was beautiful fabric inside so you could not see all the metal cross bars. And lovely chandeliers hanging too. I would have considered renting a dance floor. read more

My wife and I actually changed our wedding date just to have our wedding here. We called them up and they said they just had a cancellation, we quickly scheduled the tour and shortly thereafter sent the check to reserve it. This place is amazing! Our guests could not stop talking about how wonderful this place was. So beautiful and the grounds are well kept. If you see something during the week that concerns you, don't worry as it will be taken care of before your day. We had a very bad swarm of bugs when we did our walk-thru on Wednesday, but come Saturday, there was not a bug in sight. I admit that Kris is not the most personable host, but she is extremely busy with the upkeep. She is very direct and completely honest. When we saw the bugs, she told us that they would spray and do everything they could to get rid of them but she could not guarantee anything as this was natures issue. Whatever they did, took care of them and our day was the most wonderful experience we or any of our guests could have had. read more

Important to note that this venue is not responsible for the Caterer or the service. This venue is booked from Stronghold Inc., Sugarloaf Mountain. This private non profit provides a venue coordinator (not a wedding planner), day of facilitator and a parking attendant for your event. Reading the contract on line from the web site www.sugarloaf.com will detail the venue rules, regulations and lessee's responsibility. read more

Stronghold - Inside Reception Tent - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Dickerson, Maryland

See all

I wish I could say more about this venue, but it's hard since I haven't even seen the venue. After talking with Kris, the event coordinator, I have removed them from my list of venues. She was cold, short, and not friendly. I think she's in the wrong field, and should consider a career change. She wanted to know my wedding date before arranging a tour. I told her, we are "looking" at Spring 2013, but we are open to other times/seasons. She said there is only one date available, but didn't provide me with the actual date. She then asked if I was still interested in a tour since they don't have any dates available. On the voicemail she left, she mentioned there were other appt scheduled for this coming Saturday. Apparently, all those appointments must be for 2014 and beyond, because they only have 1 Spring date available in 2013. Seriously, don't flatter yourself!! It's Strong Mansion, not the WHITE HOUSE, or Ritz Carlton!!! Not only am I a bride, but I am also an event planner with MANY MANY contacts and vendor friends. I will definitely pass along my experience. Please REMOVE from your potential sites. It's Chris way, or the highway!!! read more

I tried to look at this venue as a possible site for my wedding. I intially sent an email inquiry which was responded to via voicemail stating that I must call them back and that they do not communicate via email from Christie. I returned the phone call when I had a break in my schedule in which a gentleman picked up advising that Christie was not available and to call back in a half hour. I did call back and the same gentleman picked up advising that Christie was not around. He asked if I wanted to leave a message in which he wanted to know what I was calling for, if I was a bride, and what my wedding date was going to be. I stated that I was looking to have a wedding date in September 2013 which he responded "wow gee someone could forget something like being that far away". Needless to say I am going to scratch this as a possible venue as it is startling to hear that your wedding date might be forgotten wether seriour or not of a comment. I have also not heard back from Christie after leaving that message but that's probably due to her work schedule of only Mon., Wed, and Frid. and she leaves at 4pm. Not sure any working person would be able to maintain a comfortable line of communication with this type of service. I had high hopes for this venue as I had been looking at it even prior to my engagement. read more