We held a wedding reception for our daughter at The Castle. I live in California, and as the mother of the bride, I was faced with organizing a wedding reception from out-of-state. The staff at Wadley Farms took care of every little detail for me, and the event couldn't have gone more smoothly. Everything from the catering, to the flowers, to the seating and decorations was perfect. The staff took care of many little details that I didn't even know were needed. For example, they provided a little birdcage for the gift table that guests could drop their cards into. They had cute chalkboards on easels where we could write a schedule of events ("Appetizers 6:00 p.m., Dinner 7:00 p.m., Cake cutting 8:00 p.m...") and on another one, we could write directions such as "Kids' Dress-Up Area Upstairs."
The venue is designed well to accommodate lots of different kinds of guests. For example, the staff set up 12 dinner tables (10 chairs each) on the main floor, and then 3 additional tables (10 chairs each) upstairs. We had MANY children attending, so we put a kids' dress-up area upstairs complete with sparkly knight-capes, princess capes, Nerf swords and home-made shields. Without any prompting from us, the little kids spent most of their time upstairs, and their parents were able to sit and eat dinner in peace, near their kids, while their kids dressed up and fought with swords and protected the castle from dragons and other invaders. Meanwhile, the main floor stayed quieter for grownups.
The staircases made beautiful areas for photos. In fact, the whole castle is so beautifully designed with natural wood and artistic iron work, that we needed very few decorations. Again, the staff was super helpful and took care of the little details, like decorations, so that I just needed to show up. For example, in the morning we dropped off boxes of kids' dress-up supplies, and the staff arranged a beautiful dress-up area upstairs with no additional help from me! I showed up at the reception and the staff had arranged swords, shields, crowns and tiaras on tables, set up a floor mirror, and hung up the capes on a portable clothing rack. I dropped off a box in the morning containing a sign-in book and photos of the bride and groom, and then when I arrived for the reception in the evening the sign-in/gift area was magically already set up!
I worked with two different staff wedding planners over the course of the few months while we were planning the reception. I was able to pin down all of the details in advance, and the staff was willing to provide as much or as little help as I wanted. Some brides are very hands-on and want to do a lot of their own planning and decorating, and others are happy to have someone else do most of the work. My daughter fell into the latter category -- she didn't have time to worry about too many details, and because I don't live in Utah I was unable to take care of many of the details myself. The staff was wonderful and accommodating in every way.
The on-site caterer, State Street Feed & Supply, provided delicious appetizers and a wonderful dinner and desserts, for an incredibly reasonable price. The caterer provided real dishes and real silverware also. (The food cost about a third of what we would have paid in California -- I love Craig and his catering company, and I love Utah!)
We had planned appetizers, a buffet dinner, and then dessert, but then later in the evening, after the dinner buffet had been taken down, hungry college students kept spontaneously arriving! The catering staff was incredibly accommodating and quickly made plate after plate of food for the late-arriving guests.
I would highly recommend The Castle at Wadley Farms for a formal or informal wedding, reception, dinner or other event! read more