Valley Rock Weddings

Valley Rock Inn & Mountain Club is one of our coveted venue partners. It is a beautiful Hudson Valley escape only 50 minutes from New York City. It is a restaurant, boutique hotel with amazing amenities, and an incredible venue for weddings. Oh, and the cocktails are (insert chef's kiss). 

My favorite part of Valley Rock is that you pull into a parking lot, you enter this cute, little hut, and you're immediately transformed into this alternate world. Its a total surprise and shock for first time guests - its like Palm Springs meets French Garden meets the Hudson Valley.

There are so many great spaces at Valley Rock that we love using for weddings. 

For ceremony - you can opt to have your ceremony on the lawn or in the shade garden. We can tent the lawn (amazing rain plan) and relax in the comfort of the trees in the shade garden. 

For cocktail hour - you can utilize the rose garden or the lodge. The lodge is filled with antiques and art - very little additional decor is needed. Plus, the bar is built into the space and really stunning. 

For reception, we almost always tent it. We can fit a pretty large tent to comfortable sit 200+ guests with dinner and dancing. 

It's pretty amazing how close Valley Rock is to the city and to the suburbs. We've had clients with families in Westport, Westchester, New Jersey and New York City - all within an hour drive. Its not in the middle of nowhere like some other upstate NY venues. Plus, you can invite your friends and family to a post wedding pool party and make use of the hikes / trails and BEAUTIFUL gym. The options for rehearsal dinner and welcome drinks make for a really well rounded weekend. 

My favorite combination for a wedding weekend is listed here:

• Rehearsal dinner in the Rose Garden

• Welcome Drinks in the Lodge

• Ceremony in the Shade Garden

• Cocktail Hour in the Rose Garden 

• Reception in the Tent

• After Party in the Cantina

• Sunday Brunch by the Pool

Valley Rock has four guest houses onsite which can accommodate 34 guests. Its so fun for your wedding party to wake up and watch wedding production happening. Its one of my favorite things about working at Valley Rock - experiencing the day with my clients. 

The remainder of guests can stay less than 10 minutes away at the Crowne Plaza Suffern-Mahwah or Sheraton Mahwah. We've also shuttled guests in from the city! 

Valley Rock is best if you're looking for a Hudson Valley wedding weekend venue - a three day affair. I'd recommend it for groups of around 150 - 250 guests. 

Send us a message if you have more questions or are curious about their availability for 2023. 

Photography by: Roey Yohai Studios //Kate Edwards Weddings // Unique Lapin Photgraphy

WTF do I do now? Planning in a never-ending pandemic.

So you rescheduled your wedding once. Now twice. Now we’re about to get to 2021 and we have no idea where the world will be. I’ve been speaking to tons of couples who ask questions like, “what do I do”, “will I be able to have a March or April wedding...” etc. The truth is, no one knows where the world will be tomorrow, in 6 months, or next year. We all thought we’d be done with all of this nonsense by now.

When thinking about what to do (cancel, postpone again, microwedding, elope, etc)…a few things come into play. First is obvious: your life. Do you and your fiance have life plans (ie: kids, house, financial obligations, you get the idea…) that are contingent on your being married? If you want to get married, do it. Elope. Plan a microwedding. Make it happen.

But, if you don’t “need” or “want” to be married without the reception and the hooplah then don’t. Wait it out. All of you that can’t imagine a wedding without the horah, without father-daughter dances, without a dance floor, I’m talking to you. If you are not willing to budge on guest count and wedding style, you’re going to have to postpone until the time is right.

That being said, I have to get something off my chest. Microweddings are AMAZING. Beautiful. Meaningful. Imagine having all of your BEST people in one room. Not one person was on your B list, or the annoying cousin your mom forced you to invite.

With microweddings, you get to spend your budget more uniquely and thoughtfully - do a chef’s tasting menu for dinner, or do an elaborate floral entrance, splurge on the photographer of your dreams, etc.

Then, you can STILL do the big hooplah reception for your five year anniversary. Everyone will still want to do the horah, and the dancing and party. Believe me. We all love a good excuse to hit the dance floor and party. And we’ll be making up for lost time.

So, to summarize: figure out what your non negotiables are - what you’re NOT willing to budge on. Perhaps its the date, perhaps its the guest count, perhaps its the venue, or anything else. And you’ll plan around that. Or, contact us for a one hour planning session and we’ll talk through it together (like what we did there)? Sorry, it was such an easy pitch.

xx,

Elizabeth