Reception Site Visit - Gore Place

Out of the list of roughly 15 places we're interested in, I was able to schedule an appointment to see Gore Place in Waltham on Saturday - our first site visit!

The historic home and estate of Massachusetts Governor Christopher Gore (built in 1806), it's actually located just a quick ten minutes away from where we're living right now.

Driving up, we could see that the estate covered a lot of ground and had a lot of nice, big trees. Near the front entrance, there were also a few modest gardens:


In addition, the main path was framed by lanterns (although I don't know whose bright idea it was to use red candles in them!)

This is the mansion at Gore Place - while you can't use the rooms within for the reception, you can use the lawn that borders it as a ceremony site, providing guests with a gorgeous view of the mansion, and the bride gets a changing room within it, in addition to being able to take photos inside and outside:

This is a shot of the permanent tent they have erected on an adjoining lawn:

This is where the reception would take place:

In addition, the rental fee of $5,500 gets you use of the carriage house:

The Gore Place event coordinator, says that it's been used for smaller receptions (under a 100 people) but more commonly, it's used for cocktail hour and by the caterers for set-up. The cool thing about it (although it may bug some brides) is that it features a period Phaeton and carriage inside - neat!



Plus a big room that can be decorated with hung lanterns:

So overall, our thoughts on the place:

• We liked Catie the coordinator - she was friendly and down-to-earth
• Although the rental fee seemed high at first, it does get you a ceremony on site, the reception tent, the carriage house, use of 100 white chairs and the bridal suite inside the Gore mansion
• I think most brides would like the main staircase within Gore mansion as a photo op - very dramatic
• Gore Place itself was very nice - very pastoral with rolling lawns and tons of flexibility in where you can hold your ceremony on site
• You can bring your own caterer and bar service on site to the reception site, giving you the option to bring a favorite caterer and a chance to save money by using a bartending service that will take back unused alcohol

What we didn't like:

• There are only two bathrooms in the carriage house, which is located a couple hundred of feet away from the reception site - like the bride that was touring the site in preparation for her July wedding, you'll probably need to rent port-a-potties. I hate the idea of using port-a-potties at a wedding!
• You'll have to plan everything yourself in terms of bring vendors on site - there's nothing provided to you by Gore Place other than the tent and the option of using their chairs and tables. Some brides may enjoy this but I'd rather have more details taken care of by the venue.
• There was no real "wow" factor - everything looked nice and historic, and there was definitely enough trees that it would look beautiful in the fall but still, it just didn't strike a chord with us.

Onto our next site!