Autumn at Ashland

Andrew and I drove out to Ashland on Saturday to get a sneak peek of what our venue would look like with fall colors, since we toured it during the summer.

Although the foliage hadn't turned as much as I hoped, it still was colorful enough to give glimpses of a New England fall:

This last photo shows the cocktail hour of another wedding that was taking place while we were unobtrusively trying to walking around the property. As you can see from the pictures above, Andrew and I will have a tough decision to make on where our ceremony will take place! Whatever the decision, we are excited at the prospect of saying our vows with the Warren Center as our backdrop.

Our Wedding Venue - The Warren Center & Inn

As I had hinted at earlier, Andrew and I had toured three different venues (from an initial list of fifteen I created) and we had a hard time deciding between two in particular - the Connors Center in Dover and the Warren Center in Ashland.

Andrew and I had gotten a good feeling after visiting the Warren Center. But then I fell in love with the Connors Center. What helped us reach a decision in the end? The fact that Warren Center would allow us to have part of the ceremony outside, without being too dependent on the weather (Connors Center would have been all outdoors) and the fact that it would've been roughly at least 10K more - yikes!

Ashland is located more in Central Mass but isn't too far out. We also think our guests are going to love it because there is lodging on site, making it convenient for anyone coming out of town. You'll be able to simply exit your room and take a short walk to our ceremony and reception site!

This is what the Warren Center looks like when you approach it, it sits on acres of land:



A lovely gazebo on site that screams photo opp:



Did I mention that the Warren Center is owned by Northeastern University and we managed to score a 10% discount since Andrew graduated from Northeastern Law? That was definitely a big plus. You can see subtle signs of Northeastern's emblem throughout the Warren Center and one unsubtle sign in the shape of a husky, that Andrew got acquainted with:


This is where the outdoors ceremony take place - picture fall foliage, an white arch against the trees and rows of white chairs:


This is where cocktail hour will take place, right next to the ceremony site - just a short walk to the open bar!

This is the reception site on the second floor of the building - the room would be set up slightly differently for our wedding and would feature our wedding colors instead, but you get an idea of what it will look like:

For anyone staying over early on Friday night, there's plenty to do and explore at the Warren Center:

Including a lake - it'll probably be too cold for swimming but it makes for another beautiful photo opp:

That's one big thing crossed off our wedding planning to-do list - next thing to tackle is the photographer! We hope you're as excited as we are to see how the wedding turns out at the Warren Center.