Annie from the Cloisters, and actually all of the staff there, were absolutely bend-over-backwards accomodating. I never did receive responses to my emails sent, but if I ever called, I ALWAYS got an answer. Even if I left a message, I always received a return call. Everything went off perfectly, the castle was actually already decorated a bit and the decorations worked so well with our wedding decor, that we left them up. However, they were more than willing to lose anything we didn't like. Everyone was friendly, helpful, and even on the day of as my guests walked around the castle, staff answered questions and told them some of the history. Highly recommend.

The Cloisters is just an amazing venue to have a wedding/reception! It's such a unique place. Our guests loved roaming around the upper floors during the reception and hearing about the history of the building. The staff are so friendly, flexible and laid back. We decided the night before the wedding that we wanted the ceremony to be outside so they prepared the courtyard that evening and the next morning. Everything was perfect! We had 130 guests. We were originally concerned we would have problems with space, but everything worked out fine in the end. We had a really great party!

The Cloisters was the PERFECT venue for our Medieval/Renaissance themed wedding! The staff is friendly and helpful, always quick to respond to an email or phone call, and went out of their way to ensure every detail was perfect.

Our photographer had a lot of fun utilizing the scenery for our wedding photos as well. Everything was so beautiful. I highly recommend attending one of their Open House events to see this place for yourself - the photos on the website don't quite capture the breathtaking beauty of this venue.

The Cloisters was great! It is a little pricey, but for the scenery to host a wedding, it's worth it. The staff was down to earth and friendly. Recommend!

The Cloisters is a fabulous and unique venue for a wedding ceremony and reception. The staff were very accommodating and helpful in making my wedding a success even though Hurricane Irene forced us to move the wedding from starting at 6:00pm outside to 12:00pm inside. Without their flexibility, our wedding most likely would not have taken place on August 27.

The Cloisters is the most beautiful venue I could imagine for a wedding. It's truly a fairytale setting. You can get married in a castle! Not only is it beautiful, if you're willing to get married on a Friday night like we did, or a Sunday, it's very affordable. All of the rental fees go to support the arts in Baltimore, so it's your supporting a good cause as well. Annie, who manages the Cloisters, also helped us out tremendously when we had a disaster with our hotel a week before the wedding. The Chase Suites, over booked their hotel and told us 7 days before our wedding, that they could no longer accomodate us or our guests. We had over 20 rooms booked! Annie convinced their corporate manager to book us at the Embassy Suites ( a much nice hotel) and got them to pay for the difference in cost for all of our guests. She was amazing and saved our wedding. I would love to have an excuse to have another event there. It's so beautiful.

Our wedding was beautiful and the Cloisters played a major part in that! All of our guests adored the venue and its' uniqueness. I had planned for our ceremony and reception to both be outdoors but it ended up raining that day, although we did get to have a shortened version of our ceremony outdoors in the cloistered garden. Afterward, our reception was indoors. And it was super hot, as was to be expected with no AC in August. I knew this going in and I figured the beauty of the venue was worth being a little hot but my advice is to make sure you are really ok with that before booking the Cloisters in the summer months, because if you aren't, you will not be happy with the heat indoors. Staff at the Cloisters were always friendly to us; definitely more of a laid back style there though so don't expect anyone to fawn all over you and your wedding. Overall, I would totally recommend the Cloisters!

We chose the Cloisters because the it was unique and beautiful, not your typical hotel or country club. We got married in the garden and had our reception inside. The Cloisters only has one event per day and 5 hours is included in the price vs most venues 4 hour packages. We even bought an additional hour as we also had pre-reception cocktails prior to the ceremony. And our guests loved that they could have a drink in their hands while watching the ceremony! The garden was beautiful and the decoration of the house enabled me to keep my floral budget extremely low. Since we were the only event of the day, we were also able to take pictures prior to the wedding so that we could have more time at the reception. Our event only had 75 guests so we could seat everyone in one room-that would be harder with more people. If you're interested in using the Cloisters, they allow you to hold a date for 2 weeks at no charge. The staff was very good for our event. In the planning process the Cloisters are flexible to having you come in to see the place, but during business hours. Additionally, if you do get married there and you marry on a traditonal Saturday, your rehearsal will most likely be Thursday or early Fri am since the facility is probabaly booked. About two weeks before the rehearsal we fould out that the mayor was doing a press conference @ Cloisters on the evening of our rehearsal so we had to move our time an hour earlier. We were refunded for our additional hour that we bought for the reception due to our inconvenience.

Also, the venue has no A/C. Our event was in the evening and the daytime temp was 92. I wouldn't say that it was cool inside but certainly bearable with cold drinks. The Cloisters is a place that you and your guests will always remember. If cost is an issue, consider the 'off-peak' months or a less popular day of the week as the fees are much lower.

This is the perfect venue for a wedding!! the castle and the lush gardens are great for photos and create such a romantic atmosphere. Another plus is you really don't have to do much decorating as the decor and landscaping speak for itself. All of our guests kept saying this was the most amazing wedding venue they'd ever seen! Even the kids at the wedding had a blast exploring! I will always cherish my beautiful castle wedding.

The Cloisters was a beautiful, unique venue for our wedding. The grounds are well-kept and the castle is breathtaking. Our spring wedding was full of kilts, turkey legs, and bagpipes, but you could easily do a bright summery wedding, more sophisticated fall wedding, or wonderful wintery wedding. Rental includes tables and chairs - how easy is that??

The Cloisters is such a beautiful site for a wedding, and it was perfect for the size and style of our wedding. We wanted a low-key event where our guests could walk around both inside and outside and interact with each other while enjoying different food stations set up throughout the first floor. We also hoped for an outdoor ceremony and the weather cooperated, fortunately. I can’t think of a better location for a fall wedding than the cloistered garden. The Cloisters is somewhat rustic, but also gorgeous, and it suited us perfectly. We enjoyed working with Annie and the other staff. Although they never took themselves or us too seriously (in a good way), everyone was very professional and responsive on the day of the wedding. So many of our guests have said that we picked an amazing place to get married, and I completely agree.

a beautiful and unique venue.
annie and all the rest of the people who work there are super down to earth, relaxed, and helpful.

WE WENT TO OUR NIECE'S WEDDING IN SEPTEMBER 2010 AND WERE GREETED NICELY OUTDOORS BY A LADY WHO TOLD US TO ENTER AND SOMEONE WOULD DIRECT US TO THE CEREMONY. WHEN WE ENCOUNTERED STAFF INSIDE, ONE WOMAN KEPT TALKING TO ANOTHER WHO POINTED US OUT BUT THE WOMAN KEPT TALKING. I FINALLY ASKED WHERE WE WERE TO GO, AND SHE REPLIED AS IF WE WERE A BOTHER. THERE WAS WINE AT THE BAR AFTER THE CEREMONY THAT THEY SAID THEY COULD NOT OPEN, THOUGH IT WAS DISPLAYED. THEY GAVE ME MY BEER IN A BOTTLE AND WHEN I ASKED FOR A GLASS THE MAN HANDED IT TO ME AND I HAD TO POUR IT MYSELF. IT WAS A WARM DAY AND THE VENUE WAS VERY HOT. MY HUSBAND HAD TO ASK FOR ICE IN HIS PEPSI. MY SISTER IN LAW WAS ALSO SHOCKED THAT THEY POINTED TO THE GLASSES WHEN SHE GOT HER BEER. THERE WERE 3 PEOPLE STANDING THERE WATCHING YOU POUR YOUR BEER. IF I WAS AT SOME GOOD OLE BOY BAR I WOULD NOT HAVE GIVEN IT A SECOND THOUGHT, BUT THE CLOISTERS? THE GROUNDS AND BUILDING ARE LOVELY. THE STAFF NEEDS CUSTOMER SERVICE TRAINING.

We would not have gotten married anywhere else! Our guests loved the venue! They wandered around to view all of the beautiful rooms! The lighted spiral staircase made for some beautiful pictures. There is no air conditioning and we got married in July and our guests said once they had a cold drink in hand they were fine! The Cloisters provided fans to keep the air circulating. We had timely responses to all emails and enjoyed the various vendor nights where we could look at different caterers, photographers etc.

The Cloisters Castle is one of the most beautiful locations in the Baltimore area. No A/C there, so keep that in mind. Even so, the venue is perfect for weddings up to 150 people. Annie had several open houses, during which we were able to check out the venue and meet with some of the vendors who frequently work there. The castle has a list of approved caterers from which you must choose, but don't be deterred by that - the list is long and distinguished.

On the day of the event, the venue was immaculately clean. The gardens were beautiful and despite one hiccup regarding not using rose petals on the tables (they could stain the floor if they are crushed), everything went off very nicely.

If you are looking for an old-world style venue with some very captivating photographs, look no further.

Annie Aplegarth at the Cloisters is absolutely wonderful to work with. She always responded to my emails, she had no issue with us showing up randomly for our pre rehearsal (my fiance and I wanted to run through it before we got everyone there), she was extremely helpful at every step of the way and I cannot say enough good things about her. So if you think the Cloisters is as beautiful as we did and you choose this place then you will most certainly be happy with the service you receive along with it.
One more thing about Annie/the service - we put our guests up at the Radisson Cross Keys on Falls Rd because it was most conveniently located to all of our wedidng events. We had 2 shuttle services arranged to get the bm's and groomsmen to the Cloisters and they did not have our reservation or gave it to someone else Im not sure. Long story short, there was a huge fiasco b/c of this at the Radisson and Annie got wind of it. We ended up having our families take us to the castle b/c the Radisson never came through for us. Annie came upstairs while I was getting my makeup done and told me she called the hotel, reamed them out, threatened to take them off of their preferred vendor list and insisted they send a complimentary town car to pick me and my husband up at the end of the night.
Again, the service was above and beyond at the Cloisters. Obviously I'll be writing a different review of the Radisson Hotel.