My husband and I LOVED our wedding at the Ponds at Bolton Valley! The venue is absolutely beautiful, and the staff and food were incredible. We received many compliments on the venue and the food provided here (and we also loved it ourselves)! Everything was delicious and taken care of for us -- we had few responsibilities for setting up and arranging - which was much appreciated! We requested Stacey to handle our wedding, because we had heard she was wonderful. We are pleased to say that she is! She was on top of EVERYTHING we needed her to be! She was very flexible, and made countless adjustments for us (even when we had annoying last minute requests). She responded to emails and phone calls and text messages rapidly, so we always had a good handle on what was going on, as well as quick answers to our many questions. When it came to the rehearsal and the big day, she was beyond crucial to its success - she made sure that everything ran smoothly. I don't think we could have done it without her! Most of the staff at the Essex, (the hotel where we stayed that owns the Ponds) were so extremely kind and went out of their way to make sure we were comfortable and had what we needed. We cannot imagine our wedding being any more perfect - and that is highly dependent on how wonderful the venue and its staff were with us! There were certain aspects that were a big pricier than we had hoped for (which is the only tiny ding in our review) - but we also recognize that wedding prices are a bit on the nuts side! The Ponds was at least far from the most expensive, which is surprising based on the quality of service we obtained. All in all, it was a magnificent place to get married!

My wife and I could not be happier with getting married at the Ponds at Bolton Valley, which is owned and run by the Essex. They are highly organized, providing excellent service and made every effort to ensure that our day ran smoothly and worry-free. The food was spectacular and all of our guests couldn't stop commenting on how wonderful everything was. Our wedding manager, Stacey, was beyond phenomenal.

The Essex was amazing to work with and the food is fabulous! They are quick and ready to answer any and all questions you have and work with you to accommodate you and your guests. I highly recommend them to everyone!

The wedding was beautiful, the Essex was able to move our ceremony from the Salon to the Atrium after the weather turned rainy. The food was fantastic! The servers were very helpful and went out of their way for us and our families. The planning part, was the rockiest. It was difficult to get quick responses to our questions and it felt like details that were related to our wedding planner, got lost in the shuffle. At the reception, one of our tables was still two place settings and chairs short, while they added an extra table that wasn't needed with 8 chairs and settings. It ended up being a beautiful, smooth running day despite all the frustration beforehand.

Our wedding was beautiful. The food was fantastic! I thought everything went as planned until the day after, when I realized they had flaked on several items in our contract as well as items we had discussed with our wedding coordinator. I had enjoyed working with the coordinator & it felt like we were on the same page. At the reception, our mignardise plates of desserts and coffee and tea were never served. Additionally, before the ceremony, the "library" was not set up for our Ketubah signing, and we actually had to ask a hotel guest to leave the room (he was on the internet). It ended up being a beautiful, smooth running day despite all of this.

We do not recommend having your wedding at The Essex. We had ours at The Ponds which The Essex directly runs. We were detailed oriented and provided the wedding coordinator and the general manager our list of details many times in which they promised to do exactly what we wanted but did not follow through on many details such as presenting our food the same way it was presented in the tasting. The wedding coordinator said she was "too busy" to come and let our florist in on the wedding day. They also threatened to shut down our reception as a friend of ours jumped in the pond to get our grandfathers camera. They are many other complaints we have, but we will stop there. On the positive side, it is a beautiful venue and our guests were happy with the presentation.

We, also, would not recommend dealing with the Essex for your wedding. We had ours at the Ponds and were caught in the transition of changed ownership since the Essex has just bought the Ponds for Bolton Valley. We were assigned Stacey from the Essex as our wedding planner and I have no idea if Stacey is a reflection of the actual Essex or not, so please keep in mind that my review is based on working with her and thus may not be reflective of everyone at the Essex. I planned my wedding from Texas and she never returned my phone calls. When she did call me about two months before the wedding it was to tell me that all the restaurants at the hotel would be closed and I could buy buffet dinners for them if I wanted to make sure they were fed. Already at my budget limit, I could not imagine what to say to my guests when there was no where for them to eat (and if you know Bolton Valley it's not exactly in a bustling town so I was counting on the restaurants there for out of town guests who were carpooling or would not have cars) I was so upset. Finally my father called the GM at Essex and he had them reopen the restaurants for my guests. Once I got to Vermont, I met with Stacey at the Ponds but she was a half hour late and the menu was wrong. Furthermore, on the day of the wedding she was over two hours late to the Ponds. She told me at the last meeting she would be there at 11am, so the dj and florist arrived around noon. When my sister went down there to check on things my dj and florist were setting everything up. Stacey finally arrived around 2pm after my florist and sister had gotten most things set up. Finally on our way to the ceremony we drove past the Ponds and I noticed that the area by the pond was still all set up from the ceremony set up there from the day before. My maid of honor called Stacey to remind her there would be no ceremony and that all the chairs should be put away. Stacey admitted that she had planned on leaving them there. The actual reception went smoothly and that made me grateful, but I would never recommend working with Stacey, I feel the wedding planner should be the last thing that causes the bride so much stress.

They did a great job doing everything I asked and helping it be a stress free day for me. They made sure all my little details were done and the night was magical. They really took care of everything since the service was also held there.

The Essex was great. The one thing I didn't like was the fact that the person assisting us changed halfway through the process. However both women were great, and it went smoothly. I would recommend this location to anyone. It was beautiful and fun and perfect for us.

We live in Indiana and chose the Essex, quite honestly, by the chocolate cake on their website. that was the initial reason anyway. once we dug deeper we felt very comfortable with the Essex. However, as with any destination, site unseen, wedding venue we were a bit anxious. Once we arrived at the front entrance of the Essex all of our cares were put at ease. It was perfect, everything was absolutely perfect! the staff was incredible, the food was fantastic and the scenery was gorgeous. Stacy, our wedding coordinator was superb. Very reassuring and accommodating. The girls at the spa were great too. The wait staff, the rooms, everything... We plan to return for our 1 year anniversary.

I could not be more happy with having out wedding at The Essex. Stacey was their everytime I had a question. The food was great and they did everything they could to make our wedding go smoothly. The down side was I didnt have all my paper lanterns hung I guess they ran out of string but their was more hung for a wedding the next day. You pay to much money to have them hung so just make sure they use them all. The cake you take home for your first anniversary didnt look like what my cake for the wedding looked like so we didnt save it and will have one made next year. Other then that they did a great job.

Thanks to the staff at the Inn at Essex we were worry free. They did a great job of capturing our every thought and putting to the decorations as well as the wedding cake. I would have not wanted a better location and place to have our wedding reception. They were very accomadating to our needs and how many rooms we needed for our guests. Thank you so much to the Inn at Essex!!!

An excellent location, with awesome staff and service! I would recommend the Inn at Essex to anyone looking for a personal, intimate wedding!

My wedding was absolutley beautiful! I cannot be more thankful for the work they put in! They were extremely helpful! Everything was perfect!

The Inn at Essex did a beautiful job for our wedding reception. Everything exceeded our expectations. Mimi did a great job guiding us through everything. Once they took all of our "stuff" from us a few days before the wedding, we did not have to worry about anything. Most of our guests stayed at the Inn with us and the rooms were fantastic and reasonably priced. The food was awesome and the cake was beautiful.

The staff at the Inn were always available to us, We had ordered our flowers from an online vender and the staff arranged all of our flowers for us. We felt like Kings and Queens on ou wedding day. We DID not have to worry about anything. Our Wedding cake was included in the package and the food was incredible.