Cathy Madigan, the owner will do what she says, help you ALL the way through from beginning to end. Her staff is top notch, and her knowledge of what to do, when is invaluable. The food is superb, we had not one complaint about the food, the drinks, the elegant place. It has a charm all it's own, and so does Cathy. Let her work her magic for you!

Cathy Madigan was great to work with and I would highly recommend Madigan's Waterfront to anyone planning a special event. I appreciated Cathy's enthusiasm and take-charge attitude and she alleviated a lot of my stress! The venue was beautifully decorated and the food was wonderful. Throughout the night, Cathy and her staff made sure we and our guests were enjoying ourselves!

Madigan's Waterfront is the PERFECT venue if you want to have a ceremony and reception on site for no more than 80-90 people. End of story. Cathy Madigan, one of the owners, acts as your wedding planner for the event. She is there well before you wedding helping to get set up and make everything beautiful, she is there to make sure your ceremony goes smoothly, and helps to organize the events of the day so that everything stays on schedule and you don't have to worry about a thing. We did pictures before in the courtyard with a gazebo starting at around 3:30 with all of our family and extended family. We were also able to do pictures later on the docks outside the venue which made for some really pretty photo opportunities. The ceremony started at 5:00pm it was over by about 5:20. Our guests started drinking and the wedding party went back outside for a few more pictures. The rest of the day was perfect. It ended at around 10:00pm, probably a little bit later since we were having so much fun. We had about 75 guests which was perfect for this venue. There were several levels in the venue to help separate the eating area, cocktail area, dance area, buffet line and cake area. It was also nice that there is a large wrap around deck that is totally private and for your guests to use if they want to go outside to get fresh air or look at the river. The price per person included just about everything including the cake. She doesn't nickle and dime you for the use of her chairs, linens, china, etc. She was also able to provide you with a DJ that she uses frequently for a very reasonable cost. The food was amazing! So good. I would definitely suggest the Roast Beef Carving station with the "Horsey Sauce" and the pasta station. They were a huge hit with my guests. The cost of booze is based on consumption FYI, not open bar. For most people having a wedding this would probably be fine because the cost of alcohol per drink was very very reasonable. But, lets just say we went a little over on our anticipated bar bill. Our guests repeatedly used the words "Perfect" to describe our venue and the reception as a whole. We had such a blast and it was quite literally the best day ever. We are still in awe at how perfect everything went. I also wanted to mention that we blocked rooms off at the Hampton Inn which is about a mile away from Madigan's. It is the best hotel option in the area and is also the closest. The hotel was able to set up a shuttle for my guests so they could get to and from the reception at no additional costs. The rooms are updated, clean, there is an indoor pool and hot breakfast in the morning. Since we booked a bunch of rooms they gave us a complimentary suite! Everything was perfect!

I shopped around in Northern Virginia, and Madigan's provided the best price for a catered reception. The site is smaller then most (comfortably sits ~75 people). It is upstairs from the restraunt, on the waterfront. Cathy is friendly and helpful. She acts as a coordinator during the reception for no additional fee.

I was impressed by the professionalism of her staff when serving throughout the reception. The food was wonderful.

A wedding cakes comes free with the site. I picked my style of cake out from a book (really nice on my budget, too). It tasted fine and looked nice.

She is a good friend with a DJ who has worked with her for over 20 years. You have to pay for his services seperately, but it was nice to find someone reliable so quickly.

My bridal shower was held at Madigan's in November 2011. The staff was very accomodating, and met our every need. For example, they brought us large trash bags to throw away wrapping paper, etc.

They were easy to work with when planning the event, and were just overall friendly people.

Even better: the food was delicious.

We had a blast at the shower, and couldn't be happier with how things went!

Madigan's Waterfront is an excellent venue for a reception. It truly is the total package. We opted for a seated/ plated reception and it was wonderful. I get compliments daily on how great the service was, and how amazing the food was! The steak were cooked to perfection, and the stuffed flounder was to die for.
Cathy was great to work with. Very flexible, and forgiving. I was a mess days leading up to the wedding, and totally dis-organized (don't move just weeks before your wedding!) But every thing went smoothly and looked fabulous! I'm so glad I chose to have my reception there!

We used Madigan's for our rehearsal dinner venue. Our guests complimented us on the restaurant and food. My in-laws couldn't have enough nice things to say about Cathy as they worked with her in organizing the dinner. Everything ran smoothly on the night of the rehearsal dinner and you could tell that Cathy and the staff have a lot of experience and they knew how to handle everything!

After a fairly extensive search for a good reception venue I selected Madigan's for it's location in historic Occoquan on the river, the quality of the food we had eaten in the restaurant, the charm of the upstairs reception area that would be pre-decorated for the Christmas holidays, and the reasonable pricing. Cathy was willing to negotiate on the pricing due to our reception taking place on a Monday afternoon and since I would be bringing my own wedding cake which is normally included in the price. I was even able to swap the extra desserts that are typically part of the menu for a champagne toast instead. I also made one equal swap for one menu item I didn't care for. The open bar was paid on a per consumption basis instead of a flat fee per person which I also appreciated. I was also able to negotiate a price for younger children as well as toddlers/babies at no cost. I didn't really like paying a $1 per person cake cutting fee to bring in my own cake, but that price is on the low end of what you can expect at other places. One guest had a food allergy and she made sure the recipe for the one item that included the ingredient was changed for our wedding day. She had a few different handouts with guidelines, menus, timing of meetings, etc. that made the process go smoothly. I rely heavily on email and sometimes it would take more than 24 hours for her to respond but none went more than a few days without response--I think voicemail may be a better way to reach her. Cathy was always very professional but started to loosen up a little by the end. She is not your typical warm and fuzzy, bubbly wedding coordinator so don't get offended by her 'all business' approach to the meetings. She gave me helpful feedback on my tentative timeline for the day and their previous relationship with Nelson Coffman DJ services made that part of the planning process easier for me as well. Each of the four meetings with her were very efficient which I appreciated. With another wedding reception the day before mine that wanted to change the colors of some of the decor, Cathy was still willing to change it back to her original decor in time for my reception since I preferred her color scheme compared to the other brides'. The site was lovely with all the decorations and Cathy made sure we kept on schedule the entire afternoon. Despite choosing to just have hors d'oeuvres for our short, midafternoon reception it appeared that everyone went through the line at least once before food started to run out and I enjoyed tasting all the menu items myself. A waiter specifically came to our table to get our drink orders which we really appreciated and we, of course, went through the buffet line first. We had requested one high chair at three different tables and those were set up in advance to our arrival. I did not have a huge amount of table decorations but everything I did provide was set up exactly to the specifications I gave her and we were able to borrow a few things like vases and candy dishes (she also has toasting glasses and cake cutting tools available if needed). Candles on a mirror under a hurricane globe are also included at no cost. She has a number of different linen colors. I was hoping for gold ones when we first met which were not available but when she decided to purchase a set Cathy sent me an email to let me know she now did have the gold tablecloths I had been asking about. It's still a bit shocking just how much reception venues & food cost even for just hors d'ouvres but with all the added services included I think it was a fair deal. If I have future events that need a venue and catering, Madigans will certainly be on the top of the list to consider.

We thought it was perfect because of location, the surrounding town is beautiful, and it's an all-inclusive reception venue at a decent price. It all started when it was difficult to book a tour of the venue. I'm planning my wedding from out of state, so I can't just pop over one day to take a look. This takes weeks of pre-planning to make a 4+ hour drive and carve out time to do venue/vendor tours/meet and greets. We finally booked a visit date, and Cathy Madigan was late! We sat around for over 30 minutes because she was "running late". It sounded like she'd double/over booked that day. Then we finally saw the space and we fell in love. It was a great value for everything that is included, and we thought it was at a fantastic location for portraits, ease of our guests accessing the venue, etc… So, my fiancé and I deliberated after the visit and decided to go ahead and book. I contacted Cathy about a week or so later by email to tell her I am ready to book. No response. This went on for the majority of the month of June (initial contact was in March). I finally was able to get her to schedule a time with me to discuss the contract. She did not call me at the scheduled time (end of June), and instead called me an hour later. Says she was running late. I was in the middle of my work day. We agreed on a wedding/reception date, and she was willing to accommodate booking more than twelve months in advance. I told her I appreciate her being willing to be flexible and she said she’d email me a contract “that evening, or tomorrow morning at the latest. It's now September, and still no contract. I’ve wasted a lot of time (and travel/gas/hauling a toddler in a car) for a lot of disappointment. I’m not in the habit of writing this type of review, but it’s probably not typical for a prospective client to have to chase a vendor down to give them money and business. They’ve lost the business this prospective bride and groom.

Wow...This has been crazy. My fiancé and I are getting married nearby and they recommended we do our rehearsal dinner there. I sent Cathy (the person on the website for weddings and big parties) an email requesting information on August 27th and I didn't get an email until 5 days later on the 1st. I chalked it up to the holidays. She said she's available to talk anytime during the week from 9am to 4pm.

I called last week on Tuesday (August 30th) at 10am and the hostess said Cathy usually doesn't come in until after 1:30pm. I called 5 times between 3pm and 4pm and got the busy signal. The next day, I called at 2:00pm and a different hostess said Cathy usually comes in only in the mornings (what the heck??). I told them what the other hostess said, and she started backtracking saying it varies and she wasn't quite sure. I left her my phone number. Again, I have not heard from her.

I sent her another email September 7th asking her to get in contact with me over the phone and have not heard anything (it's been 2 days). I called this morning, and the hostess said that Cathy had stepped out and would be back in just a few minutes and would call me back right away. It's been 4 hours....We're planning on having a huge rehearsal dinner followed by a reception...what an opportunity loss...