Forest Lodge

We had our summer wedding at Forest Lodge’s Maple Grove — an outdoor ceremony and reception with over 200 guests — and it was absolute perfection. Every single person told us it was one of the most beautiful and seamless weddings they had ever attended. From the moment guests arrived, they were blown away by the setting. Maple Grove feels like a hidden oasis: towering trees, natural beauty everywhere, and an elegant pavilion and tented area that makes the entire space feel elevated and magical. Even though rain was in the forecast, we never once stressed — the pavilion is so large and well-designed that Forest Lodge can handle weather without sacrificing a single moment of your day. Luckily, we ended up with a gorgeous sunny day, but knowing we were covered gave us so much peace of mind. The food was a home run — truly next-level wedding catering. We chose to do buffet style for the entire night and our guests are still talking about it. The filet mignon, the Asian stir-fry station, the chicken sliders, the dates wrapped in bacon — everything was customizable, perfectly prepared, and delivered exactly the way we envisioned. My grandfather even said it was the best filet mignon he has had in his entire life, and he is not easy to impress. Their chef absolutely nailed every single dish. The staff deserves its own 5-star review. Our bridal attendant, Charlotte, was beyond amazing — truly the best any of us have ever seen. She anticipated every need before we even said it out loud. Our entire wedding party couldn’t stop talking about her. And then there’s Anthony and Maria — absolute rock stars. They ran the entire day like a flawless production. From ceremony coordination to first dance timing to dinner flow, everything moved like a well-oiled machine. With the number of staff working, no one ever had to look far for help. The level of professionalism and attentiveness at Forest Lodge is unmatched. On top of all this, Forest Lodge is an incredible value. For an outdoor, 200+ person New Jersey wedding with a fully customized menu, the pricing was extremely reasonable — especially compared to the overpriced country clubs we toured. Forest Lodge delivered that perfect blend of rustic charm, woodsy romance, old-fashioned beauty, and upscale elegance that we couldn’t find anywhere else. If you want a wedding that feels breathtaking, effortless, and unforgettable — Forest Lodge is the place. It was everything we hoped for and more.

Our decision to have our wedding at Forest Lodge’s Sherwood Chalet was one of the best decisions we made throughout the entire wedding planning process. From start to finish, I was so happy with every detail of our special day.
Our outdoor ceremony on the patio under the gazebo was absolutely beautiful and created the perfect setting for our September wedding. The staff was thoughtful, attentive, and genuinely caring with every detail, making sure everything ran smoothly and stress free. Anthony and Maria truly made our vision come to life and went above and beyond to make the day feel so special.
The food was absolutely delicious, with so many amazing options for our guests to enjoy. We received countless compliments from family and friends about both the service and the atmosphere.
We are so grateful to the entire team at Forest Lodge for giving us the wedding of our dreams. We would highly recommend this venue to any couple looking for a beautiful location with exceptional service!

From the moment we arrived at Forest Lodge we knew this was our wedding venue! Working with Forest Lodge was the best decision we made. They were so communicative and helpful and made everything stress-free. The grounds are beautiful and were so perfect for our fall wedding. We got compliments on the service, food, and drinks all night!! Anthony was the best to work with and Charlotte was our bridal attendant and made everything run so perfect and smoothly that day! You cannot go wrong at all with a wedding/event at Forest Lodge!!

We got married at the Forest Lodge on May 11, 2024. We were looking for a wedding venue with a couple of months lead time that would let us hold our small wedding of 50 guests in an exclusive event space. When we reached out to the Forest Lodge, Anthony let us know that they had available dates and would let us book the venue for our wedding with a minimum spend which was reasonable to us.

We booked the venue after visiting and speaking with Anthony who laid out all of the details regarding the wedding. He was extremely helpful and communicative during the planning process even when we had a number of questions throughout the weeks.

Anthony and the staff set up our decorations inside the Sherwood Chalet ballroom and ceremony site exactly as we wanted. We gave them the decorations and pictures for how we wanted things set up and they executed what we wanted even better than we wanted.

On the day of the wedding, the staff were all extremely helpful as we got ready. My wife and I were each able to get ready in our own bridal suites as there was no other wedding in the Maple Grove outdoor venue that evening. (As an aside, although we were initially worried about having another wedding at the venue the same evening as ours in our initial consideration of the Forest Lodge, the outdoor Maple Grove venue is very well separated from the indoor Sherwood Chalet).

The Sherwood Chalet is an intimate indoor space that was perfect for our wedding of 50 guests. The decor was classy, with a neutral beige carpet in the ballroom and a wooden bar area. The ceremony area is just outside in a beautiful private garden, with a fire pit and surrounded by a backdrop of tall trees. The path and gazebo were also beautiful.

Our bridal assistant Charlotte was an angel. She helped both me and my wife with everything from our preparations (putting on the wedding dress, the veil, flowers, etc.), all the way through the evening with anything that we needed or wanted. She helped fixing and setting the wedding dress during our wedding portraits, got us food and drinks throughout the night, and she even pinned up the dress when the button for the train broke. We honestly can't speak highly enough of how amazing she was the entire evening.

Our maitre d' Maria was also extremely helpful, first with the actual wedding ceremony and evening in general but also with my wife's family who flew in from Italy and doesn't speak English. She was just as attentive to my wife's family as our bridal assistant was to me and my wife, and my wife's family spoke very highly of the maitre d'. She was also available for us at any time in case we needed anything.

The Forest Lodge staff timed everything perfectly with our DJ and photographer during the entire evening, especially during the ceremony. When I and later my wife entered the ceremony with our wedding parties and families, we knew that everything was perfect and we had nothing to worry about. This continued throughout the evening from the cocktail hour to the reception, through dinner and the end of the wedding.

We had the opportunity to attend a tasting event prior to the wedding to help choose our menu which sampled all parts of the menu from the charcuterie table to appetizers, entrees, and desserts. The Forest Lodge also works directly with Sweet Passion Cakery so the wedding cake was included and we also had a tasting of cake samples during this tasting event. Being able to speak with Lauren from the cakery and discuss details and personalizations was also very helpful to us. We chose a vanilla cake with salted caramel filling and everyone raved about how amazing it was.

As for the rest of the food during our wedding, it was unbelievable. Everything that we ate was amazing and our guests still talk about how amazing the food was at our wedding. We would highly recommend anyone to choose the filet mignon for your entree, and both the bacon wrapped apples and scallops were crowd favorites during cocktail hour.

All in all, we could not be happier about our choice to have our wedding at the Forest Lodge. We had no issues at all and everything was done even better than we could have imagined. Anthony and the rest of the staff are true professionals and very easy to work with. Our wedding was perfect and awesome due largely in part to the Forest Lodge and we highly recommend the venue to anyone.

Forest Lodge is a hidden gem. When I tell you, this venue was everything we pictured AND MORE. From the start, Anthony had us sold on this venue. His personality, attentiveness and communication was awesome. Anthony made the whole planning process a breeze, always had the answers to my questions and reassured me when I panicked about the weather! He already had a plan B set and ready for us if it did by chance rain. He takes into account every single detail of your day to make it special. As for the day of the wedding - AMAZING. It is hard to put into words how incredible our day was because of Forest Lodge. Shout out to Anthony, Charlotte, Desi & the rest of the amazing staff for making our day literally more perfect than we could have ever imagined. When I tell you they went ABOVE AND BEYOND what we could have ever pictured our wedding day to be. The staff, service, food, drinks, atmosphere... INCREDIBLE. You can tell this team loves what they do and have it down perfectly on how to make the couple feel so special. I truly cannot thank them or RECOMMEND THEM ENOUGH!!!!

I would 110% recommend The Forest Lodge for any event! My wedding was in August of 2023 and it was a day I will always cherish. The venue itself is beautiful, and everyone who works there is so pleasant to work with. I was an out of state bride, and even though I was a few hours away, they made everything so easy. I wanted to wait until I had my photos back before posting a review because words don’t do justice to the wonderfullness that is The Forest Lodge. Anthony and Joe helped the day go without a hitch and the bridal assistant Charlotte was hands down THE BEST! The Forest Lodge will always hold a special place in my heart for being so great on one of the best days 🤍

I had my wedding at the Forest lodge in their Maple Grove outdoor area for my 200+ guests. It was the perfect combination of fairytale forest with laid back yet classy vibes! Joe and Anthony were both so responsive and accommodating throughout our planning and Joe did such a phenomenal job the day of. Corey and I appreciated everything Joe and the team of bridal attendants did that day, especially when I was feeling a little anxious about the weather. Spoiler alert: it turned out to be gorgeous by ceremony time! When our shuttle was running late from the hotel, Joe assured me that even if we had to start a little late, the wedding will not be cut short. I was so relieved! I will be forever grateful for the Forest Lodge staff for making it the best day of our lives!

If you're reading this review and on the fence about booking Forest Lodge for your wedding this is your sign to book it! I cannot speak highly enough about the effort this crew puts in to make your day perfect. There is a reason they're one of the top rated venues in NJ!

Our experience getting married at Forest Lodge was absolutely a 10/10 experience. Beginning way back when we scheduled to visit the venue for the first time with Anthony (on the day before New Years Eve!) to the day of the wedding, we felt very comfortable and assured that they were experts at this and would make our special day incredible and unique to our personalities.

The team really knows how to pull off a perfect event, we had some unexpected hiccups leading up to saying "I Do" but Anthony, Joe, Kelly, and Julia handled everything with a smile. I was blown away (pun intended) to find out that just before our guests arrived, the mirrored sign my wife and I had created blew off the easel and was smashed to pieces. The Forest Lodge team rushed out to get a replacement and hand painted it to match what we had provided! Really incredible effort for something that was entirely out of their control!

Every time we met with the team at Forest Lodge we went from having a ton of questions and a lot of concern to being completely put at ease. The team had an answer to every question we could think of and worked with us to make our dream wedding uniquely ours.

In addition to my own experience, between booking the venue and our wedding, I heard accolades from multiple other people who I knew that got married here, and I can confidently say my experience was not a one-off. Everyone I spoke with raved about their weddings or events at Forest Lodge and the only complaint (if you can call it that) was the overwhelming amount of food they provide! Seriously, it's a lot of food and every bite is delicious.

I wanted to make sure I explicitly call out how invaluable the staff is at Forest Lodge. The venue itself is breathtaking, but honestly we saw a lot of amazing venues. Forest Lodge was the only one whose staff gave us the impression (and delivered) that they could make sure our friends, family, and my wife and I would have an unforgettable day.

Like I said before, if you're on the fence, this is your sign to go with Forest Lodge, you won't regret a single thing!

We decided to have a large anniversary celebration exactly one year after our private, intimate ceremony and Forest Lodge was the perfect place for us. With its beautiful outdoor setting, delicious food, and outstanding service, we couldn’t have been happier with our event. Anthony Panchery and his team were super accommodating, and patient thought the entire process, and answered my million (borderline annoying) questions each step of the way. I am so thankful for Anthony, Joe, and Kelly for making our night truly one to remember, and cannot sing the praises of Forest Lodge enough. If you are looking for a beautiful venue in central Jersey with outstanding food and service, add Forest Lodge to your list!!

2 minutes agoNEW-Edit
Words cannot describe how grateful I am that I chose to book my wedding at the Forest Lodge. I couldn't imagine my wedding being anywhere else. Anthony and Sean answered all my questions throughout the planning process and made sure that everything was going to be perfect on the day of the wedding, and it truly was perfect. Kelly and Joe made sure everything ran smoothly the day of the wedding. They always reassured me of what was going to happen next and made me feel so comfortable throughout the whole event. Julia was my bridal attendant and she couldn't have been more amazing. She continuously checked up on me, making sure that I was drinking water and had something to eat. They set up all of my decorations and they made my vision come to life. They took down the decorations as well and packed them up, so all I had to do was pick them up. So easy! On the day of the wedding they were so organized and everything flowed so beautifully. Everyone I talked to raved about how amazing the staff was, how great the food tasted, and how beautiful the venue was. The Forest Lodge and the staff there will always hold a special place in my heart because they made my dreams come true.