Wadsworth Homestead

I truly don’t even know where to begin with this review - my husband and I just had the perfect wedding/one year vow renewal celebration (hello, COVID postponements) at the Wadsworth - best decision we made when wedding planning was booking this venue! Not only can every part of your day be handled right on the property (we did our rehearsal dinner in the house/porch area, an outdoor ceremony, cocktail hour inside the house, and a tented reception on the grounds) but you and your wedding party can also stay in the house for the weekend! There are no hidden fees or up charges that you see with most venues these days and the place is absolutely gorgeous (just look at the many beautiful photos). However, I do think the most invaluable asset you get when booking this venue is having Will Wadsworth as your unofficial wedding planner! Will was truly incredible - he thought of every detail and lent his expertise to our planning while still making the day feel extremely personal and our own - basically, if we asked he made it happen! He also had back up plans ready to go and was ready to jump in personally if he needed to (e.g., he fixed my dads boutonnière before we walked down the aisle, helped my brother sew on his tuxedo button that popped off right before he walked, and even drove my cousin home when he missed the last shuttle!). I also have to rave about the food. When you book the Wadsworth you must use the accompanying caterer but this is really just another convenience for you because the food was incredible and our main contact, Lisa, was incredibly helpful and professional. My husband and I actually ate almost our entire plates (at our own wedding!) because it was just so good we made the time to enjoy!! We also heard excellent things from our guests who were not only impressed by the quality but the quantity as well! The servers were all professional and everything came out hot and plated beautifully. Truly, not a single complaint comes to mind for the entire weekend. I could go on and on but the point is, you found your venue (and caterer) so book it now!

As New York City residents, my wife Ioanna and I planned our wedding to be in late August on the Brooklyn waterfront, with a guest list exceeding 400, and a myriad of extravagances, each ticking the box of what one would consider a "dream wedding" checklist. Never in our dreams would we have imagined that our special day would be no longer; moreover, it would need to be postponed to next year, or the year following! Little did we know that the impact of COVID-19 on our plans, and their ultimate dissolution, would be a profound blessing, shaped in the form of a picturesque, heartwarming wedding ceremony and dinner, organized and hosted by the Wadsworth family, some of the loveliest people you will ever encounter, at their historic Homestead in Geneseo, New York. In just two weeks, Louise, Will, Piper, Lauren, and Krista, collectively the Wadsworths, put together an event more special than we could have ever hoped for. Louise Wadsworth, the matriarch, was a logistics aficionado, making sure that all arrangements were in place, including flowers, makeup, hair, decor, etc. She even organized a live streaming platform. Almost 150 of our friends and family, including relatives from Greece, Albania, France, and Germany, were able to watch us and comment in real-time! Take that pandemic! Will Wadsworth, patriarch, historian, officiant, and savior (when I realized I could not tie my bow-tie), made us feel comfortable, well cared for, and eventually learned, after he graced us with stories of his family's past, much of which was tied to the charming Wadsworth Homestead, rich with artifacts, the smell of books, mahogany, and the fresh Genesee Valley breeze. Lauren and Krista, daughter and daughter-in-law to the Louise and Will, were highly professional and engaged photographers, providing us with memories that will last a lifetime. They even organized a horse to be brought to the property at my wife's request, so we could have a bride and groom with a horse portrait session! Piper (the youngest daughter) is a trained chef. She put together the most well crafted, pleasing to the eye (and tummy), cheese, and charcuterie boards with actual honeycombs. She made us a superb high-end restaurant-grade dinner, snacks, and breakfast of our choosing after we stayed the night. Words cannot express our gratitude to this family for all they did for us, especially considering the difficult timing. Each moment of that special day on June 11, 2020, is frozen in time as a lasting memory for me and Ioanna, her mother, and my father. We went from 400 to 4 wedding attendees, and it turns out bigger isn't necessarily better when it comes to weddings, and the Wadsworth Homestead made that possible. Thank you to the Wadsworth Family for working a miracle; we will be eternally grateful for what you gave us. Love, Greg & Ioanna O'Connell.

When we chose to have our wedding at the Homestead, we could never have known how essential the venue we chose would be to our ability to have the wedding we envisioned. From the very start (months before the pandemic), working with Will and the Homestead team was easy, and a joy. The system is streamlined and they outline all the choices you need to think of. It was easy to make any given aspect of the plan our own, or, if we didn't have a strong opinion, to let the Homestead team work their magic. Will was ready with suggestions of reliable vendors and tips to make everything run smoothly.

The venue itself is far more beautiful than you can imagine before you visit it. The endless photo opportunities are fun and unique, and you'll find that photographers are thrilled to be asked to shoot there because they know how phenomenal the photos will be. The Wadsworth Homestead is rich with history, and throughout the process of planning an event there, learning that history makes your own event all the more meaningful.

When COVID hit, Will's communication was clear and reassuring. He reached out proactively long before we had begun to worry, assuring us that our deposits were safe, offering us the option to book a 2021 backup date, and opening the lines of communication. I've read horror stories from couples working with venues that took advantage of the fine print in contracts and am so grateful that we never had to doubt that we were in good hands.

Once my husband and I had decided that we definitely wanted to get married on our original date, no matter what, the creativity of Will and his team really shone. They were so clear that they would not compromise on the safety or on the quality of our event, and they delivered on that commitment. They were flexible, placing a last-minute order for some two-top tables so that we could have couples seated in "pods" at our request. They were ready with plans B, C, D, and E in the event of regulation shifts, such as preparing boxed picnics that we could pass out to our guests if a seated dinner was no longer an option or even pitching an additional tent on the property at their own expense to ensure that our tables could be distanced. While we didn't have to use any of those backup plans, we got great peace of mind from knowing that even if there were dramatic updates the week of our wedding, the event would still be fantastic.

Our wedding was better than we could have imagined. Will and his team took care of dozens of details before we even thought to ask about them, and from start to finish, their attitude was always that anything was possible. Every time I thought of something we needed, the answer was either "we've already taken care of that," or "we can source that for you, no need to think about it again." No detail fell through the cracks, and everything was beautiful. They were extremely careful about COVID safety protocols, with stocked hand sanitizing stations, masks and gloves on all staff, signage to remind our guests about the masking procedures we had outlined, generous distance between tables, a tent design optimized for safety, and more.

At the end of the night, we found that COVID had not put a damper on our day or on our celebration. Will and his team are creative, hard-working, professional, enthusiastic, and attentive to detail. We are so grateful to have trusted them with this event and cannot recommend The Homestead highly enough.