Summit Manor Reviews

My husband and I recently used Summit Manor Reception House for our wedding reception. It was wonderful!!! The staff was friendly, helpful and professional! They did a great job keeping the events of the night flowing and moving along and we didn't have to worry about a thing! Also, the food was delicious, and they had a great variety of menus to choose from. Most of all, the owner, David, was SO accommodating, flexible and helpful!!! We had several special requests and he helped us with every one of them. Also, he was very helpful in planning the entire evening and helping our vision of the evening come true!! This is a beautiful place to have a wedding reception or any special occasion. It was perfect because people could be and do whatever they wanted throughout the evening. They could be outside or on the front porch talking and enjoying the beautiful weather, in the main room dancing, upstairs playing games or downstairs at the bar enjoying a drink! Absolutely EVERYONE enjoyed themselves!! Also, the cost is VERY affordable! There are several perks like they don't charge you to cut and serve the cake, you can bring in your own alcohol and they provide all the center pieces. Plus, you don't need to decorate because it is already such a beautiful setting. I would HIGHLY recommend using Summit Manor reception house!

I can't say enough good things about our experience with Summit Manor and David. His professionalism, excellence, kindness, and generosity was what made our wedding planning and day-of so beautiful, stress-free, and fun. The venue itself is stunning and we didn't worry at all about any day-of details. David and his staff handled everything. He told us before that he wanted us to feel like guests at our own wedding and we sure did. I can't recommend this place enough!!

David is very friendly and helpful. He kept my stress level down while things looked uncertain in this pandemic. We were able to still have everything we wanted for our special day. The food was so amazing, our guests were just going up for seconds and more. David’s recommendation for dessert was also a hit for us and our guests. I couldn’t see having our wedding anywhere else besides Summit Manor.

We had our daughter's wedding at Summit Manor in February. Who knew that a winter wedding could be so wonderful and absolutely perfect in the "snowiest month" in MN history! Seriously, David and his crew made the entire event a dream wedding for our daughter and new son-in-law. He met our every need and concern with the utmost care, concern, and professionalism. David was so easy to work with and truly everything he said happened just as he described. If we would of done anything different, it would have been to trust David more than we already did. He and his staff we hidden in the background making it all work flawlessly (I had 2 drink spills and I don't think anyone even knew because the staff was so attentive!) We had about 75 guests and there was room for plenty more in this stately mansion. We enhanced the already magnificent structure with a few candles and some greens with pine cones. It was not even necessary but certainly was a reasonable option instead of spending lots of money on decor. The Speakeasy in the basement was everyone's favorite place to spend some of their time visiting and catching up with one another. I cannot recommend this venue high enough for satisfaction, value, food, service, DJ and the wedding experience in and of itself. We had a couple of unique requests
(you'll have to ask him!) and he was able to accommodate them. If you want an elegant, yet can be simple, perfectly orchestrated event, then Summit Manor is your choice! This was as close to perfect as it gets!

It’s our first anniversary and to celebrate we went to dinner and walked past Summit Manor. Our Christmas wedding in the mansion was so beautiful all decorated and just felt so perfect. Everything was great including the food, dj, bartenders. It all felt more like an elegant party and our guests kept complimenting us all night on how great of a place it was. The owners are great and the rest of the staff really knew what to do when. We had about 100 guests and did the ceremony there as well on the stairs.

Summit Manor was the venue of our dreams! David made everything so easy, and the day itself ran like clockwork. The food was excellent, we still have people raving about it! Go and check it out. If you feel like it's a good fit, don't hesitate! You're in fantastic hands with David and Summit Manor.

We had our wedding at Summit Manor last July, and it was the best choice we made for our wedding by far!! David (the owner and on-site coordinator) makes the wedding process easy. You won’t have to sweat every detail because David has it taken care of. He is a master at coordinating weddings and other events in his unique venue and is there to answer every question. Another bonus: he is not afraid to give advice! He gives great advice and has great recommendations for all of the vendors. Even when the wedding was months and months away, he answered all of our questions and was always available. The day of the wedding, all of the Summit Manor staff was extremely professional. Everything flowed wonderfully! Every issue was taken care of, and it was nice to have David there who already knew our style and preferences. We are so happy with how everything turned out! Now, another bonus of Summit Manor goes without saying--it is gorgeous! You will get very unique pictures, and many of our guests commented on the beauty and uniqueness of a “mansion wedding.” At first, it was hard for us to visualize, but David had great advice for what works at this venue. In addition, having a summer wedding, we wanted a space that had a place for an outdoor wedding (which Summit Manor has, and it is beautiful). Many venues we visited, however, had nice outdoor spaces, but their rainy-day backups were very sad. Summit Manor has a great back-up space on the steps indoors as well as the outdoor locations. Finally, Summit Manor will save you money. You have to pay slightly more for the venue upfront, but what we learned is that this was totally worth it. They won’t “nickle-and-dime” you. Things like cake-platters and glassware aren’t extra like at many Twin Cities venues, and they even give you free floral centerpieces! On top of that, our decorating bill was zero dollars! It is already gorgeous, so why change that? We highly recommend that you check out Summit Manor!!

We had our wedding at Summit Manor in December of 2015, we received excellent service throughout our experience! David, the owner and onsite manager, was incredibly helpful in advising us as we planned out the flow for the evening. We felt we were in capable and caring hands whenever we communicated with him. The staff was wonderful and went out of their way to help our guests, some of whom were sight impaired, feel welcomed and like family. Many of our guests commented to us on the beauty of the Manor, as well as the fun atmosphere and friendly staff. David was open to our ideas for décor and the ceremony and we were able to stock the bar with our own liquor which saved us a lot of money. Overall I would highly recommend Summit Manor to anyone looking for a low stress, beautiful, family style wedding!

All I need to say is that you can have complete confidence in believing all the positive reviews about Summit Manor. I got married on 8/8/15 and the day couldn't have been any better. David McLaughlin makes your day go seamlessly and he does it with a smile on his face. He is truly an amazing wedding coordinator and his services are included in the rental of the space.

Our food was amazing, the service was amazing, and the space is amazing. My guests raved about everything Summit had to offer. My favorite part about booking with Summit is that you can purchase your alcohol separately. We were able to host an open bar for the entire night at under $1,000.00 for 100 guests. David recommended Thomas Liquors as a vendor because they would deliver the alcohol and refund us for anything that hadn't been opened so we actually only spent around $800.00!! This included a case of champagne to serve as guests walked in the door. That price is unbelievable and you will learn that as you search for venues.

With a buffet style dinner, open bar, and great dessert from Buttercream, you can believe our guests felt taken care of.

Thank you Summit and thank you David McLaughlin!!!!!!!!!

On a side note, David's wife (Amber McLaughlin) is a photographer and she takes amazing pictures for an amazing value. Amber and David actually got married at Summit Manor themselves so Amber knows all the best angles and spots to take pictures here. If you do go with Summit, I would definitely go with her for photography. Not only was she an amazing photographer, she was an incredibly sweet person to work with. That made all the difference for us!!

We had our ceremony & reception here last weekend. David and the staff were amazing! They went above and beyond to make everything perfect.They were on top of everything and I know it wouldn't have gone as smoothly without them. I am so thankful I found this venue! Also, all my guests LOVED the house and couldn't stop talking about it!

We are so happy we chose Summit Manor for our reception! It has old world charm and is such a unique and interesting venue. From the moment I contacted David until the day of our wedding, David always responded within 24 hours through email or phone. He was very organized and the day of our wedding went so smoothly. We had so many comments from friends and family about how great the food was, how beautiful the house was decorated and everybody loved the fact they could sit out on the front porch and side lawn for dinner and cocktails. Our guests had such a great time! As for the reception planning, we were thrilled that Summit Manor provided the tables, chairs, linens, silverware, plates, glasses, etc,!!! We didn't have to stress ourselves out trying to coordinate with several different vendors. I would highly recommend Summit Manor. I reception sight was a gorgeous background for pictures and as a bride, having David there to take care of our day was wonderful. My husband and I enjoyed our wedding day!

This gorgeous historic mansion was the perfect place to have our reception! We got numerous compliments from our guests on how pretty the house was. The food that David and his crew made for our big day was so delicious! David also helped my husband and I plan every single detail from the day we met him to the last minute of our reception. He is such a nice guy and we will always remember how perfect our reception was.

David and the Summit Manor Crew know how to host a reception. We celebrated our wedding reception at the Summit Manor House in September of 2013. It was an amazing day in our lives and the venue was perfect. We look back on it more than fondly.

David made sure everything was beautiful, but importantly stress free. Everyone talks about how stressful weddings are; from the planning, to the day of prep, to clean up. Summit Manor removes all the stress and lets you just enjoy your day. They take care of pretty much everything and there vendor partners are amazing. The food is superb (we are foodies), the location is classy and the people have service with a smile perfected.

Our wedding had about 160 people and it never felt cramped our crowded. The house is extremely charming and the backgrounds make for wonderful photographs.

Our favorite thing: David has done so many weddings that he has it down to a science; but still treats you as yours is the most important.

Thank you David and the Summit Manor Crew!

We loved the Summit Manor! Everything was perfect and our guests just loved the unique space and great vibe. The food was excellent and the only concern we had going in was they aren't able to do tastings, but the food was amazing! We worked with David the owner directly and also used his wife Amber for photography. They are both so nice and both really made us feel like our wedding was important. A++++++ for Summit Manor.

David, the event planner at Summit Manor, was an absolute dream to work with throughout our planning process. He was so flexible, kind and competent it was amazing! Frankly he was our favorite vendor and played a huge role in how (relatively) stress-free our experience getting ready to get married was.
This place also has amazing food; we got a lot of people asking who our caterer was, and were genuinely surprised to find out it was the venue's kitchen. For a roughly 100-person wedding, the house's size was ideal and made us feel like we weren't in a huge box with all our guests, but in a home where people could move around and socialize more easily. Can't sing the praises of this vendor enough!

David was a pleasure to work with! Everything was perfect and so organized! Thank you for a wonderful memory Summit Manor!!!

Very unique reception site and the staff is great. It was a beautiful place to host our guests!

Everything went smoothly on our wedding day. David was beyond helpful in our planning process; he always had an idea or recommendation, but respected what we wanted and what we considered important. It was SO NICE to have a venue that didn't include extra fees for cake cutting, or making you pay for silverware, plates, or chairs -- everything is included in the fee. Having control over your bar is also nice; you can have as much or as little alcohol as you'd like and you can control the types, too. David had recommendations for how much we should get for our guest list.

I can see how some of Summit Manor's requirements and restrictions could be frustrating for some; however, I felt like we definitely knew what was and wasn't allowed before we signed the contract. Additionally, I thought that the DJ approval requirement was helpful because it helped us limit who to consider.

I can also see how it would seem like Summit Manor is pricey, but when you consider all the things you DON'T have to worry about, it makes it totally worth it. If I were to do my wedding over again, it would be at Summit Manor. Beautiful, classy location with helpful and flexible staff. Excellent.

Wonderful venue.

David was so helpful and responsive, and it was the perfect venue for our small and intimate ceremony. We wanted something easy but memorable and personalized, and that's just what they provided!

David and his staff helped give us an amazing event that neither we nor our guests will ever forget. We were looking for a ceremony and reception site that give us both outdoor and indoor options in the summer, and a team that would help keep us on track with many of the little details that need to be decided for the big event. We found David to be very open to meetings and phone calls to discuss these details and confirm timing.

During the big day, David and his team were operating seamlessly behind the scenes to make sure that everything went off without a hitch. We and our guests loved the casual environment of Summit Manor, with the old school bar downstairs, photo wall upstairs, and the intimate rooms for guests to gather and relax in on all three floors. The house worked out beautifully for us and our 140 guests. Highly recommended.

Summit Manor has a LOT of rules you have to follow. You have to use their caterer, you can't have more than a three-piece band and they can't be too loud, and you have to use their decor.

We opted to get our cake through them. You can have pretty much any kind of cake with any kind of filling and/or icing that you want, but they won't show you what it looks like beforehand and there's only one style offered. (For the record: it's a standard 3-tiered cake with white frosting.)

David and the staff at Summit Manor were a pleasure to work with.

The site was perfect for our event and we (and our guests) loved it.

Summit Manor is a very charming house, perfect for our smallish wedding of about 100 people. The price was affordable, being able to stock our own bar saved us lots of money, and since there is a kitchen on site, we had lots of control over food, which was important to us because of some dietary concerns.The manager did have some very good suggestions about ways to make our wedding run smoothly and his presence on the night of our event was helpful. The food was wonderful, the bartender they provided was great, and the servers were professional.

However, the manager, David, was very inconsistent in returning my phone calls, often waiting until after I called three times to call me back. In addition, there are some electrical issues at Summit Manor. The lights flickered all night long and at one point the DJ had some serious damage control to do because the entire system failed and the music stopped. My father was on the edge of his seat all night, concerned that there might be an electrical fire, which certainly did not help him to enjoy the night. We had not been told about this electrical issue beforehand and did feel somewhat deceived by it.

Summit Manor does not have its own parking. Parking was an issue for some of our guests, especially some of them who arrived a little bit later.

The manor is divided into small rooms, which led to an intimate feeling within each room. If you want all your guests in one room at the same time, this isn't the place for you. However, the ability to have the entire structure to our party, as well as the grounds, made this ideal for our smaller event. The site itself is beautiful, but they really need to fix the electrical system, or at least make sure people know about it before their event.