The Cotton Room Reviews

We fell in love with The Cotton Room the moment we entered those doors. Very beautiful on the inside and the suites were very accommodating. Everything went smoothly from the tour, contract signing, planning, menu selections, sip sessions, rehearsal, and the day of our big day. We are truly grateful for Melissa, our coordinating all of this!

The Cotton Room was awesome, I had an idea for how I wanted everything to look and they helped make it tangible. It was great rolling catering and décor into their sister companies (Petal and Oak) and made things easier. Devon was our assigned planner and she was great to work with, super receptive and very open to communication. My event went off perfectly and a lot of that was thanks to the venue for making everything run smoothly.

Incredible everything was beyond my expectations food was perfect.

The all inclusiveness of the Cotton Room made planning our wedding here a breeze and I would highly recommend it. The location is absolutely beautiful and the food exceeded my expectations. No regrets!

We used The Cotton Room for our ceremony and reception space and catering, and we are thrilled that we did. Our assigned coordinator Heather was professional, knowledgeable and a joy to work with, especially on the day itself. She walked us through the planning process from start to finish and was a great resource for advice, recommendations and ideas. She took away a huge amount of stress before and during the wedding day itself and we enjoyed every minute of working with her. The Cotton Room itself is a stunning space that mesmerized our guests and decorated beautifully. Their catering and drink options were exceptional. The menu showcased North Carolina and was delicious, with several guests commenting it was the best wedding food they’d ever had, with even more going back to the buffet for seconds. The bartenders were quick and pleasant, and the bar didn’t run out of any of our drink selections. The Cotton Room was the best decision we made during our wedding planning process, and we could not recommend it more highly.

The Cotton Room is an incredible wedding venue. I recently had my wedding here and was blown away by the service. We worked with Chris and he made the wedding planning process so easy. Chris had great recommendations and was responsive to all of our questions. We are still hearing from friends and family on how beautiful our wedding venue was and the great overall experience at The Cotton Room.

We are beyond happy that we had our wedding at the Cotton Room. The Cotton Room itself is a beautiful space and very spacious. We were planning from out of town and relied heavily on our coordinator, Heather, who did an amazing job of keeping up with all our requests especially with her organized planning tool. Heather was very friendly and went above and beyond to make sure all the little details were taken care of. The staff provided excellent service and the food was also very good. They had an extensive food and drink menu to select from. We also loved their signature cocktails. The planning process was easy with The Cotton Room. We were so happy with our wedding highly recommend The Cotton Room.

The venue was awesome and the team (Especially Chris) was amazing! The process and planning was clear, precise and easy with Chris. Appointment setting was simple and easy and the team and venue made us feel as though we were at home. Our guests loved the staff the day of the event. Being at this venue and working with Chris and his team was an awesome experience! The tasting events before our big day also helped us tremendously in selecting our menu options. The venue and team went above and beyond our expectations! To the Cotton Room....we say THANK YOU! Kelli and Anthony Slade

There are no words that can adequately express how amazing my experience was with The Cotton Room. My coordinator Heather is a god send her calm, funny and organized personality makes you feel completely at ease. From the stress free planning process with Heather to the food and sip tastings my (now) husband I were so impressed. Now to the day of the wedding, I didn’t have to worry about anything! Both the boys and the ladies had a suit mate who helped keep things moving and heather of course checked in and I was confident she had everything handled. Not only was the food amazing but the drinks were phenomenal. And if the wedding it’s self wasn’t perfect enough we were sent home with a bottle of persecuting and s pizza just Incase we didn’t get enough to eat with all of the guests coming up to speak with us. 100/10 would recommend to anyone. The Cotton Room is top notch and a dream to work with.

The Cotton Room made my dream wedding come true! Chris was very professional and made wedding planning easy through the BaseCamp software. Our guests love the variety of menu options as well as comfortable seating. The venue space is perfect for pictures and has great lighting. My wedding was amazing on July 6,2019 and my wedding guests had a great time!

Easy venue to work with from planning to the wedding day; Heather was a fantastic day of coordinator! Tons of in-house catering and bar options. We got lots of compliments about how well everything worked and the food.

I cannot gush enough about how perfect our wedding was! Choosing The Cotton Room as our venue was the best decision we could have made. From the beginning the staff was highly professional. They worked around our crazy work schedules to set up a tour and gave us a generous amount of time to decide whether to book with them. As soon as we decided to have our wedding there, we were assigned a coordinator and granted access to their online software called Base Camp, which was super convenient for organizing all our documents (vendor agreements, itineraries, contracts, etc), as well as having discussions between us and our coordinator about various planning details, both big and small. I could easily upload pictures to convey my vision, and see updates to all our wedding details in real time. We also got their preferred vendor list, most of whom we used since they were so familiar with the space and so highly recommended on multiple wedding sites.

We were SO lucky to have Heather from The Cotton Room as our coordinator! From the beginning she set our minds at ease by letting us know she was there to help us communicate with all the vendors and stay organized in the planning process. She was also there on our wedding day from start to finish. She worked SO hard. She always returned my messages on email or Base Camp promptly. She advocated on our behalf to make sure we were able to get the lighting options we wanted and get as many food options as possible under our package. She was thorough in working with me on the timeline for the rehearsal and wedding day. She oversaw the set-up of all our decorations (which turned out exactly as I had dreamed), as well as packing everything up at the end of the night. Throughout the day she checked in with me regularly to make sure I had everything I needed and was feeling good. She even took charge of bustling my dress! As a result my (now) husband and I, and our families, were able to just relax and enjoy the day. Most of all, throughout the whole process Heather was upbeat and genuinely excited for us! She has a bubbly personality that kept everyone calm and focused on the important things- spending time with each other!

Besides the excellent care we received from the staff at The Cotton Room, I want to mention how gorgeous the venue is! Floor to ceiling windows, exposed brick, and vaulted ceilings give it a feel of rustic elegance. The bride and groom suites were awesome as well! We each had our own suite attendants who ensured we had plenty of snacks and drinks getting ready that morning. The bridal suite is especially comfortable, with essentially an entire salon space in the back, a kitchenette, a bathroom with all the toiletry essentials provided, and a nice front room with tons of natural light for those pictures with your mom/bridesmaids helping you with your dress.

We also had a ton of fun with Triangle Catering’s tastings. They do open houses at The Cotton Room rather than individual tastings, which are essentially whole weddings without anyone getting married. We got a chance to go to three of them, with our families, and try a ton of different food options from the menu, as well as see the room decorated in different ways. The bar tasting was amazing too. We got to try all different wines and cocktails and they gave us a bunch of appetizers to have with them- basically a great date night! We are really into local craft beer and they were able to get exactly the options we wanted.

All of the food at the wedding was delicious! Our guests raved and we were able to find a good balance to satisfy many different tastes, including those who were vegetarian/vegan and those with gluten intolerance. We actually got to eat as well, as they made up special plates of everything for the bride and groom.

I know this is a long review but I didn’t want to leave anything out. Again, I cannot say enough how special our wedding was! Having it at The Cotton Room contributed to making it a great experience, not just that day but in the whole year leading up to it!

The Cotton Room is a stunning venue, you don't need much to make it beautiful. We were so pleased with the attentive staff, gorgeous space, and all that was included with our booking. The Cotton Room was the most perfect place to have our wedding and made our special day so magical. We highly recommend The Cotton Room to anyone getting married and wanting the full wedding experience!

Chris Hinton and the entire staff provided the most comfortable, efficient, friendly, and timely service anyone could ask for. Chris was always available no matter the time of day or night to answer any questions my wife and I could have had. we were recently married on July 6,2019 and the staff made everything flow flawlessly. I would recommend this venue to anyone. Before securing this venue we browsed just about every venue in the triangle area of NC, none provided the professionalism of The Cotton Room. I again would like to thank Chris and the entire staff for making our dream come true.

We had an amazing experience at The Cotton Room. It is a truly beautiful venue with brick accents to distinguish your party from the generic hotel ballroom. Even more importantly the people who work at The Cotton Room are beyond incredible. All the way up to my wedding they actively helped make it less stressful and on the big day helped it to go off without a hitch. I would highly recommend them and if I had to do it all over again I wouldn't change a thing.

My husband and I got married at The Cotton Room on September 2, 2017. It was magical. It was amazing. Our guests have been talking about the location and the food nonstop for the last three months. I was an out of town bride and knew NOTHING about the Triangle area, and to be honest going into wedding planning, The Cotton Room reflected nothing of what I was expecting for my wedding. But someone recommended the location to me so I decided a tour couldn't hurt. When I arrived in the Ceremony/Reception space I was blown away. I immediately fell in love. I didn't even tour anywhere else after that, I knew The Cotton Room was what I wanted. I moved my wedding up from when I was intending to have it simply because that's what they had available! Everyone I was in contact with was amazingly helpful and answered all my questions so quickly. They were very accommodating to push back a few due dates for decisions because the only time I could make a tasting was AFTER when I was supposed to make my food decisions. Thanks guys!! And I LOVED the bar appointment, they made me incredibly familiar with every drink they had and were amazingly knowledgable about all of them! My guests loved our custom cocktails and so did we! They even let us bring in our own personal statue of Captain Morgan, to delight of both guests and staff. Even more amazing, they accommodated my sister (my Maid of Honor) for the champagne toast by providing a non alcoholic option last minute when we forgot to tell them she was allergic (so awesome!!) and not to mention the fact that they provided us (the bride and groom) with a homemade pizza and a six pack selection of beers from our bar to enjoy in our Honeymoon Suite! Everything about this place is worth checking out, from the Bride AND Grooms Suites, the amazing Ceremony&Reception area, to the BEAUTIFUL bar. Your guests will thank you for the food!

As soon as we walked into The Cotton Room, we fell in love and knew it would be the best decision for our wedding....and I wasn't wrong! We worked with Summer and she made absolutely everything so easy and relaxed for us! Meeting with her was like meeting with an old friend, absolutely no stress and totally comfortable. The Cotton Room staff was all unbelievably kind and helpful in making our big day a dream come true. From the delicious food and drink to not having to worry about ANYTHING on my wedding day except getting down the aisle, The Cotton Room is the complete package and worth every penny! We would recommend to every couple!

I don't even know where to begin. Every aspect of our experience with The Cotton Room exceeded our expectations. The rustic elegance of the venue was a perfect fit for the vision we had for our big day. Wood beams, wood floors, brick walls, floor to ceiling windows...a beautiful space. At first glance it definitely takes up a large chunk of any budget, but we quickly realized we were truly getting what we paid for, and more. The Cotton Room took care of so many aspects related to our wedding, including food, alcohol, dinner and bar staff, linens, and dishes. Even their every day decor was an added bonus to the look we were going for, such as the beautiful draping and lounge furniture throughout the space. And probably my BIGGEST compliment to this venue is in regards to their in-house coordinator they provide. We were privileged to have Becky Chapman as our coordinator and she truly made preparation for the big day, and execution of the big day, a smooth, easy and enjoyable process. She was always available to answer EVERY question I had and never hesitated to help me make my requests happen. On the day of the wedding, she was there for me from the moment I awoke until the evening came to a close. The bridal suite and groom suite were the perfect place to get ready, and the suite attendants were amazing. We had the pleasure of having Dawn help us all afternoon and evening, always there to get us anything we needed. She even helped my flower girl with her hair! She truly was a gem that made the day so great. The staff and coordinators at The Cotton Room are a well oiled machine that helps make your day run perfectly. They found a way to stay in the shadows and out of the way, while still somehow always being there the moment you needed something. I could not have imagined having our wedding at any other venue but here. From people to food to service to experience, we definitely got what we paid for and more.

Last year, my husband and I started to look at wedding venues in NC since we knew that we were moving to Raleigh/Durham from Boston, MA. We saw several venues but The Cotton Room was the most accommodating of our schedule and our tour exceeded our expectations. When meeting with Laura, she helped us visualize what a wedding at the venue would look like and showed us menus, linen colors, pictures, and answered all of our questions. She was extremely responsive and worked with us to create multiple proposals as we weighed our options. Once we went under contract, we were connected with our wedding coordinator, Summer, who was a pleasure to work with. We had several planning meetings with Summer to work out the details for our wedding and she helped us with everything along the way from table linens to escort cards the day of my wedding! Summer absolutely went above and beyond for us and did not hesitate to answer any of our random questions. Not only was the staff amazing but our guests raved about the food and the event space itself was beautiful. I could not have asked for a better venue/staff to work with!

We haven't had our wedding yet, but I'm going to rave about The Cotton Room anyways. So far our experience with The Cotton Room has been amazing. Our wedding coordinator, Amalia, is so wonderful. She is quick at responding to my emails, and flexible when it comes to arranging meetings. She has been super helpful with updating our contract and returning it when I ask her to add something to it. I fell in love with The Cotton Room the minute we walked in and saw the brick walls, the high ceilings, the drapes, the hardwood floor, everything. Everything about The Cotton Room is perfect and I cannot wait to get married in September.

My husband and I got married at The Cotton Room on July 30, 2016! Not only was the food delicious but the staff, organization, and venue space were all incredible. Our wedding coordinator, Becky Chapman, did an absolutely amazing job and helped give us the wedding of our dreams. Her calm demeanor, positive attitude, and confidence in executing all aspects of a wedding will help ease any anxious bride's nerves. Also, two members of the staff, Maranda and Anthony (there are many more but these two stood out in a lot of ways), made us and our guests feel welcomed and valued. Our guests could not stop talking about our "storybook" wedding days after the event. We would like to thank everyone at The Cotton Room for their excellent service and we would highly recommend this venue!

Before choosing our venue we looked at a lot of places online. The Cotton Room was the first place we looked at in person and ended up being the only place we needed to! We fell in love with the look of the venue right away as well as the menu and flexibility of food options. To put it simply, they did whatever we wanted and we were able to have amazing food and drinks for all our guests. After having our coordinators switched a couple times Becky ended up working with us and we could not have asked for a better coordinator. She seemed to know everything about the venue and the menu, she answered emails immediately (no matter how many I sent her in a day), and made our day stress free for us. Becky and The Cotton Room helped make our day everything we imagined!

The Cotton Room exceeded our expectations for our April 16, 2016 wedding. It all started with our planner, Becky, who was very enjoyable to work with. She was easy to talk to, organized, professional, and offered great feedback. She gets big props for making our big day so perfect.

The venue itself is beautiful. It has a very unique look that came together just right on the big day. To boot, the food was absolutely delicious and the servers were very attentive and friendly.

I've had many family members and friends rave over the venue and food. We wouldn't have changed a thing. Thanks Becky and the rest of the Cotton Room staff!

Absolute Perfection! The Cotton Room in Durham was the exquisite setting for our daughter's amazing wedding this weekend, 4/2/16! Incrediblely delicious and.creative menu, served hot and plentiful by an attentive and friendly Wait Staff. Bar tenders kept it fun and responsible. Decorations, lighting and linen curtains kept it rromantic and exciting. Best of all, Wedding Planner Amalia saw to all the details beforehand, the rehearsal, the transition of ceremony to reception, the sparkling send off of the Bride and Groom, and even to packing up the cars to leave. Orchestrating the timing of the evening in a calm and kind manner, Amalia and her Assistant brought out the best of the wedding party, the large extended families and their guests! Bravo!
Susan Knapp, Mother of The Bride

We cannot speak highly enough about The Cotton Room and the services of Amalia Sarnecki-Ackley. Critical to our wedding vision were space, food, and libations. The Cotton Room is a gorgeous and versatile space that was conducive to all of our needs and desires. I could not find any fault in the food they provided. The beef was succulent. The salads were savory and colorful. The hors d’oeuvre, visually appealing and non-messy, were a well received at cocktail hour. And the flambéed donuts with ice cream were a hit with guests as a wedding cake alternative. Guests never noticed we didn’t have a cake to cut until hours after the reception ended! To make the wedding trifecta complete, the venue’s open bar won over our guests. The variety of beers and wines provided, in addition to liquor, satisfied all palettes.

Most importantly, the venue’s personnel were attentive, responsive, professional, and amicable at every step of the process. Though our wedding was adults-only, several guests had newborns or toddlers. The venue allowed us to convert the bridal suite into a childcare center where a local childcare professional watched all children while their parents partied 200 feet away. This also permitted nursing mothers to have some privacy to feed their children throughout the night. This consideration by The Cotton Room was invaluable for several close relatives and friends. It allowed the parents to be near their children and enjoy the celebration unencumbered with constant childcare demands.

If you’re looking for a spacious venue with great staff in Durham, NC, then The Cotton Room is your destination. You cannot go wrong. And ask for Amalia!