Upscale Venues

Hi Nancy! How big do you think your guest list will be? Do you have any preferences on indoor or outdoor venues?

If you like the look of mansions and manors, you should check out these venues:

Branford House Mansion

Wadsworth Mansion

Lord Thompson Manor

Also here are some highlighted venues in Connecticut:

12 Banquet Halls in Hartford for Your Connecticut Wedding

10 Unique Wedding Venues in Connecticut

16 Stunning Outdoor Wedding Venues in Connecticut

We are getting at Eoila Mansion which is stunning!

I have heard great things about the wadsworth mansion. Our venue actually had a bridal shower for a bride getting married there and they were talking about how beautiful it is.

Wadsworth mansion, st. Clements castle, the aria, the riverhouse, the society room are a few nice ones we looked at.

Hi Nancy!

So I don't know how your budget plays into the equation but when I was looking at venues, two made the decision exceptionally difficult.

In Portland, CT, St. Clements Castle is gorgeous. They have 3 different ballrooms with 3 different settings so you can really pick based off of your style or theme or vision. Keep in mind, a specific ballroom goes with a specific area for the castle. i.e. the Sunken Gardens go with Ballroom B, the Marina goes with Ballroom C. It really depends what you're looking for, but we got to sample some of the food and it was DELICIOUS and the locations for the ceremony and pictures were to die for.

In Prospect, CT, Aria Wedding and Banquet Facility (my venue-so excited!) is the perfect mix of good food, beautiful grounds/pic opportunities, and decent price. We picked it because 1) we've been here for a wedding before and the food was delicious! 2) I wanted big windows in the ballroom for good lighting and a cute scenery for the ceremony. Again, like St Clements, a certain ballroom goes with a certain part of the venue. Ballroom B (which I believe max fits 150 or 200 people) is the smaller ballroom with one staircase and a smaller "garden" area- but you can get married under a gazebo or a pergola! The other side is much larger with a double staircase and a larger garden with a bigger gazebo/fountain area.

Hope this helped!

View Quoted Comment Hi if you don’t mind me asking did aria support budgeting couples as far as their packages they offer ?

View Quoted Comment Hi! And of course I don’t mind- they were very affordable. I don’t know what they’d do about working with couples but aria only cost us around 10,000 for the venue open bar all that jazz. But I will say I don’t review them very highly after having our wedding there. I wrote a review on Yelp...I’m not very happy with our experience but it sounds like a lot of people have had a better experience since

Thank you Lexi for your response