Woods, Farm, Schooner
The latest on the outdoor weddingscape.
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Foxfire Mountain House
(Photo: Jean-Laurent Gaudy) |
In the Country
Foxfire Mountain House
Location: Mt. Tremper, N.Y.
Capacity: 150
Owners Eliza Clark and Tim Trojian describe this hundred-year-old inn set on ten private acres in the Catskills as “your globe-trotting uncle’s country estate.” Couples in search of a fitting outdoor space have plenty of options here: Hold a rehearsal dinner or ceremony on the 72-foot Moroccan-tile veranda illuminated with string lights and scattered lanterns; relocate to the lily pool and rustic pavilion for a Zen-like cocktail hour; and, as night falls, huddle near the bonfire pits or challenge the father of the bride to a game of horseshoes. Foxfire can accommodate wedding parties up to 30 people overnight, and downtime activities include yoga, guided hikes, and fly-fishing lessons.
From $18,500. 72 Andrew Ln. 845-688-2500
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The Always All Ways In
(Photo: Courtesy of the Always All Ways In) |
The Always All Ways In
Location: Roxbury, N.Y.
Capacity: 120
Cat Greenleaf, New Yorkers’ favorite taxi companion, wants to share more expansive spaces with you. The Talk Stoop host’s upstate mountain compound opened for wedding business this year, offering ten acres of lawn and forest, a half-acre swimming pond — you’ll share that with local trout — and even an all-ages tree house. A renovated barn and horse paddock provide a charmingly rustic reception space, with hip touches like a vintage Airstream trailer that serves as both dressing area for bridesmaids and photo op for the happy couple. If stable nuptials aren’t your thing, opt for the intimate caves back in the woods.
From $11,500 for a full one-day event. Address withheld to ensure privacy; 347-647-0008
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Hasbrouck House
(Photo: Emma Tuccillo) |
Hasbrouck House
Location: Stone Ridge, N.Y.
Capacity: 165
Formerly the Inn at Stone Ridge, this 18th-century Dutch Colonial stone mansion reopened last summer as a 20-room boutique hotel. The interior is eclectic — overstuffed leather chairs, statement light fixtures, and gold-accented writing desks — though the real draw is a 4,000-square-foot bluestone patio on the manicured main lawn behind the property. Tenting is optional, but catering by on-site restaurant Butterfield is mandatory and heavy on local options: craft cocktails mixed with Taconic Distillery’s Dutchess Private Reserve bourbon, homemade cheese and charcuterie, and family-style farm-to-table entrées like milk-poached cod with golden-beet borscht and cassoulet with confit duck and andouille sausage.
From $9,500 with full buyout and two-night minimum.
3805 Main St.; 845-687-0736
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Fox Hill Farm
(Photo: Courtesy of Fox Hill Farm) |
Fox Hill Farm
Location: Honesdale, Pa.
Capacity: 160
Nestled in the Delaware Valley highlands, just west of the New York border, sits this 50-acre working beef and poultry farm run by husband and wife George and Katharine Brown. Keep your hands off the cows, but help yourself to the wide-open spaces, like the outdoor arbor or the upper cutting gardens — ideal spots for an intimate cocktail hour — and the airy 19th-century barn for a rustic reception. The property is dotted with stone fences, Adirondack chairs, apple and peach orchards, and a pond. Bridal bouquets and boutonnieres for the groomsmen — arrangements of daffodil, hyacinth, peony, iris, and lilac — are cut fresh from nearby flower gardens.
From $7,200. 297 Fox Hill Rd. 570-647-9476
In the City
Public Hotel (opening in June)
Location: Lower East Side
Capacity: 150
Ian Schrager’s long-gestating “tough luxe” hotel and condo development on the Lower East Side finally opens its doors in early summer, to the chagrin of many in the neighborhood who worry that the 28-floor building will cause noise pollution and choke out light. Those on the hunt for a new and appropriately grand venue will find more to like, specifically a 1,472-square-foot rooftop garden with eye-popping views of lower Manhattan — or, for couples who prefer a more traditional space for dancing and cake cutting, a 1,650-square-foot ballroom. An in-house restaurant by Jean-Georges Vongerichten will handle catering, and with a DJ spinning until 4 a.m. in the second-floor hotel bar, guests won’t have to travel far to find the after-party.
Price upon request.
215 Chrystie St.; 212-735-6000
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Birds & Bubbles
(Photo: Courtesy of Birds & Bubbles) |
Birds & Bubbles
Location: Chinatown/ Lower East Side
Capacity: 125
The “elevated southern” restaurant that brought us chef Sarah Simmons’s buttermilk fried chicken and Champagne offers an “intimate backyard setting”—more cozy than cramped—with a clay-tiled patio, string lights, and a raised and covered wooden deck that can function as a wedding canopy or chuppah. Space to dance is limited (although you’re welcome to hire a DJ and give it a shot), but thanks to customizable menu-and-drink packages heavy on shrimp and grits, deviled eggs, pimiento cheese, jalapeño corn bread, and other delights the name alludes to, guests may sink into a satisfied food coma before the music even starts.
From $4,000. 100B Forsyth St.; 646-368-9240
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Glasserie
(Photo: Jean-Larent Gaudy) |
Glasserie
Location: Greenpoint
Capacity: 300
Built in 1860 by Christian Dorflinger, an Alsatian glassmaker whose commissioned work ended up in the White House private collection, this structure — now a Mediterranean restaurant — maintains its 19th-century industrial aesthetic while offering multiple spaces for crowds from 20 to 300. Penthouse ceremonies are ideal for sunset panoramas of Newtown Creek and the Manhattan skyline, and the cobblestone-paved courtyard, with its redbrick archway and iron support beams, can be warmed up with green garlands and fresh-cut flowers and provides ample space for seated dinners and dancing. In-house catering is served family style and mirrors Glasserie’s regular menu, from savory phyllo pastries to harissa rabbit kohlrabi tacos.
From $200 per person, based
on 100-person attendance.
95 Commercial St., 718-389-0640
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Berg'n
(Photo: Courtesy of Berg'n) |
Berg’n
Location: Crown Heights
Capacity: 350
Eric Demby and Jonathan Butler, the guys behind Brooklyn Flea and Smorgasburg, opened this Crown Heights beer hall and food court in 2014 and began hosting weddings a year later — with a few dozen under their belts to date. Stark gray-and-white brick, long wooden tables with benches, and glass-paneled garage doors lend the main hall and adjacent private room a blank-canvas appeal for outside flair (decorate as you like, just don’t touch the delicate light fixtures). The adjoining open-sky courtyard offers numerous options, from an outdoor ceremony to alfresco reception dining. Best of all: access to the hall’s substantial beer selection (along with wine and cocktails) and in-house food vendors, like Mighty Quinn’s BBQ, Landhaus, and Lumpia Shack. Berg’n also provides a full coffee bar and desserts.
Full buyout rates upon request. 899 Bergen St.
By the Water
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Rockaway Beach Surf Club
(Photo: Michael Rudin) |
Rockaway Beach Surf Club
Location: Rockaway Beach
Capacity: 274
A laid-back beach bar that might look more at home on the opposite coast, Rockaway Beach Surf Club appeals to couples who’d prefer to take the formality out of their wedding day. A colorful Mexican sugar-skull mural that reads “Live. Surf. Die” marks the entrance to the beer garden, while longboards and driftwood adorn the interior. Dine on fish or chorizo tacos and plantain quesadillas, then toast the occasion with a piña colada — that’s Gosling’s rum, Cruzan coconut rum, and fresh pineapple — in the palm-and-parasol-shaded beer garden.
Price upon request. 302 Beach 87th St.
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Battello
(Photo: Rebecca Ferrier) |
Battello
Location: Jersey City, N.J.
Capacity: 250
This seafood restaurant located on Jersey City’s Newport Yacht Club pier provides all the perks of a waterfront reception without any threat of inclement weather. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows open onto the patio, offering fresh breezes off the Hudson and dramatic views of the New York City skyline. For those who prefer to stay covered, an intimate wine cellar works well for small rehearsal dinners, while the main dining room boasts vaulted ceilings, brown leather banquettes, and an ample dance-floor space. Local seafood dominates the menu — try the fried rock shrimp served with jalapeño salsa verde and the mussels arrabbiata braised in a spicy tomato broth — but comfort-food stations serving up polenta and meatballs will satisfy guests who pass on the shellfish. And before the evening ends, be sure to hit the scotch-and-cigar bar for a Glenlivet 18 and a hand-rolled stogie, complete with personalized matchbooks.
Price upon request. 502 Washington Blvd. 201-798-1798
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Topping Rose House
(Photo: Courtesy of Topping Rose House) |
Topping Rose House
Location: Bridgehampton, N.Y.
Capacity: 200
This 19th-century Georgian mansion with an on-site barn is only a mile from the ocean, so guests can borrow bikes and hit the shore or just take it easy with a facial and massage at the spa. Interior décor is minimalist and beachy — think clean white walls, basket-woven shades, and shell sconces — but the high-vaulted barn with a wooden chandelier provides a more rustic alternative. For outdoor ceremonies and receptions, a barn terrace with manicured lawn offers standing room for up to 100, or double the accommodations by tenting the pool area. (You can also cover the water with temporary flooring if you’re worried about rowdy groomsmen starting an impromptu game of Marco Polo.) The in-house restaurant, Jean-Georges at Topping Rose House, handles catering, from the seasonal and seafood-heavy reception dinner — try the crispy Maine lobster with buttery cabbage, scallion, and jalapeño — to a buffet or family-style farewell breakfast.
From $15,000. 1 Bridgehampton–Sag Harbor Tpk.; 631-537-0870
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Pier A
(Photo: Courtesy of Pier A) |
Pier A
Location: Battery Park
Capacity: 200
Completed in 1886 as a home for the city’s Department of Docks and Harbor Police and later an FDNY fireboat station, Pier A in its latest incarnation is a waterfront restaurant and event space. The sprawling, 28,000-square-foot Harbor House offers three floors of indoor and outdoor ceremony and reception areas. The Long Hall, a nautical-themed bar, features original searchlights, restored gauges, and an open-air promenade. Blacktail at Pier A, a cocktail bar from the proprietors of the Dead Rabbit, mimics the American lounges that relocated to Cuba during Prohibition. But with unobstructed waterfront views of the Statue of Liberty, Battery Park, and One World Trade Center just beyond the oversize windows, good luck keeping guests inside.
From $175 per guest. 22 Battery Pl.; 212-785-0153
1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge
Location: Dumbo/Brooklyn Heights
Capacity: 500
The latest edition of the “mission-driven luxury hotel brand” opened on the Brooklyn waterfront in February, offering guests an ecofriendly stay (from hemp-blend mattresses to reclaimed-wood furniture built by local artisans) and all wedding-goers floor-to-ceiling views of the East River and the Manhattan skyline. The 6,300-square-foot Meadow Rue ballroom leads to a private outdoor patio for cocktails or a first dance under the stars, while the open-air rooftop features built-in bars and fire pits for a laid-back post-reception hangout. A private-event chef allows for a highly customizable menu — from kosher and Indian options to an updated take on your first-date dinner — and the bride and groom can enjoy a complimentary wedding-night stay.
From $35,000. 60 Furman St. 877-803-1111
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Grand Banks
(Photo: Courtesy of Grand Banks) |
Grand Banks
Location: Hudson River Park
Capacity: 175
Permanently docked at Pier 25, the Sherman Zwicker is a 142-foot wooden schooner that originally sailed between North and South America, trading cod and salt. It’s home today to the Grand Banks oyster bar and a ropes-and-rigs-adorned event space — available for partial or full buyout — with unrivaled 360-degree views of the Hudson. Chef Kerry Heffernan (of Eleven Madison Park renown) creates specialized menus of local oysters, white-sturgeon caviar, and poached-clam canapés, while Milk & Honey alum Lauren Schell handles the specialty cocktails. Try the Skipper Key, a concoction of rosé, fresh-squeezed lemon, muddled strawberry and cucumber, and club soda. Grand Banks hosts no more than two buyouts per month, so demand is high, and weekend full-day rental rates climb to $65,000.
Partial buyout rates start at $1,000. Pier 25; 212-660-6312
Special thanks to Danielle Bobish at Curtain Up Events, Roey Mizrahi at Roey Mizrahi Events, Sarah Glick at Brilliant Event Planning, Maya Katz at Alimay Events, and Lexi Ritsch at Hamptons Aristocrat caterers.