Briar Patch Bed & Breakfast Inn

ome things not going perfectly, we feel that we would choose this venue again if we had the choice. We were very happy with: 1. The ability to have a wedding weekend here for a relatively low price, Friday 12pm to Sunday at 12pm was ours with the ability to have our rehearsal, welcome dinner, wedding ceremony, wedding reception, and breakfast on Sunday all at the same place but in different spaces onsite. This was very convenient and our entire wedding party could stay onsite with us. We enjoyed this. They gave my husband a Veteran’s discount, which we very much appreciated. The property is gorgeous, and we made use at our November wedding of the mountains in the background. The venue is family friendly and my sister didn’t have to worry about my niece roaming around the property. Having everything in one spot was great! This fit our vision of a romantic rural venue that was elegant, but not pretentious, with lovely views. 2. Dan and Ellen were very nice to me and my husband. They brought us breakfast in the cottage on our wedding day so we could have a quiet breakfast together before the day started. That’s what we wanted. The Chef made my mom a special breakfast sandwich to order in the morning. They were accommodating about us bringing in lunch on Friday for the wedding party, snacks on the wedding day, and doing a customized breakfast for us on Sunday and adding bacon, biscuits and gravy, and other things we desired (for an extra but reasonable fee). People did give us compliments on the brunch and said the food was really good - kudos to the staff there. Also, the rooms were ready for us to check in way earlier than 4pm, so that was a really nice surprise when we arrived on Friday. They also let us stay a little later on Sunday since there was not a wedding immediately after us that evening. It allowed us the time we needed to get everything packed up. We appreciated their ability to be flexible. 3. The venue and property were gorgeous on November 2nd. The fall colors were perfect, the horse was on property, we got amazing pictures under the stars, and we loved being able to make use of all of the spaces onsite for our different events. The scenery was really picturesque! The reception hall is perfect for a wedding reception and plenty of space for dancing. The location was close to Dulles for people to fly in and get there easily. 4. The cottage for the couple was fun and the kitchenette was nice. The bathtub was nice, and it was a good space for all of the ladies to get ready in on the day of the wedding, hang out, and have snacks. There was a keurig or similar coffee maker in there, a full sized fridge, a sitting area, and bedroom. The coop was where we put the moms and it was the nicest place on property. I don’t regret giving it to them for a second and we are happy they got their own bathrooms and were comfortable. It has its own kitchenette as well and an entire suite with a living room. They were very happy with the weekend and their experience. 5. On Friday night, we had a country western party themed welcome party and dinner in the space outside of the ballroom. We had adequate space to turn that space into a dance floor (near the fireplace) and set up food/drinks and tables for 50 in that space. Dan recommended Hammerdown BBQ, which is very nearby. We had people raving about the BBQ, saying it was the best cornbread they had ever had, and the best brisket. We even had relatives from Texas who complimented the BBQ. That was a great recommendation from the venue and helped make the night great. Things that could have been improved: 1. The rooms are quirky and there are insects and rodents around. There was a mouse in the cottage, there were stink bugs around, and there were some wasps around, including one that scared my 6-year old niece and one that got on the hair dresser’s hand while doing hair inside. Nobody was hurt or got stung, but there are some critters around. If that is a deal breaker, than this may not be the place for you. It is rustic! That's part of the charm and also comes with some things that are unavoidable. 2. There are not bathrooms in all of the rooms and for some people in our wedding party, that was an issue. We tried to give the people who had issues with it priority and the Moms got priority too. Overall, I think people made it work, but were not used to having to share a bathroom and shower space with another person or couple. It would be nice to have a TV in the cottage bedroom. 3. There was some lack in communication between the owners and our wedding coordinators and caterer. At one point it almost led to an altercation. Most of the issues were able to be straightened out, but unfortunately a few unexpected things happened because of the lack in communication. The room where we were going to have the rehearsal dinner was already set up for the wedding on Friday, so we had to reset it for the dinner. It wasn’t really a problem for us, though. We had enough people to help. There was a mixup on where the guys were going to get ready and where the food would be. We just had them put it in the kitchen area and the guys got ready independently in their rooms. We are easy going, so while not ideal, it didn’t make or break the day. I think there was also a misunderstanding about certain venue items being needed at specific locations. It turned out fine in the end. 4. There were some issues where our coordinators couldn’t find Dan, Ellen, or staff on the day of the wedding when they needed them. This caused us to not be able to use the van to be transported up the hill to our wedding ceremony site. We walked up the hill, which caused us to be seen before the ceremony by guests who had arrived early and were sitting in their parked cars. They saw us and started following us up to the ceremony site early, even though we were not finished with pictures. Our coordinators had to tell them to go back and wait. 5. This is not the fault of Briar Patch, but they had recommended the Dulles South Hampton Dulles Inn for our guests who were not staying onsite with us. They told us that the hotel would offer a free shuttle for our guests. The Hampton Inn was not upfront about this with us and after we had booked our room block and advertised the location to guests, they told us that they only offer the shuttle one day (so we could pick friday, saturday, or sunday) which wasn’t great since we had three events that weekend. They also told us we needed at least 10 reservations to be booked before they would allow us to use the shuttle, and it would only seat 12 people. If you do the math, that means you might have 10 reservations and 20 people, but not all can ride the shuttle. In the end, we decided not to even use the shuttle because it didn’t make sense and wouldn’t be available for all the events. We asked people to contact us ahead of time if they would need rides so we could arrange carpools ahead of time with others staying at that hotel. We also let people know in the invitations that they could drive to Briar Patch and park there or use Uber/Lyft if they didn’t want to drive or carpool. We picked this hotel on the recommendation of Briar Patch and mostly because we thought we would get the free shuttle, and it’s really the issue of the Hampton Inn, but had we known sooner from Hampton that it was not the case, we would have gone with a different hotel. They were also really difficult to communicate with about the room block early on. I would recommend you go with another hotel. I'm posting this part more for awareness than anything else. 6. Some spots around the venue are not easily handicap accessible and there are not bathrooms at every site. This is just something to keep in mind if you have people who have accessibility needs or older guests. Overall, we are satisfied with our choice to go with Briar Patch and we got quite a few comments from our guests who were wowed by how the place transformed into an elegant space on our wedding day from being a country/western party the night before (our rehearsal dinner). It was a great choice and we have many happy memories and beautiful pictures from that day. For a wedding weekend near the DC area, you can’t beat the value and beauty of this venue!

ergies and dietary restrictions our wedding party had for breakfasts.

he perfect day! The grounds . are beautiful for pictures and for guests to enjoy. Our guests are still commenting about the beautiful views! Thank you for a wonderful Day!!