Duportail House

y decor - the house is a decoration itself!), showing how we could use the antique spaces for eating, dancing, and socializing. The day-of Kate was on point the entire time and helpful for whatever we needed. We had a small reception of about 40 people and everyone fit comfortably, even during COVID. The outdoor space was fresh and quiet. It was everything we could have asked for and more at an amazing price point.

ay for no added cost. When we decided to go with that date (August 2020), it was a seamless transition in our contract. Like a lot of couples getting married in 2020, we decided to do a mini ceremony on our original date and Kate let my family use the venue and have our ceremony in front of the beautiful house. She went above and beyond to make sure that day was special. In August, Kate make sure that we were following all protocols and helped us navigate planning a wedding with so many restrictions. With everything going on, it still felt like the most normal day and we did not feel like our wedding was missing anything! It was safe for our guests and staff (50 people), and it was fun at the same time. Words cannot describe how perfect this venue is. It is absolutely stunning. There are so many different options and it is not a cookie-cutter venue at all. They were so accommodating to all of our details and requests. I've heard horror stories from other venues in the pandemic, but I like to think that we still had our fairy tale wedding because we chose to go with Duportail House! I wish I had more events to plan so I could go back.

got so many compliments about how beautiful the venue was, and we’re even planning on going back to see the new barn once it’s finished restoration! A few things to keep in mind if choosing this venue. We decided to do the full DIY option and chose our own caterer because the list of “preferred caterers” was too expensive for our budget. We were told about a month before the wedding that we needed to purchase insurance for the event since the insurance for the caterer wouldn’t cover the event itself (we had our own servers). Second, if you’re getting married in the summer, be aware that there will likely be other events around your wedding date. There was a wedding the day before and day after our Saturday wedding which led to some stress from the wedding the day before not picking everything up and we had to be sure to make sure everything was perfect when the wedding was over for the event the next day since the event the day before did not clean up well. Finally, Kate allowed us to store some of our wedding supplies in her office and the barn the day before which helped cut our setup time the day of a lot. One thing we wish we did was label our stuff because when we came to setup the day of the wedding, it took a while to find our stuff which was mixed in with the decorations from other weddings happening that weekend. Aside from the few minor gripes, if we had to do it all over again, we would choose the Duportail House in a heartbeat. Kate was great and making sure we were ready for the event and was helpful at providing tips the day of to make sure the wedding went smoothly. The grounds are simply stunning and the value couldn’t be beat!

ront porch and couldn't have asked for a more picturesque backdrop for these special moments!

we needed barely any decorations. We used the barn for cocktail hour which worked out really well. The property and house were a great backdrop for photos. Small warning: we had two cars in the parking lot broken into at night when everyone was inside the house. Other than that, everything went perfectly.

said, we were at a wedding back in April with over 100 people and that was comfortable too. Our guests couldn't stop talking about how pretty the site was. Kate, the site manger is very knowledgeable and accommodating.

get lucky with the weather and turned out to be a perfect day. The property allowed us to have some amazing pictures and can’t wait to get the rest of them from our photographer. Since our wedding was in the fall and on the Sunday, the rental prices were reasonable in our opinion. But make sure you know what you are getting with that price. That being said, there was some negative experiences with the Duportail House: • We paid for additional 2 hours before our contracted time frame so that we could get everything done a head of time but when we arrived the venue was not cleaned from the wedding the previous day. We were unable to start decorating and had to wait until that was done. So we paid extra to sit around and wait for it to be cleaned. We’ve e-mailed, called and even stopped by during open house hours and have not heard back. • Venue staff can be little difficult to work with at times. You get mixed answers to your questions and makes things confusing at times. • Venue has maximum capacity of 160 guests. In our opinion, the only way you can have that many guests here is if you rent an additional tent on top of the patio tent they have. This is costly but does not increase how many guests you can have. Also, plan on having to rent additional tables for your reception and chairs for your ceremony. • Planning out a seating chart can be rather difficult because the venue has 4 separate rooms for seating and is not an open floor plan. • Parking on site is very limited (50 cars) and wound up being more difficult than it should have been. You are not allowed to park on the street or side streets even though no signs are posted. You’d think they offer suggestions on parking since they do weddings all the time but offered little advice on this. They suggested having a shuttle service; however you’re limited where you can park off-site. If you have hotel rooms reserved, you won’t have a problem but since all our guests were local it was a bit of a nightmare. • Our guests commented that the location of the bathrooms made it difficult to get to during the reception. They are located towards the back of the house. Which is right next to the kitchen and backdoor that was being used by the catering staff to move stuff in and out of the kitchen and their trucks.

would feel swallowed up if we went with a traditional large venue. I loved the rustic elegance that Duportail offered and it was perfect for my little wedding. Kate Fry was great and was always very prompt with her responses to my numerous emails. On the day of, Kate couldn't make it and sent her friend Wendy to oversee our day. Wendy was such a sweat heart and helped guide us through our day with ease. It was pouring rain on our wedding day, so our outdoor wedding turned indoors and I didn't even care once I saw how beautiful the ceremony turned out in front of the historic hearth of the home. Duportail will always have a special place in my heart.

historic home. Kate and Wendy were amazing! Kate was away on business the weekend of my wedding but Wendy jumped in feet first and did absolutely wonderful. She was so in tune with what Kate and I had discussed that I almost forgot it was Wendy taking care of us on the day of. We were also pleasantly surprised that we were allowed to bring our dog into the home. Having a venue that allowed our dog was at the very top of our wish list and the DuPortail House met every wish on that list. Guests are still talking about how beautiful the venue was and how helpful Wendy was. I would highly recommend the DuPortail House for any wedding theme. Classic, rustic, historic, the DuPortail House is such a neutral beautiful space that any bride would be happy with this location. I am actually sad that I will no longer be working with Kate and Wendy! They made the planning a breeze and helped ease the stress of planning a wedding. If I could do the wedding all over again I wouldn't change a single thing. The DuPortail House is amazing!

hat can easily be transformed with your flowers and place settings to look how you would like it. The walls are beige, so any color will pop in there and look great. The grounds are even more beautiful and provide unique backdrops for pictures. There is the beautiful front porch with black iron embellishments, an old barn, a small gazebo, and little bridge further out back. We had our ceremony at a church, but it would be an awesome place to have held the ceremony as well. It is a little small, so don't pick this place if you have more than 90 guests. And if you have more than 50, you will probably be splitting the dinner seatings between two rooms. We had 70 guests split pretty evenly, and it was fine. Dinner is only about an hour, so it's not a big deal. There is a great covered patio for dancing, and a lot of people seem to get an additional tent for out back.

ar were inside. Kate was our coordinator and she was great, very helpful. I would recommend Duportail to anyone looking for a venue that can accommodate an outdoor wedding and has a backup indoor plan.

nator is flexible and willing to help you find solutions of how to work out what you want in the space. Beautiful grounds with gazebo, old bridge and stone barn for pictures. Does have some limitations. Although they advertise they can hold more, really only good for weddings of 120 or less (unless you don't leave space available for dancing).

The historic house was a beautiful setting for our wedding. Kate, the house manager, was a fabulous and helped make our day spectacular. Check it out!