Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum

I will say this review is LONG OVERDUE. In May 2019, my husband and I were married at the Hemingway House. We live in New Jersey and had no idea where to start as far as vendors, etc. Vicky Furman is an absolute rockstar. She provided us with amazing recommendations for hair/makeup, florist, cake and a musician. She is prompt in her responses, easygoing in nature and was so instrumental in organizing the best day of our life. Thank you, Vicky !!

Vicky furman is everything! Vicky Furman is EVERYTHING. From the very beginning, she provided me with guidance and support based on my budget and what I was looking for at our wedding. It was SO helpful to have her as a contact to know who to reach out to and what to ask for. She is SO organized and when you talk to her she makes you feel comfortable and confident. She is also SO CALM! Which is what every bride to be needs in their coordinator. Meeting Vicky felt like I was meeting a friend. She was open, honest, made me feel great about our wedding day and decisions. I think the best part is that there were so many times when I told myself “She does this for a living and I’m 1 out of 1 million brides she’s working with”, but Vicky never made me feel that way. I always felt like a top priory and she shared in my excitement for all that was to come. She made everything happen and go off without a hitch and I couldn’t imagine our day without her. She is truly one of a kind and the best there is! Our day, the venue, the music, the food, the décor, the ceremony and so on—it was all beautiful, perfect and I am still beaming from the good vibes. She made it all happen.

Vicky was amazing. She was with us every step of the way. She is the best and the grounds of the museum were so beautiful. We love it all and the cats!!!!! Want to get married all over again!!!!

My husband and I could not be happier that we chose to get married at the Ernest Hemingway Home in April of this year. The second we found HH online, we knew this was the perfect venue for us. We loved the idea of a destination wedding, but felt getting married on the beach wasn't a fit for us personally. Hemingway Home was the perfect choice because it has lush tropical gardens, and is near everything in Key West, but it is also tucked away behind brick walls that offer privacy, intimacy and make you feel like you are a world away from the hustle and bustle of tourists in your own serene garden - the house itself is beautiful as well, and the entire grounds are so perfect you could totally forego all other decor and it would still be stunning. We hosted our wedding ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception here - we really loved the fact that we could host the whole day's events in one location so we (and our guests) didn't have to worry about transportation or timing between locations for each part of our wedding day. It made our entire day so much more laid back that we could have everything take place on the grounds of Hemingway Home, but each event still had its own unique location within the grounds there, so everything still felt really unique and special. We, along with our guests, were so blown away with how stunning the natural, lush garden setting was and the word everyone uses to describe our wedding day and venue was "magical" and it really was. We were also so happy with the HH coordinators leading up to the wedding and on the day-of. Vicky and Jen were awesome - supportive, helpful, and very responsive to any and all questions and suggestions we had. We also appreciated that HH has recommended vendors - since we were planning our wedding from out of town (most of it before we had ever even visited Key West), that was really helpful for us to narrow down our vendor choices. The day itself couldn't have been any more perfect, and choosing Hemingway Home as our venue was a huge reason why. We would absolutely recommend getting married here to anyone looking for a fun, beautiful and romantic wedding venue in Key West!

The Hemingway Home was a beautiful setting for our wedding. The space allows for you to have the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception at different locations around the property. All of our guests thought it looked like something out a movie. We could not have found a better place to get married!

My wedding day was absolutely perfect, the venue is so beautiful and private, we had the place to ourselves and my guests haven't stopped raving about it. The day was made even more perfect due to the help of my wedding planner, Vicky Furman. The first time I talked to her I immediately became a calm bride because I knew whatever needed to get done, Vicky would handle it. She was so helpful in figuring out how to make my visions of the perfect wedding a reality, she helped me find ways to save money in the budget without compromising what I wanted, and she was not afraid to offer her opinion when I really needed someone to do that. There are so many details to plan but Vicky laid it all out for me, helped me prioritize and made something that can be extremely difficult so easy. I can honestly say I was never stressed out during the planning of the wedding or on the wedding day, not once, and that is because I knew Vicky was there for me. That alone is worth a lot of money, and on top of it she made my wedding more beautiful than even I imagined. I could not have asked for a better venue or a better person to help me plan it, if I had to do it all over again I would not change a thing!

My husband and I live in Chicago and got married at the Hemingway home in November. We weren't able to visit Key West before the wedding, so booked the event based solely on the reviews and photos we could find online and the responsiveness of the venue's staff. We could not have asked for a better experience. The property is breathtaking, and the staff is kind, responsive, and 100% on their game. Our coordinator, Vicky Furman, felt like a member of our family by the end of the night! She and the rest of the team made planning a destination wedding a breeze, and we feel truly lucky to have gotten married here.

We had the absolute best experience having our wedding ceremony and reception at the Hemingway Home! The venue is absolutely gorgeous, but more importantly, the service provided by our day-of-coordinator Vicky was out of this world! Our most special day not only of went off without any issues, it was even more than that - it was more perfect than we ever imagined it could be! We could never in a million years thank the Hemingway Home and Vicky for making our wedding day such a fairy tale. Our friends and family all had a wonderful time, and we received many compliments that this was hands down the best wedding they had been to! Thanks so much to Vicky and the Hemingway Home - if we ever have a vow renewal, we will definitely be heading back here for it!

The Hemingway Home and Museum was a beautiful place to have our wedding. Everyone was really nice and accommodating as well. This was a dream come true.

My daughter and her husband were married at Hemingway Home five weeks after Hurricane Irma. Let me tell you … there is not a better wedding coordinator than Vicky Furman and there is not a better venue than the Hemingway Home. The staff worked tiredlessly to get the property back into beautiful shape after the hurricane. And the property was absolutely breathtaking and even more so with all the rentals and flowers put into place. But at beautiful as the property is, the real jewel is Vicky. As the mother of the bride, I was able to fully enjoy the entire event and that is because Vicky had every single detail under control. She was absolutely wonderful in the weeks leading up to the wedding. She kept us on track and helped us coordinate all of the vendors and made sure we didn’t forget any details that make a wedding a seamless event. She was patient, calm, warm and fun with us but you could tell that she ran a tight ship in leaving no detail to chance. The vendors in the area like her and respect her and she knows them all. She really went above and beyond for us … even while her community was recovering from a natural disaster. I absolutely give her my strongest recommendation – there truly is nobody better to handle your event. And Hemingway Home (with its many sweet residents) was a magical place to hold the wedding. In my daughter’s words, “Everything was perfect.” What more could a mother ask for?

My husband & I live locally in the Keys. So, when we were planning our wedding, we knew the area very well & didn't want anything too "keysy" or "beachy." We also wanted to be in downtown Key West so that our guests would have an enjoyable weekend. Per a friend's suggestion, we looked into Hemingway House. It was literally everything we wanted. We mostly chose the house because it is a large private space where the ceremony, cocktail hour & reception could all be held in different parts of the property. The pricing was also very reasonable for Key West & we were able to have an awesome caterer to get exactly what we wanted for food. I was very particular on the exact look I wanted for the wedding, & the lush garden & beautiful grounds made for an amazing open space for me to be able to decorate! Vicki was amazing to work with! She replied to every email extremely quick, as well as answered all of my questions throughout my entire wedding planning process. Come the day of the wedding, she & her team were awesome! Every guest was just wowed by the venue. Trust me when I say, the pictures speak for themselves. It was seriously my dream venue!

Wedding October 2015: When Jessie (my bride) told me that she had zeroed in on Key West for our wedding (a place neither of us had ever been to), I had my concerns about how we were going to pull of a wedding from a thousand miles away with only one planned trip before our big day. We made it to Key West in December 2014 to see the Hemingway Home and Museum. We both were blown away at how beautiful the grounds were and how they matched the pictures that we had seen online. We met Vicky Furman (Wedding & Event Coordinator) for the Home and she took us on a tour of the grounds. During the tour, Vicky immediately made us feel welcome and encouraged to ask any questions that we might have. Most of the questions were mine :) She gave us great vendor recommendations and tips on how to plan the wedding from start to finish. Vicky went above and beyond for us from the first time we met with her until we rode off in our pedi-cab to Captain Tony's. Vicky also worked with our vendors in a seamless fashion and we had no issues with timing, deliveries, setup, breakdown, etc. and both Jessie and I were able to enjoy our day without a care in the world. One of the biggest things throughout the process that both Jessie and I noticed, was that Vicky and her team made us feel really special. The business of weddings in Key West is busy and your big day will fly by before you know it. But, we really felt like Vicky treated us like we were friends having a party at her house :) We highly recommend the Hemingway Home and Museum for any wedding or event that you might be planning. We had to pinch ourselves quite a few times, its like you broke into Ernest Hemingway's house and you are just waiting to get kicked out. We were able to get incredible pictures inside and outside of the house. All of our guests loved it and got to see the entire outside grounds of the venue between our reception in the gardens, cocktail hour by the pool, and our party on the lawn with a dance-floor and a tent. Wish we could do it all over again every day....thanks Vicky and the Hemingway Team!!!

We were recently married at the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum and could not have asked for a more beautiful location for our wedding! The location is far enough away from Duval Street that you don’t hear the noise from the bars, but it’s also close enough for everyone to walk downtown at the end of the night. We selected the Hemingway Home because it offered us the privacy we wanted (they close at 5pm, so the entire property is yours) and allowed us to host the ceremony and reception at a single location, so we didn’t have to worry about transportation for our guests. It is also one of the few venues in the Keys that can accommodate more than 80 people. Not to mention, it’s beautiful! The venue speaks for itself, so you don’t really need to bring in too many additional decorations. I also cannot say enough about Vicky! Even though we hired a wedding coordinator, she was always quick to answer my questions - which is unique when working with Key West vendors, since everyone tends to have the laid-back vibe associated with the Florida Keys. She is also extremely professional and was on-hand during the event to make sure everything ran smoothly. For anyone who is considering a Key West wedding, I highly recommend this venue. If you’re concerned about the cats, they were present, but were not an issue and we had several guests who are allergic to cats.

If I could do it all over again, I would choose this venue again! I originally booked this property when it was bushy and overgrown (still beautiful) but since that year and a half ago they have really cleaned up the venue. It is trimmed and pristine like a garden and the lawn is now much more spacious than it originally was. I first booked with Anna, who is just a sweat heart and received helped closer to the wedding from Vicky, who was also great. The venue itself is PERFECT, you have to decorate so little because the beautiful Hemingway Home is your backdrop from every angle. I know people associate this property with the cats, and yes they’re present during everything - but I actually like the little touch (and I am not really a cat lover). Anyone who wants to get married in Key West, this should be your first stop! Reference: My 140 guest wedding was held here on 11/15/14 for a total of 6 hours rental. My taste: I love the ocean, but dislike beach weddings, I love history and I adore rich culture - Hemingway Home was the perfect venue for me!

The staff at the Hemingway House were outstanding. They went above and beyond and made our wedding run without any flaws. Planning from a far got stressful at times but Dave and Anna calmed our nerves. After seeing it on paper for months and then being in the moment on our wedding day, we could have not asked for a better night. The scenery and grounds made for great photos and a great place to get married. Our guests are still talking about our wedding!! Highly recommended!

Our wedding reception at the Hemingway house was just magical. The landscaping is gorgeous and Dave is great. We lit up the space with festival lights, you can bring in your own caterer and provide your own bar. It was a unique setting rich in Key West history and all the guests really enjoyed walking through the grounds. I have seen boards where people are worried about cats being everywhere... Well there are lots of cats and they are really friendly and mostly hysterical. But they were not pouncing on food or a nuisance. They added to the charm of the evening. Kids were carrying them around and lots of people took funny shots of them lounging around.

We paid $1600 for the Garden Gathering event. I was able to communicate with Anna and Dave throughout the planning process and work out details we wanted. The package included the venue rental for up to 30 guests (they charge $10 pp for extra seats), a live musician (we chose a harpist), a cake, champagne toast, bride's bouquet, groom's boutonniere, and the officiant. It was a beautiful space, but we did need to pay extra to decorate the arch, get an aisle runner ($600- Milan Events), and we also brought white chair covers. They were able to accomodate all of our requests within reason, such as letting us pick up the champagne and take it to our reception site, get a refund for the cake when we were unhappy with their vendor (we went to Publix instead), and sign our license in the writing room.

If I wasn't so in love with the property, I would have gotten married elsewhere. As a Key West local for 5+ years, the Hemingway House was my favorite spot so it was pretty much a given thats where our wedding was going to be. At first, Dave, the manager/on site planner, was very helpful. But once I told him that I hired my own planner and was using my own vendors, vendors he had never worked with before, he became difficult. He was extremely unresponsive to emails and phone calls and when I did finally reach him, he was rude and curt, to myself, my planners and vendors--who are all good friends of mine. His assistant Anna was wonderful though, picking up his slack. Dave would say "Ill take care of that" when he usually meant there was a fee associated with doing whatever that task was but wouldn't tell us. For example, there are lights hung over the lawn that are no joke up 360 days out of the year. Yet he charges a fee to put those lights up, saying that they are extra and did not tell us this until a week before our wedding. All in all, having a separate planner was essential because Dave just didnt cut it and my planner was a great go-between when Dave was difficult. My wedding turned out fabulous, so I cant complain too much. They cats did appear at night, even with loud music and a ton of people on the property. Oh and get a noise exemption so you can have music until midnight--another tidbit I learned from living here, not from Dave.

Wow! The Hemingway Home is dazzling. The pictures on the website do not do it justice. I could not have asked for a more beautiful wedding venue. Dave Gonzales is the proprietor at the Hemingway Home and he was amazing. He acted as my wedding advisor and helped me pick out the best vendors in Key West all the way from my home in Minnesota. Cannot rave enough about the Hemingway Home as a wedding venue!

We couldn't be happier than with choosing to host our wedding and reception at the Hemingway House. We had around 100 guests which fit comfortably at this venue. Guests were impressed to hear that our wedding was being held at one of the most well-known and historical places on the island. On your wedding night, Hemingway House opens all of the garden area to only you and your guests for the entire evening. We preferred the privacy this gave us compared to the number of weddings you see lined-up along the beach. They allow complete flexibility with vendors and set-up for the event. The large property gives opportunity to switch locations for the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception. The gardens are very lush and tropical so decorations can be kept to a minimum. All of the staff are incredibly friendly and easy to work with. They host many events at the property so have the experience to make helpful suggestions.

What wasn't there to love. It was held on the lawn/gardens of the Ernest Hemingway Home Museum in Key West! The gardens are lush with foliage & flowers. His 2 story house has wrap around porches on the lower and upper floors which are accessible to everyone. There is a pool (although not open for use) and a pond with fish and a tiny waterfall. With the surrounding 8ft brick walls it felt like we were in our own fantasy world. It is VERY picturesque and is located nearly in the middle of the downtown area only one block over from Duval Street. It is across the street from the historic lighthouse (great photos from the 2nd floor porch) and only a couple blocks from the downtown night-life. After the reception ended the reception party walked 2 blocks to Key West's oldest bar, the Green Parrot. When we were done with Duval, it only took us about 5 minutes to get home.;The only thing I would warn about would be to people who have cat allergies. If anyone is familiar with Ernest Hemingway, he was well known for having MANY 6-toed cats (polydactyls). Great for people who like the feline species, but no so much for those that don't. At last I checked there were around 20 & they never leave the grounds.