My husband and I got engaged in February 2023 and were hoping for a fall 2023 wedding, so we had just around 8 months to plan everything. We looked at venues online, narrowed it d...own by prices, then nixed the ones that weren't available for our desired weekend. We had two serious contenders for a venue, and we scheduled tours at both venues one weekend in March.
We live just north of Boston and so Gedney Farm is easily 2.5-3 hours from us. As our GPS took us down these snowy backroads for the last hour or so, we started to doubt how we felt about the venue.... thinking it's too far and not worth the hassle, etc. It was a bit closer to my New York family/friends than Boston but kinda in the middle of nowhere. We essentially had chosen the first Boston venue before even getting to the Gedney parking lot. However, upon walking into the main entrance, we tucked those doubts away and drank in the beautiful rustic details in every part of this barn... the new bar, the fireplace, the sitting area, the large reception space and the loft overlooking everything. Michael answered all of our questions and more, then took us to the lodging barn which *completely* sold us. 16 rooms reserved for our guests in an architecturally interesting space which had a perfect mix of private bedrooms and common hangout space. Our entire bridal party and a few close friends filled up the space, not having to worry about anything, as it was a 5 second walk to the venue. It was so fun and easy getting ready without even having to leave the barn, and there was plenty of space for my girls to get ready in the bridal suite, and my husband and his guys to get ready in a separate space.
btw- Most of our guests stayed at one of our two hotel blocks in Great Barrington, and we hired a bus to/from the reception (word of caution: the local police ruthlessly target cars on that road... my MOH got a speeding ticket as she was driving friends back to Gedney from Great Barrington the night before the wedding... hiring a bus is essential)
Anyway, I worked with Samantha through most of the planning process, and Patty for the final week and wedding weekend. Samantha was incredibly organized and on top of deadlines... she essentially served as a wedding planner which was helpful since I was doing a lot of DIY decorations and planning an entire wedding in less than 8 months. Patty was on top of everything that was going on for the wedding weekend, helped us feel calm and ready, and made sure everything ran as smoothly and as close to the timeline as possible.
Honestly, Gedney was definitely on the pricier side of the venues we researched, and it's even tougher once you add in the cost of vendors, lodging, dress, suit, decorations, add-ons, fees, taxes, tips, etc. On our drive back home from the tour, we really had to consider our budget and how much this venue meant to us for our big day. We had to reallocate some things in our budget and we both took on extra jobs to set aside more wedding savings, but we made it work. Our wedding day was perfect. We had smiles on our faces ALL WEEKEND, everything was perfectly taken care of, the staff was on top of everything, our ceremony was beautiful, our guests were eating, drinking, dancing, and taking photobooth pics all night, and that lodging was the complete icing on the ceremonial wedding cake.