About this vendor
Where would you like the rest of your history to begin? Why not consider the historic Hammond Castle Museum, a fully functioning museum located in Gloucester, Massachusetts. This venue is a true gem nestled on a gorgeous, manicured property overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Aside from the beautiful views and gardens, the museum's appeal reaches lovers of history and invention, and also those with an appreciation of Medieval architecture and Renaissance Art. John Hays Hammond Jr. was an avid collector of the unique and his collections are on display, interwoven throughout the castle which was his home until his death in 1965. You have the opportunity to make your wedding day as historic as the Hammond Castle Museum. Let us help you make that happen.
PRESENTING OUR PETITE WEDDING PACKAGE
In light of the circumstances that many couples find themselves today, wrestling with the decision to postpone or even cancel their wedding day, we offer a solution within the confines of current gathering limits. Say “I DO” in the expanse of our Great Hall or embrace while perfectly framed by our iconic arches with sweeping views of Gloucester Harbor. Our new petite wedding package offers you the opportunity to host an intimate wedding ceremony. You and your closest family and friends will have exclusive access to the Museum and gardens for your ceremony and photography. Maximum number of 20 permitted.
For more information and availability, please call 978-283-2080 or reach us at info@hammondcastle.org.
Facilities and Capacity
With incredible coastal views, the Ocean lawn coupled with The Great Hall can easily accommodate 120 guests while alone, The Great Hall comfortably seats 95 for dining. We encourage exploration of the Renaissance Dining Room, the Library with the "whisper" ceiling and the courtyard with tropical plants and pool. A private room for both the bride and groom is provided and available throughout the event.
Services Offered
The Hammond Castle Museum is proud to offer access to exceptional individuals and businesses that will supply every wedding need. The museum staff is on hand to provide security and parking assistance. Entertaining and educational tours by the museum staff are offered as a memorable feature of your special day.
Amenities + details
Ceremony Area
Dressing Room
Indoor Event Space
Outdoor Event Space
Reception Area
Wireless Internet
Covered Outdoors Space
Handicap Accessible
Liability Insurance
On-Site Accommodations
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Religious Ceremony
Settings
- Beach
- Waterfront
- Castle
- Historic Venue
- Museum
Reviews
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4.5
out of 5.026 reviews
Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 9
Firstly, we do not recommend getting married here. Overall, the experience was not great. This review can only be 3500 characters, so we have had to remove a lot of the review.
1 ...
- We were reassured that guests would not be barred from the venue before 5pm. We even made sure to clarify this; our wedding coordinator/us was assured that guests would be allowed to enter the castle if they arrive early. That was not true and all guests were barred from entering until 5pm.
2 - We were told we could unload wedding decor the day prior, on the wedding day from 8am-1pm. When we came to do that at 10am, it took a long time for staff to figure out if we were actually allowed to come down to drop stuff off. At one point we were even told we couldn’t because the tent vendor was setting up and it was too many people according to the venue. The venue did not tell us that we could not come when other vendors were there or we would have coordinated a specific time without other vendors there. After a debate, the venue would only allow one car/person at a time (there was room for more than one car at a time) resulting in unloading taking much longer than it should have. We were not informed of this one car/person rule in advance. They also then told us that we should come back after 1pm because traffic from the museum goers slows down at that time. So we ended up coming around 2:30pm with all out supplies and ready for the wedding but once again staff did not communicate with each other because a different security guard this time (than the one who talked to us earlier) told us we could not unload more stuff then because the venue was still open. The lack of proper communication between staff was atrocious, had devastating effects on our wedding, and wasted so much of what little time you have on your wedding day.
3 - We have numerous guests who come up to us after our wedding to tell us how rude the staff was towards them. One example, numerous guests would be told they could come down to the venue, then another worker would stop them and yell at them (when they got permission from the previous worker). (We had a Halloween themed wedding.) Staff also tried to bar one of guests from entering, who wearing a samurai costume, stating this is a private event (once again showing how poor communication was among staff for them not to know the wedding theme.)
4 - Per our contract, vendors were supposed to be able to unload at 3pm (but not set up until 3:30pm). Our DJ was barred from unloading until 3:30pm resulting in him finishing setting up late causing our ceremony to start 20 minutes late. This (and staff) also didnt allow him to back up his car and unload his equipment so he had to bring each piece of equipment down one by one. All of this caused our wedding to start late.
5 - In our contract, we had a rehearsal as part of our contract. Originally the venue did not want to honor the contract - it took our coordinator speaking with them, us calling numerous times and speaking with different staff for it to be honored. They did end up giving us a rehearsal and even let us practice our first dance. However, we should not have had to fight to have our contract honored properly.
6 - When we booked this venue, we were told the price we were getting was the typical price for all weekend weddings. The verbiage in our contract also made it seem that way as well. However, we learned after the fact that the venue charged extra for it being labor day weekend.
I recently had the opportunity to coordinate a wedding at Hammond Castle Museum and had a wonderful experience working with Deb and the entire team.
From the planning process thro...
ugh wedding day, communication was always clear, collaborative, and helpful. The team was accommodating, professional, and genuinely invested in making the event successful. The venue itself is absolutely stunning and creates such a unique atmosphere for weddings and events.
Even with some unique logistics involved in this particular wedding, the Hammond Castle team remained flexible and solution-oriented throughout the process, which I greatly appreciated as a planner. I would absolutely love the opportunity to work there again in the future and highly recommend the venue to couples looking for a truly memorable setting.
This venue is absolutely fantastic, we loved it, our guests loved it, if you want a castle wedding, this is the place. We had a fantasy/D&D themed wedding and knew we wanted to ge...
t married in a castle (plus we're also in the history/museum field so getting married in a museum fit us). We had the ceremony on the back lawn overlooking the ocean and then had the reception in the great hall (45 guests). Deb (the venue coordinator) is great and seemed to work really well with our wedding planner.
Hammond Castle is an active museum, so if you're thinking about using them as a wedding venue you need to go into it with the knowledge that you must be respectful of their operating hours and your allotted time--this is especially important when choosing and coordinating your vendors (particularly when scheduling drop-offs and pickups for equipment). The castle was also constructed in the 1920s and has some steep stairs so if you have elderly guests or people with mobility issues be mindful that they will likely need some assistance getting around.
I had a list of venues to tour, I started with Hammond castle and cancelled all other tours. This is the dream venue!! The staff is responsive and helped the day of the wedding run...
so smoothly. Everyone LOVED the castle!!
Do not hesitate to have your wedding here. Deb, the wedding coordinator is wonderful to work with. The venue is absolutely stunning and fulfilled all of my castle, fairytale weddin...
g dreams.
My wedding at Hammond Castle Museum was an amazing experience, the food was fantastic, the atmosphere and ambiance was more incredible than I could have ever imagined! The venue is...
so beautiful, and we will be visiting frequently. My wedding wasn't "picture perfect", but the staff, the vendors, the guests and my wedding party did a fantastic job to ensure everything ran smoothly
Deb and Erika were fantastic, amazing, phenomenal, picture perfect words cannot describe how fantastic they were and are! They made our guests feel welcomed, they gave tours (it's a museum) and it was amazing to have our guests experience such an amazing place. I am forever thankful for all they did and continued to in order to make mine and my husband's day one to remember
There is not a more perfect place in New England to get married than at Hammond Castle. It is absolutely stunning, and the staff, particularly Deb and Linda, are so kind and knowl...
edgeable. All of our guests were absolutely wowed.
Thank you for a perfect wedding day!
The only thing I will note based on some other reviews I have seen is that unlike a lot of other venues, Hammond Castle is venue only, and you need to source everything else on your own (catering, alcohol, a wedding coordinator, etc.). If you are looking for an all-inclusive/easy venue this is not for you :)
The staff at Hammond Castle Museum made our day absolutely perfect, and we couldn’t have pulled off our wedding without their support. Deb in particular was extremely patient and ...
helpful, especially since we were both completely lot and had no idea what we were doing. She went well out of her way to connect us to great vendors as well, and her recommendations proved to be spot-on. Their team cannot be understated. The venue was absolutely stunning. Everything we’d ever hoped for and more. The day was so magical! We simply couldn’t have picked a better venue. If we could do it all over, we’d do it all the same. Thank you to everyone at Hammond Castle Museum for a night we’ll never forget!
Hammond Castle is absolutely stunning for a wedding venue. It was gorgeous for photos, and we got so many compliments from our guests throughout the night. It made our special nigh...
t feel even more magical. A few things to be aware of when booking this venue:
-It is not super accessible for those who have trouble walking
-The bathrooms are pretty far away from the reception areas and there is limited signage
-Hammond provides recommended vendors, but you will need to book and coordinate with each of the vendors in order to ensure you have all of the necessary items for your wedding.
We worked with Robin Perry at A Friend of the Bride as our coordinator, and she was absolutely incredible. Highly recommend working with her if you choose to have your wedding here!
We wanted our wedding to be an immersive Fairy Tale experience for our guests. As soon as we visited Hammond Castle, we ceased all searches. It was anything and everything that we ...
both wanted. The aesthetic and the grandness of the structure and decor speak for itself. Every corner in this place will give you amazing photos. A castle on a cliff by the ocean?! A plus! A castle that comes with extremely helpful, knowledgable and friendly staff?! What else can we ask for?! Had to especially mention our venue coordinator Deb! She was there for us from start to finish. We live out of state, so her responsiveness, professionalism, creative suggestions and sincere advice helped us tremendously in putting our wedding together!
Now Hammond is first and foremost a museum, so there are a lot of rules and restrictions to ensure that the museum stays intact, but they are all listed and we were made aware of them from day one. This also makes it harder for vendors to work with them. They have a trusted vendor list to choose from. You can also choose outside of the list, they will just have to attend an orientation meeting and abide by the castle's rules. Sounds like a lot, but it is because of these exact restrictions that people like us can still enjoy this magnificent castle after so many years!
This venue is in very high demand! We booked it well over a year in advance and by then we only have Sundays left, so don't wait too long to book this venue! :)
We were able to have all our wedding dreams fulfilled at Hammond and gave everyone involved a memorable experience. It was seriously perfect and Hammond Castle will forever hold a very very special place in our hearts.
First off let me premise this by saying the castle itself is beautiful and looks amazing in pictures. I was surrounded by my loved ones and married the love of my life. Communicati...
on and organization with the event planning staff however left much to be desired. I contacted them about a year before our wedding September 2022- their event coordinator Deb was friendly. Our first issue came up when we received an email stating that we still owed them a balance after we paid them ~4k in total for our date. Luckily we had receipts as well as a bank statement with the transaction. Our second issue was trying to coordinate our rehearsal. We had a very small wedding party all of whom had never seen the venue so we were looking forward to practicing our big day with them. We had been told rehearsal was held the friday before the wedding. We confirmed this with Deb in person, on the phone and she directly confirmed with our wedding coordinator. The night before she leaves me a voicemail telling me there was no need to hold a rehearsal due to 'how small our party is.' Our contract explicitly stated that a rehearsal was included in our package. My fiance, our parents and friends involved had rearranged their schedules to make this date work. I call her back and after talking to her, keep friday as our rehearsal date except now it had to be before 4pm because there was apparently a wedding being held directly after. A major detail I wish she could've let us know at any point during the planning process. The only people that were able to make it that day and time was us and our officiant. She offered the following sunday as a potential new rehearsal date but due to it being extremely last minute that wasn't going to work. On the date of our wedding, the security guard stood in the middle of the tables which not only made us but our guests feel uncomfortable. Seperate from that, Deb also yelled at my wedding coordinator over some minor decoration details which I did not appreciate. All in all, beautiful setting, need better professionalism.
An incredible experience. We worked with the castle manager from start to finish. She, two event managers, and a security guard were there on the day, which was so relieving. She a...
nswered ally questions, starting more than a year out and we were able to come to the castle as many times as needed. They have a stellar list of vendors. I could go on for ages about this venue and the quality service. It also happens to be JUST GORGEOUS. A stunning location for our special day that went smoothly because of the staff. I would pick them over and over and over again.
I cannot say enough about Hammond Castle and their staff!! My husband and I had the most perfect day with such an unbelievable setting! It was truly a fairytale wedding! Every gues...
t was blown away by this venue, and the pictures are one of a kind! This venue is a must!!!!
Hammond Castle Museum is a very special place to have a wedding. The setting is fairytale like. The wedding photos were breathtaking because of the scenery. The guests were delight...
ed with the uniqueness. It didn’t hurt that we had fantastic weather. The staff was very helpful. The communication was more than adequate. Just a couple of helpful hints. One, there are a lot of stairs to navigate and not really handicap or elderly friendly. The bride even had some trouble in her dress. Two, there is no kitchen so caterers will need to bring a portable kitchen and will charge extra because of all the stairs. Three, there is no room for a band but a DJ would work. We hired a one man band so it wasn’t a problem. Four, we only had 50 guests and in the end we were glad the original 60 didn’t happen or the table set up in the big hall would have been very tight as well as the dance floor which isn’t very big. We had plenty of room out on the lawn for the ceremony but wanted to be inside for the reception. One thing our guests really liked was the tours the staff gave of the castle between the ceremony and the reception. I have absolutely no regrets with our decision to be married at the castle and I knew the second I saw it that it was the right place for us.
We fell in love with Hammond Castle the minute we stepped onto the grounds. The castle sits on the beautiful Gloucester coastline, and immediately brought a sense of calm to us. Th...
e inside of the castle is just as magical, with so much history and cool exhibits. The museum was brought to life by Deb and her team. Deb was such a pleasure to work with, always responsive, kind, and professional. Upon our first walk through, her passion about Hammond Castle really shined through and made us so excited to get married in such a magical place. Deb was so kind and patient with us by doing multiple walkthroughs, and was so flexible and helpful to us throughout the planning process. On the day of, Deb was amazing in helping coordinate and also gave castle tours to all the guests. While the castle is a gorgeous venue, Deb and her crew really made the venue special for all the guests. I could not imagine my wedding at a different venue, and I would recommend it to everyone.
WOW, we wish we could give the castle a million stars! The venue itself is well worth every penny, and Deb (the event coordinator) is the kindest and most well organized human on t...
he planet! The entire process, including a covid postponement, was made so much easier by the team at Hammond Castle! Our wedding was amazing and our guests were in awe of the castle! Deb led tours throughout the cocktail hour and was available for the entire night, along with two other event managers. The sound was incredible in the great hall, and the courtyard bar was perfectly placed!! The castle has anything you could possibly want for your wedding day and makes for the most unique and spectacular venue! The lights, the different rooms, the decor, the vaulted ceilings- you will never find a more gorgeous and unique venue.
Thank you SO MUCH to Deb and the rest of the Hammond Castle team, you made our wedding more incredible than we could have imagined!
I fell in love with Hammond Castle the first time we visited. My now husband and I toured many lovely venues in Massachusetts, but nothing could compare. The castle was built by an...
eccentric inventor, who at one time, held the most patents in the US; this really resonated with me, as I have a career in patent law. Beauty, uniqueness, intrigue, and a fascinating history- Did I mention the castle is on a cliff on the edge of the ocean? It was all the things I love the most rolled into one. My husband was hesitant because the venue doesn’t come with any of the things other venues did, but I knew this was the place for us. It’s true that having a wedding here involves a higher level of planning complexity and you will need to hire a team of vendors to bring in tables, chairs, linens, silverware, catering, bar, etc. My biggest piece of advice would be to hire a wedding coordinator or planner. We hired a team of two day-of coordinators and it was well worth the investment. You’re allowed to bring in your own alcohol, which provides major cost savings. While it does takes work to plan with so many moving parts, we are so happy we chose to marry here. Our wedding day was everything we had hoped for. I must shout out Deb Nypaver, the event manager at the castle. She was always helpful and friendly, and knows the venue better than anyone. We much enjoyed working with Deb. Her love for the castle is evident and infectious. Thank you to all at Hammond Castle and our incredible vendor team who helped bring our dream wedding to life. If you’re looking for a venue that will absolutely wow your guests, leave a lasting impression, not to mention the most gorgeous wedding photos, this is it.
We found Hammond Castle for our intimate micro wedding through our photographer and it could not have been a more perfect venue. Although we only had 12 people at our wedding due t...
o COVID-19 there was still lots to coordinate with a full ceremony and reception being held on site. Working with Deb and the team there was so easy and enjoyable. They suggested on site meetings with our vendors to make sure everyone knew the lay of the land which was super comforting and helpful. They always responded quickly, were extremely flexible with our party and wanted nothing more than for us to have the best day ever. We only had 35 days to plan our event and they were beyond accommodating, even helping me coordinate entry and exit for my grandmother who is not able to walk without assistance. The castle’s history is fascinating, the location with the view of the water in the distance is so incredibly gorgeous and its worth a visit even if you aren’t planning an event! It was an absolutely perfect day and that would not have been possible without the help of the Hammond Castle staff and the beyond beautiful backdrop that made it feel like a fairytale.
We recently got married at Hammond Castle with the petite wedding package. Deb was our coordinator and she was absolutely amazing! She is so sweet and made sure our wedding was a s...
uccess especially during this pandemic. The venue is breathtaking and our photos came out amazing! There are endless opportunities for photos. Never once in my life did I think I would be able to have a wedding here, I almost wish I could do it again.. !
We used Hammond Castle Museum as both our ceremony and reception venue for our wedding in September 2019. The venue is beautiful and was really memorable for everyone. Our ceremony...
was on the back lawn overlooking the ocean and guests loved the sound of the waves crashing on the cliffs below. During our cocktail hour, guests got to take guided tours of the castle museum with a drink in their hand. The Great Hall easily fit our party of 75 for the reception but would feel crowded with a larger group. The staff were easy to work with, the price is reasonable and the ambiance of the castle was priceless. I would definitely recommend this vendor!
Let me first start by saying the castle itself is beautiful and I do not regret having my wedding there, however their staff is definitely not equipped to host weddings.
A few ba...
d experiences that left us with a bad feeling after our wedding:
-As I was walking down the aisle I noticed many things that I had spoken to the staff about out of place, in fact right after we said the "I dos" I looked over the beautiful arches that you see in all of the pictures to find 2 of my centerpieces sitting there. If they were just a floral arrangment maybe I would not have cared, but they literally had the table numbers on them. How guests figured out their tables is unknown, and very embarrassing. I don't think any bride should have to be worried about these types of details on the day of. After the wedding was over one of my close friends informed me that she had to go around and fix many floral arrangements, put out the welcome sign, and set the sweetheart table up because it only had plates and silverware on it... no centerpiece or floral arrangement . The day before at the rehearsal I gave Linda a very detailed document stating where they were to be placed with pictures and a description!
-Upon waking up in the morning and a few guests asking us to open their cards with them, we realized we had at least 5 or 6 cards stolen from our card box as well as our go pro camera that was on the table beside it. One of the staff members came up to us and told us that for some reason she moved in during the wedding (without our permission). The staff of the castle made absolutely no effort to help us retrieve this and made no mention of the cameras that were throughout the castle and in direct site of our card box. I am not blaming them for the disappearance, because I have no proof due to them neglecting to show us any video footage. However, if this was my establishment I would be doing everything in my power to help a newly married couple get their money, and camera back that captured the best moments of our special day. This was an awful way to start our honeymoon the following day, and our close friends and family were very upset.
-After the cake cutting we went into the great hall for our first dance. Linda neglected to tell our catering staff that cake was to be served in the castle not under the tent, and MAYBE 5 people ended up getting our cake. This was a huge waste of money, and very annoying detail that could have been easily solved if she had communicated the day of plans that were provided to them.
Moral of the story, if you plan on getting married at the Hammond Castle hire your own day of coordinator and staff. Like I said the castle is beautiful, one of a kind, and a gorgeous backdrop for photos. I just wish I listened to many vendors that warned me about the "flakey" staff.
There's one word that people keep using to describe our wedding at Hammond Castle: storybook. We got married here this past August, and it was the perfect ceremony and reception ve...
nue. We had the place to ourselves after regular museum hours on a Saturday, which ended up being perfect timing - the sun was just setting after the ceremony, so we were able to get some great daylight pictures and otherwise have an elegant evening wedding!
The castle is simply gorgeous. Located on the ocean, you get the great views of Gloucester as well as historic and unique interior - every room is different! We were able to keep our wedding on the smaller side (90 guests) so that we could have our sit-down dinner in the Great Hall as well. We're so glad that we did - everyone was remarking all night at what a special and beautiful place it was, and that everything was perfect! We couldn't agree more!
Linda was great to work with - very thorough in all of our meetings with her. She even showed us albums of previous weddings held at the castle for ideas on what we could do! She was very knowledgeable and had questions that we hadn't even thought about, which really helped us guide our planning. On the day of the wedding, she kept everything running on the schedule we had planned, and kept everything organized so that we didn't have to worry!
I couldn't recommend Hammon Castle more - go see this amazing place for yourself, and I'm sure you'll fall in love with its unique charm!
We had our wedding ceremony at Hammond Castle this past August. While Linda was a bit spacey, and sometimes hard to reach in the planning process, she was 150% on point for both t...
he rehearsal and the ceremony. She had every detail down and was even able to turn the great hall in our dream set-up within an extremely short period time after closing.
It’s a bit pricey to rent for the just ceremony (3 hr minimum) but it’s not often that you are able to get married in a castle, never mind one built by a mad scientist. The venue is beautiful and your guests will love that they’ll enter your wedding via the drawbridge. Not to mention, even if there’s rain, you’re still able to get beautiful pictures in the courtyard!
Just make sure you’re organized and if you have a lot of guests, look for alternate parking and shuttles. We provided shuttles from our reception hall in Salem as the Castle only has 40 parking spots and the vendors and staff can take up 10 of those.
Also, if you’re looking for good vendors – I cannot speak highly enough of Greg Plowman (DJ) or Hot Shots (uplighting and photobooth) or Brianna Cox (photographer). All three of these vendors not only know Hammond Castle inside and out but are extremely professional and great to work with!
This review is specifically about Hammond Castle as a wedding venue. I had my wedding at Hammond Castle Museum in August and, while the venue is absolutely stunning, my experience ...
was completely ruined due to an enormous amount of miscommunication (specifically on the part of the venue rep, Linda Rose).
Let me start out by saying that if you want to hold a wedding at the castle and plan to go through all of their preferred vendors, you will probably have a great experience. The castle allows you to pick your own vendors as long as you share which vendor will be doing what. Instead of using a traditional caterer, we decided to have Indian food brought in and serve it buffet style. Now, Linda knew about this for three months before the wedding date. FOUR DAYS before the wedding, Linda calls me up and tells me that normally the caterer is in charge of cleanup, which includes breaking down all tables and chairs, removing all trash, sweeping, etc. Since we did not have a caterer, this now falls to us, including paying a $400 cleaning deposit. Four days is not a lot of time to resolve this dilemma. We ended up hiring someone off of Task Rabbit (who was great), but unfortunately, was not enough for the high standards of Hammond Castle. When we arrived, one of the first things Linda said to me (the bride) was that I should have hired a staff of people. Again, I had four days to plan this!
We had a series of problems throughout the night and Linda was incredibly rude the entire time. Yes, a lot went wrong and I can understand why she was frustrated, but being rude to a bride and groom who are paying quite a lot of money to be at your venue (which doesn't include anything besides the location itself) is really unprofessional. She was scowling all night, wouldn't communicate during clean up so we weren't sure what exactly needed to be done, and was short with me and even openly bad-mouthed me to her colleague. We were doing our best. My family and friends were removing trash, breaking down tables in their gowns, and sweeping. And still, nothing but coldness from Linda.
After the fact, Linda cashed our $400 because one trash bag was left behind and a couple of beer bottles were left outside on the premises. My husband sucked up to her and we eventually got $200 back.
So all-in-all I would recommend Hammond Castle Museum for a wedding if you are able to pay the exorbitant prices the preferred vendors charge (although, I might now understand why the charge so much to partner with the castle)! Just be ready for loads of miscommunication...
Linda Rose and the staff at Hammond Castle Museum helped make the whole process of planning our wedding effortless. She was willing to answer all our questions (no matter how silly...
they seemed) and greeted us by name every time we spoke or met. Hammond Castle Museum was the perfect location for our medieval themed wedding.
It's a historic castle by the sea filled with medieval relics. You can't get better than that.;Work with vendors who know the castle because it has it's own quirks.
Contact
80 Hesperus Ave., Gloucester, MA
HAMMOND CASTLE MUSEUM