Highfield Hall & Gardens

I used Casual Gourmet for my wedding cake and also for a Red Sox themed surprise rehearsal dinner cake for my now husband. Both cakes were delicious. They were awesome with the surprise cake and were able to do everything I asked for, even with cost saving ideas! would definitely use them again.

This place is just gorgeous. It's an old historic house set on acres of beautiful grounds surrounded by dense forest. There are several locations to conduct the ceremony on the property. We chose the west garden which was private, shady and picturesque (though does not fit more than 150 guests). The cocktail hour is indoor/outdoor- perfect to please all your guests. The reception is held under a tent that has a stone floor which was also very nice because it had rained the night before but you would never have known. When they are not hosting weddings or events, they function as a historical house and art gallery so there are always several exhibitions throughout the house and on the grounds. Highfield Hall has an exclusive catering contract with Casual Gourmet so if you decide to choose this vendor you will have CG as your caterer. The food was fantastic (and hot!) and I thought they did a lovely job making everything look great the day of. Mary made sure everything ran smoothly and that we kept to our outlined schedule. My only criticism is that I felt communication throughout the process was not always prompt or clear and it was usually me or my husband initiating questions and concerns instead of the other way around. If you want someone to hold your hand through the process, dot all the i's and cross all the t's, that is not how they work. Overall, I couldn't be more pleased with our choice of venue, and our guests raved about how gorgeous and delicious everything was. If you are looking to get married in the Falmouth area and you have more than 100 guests, this is a wonderful option.

We loved our wedding at Highfield Hall, just be aware that the space is an historical home, and as such, it's not anything-goes. In fact, given that is is historical, and recently and lovingly renovated, they were VERY flexible and accommodating. Just be aware that there will be some restrictions (you can't store liquor there - that's a licensing issue; there are restrictions on water inside and some indoor decor restrictions, but not many), and ask lots of questions so you know! We worked with Carolyn, who was great at answering my (many) questions and explaining possible alternatives. Casual Gourmet is taking over the event-planning at Highfield, but I am sure everything will continue to be great, since CG was out caterer/coordinator and also did an amazing job! There are so many pros to this venue. First, it is gorgeous. The grounds are lush and green, the house itself is beautifully redone. It is the perfect venue if you want to have a lot of flow - we had the ceremony on the front lawn, cocktails on the back porch and back lawn, dinner in the tent, dancing in the ballroom, cake in the dining room, and a photo station and games in the billiards room. That was all perfect and our guests loved it. There are very few places on the cape that have a good rain backup plan - at Highfield, you can always move the ceremony inside if you need to (though if you have more than 80 people, they would have to stand - better than sitting in the rain or being crammed under the tent all night like at other venues though! I saw the other review mentioning noise issues - most towns on the Cape have an 8pm outdoor noise cutoff, so one thing we loved about Highfield (as opposed to outdoor-only venues we also looked at) was we could party inside from 8pm on). They do have a neighbor who is prone to complaints about noise - our DJ simply kept the volume at a still loud-and-dancy level, and we just couldn't keep the doors open, which was totally fine (there is AC inside). We loved that there was a ton of prep space for us (rooms upstairs, the billiards room), ample bathrooms, an a full kitchen for the caterer. The other places we looked at in our price range were missing something - either there was no bride getting-ready space, or you needed to rent porta-potties/make due with one bathroom, or the caterers would need to being a pop-up kitchen. We also loved that unlike with a hotel, we could use a caterer. And the price for renting the venue, even on a Saturday, was super-reasonable, especially given how many hours you get the house for. In comparison, most places we looked at had a 6-hour max (Highfield is 8, plus you can get there two hours prior to prep). At the time, we could pick any caterer. Highfield has now signed an exclusive contract with Casual Gourmet to be the caterer and event coordinator for Highfield. But that's awesome, because we used Casual, and I would HIGHLY recommend them as well! (See my review of them.) Casual is very flexible - you can buy your own liquor and cake to save a few bucks if you want, and they have a big range of menus at different price points. Anyway, in conclusion, we loved getting married at Highfield, and can't wait to go back and visit (the Beebe Woods are huge, and there are tons of trails we haven't gotten to see yet!).