We absolutely fell in love with this quaint brick manor nestled in the woods, only 20 minutes outside of downtown DC, for our weekend getaway wedding. Owned by the Montgomery County Parks, the manor house is separated into various rooms, which... we loved, but can prove to be a bit complicated when having to move people around in the house.
This is a "do it yourself" type of venue, which can save you a ton of money because you can bring in whatever you want, but means that either you or a wedding coordinator need to organize outside vendors with the staff at Rockwood.
There is no onsite wedding catering available, but several caterers available in the area. We recommend Stone Soup catering! Their food is delicious and they know the venue well!
One huge bonus to Rockwood is that all of the tables, chairs, ceremony chairs, etc. are included in the price! That will save you a bunch because all you will need is linens.
For a bit of a description, there are three rooms on the top level (we had a bar, appetizers, Photo Booth), a side brick floor veranda (where we had dancing), and a large banquet hall with a catering kitchen and large refrigerators for storage. We brought our own nonalcoholic and alcoholic beverages, which saved us thousands of dollars.
There are several gorgeous outdoor areas where you can hold a ceremony, including a stone patio in the back or a gazebo on the side of the manor.
Above all, it is EXTREMELY affordable for the region. We paid less than $7000 in total for Thursday-Sunday with accommodations for up to 37 people in B&B style rooms, and 85 people in bunk bed cabins. If you wanted to charge a small fee for the accommodations, you would make back some money and save your guests money! The 13 B&B style rooms each have their own bathroom/shower. The three cabins are actually pretty nice if you can get over sleeping in a bunk. They are air-conditioned or heated depending on the season, and the bathroom facilities are clean and relatively modern. The whole package is an exceptional deal in this region.
The only thing that can be a bit frustrating is that the staff at Rockwood are not always reachable by phone and do not communicate information among themselves very well. The staff is extremely friendly, but there were several occasions where I would email or call someone to confirm something and the next time I called or emailed, another colleague would have no record of what I had confirmed and I'd have to start over. On a few occasions, I would have to do this 3 or 4 times. If Rockwood had a dedicated wedding coordinator it would be so much more efficient.
That said, we wouldn't have changed the venue for anything. We really loved the charming rustic, vintage feel of the manor.