The Capen House at the Polasek

We could not have asked for a better place to have our wedding! The Capen House is beautiful inside and out and was a perfect fit for our wedding (guest count 95). The venue is quick to respond to emails and return phone calls too. They offer a list of preferred vendors which was a nice place to start when looking at different vendor options. We highly recommend The Capen House for any special events!

This was the only venue that we toured. When we arrived, we knew that it was exactly what we were looking for. Not only are the grounds GORGEOUS, the house is historical and charming. Our guests had so much to say about our stunning venue.

I cannot rave about this venue enough! My husband and I just had our wedding here and this gorgeous venue really set the stage for a beautiful event. The location is ideal. It is situated in a quiet area of Winter Park very close to Park Ave shopping and tons of restaurants and cafes, which we liked because it is a very nice area to accommodate traveling guests. It is also not too far from Orlando attractions, which was great for guests traveling with kids. The venue itself is stunning. It is a well-maintained historic home with a lovely waterfront view, though the major appeal for us was the botanical garden setting behind the house and sculpture garden. The landscaping is gorgeous and encourages guests to explore, which I felt was ideal to keep everyone occupied throughout the cocktail hour. The interior is also very elegant and provides a great backdrop for dancing, catching up with guests, and it is nice to have as a backup in the event of rain. There is a full kitchen onsite, handicap accessible bathrooms for guests, and a private bridal suite with a separate bathroom. My bridal party used this suite to get ready and frequently found each other back in here throughout the night to take breaks from all the activity or to use the restroom. It’s a very nice perk. The Capen House does not provide tables, catering, etc. They do require using some of their preferred vendors and you have the option of some vendors such as the cake, florist, etc. This is something to factor into cost, but their preferred vendors are top tier so I imagine you would be in good hands with any of them. We hired Hannah as our day-of coordinator and I cannot recommend this enough!!! I honestly can’t imagine pulling together this wedding without this service. They coordinated with all of our vendors to make sure our event went according or our vision, made sure our details and finishing touches were all worked out, brought up any questions we might not have anticipated and helped us figure out any outstanding needs, organized our rehearsal, and made sure we had every detail down for the big day. As someone who knew pretty much nothing about weddings before, the day-of coordination was probably the most valuable asset and it really helped having someone who works with the venue directly. If you are considering the Capen House for your wedding, definitely check it out. I am still over the moon with how perfect our wedding was because of this venue and several of our guests told us it was the most beautiful wedding they had ever attended. This place really sets the scene for a fairytale day.

So I had a tour of this venue, that we drove 3 and 1/2 hours to come to, we ended up arriving early and I texted to ask if we could move up our appointment and it was totally fine if they couldn’t, they couldn’t because they had another couple touring, like I said totally fine! We show up at our appointment time and stand outside for 20 minutes past our appointment time, another couple arrived at the same time as us and was standing outside with us, after 20-25 minutes the girl doing the tour came out and apologized saying her tour before us ran over, then she asked names and realized it was our appointment time that got ran into and the other couple was supposed to be after us and showed up 30 minutes early to their appointment, then in front of this other couple asks me if they can “join our tour” and make it a double tour… this rubbed me the wrong way after we were told we could not arrive early because someone else was touring but this other couple could. It was a very awkward tour. In my opinion if they can’t even have viewing tours run smooth what are the chances they can have your wedding run smooth, also it’s so much cheaper than other venues because literally nothing is included (no chairs, lights, tables, etc) and after the tour nobody reached out, nobody said anything. Out of all the venues we toured this had to be the worse one with professionalism.