The Cloisters

d friends wouldn’t all be able to come. The Cloisters gave us the best of both worlds in the form of a magical, authentic English castle, nestled in a perfect location central to all our guests and us. This gorgeous castle will enchant you the moment you pull up the winding wooded drive and see the gothic spires, stained glass windows, and blooming gardens. There are stunning spaces throughout the castle for ceremonies, dining, dancing, games, and pretty much anything you could ever wish for. One of my favorite features was the turreted walkway for the bride to walk across and ring a huge antique bell before coming down the aisle! Also, you could not possibly have a more atmospheric backdrop for all of your wedding photos. Our guests all commented on how they had never seen a more unique, elegant, and magical wedding venue and how much fun they had exploring the nooks and crannies of the castle all night. If you are looking to lose yourself in a fairytale on your wedding day, you’ve found your venue!

y of spaces available to use (the outdoor garden/courtyard, the amphitheater, and the entire house inside). Walking through the building feels like going back in time or in a fairy tale. It is so nice that when you rent the space you have the entire house to work with. The staff at the Cloisters (Annie, Sarah, Victoria) were also incredibly nice, responsive, and accommodating in planning a wedding in pandemic times. Victoria really went above and beyond during our rehearsal (actually helping run the rehearsal and making sure we all knew where to stand and when to enter, which was incredibly helpful). Victoria also helped with hanging decorations and making a few last light centerpieces - I wouldn't have expected that at all and was really touched by her help. When we had some last minute rain she also was patient bearing with our indecisiveness about whether to move the ceremony inside or not and helping to get chairs upstairs at the last minute. Would highly recommend working with both the staff at the Cloisters and the beautiful venue. Thank you for such a beautiful and memorable wedding! <3

am not sure who ours was but they were TERRIBLE. they did not even smile during the whole event and everything was very bland. i could not even eat the hordevres offered (vague fajitas, meatballs and cheese with fruit - mostly melon).

day. We had a themed wedding that the Cloisters Castle served as the perfect backdrop for. Other than the gorgeous look of the venue though the staff was extremely helpful and accommodating to our needs. We couldn’t recommend having your wedding at this hidden gem in the heart of Maryland more.

urs and accommodating. We probably went to the venue about 10 times to go over day of events as well as look around. They also host multiple open houses throughout the year where you can meet most of the vendors including caterers, day of coordinators, flowers, etc. There is ample space for the bridal party to get ready, and multiple bathrooms throughout the building which was nice. We had a Christmas Harry Potter wedding, and the venue was perfect. They decorate the entire building for Christmas already, so saved us a lot of decorating! It is also BYOB, so if you were looking for a venue where you could bring your own alcohol, this place is great. The only thing I wish was different at the venue is that the main room is split into two rooms. So if you have a large wedding of over 70 people, they will have to be split up and the people in the other room will not be able to see the couple in the main room. Overall, great experience. This venue would be lovely in photos any time of the year.

us to come to good compromises. All of my guests kept asking how I found such a beautiful unique location. I highly recommend The Cloisters if you want a gorgeous wedding.

ding new beautiful details that we missed the last time we were there - different patterns in the glass windows, a wishing well hidden in greenery near the front entrance, details in the woodwork or the paintings on the walls, a hidden windmill in the back, or even new staircases we had never seen before. The staff there is small but mighty and they keep the place looking gorgeous through any season we saw it (our wedding was in October, but we also visited in the spring, and summer for open houses). Honestly a very reasonable price for all of the magic of the place. We barely had to decorate. It's a fairy tale castle, what more could you want?

wedding either indoors or outdoors is a great relief in case of bad weather, both the interior and the exterior of the castle are gorgeous with many unique photo ops and you will not have to decorate much, the staff are extremely friendly and accommodating, the second level has the perfect rooms for getting ready before the ceremony, the castle is so romantic in the evening your guests will rave about how beautiful, fun, and memorable this venue is! Annie and Sara are incredibly responsive, flexible, professional, and helpful in answering any questions. Highly recommend!

ay you would like and you get the entire property to yourself during the allotted time. You get the space for 1 hour of rehearsal and then 9 hours of wedding on the Big Day (3 of which have to be set-up) but you can pay for additional hours if you’d like. It has a bit of a romantic history too, if you care to read up about that on their website. At the end of September, we had the most perfect weather for our outdoor ceremony and dinner. To top it all off, our wedding photos look like they’re straight out of a fairytale. There are so many beautiful places to take photos that we were fighting the sunset to get all of the beautiful locals in. The staff was lovely to work with and it’s surprisingly affordable for what it is. I’m so glad we chose the Cloisters for our wedding.

urces. Our Day was perfect.. even thought she was off work the day of our wedding she stopped by to make sure everything was perfect.. the staff was friendly and helped us with decorations.. I can't say enough how wonderful the castle was.. if they are available book it.

even use their bathroom. The courtyard was beautiful, but they have so many restrictions that as a bride you can't decorate or do practically anything. Online it says 2000 for a wedding during the week( on Here comes the Guide) (https://www.herecomestheguide.com/maryland/wedding-venues/the-cloisters) They told me it would be 4,600 for that same deal. The price online is just to attract customers. The woman working there showed me their calendar for that summer and let me take a picture so I can decide on the exact date... I was the ONLY bride in the month of August. When I called them that Monday, they didn't answer the phones ALL WEEK. After many voicemails from my bridesmaid and I, I finally got a call back on Friday. She didn't apologize for it getting back to me after a whole week. I told the lady that there's barely any options for me to plan a wedding and I would just like to have the ceremony since I can pay by the hour instead. She told me they are overbooked and I told her that it's not true, she can't lie to customers. I saw the calendar and I was the ONLY bride that month. I explained that the reason why they won't get brides is because of all the restrictions , horrible customer service , and that they won't work with them at all. She was so angry she blew up and hung up the phone. That's the manager of the location.

est it can be. The staff was immensely helpful. My guests were astounded by the location, grounds, and castle itself. Very much worth the money :)

ched high and low before we found this gem located right outside of Baltimore. I mean, who doesn't want to get married in a castle! There are some problems with the service. It's a do-it-yourself kind of place, all you get from Cloisters is the venue, everything else is on you. You have to coordinate all of you vendors, etc. Don't expect to have your emails answered EVER, and if you call chances are you will get the voicemail. They might call you back in a day or two, or they might not. Regardless, the reasonable price and gorgeous venue, make the service issues worth it.

ause I had been talking to people all day... I'm so glad I did though! What a beautiful place! We ended up having our wedding there on 5/18/13. The venue was definitely a conversation piece among guests. We got married in the courtyard surrounded by beautiful gardens. I'm in love with this place and would recommened it to any one who wants a "fairy tale wedding". The employee's are very helpful and acommodating and just want to make your day go as smoothly as possible.

features, I think, is the windmill out back. I gather it was donated to Baltimore by a family that had the money and the whimsy to build themselves a castle using period-appropriate building materials and methodology. We knew about it because my now-husband went there as a child, when it was home to the children's museum that has since become Port Discovery. Aside from its beauty and convenience to the city, we decided to get married at the Cloisters because it was a fraction of the cost of most other places we considered. We paid just less than $3000 for a Friday evening in April, because it wasn't a weekend and was slightly before the "wedding season" took off. Chairs and tables are there to begin with, which again helped keep costs down. You do have to work from a pre-approved list of caterers, which can be expensive, but they all know a great deal about the venue and thus can be profoundly helpful as you plan. Recommended to all.

d it was great because we knew not everyone was going to be dancing. With this setup we ensured that those who opted out of dancing could still talk to other guests without being drowned out by music. Since you have the entire place to yourself for the whole event, your guests can roam around the castle, check out different floors and mingle. Having tables and chairs included in the rental price was perfect - no need to worry about those! They also had a closet of items you could borrow from to use as centerpieces, or to supplement whatever you were going to bring in. We honestly went really light on the decorations because the castle is so pretty all by itself. The long list of approved caterers ensures you can find many options to work within your budget. Annie and Kimi were by far the easiest people to work with - we absolutely adored them! Professional yet laid-back, friendly and funny. Annie actually called me a few days before my wedding to see if we wouldn't mind if a tent that was going to be setup for the wedding the day before could stay - and by the way, we could use it free of charge. It was absolutely perfect. For the day-of stuff, the rep was around but at that point the caterer was really running the show and setup. We just didn't want to leave! I'd hang out at that castle every weekend if I could. All of our guests loved that it was different than your average ballroom wedding and we've seen tons of pictures of people posing with the suits of armor! In short - lots of setup options, very little extra decorating to do, perfect people to work with.

uple days before, store stuff over night afterwards and gave us the full fun of the place ALL day. That gave us an opportunity to take pictures before the ceremony and have a 5 hour reception. We were worried after hurricane Sandy a few days before our date that they wouldn't have power...NOT an issue whatsoever. They had power AND reassured us that they have never closed for a storm. They have a backup generator and great plans for bad weather. I was very comfortable with them through the whole process. Next to the Pantry as our caterer, they were our favorite vendor to work with. All our guests were in awe of the place and we used the upstairs for a photobooth, sign in book, etc so people really got to explore the WHOLE mansion.

oom big enough to fit all 87 of our guests and a staff that made everything so pleasant. We got married in April so there was a risk of rain but The Cloisters have several different options that account for weather. Our ceremony was in the garden and the flowers were so beautiful. I'm so happy that we got to get married on a beautiful day at such a remarkable venue.

t our wedding and it was crowded. Also, there is no air conditioning so it was a little stuffy inside and our wedding was in April. But it was still completely worth it!

ou do have to use a caterer from a list that they have but I had no problems in fact it made it easier to choose. There are open houses constantly with all sorts of vendors. I would recommenced this venue to anyone that wants a true fairy tale wedding!!

g to get married on a Friday night like we did, or a Sunday, it's very affordable. All of the rental fees go to support the arts in Baltimore, so it's your supporting a good cause as well. Annie, who manages the Cloisters, also helped us out tremendously when we had a disaster with our hotel a week before the wedding. The Chase Suites, over booked their hotel and told us 7 days before our wedding, that they could no longer accomodate us or our guests. We had over 20 rooms booked! Annie convinced their corporate manager to book us at the Embassy Suites ( a much nice hotel) and got them to pay for the difference in cost for all of our guests. She was amazing and saved our wedding. I would love to have an excuse to have another event there. It's so beautiful.

ne Irene forced us to move the wedding from starting at 6:00pm outside to 12:00pm inside. Without their flexibility, our wedding most likely would not have taken place on August 27.

th be outdoors but it ended up raining that day, although we did get to have a shortened version of our ceremony outdoors in the cloistered garden. Afterward, our reception was indoors. And it was super hot, as was to be expected with no AC in August. I knew this going in and I figured the beauty of the venue was worth being a little hot but my advice is to make sure you are really ok with that before booking the Cloisters in the summer months, because if you aren't, you will not be happy with the heat indoors. Staff at the Cloisters were always friendly to us; definitely more of a laid back style there though so don't expect anyone to fawn all over you and your wedding. Overall, I would totally recommend the Cloisters!

e had- definitely a very memorable location.

was outside in the beautiful courtyard, the bars and food stations were in other rooms, the cake went in another part, and we even had a photobooth room. I loved our location!!