The Conservatory at the Sussex County Fairgrounds

at the space is clean and well maintained, and they are extremely experienced working the wedding scene. Sue-Ann, the venue coordinator, was very easy to communicate with throughout the entire wedding planning process and answered any questions or concerns we had. She and Kate (from Krave Catering) were well-informed and kept us updated about the constantly changing COVID-19 guidelines. We felt very reassured and safe having our wedding during the pandemic. They also were both extremely accommodating when we had to change our date. Sue-Ann allowed us to store our wedding decorations on-site during the week leading up to the wedding and pick them up the day after, which reduced our stress significantly and helped us to truly enjoy our wedding weekend. We also loved Victoria, who kept everything running smoothly the day of the wedding! Definitely recommend this venue to any couple planning to get married in NJ - you won’t be disappointed!

ic. The Conservatory is such an amazing place to host a wedding or event with the beautiful large windows, huge outdoor space, and the great staff. I highly recommend the Conservatory to all future brides & grooms!!!

ng for a wedding venue that I could really control the process and customize each piece of the event to make it my own – the Conservatory was just that!

elped us out with our original hotel when they tried to change our block rate! It was well worth the wait, as the venue is absolutely gorgeous and gave us the flexibility to truly make it our own. Our main hope was to have the ceremony outside, which we were able to do in their courtyard in front of the gazebo surrounded by beautiful gardens. Though it was a 95 degree June day, the building itself was cool and comfortable. My cousin, an architect, was in awe of the design. The windows and natural wood really capture the light and particularly look great at dusk. Sarah, our coordinator, took all of the decorations that we made and set up the space better than we even imagined. I described our thought process and she executed everything perfectly! If you’re looking for a stunning indoor/outdoor venue that you can customize, we would recommend The Conservatory 100%!

ich was so convenient for us! Our original plan was to have the ceremony outdoors, but the rain prevented us from doing so. However, the ceremony in the Farm Building was so gorgeous (and cool enough for a June wedding!) and was even better than we could have imagined! Sue-Ann and her team did a great job with planning everything despite the uncertainty with Covid restrictions and the rain backup plan. Our guests had a wonderful time; we had so many people tell us how beautiful they thought the venue was and how they would tell their engaged friends about the Conservatory! We would do it all over again if we could! We can't say enough about the Conservatory at the Sussex County Fairgrounds!

at. We received so much praise about how beautiful the venue is so props to the team!

ople I have ever met in my life and her assistant Sarah, who I met the day of our wedding, was absolutely incredible. She made the show run and is so talented in her position there! We had a fantastic wedding and we owe it all to our amazing vendors, but the conservatory itself stole the show. Our guests couldn’t believe how gorgeous of a venue we found and enjoyed every aspect of it. Not to mention we got some incredible photos because this venue is just so beautiful! If you book with the conservatory, I promise you will not be disappointed!

goes into a wedding, our wedding day felt neither stuffy or stressful. We wound up being able to really enjoy our wedding day, which we’re so thankful for!

mmodating through this difficult time and was so amazing to work with. Luckily for us, we were able to keep all of our vendors, and though the day looked different than what we had originally planned, it was absolutely amazing. The venue is so effortlessly gorgeous and all of our pictures look incredible. This is a great spot for outdoor weddings, and they are recently purchased an large tent to be able to accommodate outdoor parties during the COVID pandemic. The flowers all around are always so immaculately maintained, so you can really get away with having pretty minimal florals and still have it seemed that you went all out. there are so many places on the grounds to take pictures, you definitely won't be at a shortage! I would honestly highly recommend this venue to anyone who likes a rustic theme!

a pandemic can be very stressful but Sue Ann made sure that she did everything to help us solve every issue we ran into with restrictions. They bought a tent for the garden area since there was no indoor dinning and decorated it with lights to make it more wedding friendly. She is so easy to get in contact with and we couldn’t have been more happy with our experience with the Conservatory.

in building and knew that this was the place for us), there's a farm fun building connected where we had cocktail hour that was very rustic and had really nice string lights set up, as well as a cute suite for the bridal party, and the outside area of the venue has these little gardens that are great photo ops! Right now The Conservatory also has a tent set up outside (although fall is coming up and NJ is starting to reopen indoor dining, so not sure how long they'll have the tent), and they set up plants and lights in the tent for our reception and it looked amazing. We worked with Sue-Anne and she was fantastic — we were actually supposed to have our wedding back in March but everything was shut down right before the big day, and Sue-Anne worked with us to find a new date and make sure that we had all of the info that we needed. It honestly could not have been a more perfect day, and we're so happy that we chose The Conservatory for it. Huge thanks to the team at The Conservatory at the Sussex County Fairgrounds for everything!!!

itive but oh my goodness is this place stunning ! It provides a rustic feel but with high class looks. The courtyard with the gazebos, garden, and fountains is perfect for photos and the barn is cozy and charming with their lighting. The actual conservatory is breathtaking. The windows allow he natural light and you get a nice open feeling. My guests were all so impressed. As was I. Sue-Anne and her crew were great to work with. She didn’t mind my millions of texts with all my questions and I felt confident in her hands.

asy decision. Standard requirements are good food (choose one of their 3 preferred caterers), easy to work with staff, reasonable cost. Our other requirements were high ceilings & lots of light (because better pictures), fits up to 250 guests and indoor/outdoor options (because of NJ weather). Check check check! Not only would I be supporting a non-profit organization, the fairgrounds was extremely flexible in their policies and even allows pets on site. They only do only 1 event per day and lets you in as early as 5 hours prior to get ready or take pictures. There were mini-gardens and lakes and barns, and there were all sorts of fun festivals going on throughout the year (aka good cell service despite being in a rural area). Plus the reception hall speaks for itself. Climate-controlled glasshouse makes the indoors feel like outdoors, the wood from sustainable forests of South America and the chandelier decor imported from European designers. There's even a giant garage door for my grand entrance! I did take a star off for responsiveness. The coordinator had left shortly we had signed on, and despite trying to reach out several times, there were more than a few months of radio silence that got me worried... The newly hired coordinator did reach out a few weeks before the big day, and we managed to get everything prepared in time. Door Games / Tea Ceremony in the Bridal Suite / Zen Garden, Ceremony in the Fun Barn, Cocktail on the patio area & Reception in the Conservatory. Everything is on a hard surface & on one ground floor, and a short walk from each other, so no worries for high heels or wheelchair accessibility. All the hired staff on the day were great to work with and made sure all went smoothly. Having attended many weddings, I still think hands-down Sussex Conservatory is the best!

y. I wanted a DIY venue and this was just it. They are very laid back and pretty much let you do whatever you want with the space and make coming to set up as easy as possible. Sue-Ann was very kind of helpful and we couldn't have asked for a better experience!!

about the Conservatory is simple yet elegant, so there was no need to go overboard with decorations and florals; the space itself did all the talking. In addition to being so aesthetically pleasing, the Conservatory's staff was beyond helpful and informative. Danielle and Sue-Ann were easy to communicate with, assisted us with all our inquiries, and made sure the staff was on top of everything the day of our wedding. Thank you to the Conservatory, for the amazing experience and for helping us make the most wonderful day of my and Jorge’s life such a success.

is a perfect DIY venue. While having to use an outside caterer is not ideal, the Conservatory staff were extremely helpful and accommodating throughout the planning process.

ated our day and she went above and beyond to make our day amazing. She was attentive and thorough. Beautiful building and new grounds.

clared the night before our wedding and we had to move the reception up by 5 hours. Kristin did it without blinking an eye!! And everything was flawless!! And to top it all off all of our guests LOVED the venue and couldn’t stop raving about it. We can’t thank Kristin and the Conservatory staff for making our miracle wedding happen!

ssional and truly cared about our event. We highly recommend booking your next event here!

for two better people to take care of our special day. Alida made sure that everything went off on time and that I was not stressed!(Thank you for that). The Conservatory is beautiful all on its own and we did not have to do much to turn it into the perfect spot. I cannot put into words how happy we are that we made the right choice in having our special day there. Thank you again for all your help! Hopefully one of our friends gets married there so we can go back!

man. We found an unlocked door and took the liberty of showing ourselves around while the vendor set up. While the conservatory itself was beautiful I felt it didn’t meet my expectations from the photos. It definitely is overpriced for what it is. The floors are concrete and they use the white picnic chairs which are cheap. The bathrooms were ok but metal doors and stalls. The water splashed everywhere when I washed my hands. The barn was nice but completely undecorated. Definitely DIY. They blocked off part of it as an area you could hide from your guests but just movable walls. Honestly I thought the most egregious offense was that they put in a very ornamental garden. You drive through all the beautiful fields of wild flowers and tall grasses to get there and then they tear out all that natural beauty. Unforgivable but perhaps suited to someone else’s tastes.

and made sure that the whole day went smoothly. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to spend our big day.

n initial wedding date mix up, Danielle and Kristin F. set out to ensure our day was the best ever and it was. Kristin F. truly set us up in the weeks before and on the day of running our reception with ease. With a bubbly and lovable personality she immediately won over my mom and I and definitely did not disappoint any of the vendors with whom we put in contact with her. Her collaboration, not to mention the fun she had, with each of them ensured we had the perfect reception. The Conservatory easily accommodated our 150+ guests and vendors including a large dance floor, DJ, and photo booth. We were even so fortunate as to have an outdoor cocktail hour and use the garage door for our bridal party intros. This location is a gem and I highly recommend it not only for it's beauty, but also for the amazing staff who run it so well.

ls (in April) and barely any flowers were in bloom, our outdoor ceremony was still gorgeous! We also had plenty of photo opportunities - my husband loved the koi pond! Danielle was incredible from the start! she was easy to communicate with, and such a pleasure to work with the day of! I am so glad we chose the Conservatory for our wedding. It was absolutely perfect! Thank you!

area is a little small and needed a little sprucing up, but we got some inexpensive fabric that our florist attached to the wall with a garland, and it was perfect. I stayed and prepped at the Holiday Inn Newton-Sparta (It was only 10 minutes away) and then dressed in the prep room. We ran a shuttle back and forth for the bridal party and guests. There are no steps-which was perfect for our less mobile guests. We had an afternoon wedding so we got the benefit of the bright sunny day, sunset, and the indoor lighting in the evening. Definitely consider this when discussing lighting needs/packages with your dj. Danielle was very helpful and great to work with. She made us feel like she was just as excited for us to be getting married as we were. The Conservatory requires that you work with one of three approved caterers-we went with Frungillo's. They were fabulous. People repeatedly commented on how great the food was. Dawn was our day-of manager, and she was great. And because of the relationship between the venue and the caterer, Danielle and Dawn worked seamlessly together. We did not pay the extra $1000 for the premiere day-of package, and we didn't feel for a second that we should have. They took care of everything. We went with the long rectangular tables instead of the rounds. It may cost more to rent the linens, but I thought that the look was beautiful and changed the feel of the reception. We drove around the grounds the day before to stake out some places for pictures. I highly recommend doing this as there are a lot of places that would be good for some more unique pictures besides the gazebo. In the Farm Fun Room, we hung a garland behind our officiant and brought in some plants which they placed on some cool-looking barrels to help frame us in pictures. It was just the right touch. You do have to bring in your own liquor and get event insurance. The event insurance was $125 and easy to get. We contracted with a liquor store in West Milford, Uncorked Wine. They delivered everything that morning and took back any unopened bottles that we didn't use. We had to make the trip to return it, but they were pretty easy to work with. I would HIGHLY recommend the Conservatory. It was elegant without being a typical wedding venue. People were very impressed with it, and my husband (I still giggle when I say that) and I loved having our wedding there! I hope you do, too!