This review will focus primarily on The George Washington Hotel, however I do want to include some brief input on several other vendors (the celebrant and bakery) as well to provide a complete picture.
The George Washington Hotel: I can not ...say enough positive things about the experience we had planning and executing our wedding at this venue. Working with Jane Obst and Jennifer, our Banquet Manager the day of our wedding, was amazing and wonderful. Between the two of them the planning phase and actual wedding day went extremely smoothly and no details were left out. Our ceremony was held outside in the Pocket Garden (the May weather was gorgeous) and the reception was indoors in the Garden Room, which is a perfect set-up if you plan for a smaller and more intimate affair such as ours, we only had 35 people in attendance. Elegance and class are the best words to describe the presentation of the tables, the food and overall look of the venue. The food, beverages (we had a bar) and service was phenomenal. I highly recommend their salmon entree. Jennifer was extremely attentive during the entire event and arranged for our gifts to be taken to our room along with pieces of wedding cake for later. Our wedding cake was supposed to have chocolate cream in the center because my husband loves chocolate, but they made a mistake and used vanilla instead. As a kind gesture the staff brought my husband a piece of chocolate cake to make up for a mistake, which was not even their fault. As part of our wedding package we were provided a junior suite, so after a delightful reception my husband and I got to retire to a luxurious room and really enjoyed a soak in the hot tub and swimming in the pool. In addition, our room had an amazing Jacuzzi tub. Overall, I would definitely choose this venue again because planning everything was very stress free and our reception went flawlessly.
Celebrant: The Wedding Chapel at the hotel performed our ceremony and our celebrant was George Kempf. My husband and I really enjoyed the ceremony, but unfortunately none of our guests could hear the celebrant. So, this was a HUGE negative for our overall wedding experience. My mom is particularly upset because she was unable to hear anything and feels she was robbed of a very special part of our wedding day. I completely agree and fault George for this poor planning. He encouraged us to hold our ceremony in the Pocket Garden and should have considered either projecting his voice better or wearing a microphone. For someone who has been performing ceremonies for over 20 years (as stated on his website), not to mention we paid him $195 for his services, this should not have been a problem!
Sweet Tooth Bakery: We ordered a cake from this local bakery in Winchester, VA and as previously mentioned they mistakenly used vanilla filling instead of the chocolate bavarian cream we asked for. Also, we asked for a cake that would serve 40 people and the two-layered cake we received BARELY fed 35. The hotel, after our cake cutting, took the cake into the kitchen to be cut-up and served, but they had such a difficult time portioning the pieces that everyone ended up with only a half piece of cake. Not to mention the cake was lopsided, which did not happen in transit and the decorative roses were sloppy.
In conclusion, I would HIGHLY recommend the George Washington Hotel as a wedding venue. However, the celebrant George Kempf and Sweet Tooth Bakery did not meet our expectations.