The Mill on The River

We had a small wedding (50 guests) and there aren’t that many venues willing to have a small Saturday wedding. Mill on the River has two banquet rooms- our room had a max capacity of around 75, and the other room was for large weddings (don’t know max capacity, sorry!). There was another wedding in the big room that day (plus they are an actual restaurant and it was Saturday evening) but the team at the Mill made us feel like our wedding was the only thing happening that day! The grounds are so beautifully landscaped and the reception room was so rustic and beautiful, I didn’t have to spend money on extra decorations- just the favors and flowers for the tables! The food there is AMAZING! We went the buffet route so people could just pick and choose what they wanted, and then we had passed hors d'oeuvres and cheese/cracker table. Our guests absolutely raved about how good all the food was! So we got the beautiful wedding we wanted, and our guests all left with happy bellies, so it was a win for everyone!

I will preface this review by saying we had a great wedding at The Mill on the River, and looking back we wouldn't have chosen a different venue based on our priorities. However, what made the day great had nothing to do with The Mill, but rather with all the hard work and personal touches we put into it. For the price, I think you get a good experience here, but working with The Mill was very difficult and I've explained our biggest issues and warnings below. COMMUNICATION: Our biggest complaint with The Mill was their poor communication and customer service. Since there are so many details to keep track of when wedding planning, we preferred to communicate with all our vendors via email, so we could refer back to them. We mainly corresponded with Laura and it was difficult and extremely frustrating. She would take weeks to reply to questions and we would usually have to send 1-2 follow up emails to get a response. If we asked 4 questions, she would maybe answer 2 and completely ignore the others. We also heard "No" a lot. Any small requests we had that were even slightly outside the most basic amenities they offer were denied, so if you're looking for any customization, they may not be amendable. Laura was also out the 3 days before our wedding when we were trying to correspond about last minute details (dropping off decorations, etc.) and didn't even bother to tell us or even have an away message on her email. Very unprofessional. During the wedding she was around from the ceremony to about halfway through dinner and then we never saw or heard from her again. I would think an event coordinator would at least be there through the event. What if something had gone wrong? It's been 2 months and no follow up, nothing. It seems like basic customer service to follow up after an event like this. FOOD: The food is NOT the same as in the restaurant. It's still good and probably a little above the average wedding food, but definitely not the same quality of flavor or plating that is in the restaurant. The salads were even served in plastic bowls you'd see in a diner, and the cake was tasty but pretty lackluster and basic. The passed hors d'oeuvres were really good and we did like all of the food options. Getting 3 entree choices plus a vegetarian option was really nice. SPACE: We were in the River Room downstairs and it was a great size for our smaller party. I mainly want to warn people about the outdoor space off this room that The Mill has recently converted (just finished September 2019) into an alternate ceremony space. We were told that now if there are two weddings on the same day, if you're in the River Room, that would be your ceremony spot. I would NOT recommend that space for a ceremony, and if you book this room I would make it explicit in the contract that you get the other ceremony spot by the lake with the gazebo. This new spot is extremely close to the road so there would definitely be car noise and just the general distraction of cars going by. Behind the altar up a little bit of a hill is the parking lot which would be in the background of your pictures. It's right next to the river which, when we were back there taking pictures, had an unpleasant odor. Also there's barely any aisle to walk down. The gazebo site is beautiful and one of the reasons we chose this venue, but this new site is not and we would not have chosen them if that had to be our ceremony site.

We loved our experience with Mill on the River. The space is beautiful, the food was delicious (people can't stop talking about it), and the service was amazing. We had a last-minute delay, and the staff was exceptionally accommodating. Shayla and Laura are lovely to work with, and we are so glad we chose to work have our wedding at Mill on the River!

I have had the pleasure of visiting this restaurant on several occasions this year as I prepared for my wedding in August - which was also here - and have always been treated very well with attentive service and the utmost professionalism. The food on the restaurant side is amazing. It is worth the price and has shown to be consistent in quality, flavor, and appearance. The wedding food, while understandably a tad lower in quality of flavor when compared to attending for the restaurant, was still wonderful and displayed well. Their packages for large parties is very reasonable and their bar service is #1! I want to give a special thank you to Laura (the event coordinator), the managers, as well as the staff. Laura was very responsive by both email and phone. She also listened and covered every one of our concerns - particularly our fear that we wouldn't get to eat! We always had a drink with her. She bustled me - even though I hadn't gotten a bustle - with safety pins. She saw us out to the end of the night as we were her last wedding that day. The day wouldn't have been so smooth without her! The managers, in the times that Laura was unavailable, were also attentive in her stead with the same courtesies she offered. Although I did not have as much contact with them, their professionalism and care for their customers came through in their demeanor. To the rest of the staff that helped us make every moment: thank you for being fun but still professional, listening to when we had a special occasion for eating there and the surprise treats, the prompt and attentive service, and keeping the fine dining atmosphere of the location! For those who may be considering weddings or special events at this location, I highly recommend the Mill - they have shown me great integrity in my business with them and in my experience, their recommended vendors show the same. Our DJ, Sean Childs, photographers of Paul Nash Photography, and hotel shuttle offered by the Courtyard by Marriott-Hartford/Windsor operated so smoothly and have worked with the Mill for a long time and I just wanted to recommend them as well. The DJ and photographers are so creative and work well with each other and understood how to operate with Laura on a rough timeline. The room block was great and the shuttle knew where to go and was on time. Smoothest wedding ever!

Memorable food... I’ve heard that phrase from multiple guests, and considering they’re all foodies I’m beyond thrilled with their response. Laura made a panicky freaked out bride feel like everything was going to go perfectly, and then she went ahead and made it happen! My wedding which was held outside at the gazebo was gorgeous and the reception was beautiful, and I didn’t have to lift a finger once I handed off the decorations, and the hall looked exactly as I wanted.

The day was perfect. The set up looked great, the food was wonderful, and the staff was attentive and helpful. I never had a problem with communication while planning and everything went according to plan the day of. The grounds were beautiful. Water was a little brown but we had heavy downfall the morning of and that is not their problem nor could it be helped. Thank goodness the sun came out! Thank you for everything :)

-The venue is so pretty and makes for great pictures. -The food was great and I liked the way the cake came out. -The drinks were definitely light on the alcohol (which could be good as we had no crazy drunk guests!) Champagne was pretty terrible tasting, but its hard to get good stuff with that many people. -The wedding coordinator was overwhelmed and not that well organized the day of and seemed confused who/when people should be walking down the aisle. All in all I had a great time(obviously it was my wedding after all!!) and for the price it is a great venue. The best part of the night was my DJ who helped everything flow and was super nice! Make sure you research your DJ/band they are very important. I would recommend that the wedding planner only do one wedding at a time as it is hard to do two weddings at once. She needs some extra hands.

My wedding at The Mill on the River on 7/2/2016 was absolutely perfect and everything I ever dreamed of. Laura was so helpful and I enjoyed working with her throughout the planning process. I had a wedding with 70 guests and the River Room was perfect for this size wedding. The food here is amazing and my guests continue to tell me how much they loved the food! I had my ceremony outside by the Gazebo and it was lovely. The staff was great throughout the event. The outside areas are so great for wedding pictures as well! I highly recommend using the Mill on the River for your wedding venue!

I initially chose The Mill because I had a hard time finding venues that would take a wedding of only 40 people. This is the minimum here so it worked well for our guest count. The planning process was pretty smooth. I was able to call and ask questions whenever I needed to. Alexis was especially helpful to me when I told her that I needed to order a tent at the last minute because of a bad weather forecast. I was not told during the booking, however, that the open bar was strictly for beer and wine. I felt that this should have been made clear because come my wedding day I was embarrassed when guests came to me and told me that they had to pay for a drink that they thought would have been included. On my wedding day there were a few other disappointments. I felt that the cake didn't look like the picture I gave them. It had some bordering that wasn't in the picture and the frosting wasn't put on like the frosting in the photo. My florist also messed up the flowers for my cake so that made it worse. I was told during the planning process that I couldn't set up decorations inside the restaurant myself and that I would have to drop them off the day before with instructions and they would set it up. Well I did just that and typed up a page of instructions and put it in the box with the decorations. But when I got inside, after my guests had already gone in, I realized that they weren't set up on the table I had put in the instructions but instead spread out throughout the room. This was frustrating. The food was delicious and the cake tasted great too. The service during the reception was good. But I had two extra meals that were supposed to be boxed for us to take home. At the end of the night everything was packed up and when I got home, I realized that the pork and shrimp meals weren't there but there was a chicken meal. Not a huge deal, and the chicken was delicious anyway but that was a $70 meal that was never given to me. Overall I feel like the wedding went well and the people working with me were helpful but I did have a few minor disappointments that could have been avoided if more effort was put in.

Alexandar No need to defend yourself. A good coordinator would not defend the actions, but merely apologize for mistakes. Not to mention other poor reviews about Laura. Getting married next year and will steer clear of the Mill on the River. Thanks for the reviews guys!

My name is Alexander and I got married to Samantha on Sunday, May 24th 2015. Since I am not able to make direct reply, I am going to leave my separate review by using quotes. “Of all the brides I have had the pleasure to work with, none have expressed anything other than gracious, positive feedback” – It is not true because at least Jessica V. on 11/14/2013 definitely expressed not gracious and positive feedback. Also, you can check Google reviews from Sean McLaughlin and other users who were not satisfied. “For example, when I received your call, your husband-to-be was already arrived and in the building. To honor your request to not be seen by him or any other guest, pre-ceremony, I directed him outside to the gazebo—away from either parking lot or any restaurant entrances where you might be seen upon your arrival.” – It is not true. When I asked where I was supposed to stay before the ceremony starts, I was told to go outside (not to gazebo) and someone would get in touch with me. I was not told where to go exactly – to front parking lot, to back parking lot, outside of the venue at all or behind the building. When I was coming back after waiting for a while, I was again told to go outside. No one had ever showed up and I came back third and Laura again told me to go outside because Samantha did not want to be seen by me. I just went to justice of the peace and was waiting there. “Your husband’s side of the family was absolutely kind and respectful; however, I found that your side treated some of our staff uncouthly, and with much disrespect.”- It is because my family does not speak English except for my uncle who barely speaks broken English and just unable to express his thoughts well. My uncle tried to get drinks at bar but bartender was not there and I was in need to go upstairs to look for him. I found him on another floor socializing and laughing with servers and I even came to you to complaint about it and had you to demand him not leave a bar till my wedding end. Guests from other wedding were pretty surprised to see two grooms on the floor while I was looking for bartender. Moreover, my uncle laughed at me when I gave him my water stating: “I am so honored to be served by groom himself”. “This is simply unacceptable for anyone to have to deal with; no one should be berated or belittled in any situation---whether wedding guest or banquet server.” – The same concept applies to us. Why we need to ask multiple times to place all custom made cake toppers on cake and just look for them ourselves in bags and containers when our request is not satisfied? We even have it on our video that cake at the beginning has just three cake toppers instead of around ten that were forgotten in the bag by servers and found by us! “Additionally, more tension and stress arose when a guest, your younger brother, who is autistic , was unsupervised and made it all the way into the river outside and fell in. Thankfully a guest from another function pulled him out.” - It was our guest who pulled him out, guests from another functions were only coming uninvited to our wedding and staying there near far from out gift box. One of these guests was even caught on our video, another one was escorted by me after my wife noticed him. My family refused to place a gift into the gift box because they were scared that their cash full envelope could be stolen.

If you book a wedding at Mill on the River you will be very sorry. My May 24 2015 wedding at Mill on the River was one of the most horrible and traumatic days of my life. Mill on the River should be avoided at all cost. I will be honest, there was a lot of bad signs about Mill on the River prior to my wedding day ( potential vendors told us due to prior experiences with Mill on the River they refused to book there, the venue manager Laura is extremely rude, unprofessional, and was extremely difficult to reach- she never replied to emails and never returned phone calls) , but my FH and I ignored these as we had already put down a non-refundable $500.00deposit on the venue. I explained to Laura numerous times that I did not want my groom( now husband) to see my before the ceremony. The venue manager Laura explained to me on the day of the wedding to wait in the parking lot and call her once I am there. I did everything I was told to do, I am waiting for almost 15 minutes in my wedding dress. I am hysterical , crying , screaming and cursing because all of my guests and my groom have now seen me prior to the ceremony in my wedding dress. When I asked Laura why she was not picking up my calls, she told me because she was busy with other calls. EXCUSE ME I paid for a ceremony from 3:00pm-8:00pm during this time you the venue manager should focus all you attention on me. Instead we later found out that there was 2 other weddings going on at Mill on the River the same day tpo. When my parents went to complain to the venue manager, they saw the venue manager being yelled out by other angry brides and grooms that day. During the reception, NONE of my decorations were set up properly. In fact because the staff set one of my centerpieces TOO CLOSE to a candle and my decorations ending up catching on fire. At the tables the staff did not follow the floor chart and food chart. Some guests, for whatever reason were not given gift bags- even though I made enough gift bags, the extra gift bags were left in containers. My own mother was not given the correct food option she request. I complained because not all of my cake toppers were on the cake, after I made this complaint the venue gave me my decorations and put the cake toppers on. Throughout the entire wedding Laura only came to check on me ONE TIME. I paid thousands of dollars $$$ to have my wedding at Mill on the River just for this s#!t!! I had my reception in the downstairs River Room, the bartender repeatedly walked away from the bar , my husband found him upstairs and he was socializing with his coworkers. My husband and I explained to him that if he left the bar again we will take away his tip jar and keep it ourselves. My family also explained to me that some of the waiters were extremely rude.

Great venue for the rehearsal dinner. The food was great and we had our own private area!

The Mill on the River was a perfect location for our May wedding. Laura, the banquet manager, was great to work with and always helpful. She was so prompt in responding to e-mails and phone calls and flexible to accommodate any requests we asked for, including making sure that my dietary restrictions were met. The grounds were immaculate and made for great ceremony and formal pictures. The upstairs Rafter's Room was also perfect with a rustic feel. The Mill on The River offered great packages that encompassed everything we needed for the reception and made planning much less stressful. I recommend attending their yearly bridal show as we were also offered upgrades and incentives for booking with them and attending the bridal show!

We are so happy that we chose to have our ceremony and wedding at the Mill. We were planning from rather far away-Las Vegas- which was difficult, however, Laura made it really easy and care free. The Mill offered us a great discount because October is an "off season" month which helped us make our decision and to be quite honest we were expecting to see the discount in the service. We were amazed and impressed with the quality of the food, service and venue. The food was delicious, including the cake which was beautiful and delicious; the service was on point all night and as I stated earlier, Laura was a great help and wonderful "wedding planner." The Mill is a beautiful setting to have a fall wedding, I can't think of one complaint! We still talk about how great of a job the Mill did and we're so excited to be able to go back to celebrate anniversaries there together in the future!

Our wedding and ceremony were absolutely beautiful we were married on september 21, 2013. We had a modest wedding of 80 in the River Room down below. It was beautiful, the presentation was wonderful and we had a very good time. However, leading up to the wedding especially the day before I felt that the management staff was a bit dismissive of my concerns and needs especially because the weather seemed a little shaky and we were having an outdoor ceremony. However the day went off great with no rain. During the reception one server was rude to some of our guests which caused a bit of unhappiness, but the server my husband and I had Beth was absolutely amazing and attentive. For the price it was a great value and I do not regret having our wedding there at all. We had an amazing day and wouldn't change it.

We were married on 10/12/13 and everything was perfect. This was a destination wedding for us, so we planned everything over the phone with Laura. Laura was extremely easy and wonderful to work with. She didn't miss a thing. The food was amazing, the staff was exceptional and the venue was gorgeous. All my guests were very pleased. I'm still getting calls from my guests telling me how wonderful and beautiful everything was. I would highly recommend The Mill on the River!! I can't wait to go back to eat dinner there for our anniversary.

Just had my wedding at Mill on the River. Food was great, location is beautiful, and cost was comparable to other locations in the area. The banquet manager we worked with was not quite as organized as I would have liked, but otherwise it was a good experience.

They did a fabulous job with my wedding and reception :) mostly I'm speaking for the bartender Liz, and the actual look of the venue. Laura, one of the managers whom I felt with a lot, was a bit flakey and rude. Never contacted me, I always had to reach out to her. At times it was stressful because I was late on things that needed to be done, but I had no idea!

Mill on the River Restaurant was a great place to have our wedding reception. The food, service, atmosphere was extraordinary! Laura was great in working with us to put together a special wedding reception.

This is a very difficult review to give. Overall I felt that our day went pretty well, however there were some misgivings at the wedding and leading up to the wedding. First off, the venue itself is absolutely incomparable. The gazebo area overlooks the tree lined river, and the time of year we had the wedding (late October) the colors of the trees were so bright and beautiful. Ceremony and picture wise, we could not have picked a more beautiful venue. However, the banquet manager Laura, is really not pleasant to work with. She is nice, until you sign on the dotted line. Once you sign the contract, you become nothing more than a last name and a date, so be prepared for that every time you call her. Also, when we first met with her, she guaranteed that we could have round tables in the room that we had chosen for our reception. However when we went back two weeks before the wedding they had long square tables in the room. When asked again, she said they could do the round tables, just indicate that on your table seating chart. We sent a table seating chart that indicated round tables, not ONCE but TWICE, and my sister-in-law (who just happened to be our florist) went to set up things in the morning and the round tables were nowhere to be found. They had to rearrange the whole room 1 hour prior to our reception, as things were not done how we had asked. Then, they booked another wedding at the same time as ours, so we were followed around while taking pictures by another bridal party and their photographer. This was very annoying. Then there was a party going on in their restaurant area, which had loud music playing which was competing with ours downstairs. Then we requested and paid for a Vienese dessert table, which we paid for and were promised, but did not get. Laura's solution to this issue was going to be boxing up desserts for 55 people to bring home with them. This was unacceptable to my new husband and myself! Most of our guests were staying in the hotel that night and there was nowhere for us to bring these desserts. Laura insisted that she was going to speak to the owner and see if we could get a refund, but almost 3 weeks later and we still have not heard from her. Also, the biggest stress we had for planning our wedding was the state of CT required vendor insurance that the Mill requires for any vendor working at your function (ie. DJ, photographer). Our DJ is a friend and our photographer is just starting out and neither of them carry insurance. When asked what the requirements for said insurance policies would be, Laura had no answers, nor did she jump on getting them for us. And then when it came down to it, we purchased the insurance to cover the event, but were never asked for it. So that was a waste of money on our part, however we felt happy knowing that if something should happen that we would be covered. But how can they say that they REQUIRE it, when in fact they never wanted it......Again, it's really hard for me to give them a bad review because I liked the place so much but dealing with the nasty banquet coordinator is definitely not fun. AND my name is JESS, not Rossi/Benoit Oct 27!!! I suggest if you book this place you look into how many parties are going on at the same time too, and DO NOT put a basket of goodies in the bathroom, as restaurant patrons and the other wedding party's guests will just use or take all of the stuff and leave your guests with nothing....

The first time I went to Mill on the River was for my highschool graduation and I thought then that I would love to be married there. The tastefully lighted trees along with the well kept landscape and the running mill make it a very pretty place. However I was dissapointed with the banquet rooms for a wedding. They were very dark, with low ceilings, and it was extremely hot and humid.

What an amazing venue! The setting is beautiful, and the food was delicious! Laura, the wedding coordinator, was very easy to work with and accommodating to our needs to plan from out of state. The package we chose was a great value, which helped keep costs down. Overall, it was a perfect day and I know we chose the right venue!

Love this place! Have been here several times and when it came to picking a place for our rehearsal dinner, there was no contest. Everyone loved the food and the place was nicely decorated. I will definitely keep this place in mind next time I have a party.

This was a pefect place to have our rustic themed wedding. The exposed beams and non ballroom look was just what we were looking for. The staff were very helpful and great to work with.

I had my wedding at Mill on the River and everything was great. The food was amazing and staff was good. Really nice places to have formals taken!

The Mill on the River is a great place to get married. My Ceremony and Reception were held at the venue. The food was GREAT and the staff was very helpful.

Amanda and Laura at The Mill on the River were amazing! The grounds are gorgeous, we had our ceremony at the gazebo. They were super helpful and accommodating every step of the way! They went out of their way to make sure everything went smoothly, even helped me fix the bustle on my dress! The food was absolutely delicious and everyone had a great time. I will recommend them to anyone!

Very pleased with my whole experience at Mill on the River. Food was excellent. Very accommodating. I would highly recommend Mill on the River to anyone looking for a reception site.

great place and food

The team at the Mill really brought my wedding together. The value was beyond anything I could find in CT. I would recommend this place to anyone who wants 5 star food and an all inclusive package. They definitely made my life easier during my wedding planning.

Overall we're very satisfied with MOTR for our venue. The river room (downstairs) is gorgeous, and perfect for smaller weddings (up to 80 ppl). We had 65 guests and fit perfectly, so 80 might be a little tight. The staff was very friendly and the pricing was very reasonable. The wedding cake is even included!

Everyone at The Mill worked with us to make our day absolutely amazing. Our guests could not stop talking about how great the food and the ambiance was.

We used them for both our ceremony and reception. First of all, the food at The Mill is AMAZING. There is no denying that, and all of our guests agreed! My dad is an incredibly picky/critical eater, and he didn't have one bad thing to say about his steak. However, we had a number of problems with the service there. We had an evening wedding, and the wedding before ours apparently went over their time, so they were still setting up for our outdoor ceremony as guests were arriving...people were seating themselves before the programs were ever brought out, and the pew bows (which we know arrived over 2 hours in advance) had not been put on the chairs. Also, nobody was there to greet my husband (which we had been told there would be)...he had to hunt someone down in the office. I was also told the reception room would be done and ready for me to see when I arrived, and they were still cleaning up from the prior wedding, and in the process of setting up for ours. There was also an issue with the temperature (one side of the room was roasting, including my husband and I, while one table was freezing) which we felt they could have resolved better. Additionally, we had a number of complaints (including from my in-laws, who paid for our reception) that the servers were rude and taking their food away before they were finished. When my in-laws called to complain to The Mill themselves right after the wedding, they got attitude from the owner, asking why they were calling anyway - their answer was because THEY paid for their services, not that it should matter. So all in all, we did have a nice reception, as we didn't let the little things get to us that day, but we just wish the service had been as amazing as the meal.

I loved that the River Room overlooked the waterfall. They do a great job of landscaping complete with hanging flower baskets and a gazebo. The servers were extremely professional and were on top of their game. The head server introduced himself and executed everything perfectly.;Make sure that if there is another wedding at the same time that you can split the outdoor area for pictures. The other wedding had cocktails outside so we were forced to take pictures elsewhere on the grass. Also our guests were not asked how they would like their steak prepared and it came out very rare. I would have preferred that my guests receive their dinners how they like.