I found exactly what I was looking for -- a special place out in nature where I could ride horses and play with animals. I loved the horses, poppy the goat, and Reyn the dog! John and Danielle are great hosts. They made me feel at home. I loved it!
First of all, lemme say that our wedding was totally fun and doing it over an entire wknd was the best move ever. Stone Tavern Farm (STF) was awesome -- their whole family helps out. Their kids are great and very helpful -- John and Danielle's 10yr old son was shuttling people around in the golf cart and his daughters served barbecue and walked us up to the hilltop on horses. We couldn't be happier with the location we chose -- we made our decision based on having been to a friend's wedding there three years ago (which was STF's first big wedding.)
We had our wedding up on the hill behind the house. It was a bit of a walk up there, but totally worth it. We did not have a tent -- it would have spoiled the view. Our back-up plan in case of rain was to do the wedding in the pavilion/gazebo thingy.
We had about 130 guests.
We held the reception in the barn, it was amazing and John was soooo cool about arranging the hay bales in a cool and dramatic way.
We also had an excellent photographer that I would recommend -- in fact, she is now doing a colleague at work's wedding too. Her name is Diane...you can see some of the photos she took here:
http://www.hudsonriverphotographer.com/wordpress/?p=2146
She also includes and 'engagement' shoot so that you are totally comfortable with her.
I highly recommend going with Mary's Cookin' Again as your caterer -- the food was AMAZING. The thing to bear in mind with Mary though is that she doesn't want to do a lot of prep calls and meeting and written coordination. We were a little freaked out about how loosey goosey it was (no real contract...only $100 deposit!) But then it all came together and people are STILL talking about the food.
Her staff of waiters and servers and bartenders were excellent too.
We had John cook a barbecue and do bonfires and tiki torches the night before -- totally awesome. It was great and I recommend doing that too. He makes amazing pulled pork sandwiches.
Oh, and I recommend booking the whole Roxbury Hotel in advance and getting one of your bridal party or groomsmen to collect checks etc. We put the whole hotel on my credit card and then just collected form everybody. Believe it or not there was another big wedding in town that wknd....so glad we did that.
Much of our wedding party stayed on the farm. We rented out John's "chalet" for some of our more party-oriented friends and they hosted a kick-butt after-party there.
Our DJ was amazing too -- www.jtdproductions.com. He really had a great sense for how to get the mood flowing and they have this whole system where you can pick must-play and do-not-play songs in advance. No chicken dance!!! :-)
We rented port-o-lets and I think they were more like $400? We rented them from Sav-On.
John and family at the barn are so awesome, I can't say enough good things about them. They are organized, flexible and they have an incredible sense of integrity. I made an error reviewing the bill (hey, I was hung over!) and they immediately sent me a check with the difference. They are just so on the ball. They just kept on finding new ways to be helpful and delightful. You really get a sense that they love what they do. When we got back to our room there was a very sweet note and bottle of champagne with two glasses. Very classy!
My wife says that she wants to spend every anniversary now on the farm and that she feels like the STF family is our family. Cheesy, I know, but not unwarranted in the least!
My husband and I held our wedding at STF in September, and we couldn't have been more pleased. John and Danielle are exceptional hosts, and everyone had a great time. The farm itself is beautiful and John and Danielle work hard to keep it looking perfectly idyllic with white picket fences, a charming stone farm house and horses grazing in the pastures. John cooked a barbecue for ninety of our guests Friday night, and everyone raved about the food. Our friends camped at the campsite and hung out by the fire all night. And the older folks were able to find more upscale accommodations in the many local bed and breakfasts. If you want a farm wedding that people will talk about for months, this is the place.
Stone Tavern Farm is immaculate, and absolutely stunning!!! There is so much fun for children and adults, whether families or friends. Horseback riding and ATV rides are awesome! The lodging is comfortable, clean, well-kept and the owners are most gracious!!!! I highly recommend Stone Tavern Farm for a fun and peaceful time to remember!
We went up between Christmas and New Year and had rented the log cabin. Was a little worried as the photos looked great but usually photos look better than the real stuff, and we had convinced friends to join us.
When we arrived we were amazed to see that the cabin was exactly as shown on the website and what more it had the most stunning mountain view possible. It was so amazing and tranquil. Not a highway or railroad or any noise in miles away. Beautiful amazing clear views for miles right on the Watershed.
John and Danielle were amazing hosts. We added breakfast to the deal and John's breakfast was too die for. Real home style cooking with lots of fresh ingredients from the farm (eggs, sausage, bacon etc etc). John and Danielle were so attentive and made sure that there was not one thing missing that we could dream off. They were very careful and aware of our children's food allergies and made the stay perfect.
John and Danielle was also very mindful of our children having fun and brought sleds etc for them.
We loved the no nonsense down to earth relaxed atmosphere in the Watershed so much that we went and looked at houses but nothing compared to this place. And if we bought then wouldn't have John's fantastic breakfast.
On Friday we had 80 people for a barbecue with fresh pulled pork from their pigs which was delicious as well as great salads and other delicious foods. It was pouring rain, but no one seemed to be bothered as the gazebo was covered and everyone had a great time. Saturday was a beautiful day and the ceremony site was prepared high up on a hilltop. John the owner drove people up to the site which took close to an hour as there were close to 130 people. The view from the hilltop was breathtaking, and my daughter arrived on horseback. After the ceremony the couple left by horseback and the cocktail hour began in the gazebo, followed by the reception in a tent. Mary"s catered the food and it was fabulous. They even cooked the trout my husband caught on the farm. It ended with a fireworks show put on by john the owner. Everyone said it was the most amazing wedding they have ever attended. We stayed at the Scudder hill B&B which was wonderful, the in laws rented johns new house down the road which was beautiful with spectacular views, and the grooms family stayed at the B&B at the farm.
