The Mansion at Strathmore — Attraction in North Bethesda

We had our wedding at the Mansion at Strathmore in August 2021. Everything was perfect from beginning to end. We were able to tour the location, even though we were in the middle of a pandemic, and were offered the option of indoor vs outdoor. We chose both, having the ceremony outdoors and reception indoors. We were given a list of specific vendors to use for catering (must use someone on their list) and Amy provided descriptions about each of the options, which was really helpful. A few, if not all, of the options were full service caterers, so we were able to organize our food, decor, planner, and cake all in one place. They also allowed us to bring some extra décor for a more personal touch. Amy was immensely helpful during the entire planning process. She was responsive and during our final walkthrough with our planner, she asked great questions, offered us feedback on our options based on her experience, and ultimately worked to ensure our vision was executed to perfection. The “day of” was a dream come true. There are multiple rooms we used for the bride and groom to get dressed, (separately) and they were spacious and well lit with natural sunlight and there are various locations around the venue that provide excellent photo backgrounds. Amy was our “in-house” expert the entire time, helping to ensure that everything ran smoothly, people were well cared for, and having a great time. We highly recommend having your wedding at the Strathmore if you are looking for a place that provides excellent services, beautiful photo backgrounds, attentive staff, and indoor and outdoor options. This was the perfect venue for a small wedding like ours (~50 people).

(Photos by: Preservationist...

We had a summer wedding reception outdoors at Strathmore's Patio Stage on the Trawick Terrace in 2021. The space was great- tented, well lit, good airflow, good acoustics, and access to the Comcast Circles Lounge. However, working with Strathmore's event rentals team was a bear. It was like pulling teeth with getting a timely response, coordinating logistics, and setting up a formal walkthrough. My wedding planner and caterer had these difficulties with Strathmore's event rental team as well. There was also a huge issue concerning the alcohol situation 72 hours from the wedding date. All parties present during our walkthrough were told that we could bring in outside alcohol for our event. Two days out from our wedding we get a call from Strathmore's event rental team stating that we cannot use our alcohol vendor (or bring our own alcohol), and that our caterer can be the only supplier of alcohol for our wedding. You're going to be hard pressed to cancel an order and get any sort of refund this last minute. Thankfully, our caterer and the alcohol vendor worked it out and we did not have to worry about a dry wedding. Overall, the reception space and day of event was spectacular. Working with Strathmore was hair pulling. If you do have an event at the Strathmore, ask for all aspects of food and beverage policy be present in the contract, including alcohol, and create a reoccurring calendar reminder for yourself to follow up with the Strathmore’s event...

This place seems to have significant issues with logistics. I am part of a wedding party and this venue kept fumbling the scheduling for the rehearsal. Please tell me, how do you change the availability of rooms in your venue a week before the event? Very unprofessional. I had to change my hotel and travel accommodations to account for this which was a huge inconvenience. My advice to others looking for wedding venues? Look elsewhere.

Post-Wedding Update: I'm upping my rating to a 3/5 because the wedding itself was good. The staff were friendly and accommodating. Still, rescheduling the rehearsal a week before the event is very unprofessional. The venue itself is nice but doesn't lend itself too well to anything besides very small weddings. During the reception it was hard to mingle and talk to people from other tables because the tables were scattered among three different connected rooms. From where I was sitting I could not see the bride and groom at all. It makes sense because it is a beautiful historic building and "open concept" was not a consideration at the time it was built, but all the same, I don't think it works too well for larger parties. 20-30 people is...