The Preserve at Chocorua — Attraction in Tamworth

After visiting 5 other venues and mentally committing to a Summer or Fall Wedding, we arrived at The Preserve, met with Mary on the porch, and confidently pivoted to Winter and NYE. BEST decision ever. We had the absolute greatest weekend of our lives, and got a lot of “this is the best wedding I’ve ever been to” comments (humble brag).

The Preserve, Mary, Shannon, Paul, and the staff all helped create the perfect Wedding Weekend. From the home cooked meals and everything in between; it felt like a winter weekend reunion away with all of our closest friends and family.

We made the most of the property. We congregated a lot in the pub, the main seating areas, and the porches. My friends and I did a little Barn workout on Friday morning with the provided yoga mats. Given we had a winter wedding, we used the property for photos including the library, pub, porch, and in front of the sap house! Endless moody photo opps.

The “Pinterest Closet” has all the decorative stuff so you don’t need to buy any of that, thank goodness. By the time we would need to buy that stuff, we were glad we didn’t have to.

Arriving on Wednesday was so helpful to get settled in and nest for the weekend ahead. With guests arriving Thursday - Sunday, we had some shifting around to do. They changed all of the sheets and made it effortless to facilitate!

Thursday was such a highlight for our guests staying on site. We had a snowboarding trip at Attitash earlier in the day to kick off the weekend. We also did some sledding in front of the property upon our return. Pro Tip: the toboggan is built to RIDE. When we tired ourselves out from snow sports, Shannon and Mary cooked us the BEST homemade soups and dips on the planet. On the menu we had: Beef Chili, Veggie Chili, and Chicken Barley accompanied with cornbread and bread from scratch. All of our friends were raving about dinner. Not joking, I woke up the next day and the beef chili was my first thought - so tender. The homemade dips included buffalo spinach artichoke and french onion dip. It was great to have a nice home cooked meal after doing all of the snow things. Felt very cozy and inviting. People really lived for those vibes as well.

Sunday brunch was also a staple. I’ll probably talk about those quiches for the rest of my life. Others will too. Aside from the quiches, there was also a full spiral ham, pancakes, bacon, biscuits, potatoes, gravy, fruit, breads, yogurt, granola, whipped cream, and home made scones and other desserts. Reminiscing for hours over brunch as people gradually rolled out was the perfect way to cap off the weekend.

Shannon and Mary were just so fantastic and I can’t stop talking about them. They helped get an extra room in the bridal suite together for one of our guests arriving the day of the ceremony. Everyone actually thought it was the best room as they put a fantastic King bed in there and the suite already has a really nice and stocked private bathroom. The guests staying there were staying on their anniversary so it gave them some wedding energy!! They loved it.

We used the Carriage House as the Groomsman House and my husband's friends and significant others really valued having their own space / house. It’s a really nice and spacious house with nice rooms and beds!

I could go on for days but wow what an incredible experience. SO glad we didn't elope. Thanks so much Mary and team! Cannot wait to see...

I wish that I could offer more than a 5-star rating for The Preserve as our experience from when we initially discovered this gem until present day, has been one-of-a-kind. My (now) husband and I were living out in Colorado and searching for a wedding venue that really represented us, but nothing was really piquing our interest, until we discovered The Preserve at Chocorua. My mom & sister went to check it out for us and without even being there, we immediately knew this was where we wanted to get married. Beyond the beauty and charm of The Preserve property, we were all amazed at the incredibly kind and helpful communication we had with Mary, Samantha, and Erica to start. We would later meet Paul, Steve, Julia, Ellen & Carrie, who all helped our weekend exceed our expectations. To set the scene - We booked our October 2021 wedding date very early (back in 2019) which meant we had a long time to plan. However, this didn’t affect any of the communication. Anytime I emailed or texted someone at the preserve, I got almost an immediate response. Beyond just getting a helpful response, the team believed anything was possible, so any request I asked about seemed to be accommodated without hesitation. Some highlights for us with booking the preserve included: lodging for ~60 guests for the long weekend (in breathtaking New England style rooms), being able to utilize their amazing décor pantry to make our tablescape dreams come to life, several beautiful locations to select from to get married (we got married in the sap house and had our reception in the big barn), full use of their commercial size kitchen (including a walk-in fridge), wood provided to have cozy fires in the pavilion and around the property, beautiful farmhouse tables for dinner and vintage sofas to decorate, outdoor heaters provided, ability to order in advance homemade breakfast items to serve our guests, and their on-site staff that helped us with absolutely anything we needed while we were there. We also utilized their expansive yard to host a day of games with a really fun live band and delicious food truck. They helped us set up and clean up anything we needed and always with a smile! To top it all off, my husband and I were offered the opportunity to stay in our lodging on the property (Veery Cabin) the Sunday after our wedding, once everyone had left. This may not seem like a big deal, but it meant everything to us to be able to spend time saying goodbye to our guests, not have to pack everything up to leave that day and truly soak in the memories. We loved our extra day so much! With all of that said, the biggest highlight and something that I think will always have us recommending The Preserve was the love we felt. Everyone we met and worked with at The Preserve welcomed us with big open arms and exuded a level of warmth and comfort that you just don’t typically get. We felt like the property was our home away from home over our wedding weekend and that was so special for us. Our stay was even more magical than I ever imagined it could be. We feel so blessed to have been able to get married at The Preserve at Chocorua! 100% recommend! Xo,...

The Preserve at Chocorua was the absolute perfect place for our wedding.

From the moment we toured, we knew this was the venue for us—not just because of the stunning setting, but because of the people. Every single person we worked with was kind, helpful, and genuinely cared about making our wedding weekend special.

One of the biggest reasons we chose the Preserve was how dog-friendly it is. We have two large dogs who are part of our family, and finding a venue that welcomed them (instead of just “allowing” them) was so important to us. The team went above and beyond to make them feel at home—Mary, the owner, even let them follow her around during our stay!

The entire staff was incredible. Sam helped us with the contract and first details, Mary was always available and extremely responsive to any questions we had during the weekend onsite, our day-of planner, Maria, was amazing to work with, and Shayna was wonderful as our venue manager. The grounds and cleaning crew were also so friendly and accommodating. Just one of many standout moments: we asked if there was a way to lock a bedroom door to keep our dogs safely inside, and Paul from the grounds team installed a brand new lock for us. That level of care and attentiveness is something you just don’t find everywhere.

Another example? My grandfather’s favorite drink needed a somewhat obscure ingredient, and I only found out after the fact that Mary had found some in her own house to make sure it was available at the bar.

Our planner, Maria, personally picked up 20 pizzas for our rehearsal dinner because she knew that was our favorite. And on our wedding day, when the wind chill was in the negatives, our assistant planner brought me warm blankets to keep my hands from freezing during outdoor photos.

Beyond the incredible service, the weekend itself was everything we dreamed of. Staying onsite with our closest family and friends made it feel so intimate, and our guests absolutely loved the venue. We enjoyed our rehearsal dinner onsite and then got to enjoy sledding outside on the hill in fresh snow. My brother, who works in food service, loved the industrial kitchen. We got so many compliments—one guest, who has been to hundreds of weddings for work, told us this was one of his favorite venues ever.

The Preserve at Chocorua is beautiful, warm, and full of character, but it’s the people behind it that make it truly special. We can’t imagine having had our wedding...