Thornewood Castle — Hotel in Lakewood

You can’t beat the beauty of this venue. Everyone's pictures speak for themselves. It’s a freaking castle and it’s huge and romantic. However, navigating the venue's strict policies and inflexible staff proved to be the greatest source of stress in all our wedding planning, especially early on. But–if you can forgo the castle and find somewhere with fewer rules, you will have a less stressful time planning your much-less expensive wedding. Read on to see how Thornewood’s ridiculous policies can lead couples to throw good money after bad to make their day what they want.

Planning a large wedding at Thornewood, with around 165 guests, turned out to be far more challenging than we anticipated. Despite the assistance of some helpful staff members like Brittany, our overall experience was marred by the castle's rigid rules and regulations. Context: The reason that Thornewood is so touchy about some of these things appears to be that they are in a residential area and they are clearly very concerned with not disturbing the neighbors who are close by. That being said, their policies they use to achieve these ends are very rigid and at times illogical.

One major issue we encountered was with setting up a tent for our outdoor reception. When we initially discussed our plans with the venue ONE YEAR in advance, they assured us that hosting a reception outside with a tent would be no problem. However, when it came time to coordinate the 40' x 60' tent rental, we had a TERRIBLE time. The castle's limited rental hours clashed with the setup and takedown times required by tent rental companies, leading to additional fees and logistical headaches. Thornewood did not seem to anticipate this would be a problem, nor did they offer any helpful solutions until we were at our wit's ends. In the end, they graciously offered to let us pay them extra $500/hour to Thornewood for Sunday morning just to accommodate the tent setup and breakdown.

Music was another area where we ran into trouble. Thornewood's policy only allowed amplified music indoors, except during the ceremony. Despite wanting to have some low-key background music during our outdoor reception, we were told that even small speakers at a conversational volume level were not allowed due to noise ordinances. This meant we had to shell out even more money for a live string quartet, only to find that their unamplified music was difficult for guests to hear during dinner. Our best man checked and was told that yes, a brass band (120 decibels) would be okay but a cell phone speaker (70 decibels) would not. Despite being assured we could have speakers outside for the toasts, they made us set them up inside the castle, pointing out at the tent. Therefore, many people could not hear our toasts during dinner. :(

Another frustration was the venue's strict rules regarding children. We ended up paying for childcare for 40 kids, fearing that they needed constant supervision to comply with Thornewood. However, in hindsight, it seemed unnecessary as the kids were perfectly content dancing and playing games around the adults.

Despite these challenges, the day of our wedding went relatively smoothly, thanks in large part to our amazing wedding coordinator, Chloe Hix. However, looking back, I can't help but wish we had been more aware of the difficulties we would encounter at Thornewood. The additional expenses and stress caused by the venue's draconian policies were certainly not something we had anticipated.

In the end, while Thornewood Castle provided a gorgeous backdrop for our special day, I would caution other couples to really consider the challenges and expenses associated with hosting their wedding there (which you will absolutely also experience). While the beauty of the venue is undeniable, it may not be worth the hassle if you want a more flexible, accommodating setting for a larger group, and a more laidback wedding...

Three and half hours into our drive to stay for our anniversary we received a call that the room we paid for in November (lord Byron's attic suite) wasn't available due to a "plumbing" issue. They first wanted to put us in the apartments and asking if there was a room available in the castle we were given Anna's suite. Not a room I would have wanted to stay in.

The insult to injury was asking a staff member about the attic room and being told it has been under renovations for some time. Yet they waited until 2 hours before check in to call and inform me of the fact we wouldn't get the room our card was charged for last November. This is such a dishonest business practice! The only thing they did to attempt to make it right was simply refund the difference between room prices. There wasn't anything above and beyond for this, had they informed me in November that the attic suite may not be available (the website said temporarily unavailable when I booked 4 months out so I didn't think anything of it I would have opted for a different room, of my choosing, at that time when there was availability or may not have gone.

Beware doing business where they practice dishonesty like this. Anna's suite is beautiful at first glance but the rooms are slightly dingy, wallpaper is peeling above the bed, the bathroom wall paper has water stains all over it, the second toilet (located next to the kitchenette area) has no door/privacy and the water wasn't on to flush it. The grounds also show signs of disrepair, broken fiberglass figures, broken stone rails in the sunken gardens, busted up stone (fiberglass?) chess set with pieces laying on their sides just left there. For the amount of money they charge one would think they would keep up on repairs and preserving this piece of American history.

Overall, not worth the exorbitant prices they charge. Staff members were friendly but rarely seen if you had a question about something. Especially when there is an event like a wedding and the only way in or out was the main stairs since they keep the servant stairs locked. I felt bad for the bride who was told that they had the castle to themselves for the event (Again, dishonest business practices!) We were able to get our things in our room and sneak back down before their wedding started and spent 40 minutes exploring the grounds to stay out of the way of their big day and then snuck back to our room and stayed in to avoid disrupting her wedding reception.

Given the circumstances and level of dishonesty I feel that our first night should have been comped completely given they waited until last minute to contact us, had they contacted me the night before I would have asked a full refund, spared myself a 5 hour drive to stay in a room I didn't want and would have stayed at the casino that's thirty minutes from my home. Overall very upset with how they...

I have been in communication with the staff at the Castle for almost 2 years. So, I have a lot to say!

First, I fell in LOVE with Thornewood Castle instantly. They were the first venue I toured, and I refused to go look at any other venue. We are both old souls; I knew it was the place for us.

Second, since we had a 2 year engagement, it gave me plenty of time to annoy the staff with questions almost monthly lol. Each time they answered within an hour to a day or two, I NEVER had any issue getting a hold of someone or having a question answered.

Third, Deanna was fantastic and extremely sweet, she answered every question I had when we toured. Her daughter, Leann (not sure of spelling) has become the go-to person now and she is just as lovely as her mother (she came up right before the ceremony to make sure everything was going ok- so sweet! Most venue owners don’t care, but they do). Stephanie (also unsure of spelling) was a pleasure on the day of- I came down to clean up after the wedding and she kept shooing me away saying the bride shouldn’t be helping with the cleanup (but I wanted to make sure everything was out and cleaned before we left).

Fourth, I don’t understand why people complain so much about the time limit, YES it is strict. BUT, you are TOLD THE TIME LIMIT BEFORE YOU SIGN THE CONTRACT. Seriously, they are super clear on the details. It just comes down to what is more important to you? Having a longer day to celebrate, or the location? For us, we did our ceremony in 10 minutes, took 60 minutes for photos, and had the rest of the evening for dinner and dancing. Just book venders who are familiar with the venue and you are good. In all honesty, we SAVED money since they didn’t nickel and time us for all the normal wedding fees (no corkage fee, no cake cutting fee, they let you bring outside catering, etc). Not only that but the castle is BEAUTIFUL and you don’t need a ton of décor.

All in all: They were great, the staff was wonderful, and the whole evening was amazing! I had no trouble getting in contact with them. They are pretty flexible to an extent- I think some people forget where they are getting married at. Its historical building, it’s not a barn or a hotel, it’s a classy place. I do not regret choosing Thornewood Castle as our venue. I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect day thanks to their beautiful venue and amazing staff. Thank you Thornewood Castle, for giving me memories I will cherish for the rest of my life. I look forward to when my husband and I can come back to spend a night in one of your...