If you are planning your dream luxury wedding in Virginia, you are no doubt going to come across the Dover Hall wedding venue. This venue is one of my favorite venues around and is the perfect backdrop for any wedding.
From the stunning interior of the mansion to the beautiful grounds to the amazing food curated by their culinary team, Dover Hall covers everything you could possibly want for your wedding.
So, let’s take a look at what makes the Dover Hall wedding venue so amazing and one of my top picks for venues in the state!
About Dover Hall
Dover Hall is a Tudor style mansion that was originally constructed by the Pryor family. The original mansion was completed back in 2000 and was filled with art and furniture that was sourced from all around Europe.
After living in the house for around a decade, the private residence was sold and converted into the luxury wedding venue that it is today. You can even still find most of the furniture still in the mansion today!
A Look Into a Dover Hall Wedding
One of my favorite things about Dover Hall is how many amazing places throughout the venue there are to choose from and use during your wedding day. While this is definitely not going to cover all of the amazing features of this venue, here are a few of the highlights.
Getting Ready Suites
The Dover Hall wedding venue has two getting ready suites; The Queen Elizabeth Room and The Billiards Room. Both of these are absolutely beautiful and give you and your wedding party plenty of room to get ready on your big day.
The Queen Elizabeth Room is in its own wing of the estate (yes you read that right) and covers about 2,400 square feet. There is a ton of natural light that comes in through the windows and plenty of room to move around and grab pictures as you get ready.
While one of you is getting ready in the Queen Elizabeth Room, the other can get ready in The Billiards Room. This room has a much more dark and moody vibe compared to its bright and airy counterpart, but still has everything you could ask for.
Not only does it have plenty of room to get ready, but you’ll also find a Monarch pool table and a massive TV to keep you entertained as you get ready to walk down the aisle!
Ceremony
Dover Hall has both indoor and outdoor ceremony locations so regardless of the weather, you are guaranteed to have an absolutely gorgeous backdrop as you say “I do.” If the weather is not conducive to having an outdoor ceremony, the Ballroom is the perfect place to exchange your vows.
With massive floor to ceiling windows, beautiful stonework, and gorgeous chandeliers hanging from above, there is not much you will have to do to turn this area into your dream ceremony location.
If you are able to have your ceremony outside, you have no shortage of locations to choose from throughout the property. The Bluestone Terrace offers you the chance to tie the knot with the stunning manor right behind you. Or you can head over to the Cobblestone Court with its string lights hanging above.
Their gardens offer beautiful green foliage and some pops of color as your background that you will not regret. Or you can opt for something a bit different and have your ceremony out by the amazing Reflecting Pool.
Honestly, there isn’t a spot throughout the venue that you can go wrong with and each and every location has its own charm that you can’t find anywhere else!
Cocktail Hour
After you tie the knot and it is time to kick the party off, you have a few different options for your cocktail hour. While you and your new spouse slip away to get some beautiful pictures taken, your guests can roam the grounds with an outdoor cocktail party.
They can grab a specialty drink and explore the stunning gardens that surround the manor or take in the views from the courtyard. If you’d rather head inside, Dover Hall has you covered.
Guests can grab a drink and explore the parts of Dover Hall like the Formal Dining Room, Parlor, and Library. There is so much to see around here that your guests will have so much fun roaming around as they sip on their drinks before it is time to head into the reception.
Reception
Now, depending on how large your wedding is, there are a few different options for your wedding reception. First, you can host your reception in the Ballroom. This space can accommodate up to 125 guests for a plated reception and up to 200 for a station-styled reception.
Again, this ballroom is absolutely stunning and can be transformed into the dream reception venue for you and your partner.
There is also their new Glass Hall. This space has massive floor to ceiling windows that let in a ton of natural light with beautiful chandeliers hanging from above. It is also climate controlled so no matter the weather, you and your guests will be totally comfortable.
The Glass Hall can accommodate up to 400 guests for your reception and it even has a 900-square foot covered porch to enjoy during the night. You even have the option of combining these two spaces for your wedding.
You can host a seated dinner in the Glass Hall and when it is time to kick the party up a notch, you can walk just a few steps to the Ballroom to dance the night away.
Amenities at Dover Hall
If all of this wasn’t enough to convince you of how amazing Dover Hall is, there are a few more amenities that help push this venue over the top.
First of all, when it comes to all of the things like plateware, tables, chairs, etc, they have all of these rentals in house. From your ceremony to your cocktail hour to your reception, they have you covered.
They even set up and break down those things for you which just crosses one more thing off of your to-do list for your wedding day. Their event manager will also help oversee everything at the venue to make sure your wedding day runs smoothly for everyone.
Before your big day, you get access to the Dover Hall wedding venue to take engagement pictures, have a boudoir session, or do a portrait session. I love when wedding venues have this as part of their package for a few reasons.
First, it gives you and your partners photos that match really well with your wedding photos since they are all in the same place. After all, you picked this venue because of how beautiful it is so just imagine how amazing your engagement photos would be there too!
Second, it gives you and your partner a chance to explore the grounds a little bit and scope things out before your wedding day. This helps you feel more comfortable when the big day comes around, but also lets you figure out where you want to take any portraits or determine what the best time of day is to do certain things around the property.
While there are so many more things I can talk about, the final amenity that I think is amazing at the Dover Hall wedding venue is the in-house catering. Instead of having to coordinate with a bunch of different vendors and work on when they need to be at the venue and how much space they need, everything is done in house.
The team here works to curate a menu specifically for you and your partner that your guests will absolutely love. This includes a private tasting before your wedding to try some of the delicious options.
Plus, they even provide all of the staff that you need for your wedding day including professionally trained servers, bartenders, and of course the amazing chefs.
Maggie and Jason’s Dover Hall Wedding
Maggie and Jason had a wedding that was nothing short of magical at Dover Hall! It was a Lord of the Rings meets Disney fairytale brought to life. The chose to have a very whimsical and romantic ceremony with pops of color brought in from their florals and exchanging vows in the garden at sunset. In true fairytale fashion they partied the night away, cut their cake with a custom sword, and had the most grand exit as they saw their guests off.
Final Thoughts on a Wedding at Dover Hall
Honestly, there are so many amazing things about this venue and I can’t express how much I love it and how amazing of a place it is to start your new life together. The team at the Dover Hall wedding venue has worked so hard to turn this into such an incredible space and you will not be disappointed by what you get.
Now all you need to do is make sure you have the perfect photographer to capture your magical day here. If you are still looking for that person, I’d love to chat. You can click here to learn more about my wedding photography packages or click here to get in touch!
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