The Grafton Inn (formerly Old Tavern at Grafton)

The Old Tavern is every single thing I hoped for my wedding venue and more: beautiful, genuine, elegant, peaceful, accommodating, magical -- and staffed with the most amazing team. Much as I would always like to keep Grafton and the Old Tavern 'my' secret, I can't recommend the Inn enough. Every crazy whim of an idea I had was entertained and carried out beautifully (and with smiles all around), and I spent the weekend grinning from ear to ear as just about each and every guest made it a point to tell me it was one of the best weddings they have ever attended.

I cannot say enough positive things about The Old Tavern. They provided me and my husband the best weekend of our lives! Here is what we loved most: 1. Kathy, the innkeeper, was phenomenal. She was so helpful pre-wedding and then during the wedding weekend she was the master at making everything flow smoothly and flawlessly. Kathy, and all the tavern's staff, were amazing. My guests commented on this over and over. 2. The setting is to die for...typical Vermont loveliness. We had a lovely outdoor ceremony. The Phelps Barn is perfect for receptions. And we loved that everything is contained in one place. 3. As several of our guests told us "this is the best food we've ever had at a wedding!" Seriously, Chef David is a genius to be able to serve that high quality of food (with a lot being local!) to 65 people. 4. The rooms at the tavern are lovely and our guests loved being able to hike/explore during the day. All said, this is a perfect place for a weekend wedding event! Thank you Old Tavern!

The Old Tavern was the perfect venue for our wedding. Everything was great; from the staff, to the food, to the decorations. I highly recommend the Old Tavern for a quaint wedding weekend.

If you are looking for the perfect wedding weekend destination in New England, you have to see The Old Tavern in Grafton. We cannot say enough about this inn and town where we were married. It was so perfect that we almost hate to share it!

The setting - From our first visit, the town of Grafton and the inn felt so special and unique. In fact it was the first and last place we looked because we just knew it was the perfect setting for a weekend wedding with our friends and family. The inn only hosts wedding weekends, giving you exclusive use of the entire property for your guests. It truly is a weekend away for your guests as well - even though they were invited, our guests all left the children at home. There is so much to do on property and in the area that you can create a unique experience that reflects your personality or just send your guests out on their own. Seriously, no matter what the season, you can't go wrong. Our wedding was mid-March, the beginning of mud season but still with some snow on the ground. Our guests had plenty to do: snowshoeing and cross-country at Grafton Ponds, downhill skiing at Okemo (only 25 min. away,) shopping for antiques, gallery hopping, visiting the cheese factory and local sugar shacks just to name a few. After our rehearsal dinner we rented out Grafton Ponds for night snow tubing! They built us a nice bon fire where guests could gather with hot chocolate, wine, and s'mores. It was such a perfect way to relax with our guests the night before the wedding.

The Inn - This is your quintessential New England Colonial Inn. It is nicely furnished in period antiques. The Inn is well cared for, very clean and comfortable. The rooms are all unique, so our guests had a great time visiting their friends and checking out the different rooms. The staff is inn professionals; many have worked here their entire careers. No stuffy attitude here, we found them all to be very friendly and relaxed.

The food - People are still talking about the food! Made to order breakfasts are included in the room rate and were delicious. Options ranged from quiche of the day to buttermilk pancakes and always started with a basket of fresh scones. For lunches and snacks, the inn operates a small cafe with wonderful homemade soups and sandwiches made on locally baked bread. We hosted a rehearsal dinner for all our guests. The inn was a varied menu of options and even customized one for us off the usual menu. For the main event, you can customize your meal to fit your price range. The menu options are plentiful making it easy to create a meal that reflects your personal taste and will satisfy even the most discerning palates. This is a foodie destination! The chef uses as many locally grown products as possible.

The wedding planning - Virginia is the Assistant Inn Keeper and handles all of the wedding coordination. She was very easy to work with throughout. Virginia has been doing the wedding coordination at the inn for over 20 years so she knows what works, and what doesn't and you don't waste a lot of time trying to figure things out. We also appreciated that she was direct. If she doesn't think it will work, she'll tell you so. She was always quick to respond to both emails and phone calls. The best part was that Virginia and her team literally took care of everything. As soon as my husband and I arrived for our weekend we handed over everything - favors, table signs, seating cards, and decorations. We just went about our weekend and didn't have to think of any of the details. Virginia and her team did all the set up and tear down. She also coordinated with the florist, the baker and photographer, not to mention kept us on schedule so our guests enjoyed their meal hot and fresh. Oh, and the servers were terrific. They were all really friendly and anticipated every need. Everything went so smoothly, if there were problems, we didn't know about it. Honestly, as the bride and groom, we just showed up. We didn't have to worry about a thing and were just able to enjoy the moment.

The value - Honestly, after looking at the website and seeing how beautiful the inn was and reviewing the menus, we thought that there was no way we would be able to afford to have our wedding here. But after visiting the inn and talking with Virginia, we realized that we could have our dream wedding at a competitive price. At the Old Tavern there are no facility rental fees. You only pay for what you consume - food, beverage and overnight rooms. We did not have to pay to rent the space for the reception or our ceremony! So, your money is going where you want it to go - quality food, accommodations and service. And, the wedding coordination is included. I didn't have to hire someone to be onsite the day of to coordinate vendors; it was all done by Virginia. Best of all, there were no hidden fees. When we received our final bill at the end of the weekend, it was right on target with what we expected. How often do you hear that?

Our wedding at The Old Tavern at Grafton was more perfect than we had imagined. Our guests are still talking about how wonderful the weekend was and how they can't wait to go back to The Old Tavern again. Us too.

The Old Tavern is one of the most charming places I have ever seen. Having our wedding there was.. just an amazing experience. Even with an unexpected delay in proceedings (a vendor we chose, not something The Old Tavern was responsible for at all) everything went off without a hitch. This was only because Virginia Lisai was there to rearrange the whole thing on the fly. The rest of the Old Tavern staff treated everyone like honored guests. Everyone gave us the most personalized attention before, during, and after the wedding and really did their utmost to give us everything we could have wanted.

This was truly a fun and exciting experience. I would recommend but not something the average person would require to say the least.

Everyone at the Old Tavern was a joy to work with! When we needed direction with the planning process, they were always very helpful. Their experience in directing a wedding weekend and wedding day allowed us time to enjoy our special day, rather than spend it directing traffic to the next event.

We found the Old Tavern to be a wonderfully intimate place to spend our wedding weekend with the people we love.

Having our wedding at Grafton was the single best decision we made about our wedding. From there, the rest was easy. Virginia and the whole team at Grafton did everything possible to take the pressure of us, while accomodating all our specific requests. Compared to other venues, Grafton is much more beautiful, less commercial, and much better value. Many of our guests subsequently planned return trips to the Tavern. We would not have done anything differently, except organize better weather.

We couldn't have been happier our wedding at the Old Tavern. All the guests had a great time, and really enjoyed the feeling that the small town was full of just our family & friends. The wedding went off very smoothly. Viriginia, the wedding planner, was clearly a pro. We probably had the most stress-free wedding planning of anyone we know. The atmosphere was great, food was great, service was great, and weather too. One point on flexibility - you need to agree to book all the rooms on Sat night and like 80% of the rooms on Fri night (if guests don't book them, you have to pay). This turned out to be just fine for us, as we had great turnout for our wedding, but was something we were nervous about going in. Overall, we remember our wedding weekend as the most fun weekend of our life, thanks much in part to The Old Tavern. We highly recommend it for anyone.

We had a great time there, and really enjoyed working with Virginia who made our wedding weekend very special.

As a photographer I am inspired by the amazing backdrop for a wedding. It is the quintessential New England village. This venue is for couples who love intimacy with their guests and love nature and the beauty of the outdoors. The staff offer warm and genuine Vermont hospitality and passion for what they do. The food is absolutely wonderful. As a vendor, it always brings great joy to my heart to know I am working at the Old Tavern. The drive is relaxing and lovely and upon my arrival I know I will be treated with the utmost respect. Having over 16 years of experience of working with Virginia Lisai I can say she attends to every detail with care, attention and integrity.

Perfection! My experience as a guest and as an officiant was truly fabulous. The staff are professional and extremely helpful. The food is local and the freshest you can possibly get. The scenery will take your breath away, and the accommodations are luxurious, whilst still making you feel that you stepped back in time.
Nothing is too much trouble, and they go out of their way to make you feel welcomed and appreciated. So much so, that I almost forgot I was there working!
Many thanks to Virginia and all the...

The Old Tavern at Grafton is one of my favorite places to photograph! Beautiful setting inside and out And the staff are very friendly

I photographed a wedding at The Old Tavern at Grafton in August '08. It was a beautiful location with the convenience of having all of the wedding party and guests close by but with separate space to call their own. The staff was very courteous and helpful with plenty of experience to assist when needed. I would highly recommend using The Old Tavern if you are interested in getting married in a quintessential Vermont village.