Villanova Conference Center

Wow, I just had the wedding day of my dreams and it is all thanks to the wonderful crew at the Villanova Conference Center. Everything was exactly as we planned and so much more! The service was amazing, everyone from the front desk, wait staff, bartenders, chefs, maintenance and of course the crew at the forefront Emily, Paul, and Lauren just went above and beyond to accommodate every little request. I felt like a true princess! My guests also commented on the friendly and efficient service that was provided, making everyone feel special. The food was amazing and we were able to customize many parts of the dinner which made everything perfect! The grounds were gorgeous, well kept and provided beautiful backdrops for photo/video. The guest rooms are new, clean and the beds are so comfortable! The after party in the game room was fun and a great way to close out the evening. Brunch the next morning was delicious!This is the venue for someone looking for more than just a 5 hour affair, rather a true estate wedding with history, natural beauty and the option for overnight accommodations creating a "destination" type feel yet only a short ride from Phila/S. Jersey.

Service was phenomenal. Food was incredibly delicious. Appearance was breathtaking. We were so proud to host our daughter's wedding here. So so many wonderful comments from the guest.

Montrose Mansion/Villanova Conference CenterTim Sweeney and all of the staff at the Villanova Conference Center were beyond helpful throughout our entire wedding weekend. We used all of the rooms at the hotel for our wedding guests and hosted our reception there. The planning process was efficient and stress free, and the execution was perfect. We could not have asked for a better location - the grounds are beautiful, the mansion is charming, and it was so great that guests of our wedding were the only guests in the hotel. The food was also fantastic. They were preparing food for 200, but everything from the appetizer and salad to the duo entree tasted like each plate was prepared individually and with great care. We really appreciated the an option for duo entree - which is markedly better than asking guests to choose their entree when RSVPing. We went with the short ribs and halibut and it was awesome.The whole evening, as well as brunch on Sunday morning, ran flawlessly -- there were never lines at the bars during the reception and Tim kept everything going smoothly and on time. By the end of our reception the only thing missing was more time to keep the party going. Five months after our August wedding, we’re still getting compliments on the food and setting.A million thanks to Tim and all of the kind staff at Villanova Conference Center,Anne & Peter 8.21.2010

Everyone was amazed at the hidden gem that is the Conference Center... the grounds, food, service, EVERYTHING went above adn beyond what we expected and was perfect. We blocked and booked all 50+ rooms so it was awesome having the entire place to ourselves... like a mini-resort. I cannot speak highly enough of the staff, who were so responsive and accomodating, both in the planning stages and the day of.

Everything about my wedding at the Villanova Conference Center was fantastic. Tim went out of his way to make both my wedding day and the planning process a wonderful experience. It sounds like a cliche but I really was able to relax and enjoy my wedding, Tim and the rest of the wonderful staff took care of every detail. It was perfect! I can't recommend this venue highly enough!

I think the most important aspects of choosing a reception are location, beauty, ease of planning, and staff. The Montrose Mansion at the Villanova Conference Center gets high marks on all 3. Firstly, the reception site is located near 476 and 76 (two major Pennsylvania routes) and only minutes from several ceremony sites. Because my husband and I had met at our alma mater, Villanova University, we had our wedding at St. Thomas of Villanova. The Conference Center is literally less than 2 miles from campus thereby making the commute easy and short. In regards to the scenery of the location, do not be fooled by the main entrance. While the Villanova Conference Center (the hotel part of the reception site) is not exactly awe-inspiring, once you see the breathtaking mansion as well as the beautiful rolling acres, trees, and pond behind the mansion, you will literally fall head over heels. I was smitten with the reception site from the get go and was even more pleased with the location when I took my photographer there to preview the site before the wedding. He was literally captivated! In fact, he called it one of the most gorgeous locations he's shot on film. The ballroom (recently remodeled) is equally exquisite. One wall is completely floor to ceiling windows allowing you to view the gorgeous walkways, trees, and greenery outside. There is a decent size dance floor, plenty of space for tables (with elbow room!) and a great area for the band or dj to set up. Because of the unique packaging option, the conference center also includes the cake, delicious (and I do mean DELICIOUS) food, open bar, linens of your choice (so you can pick out those that match your color scheme), and numerous other options. This makes planning super easy since you check off a number of your vendors with one contract. On a side note, the cake which was provided by Dough Main Bakery was scrumptious! And beautifully decorated. I was so pleased when I saw it before the wedding and even more delighted when Rollie fed me my first bite. Talk about heavenly!Finally, and this deserves its own paragraph, the staff was simply PHENOMENAL. I cannot tell you how gracious, hospitable, friendly, sweet, accommodating, wonderful, and all together outstanding every member of the staff was. From the women who ran the reception to the house keepers to superman Tim Sweeney (the wedding coordinator who literally takes care of everything even those one off random emails requesting a specialty cocktail or easles), everyone was beyond accommodating. They made my family and guests (about 99% who were from out of state and even as far as Ireland and England) feel completely welcome. They kept telling us how fun of a group we were and we felt the same about them. In fact, Alex, Paul, Tim, and Lisa (waitress extraordinaire who waits on you hand and foot on your big day - and I do mean hand and foot she even ran up to my hotel room and brought me my flip flops so I could shed my wedding heels!) were like family by the end of it all. They truly made you feel like you were the most important person(s) in their world - as you should feel on your wedding day. One of the staff even sewed up my cousin's cocktail dress in the bathroom when her halter strap broke during an intense round of dancing! These people gave 2000% and it shows. If for nothing else, I recommend the Montrose Mansion / Villanova Conference Center based solely on their ridiculously talented, caring, and wonderful staff!

I had my reception at the Villanova Conference Center-Montrose Mansion and I can not describe how elegant and beautiful everything was. Tim Sweeney was there to help from start to finish with suggestions and ideas. He performed every duty with class and his staff is top notch. I had so many guests describe this place as one of the most beautiful places and how wonderful the food was. Everyone said it was by far one of the best receptions they had ever attended! I can not thank the staff enough for their overwhelming attentiveness and help on my special day!

-We wanted a place that had some character and charm, and we definitely got both at the Mansion at the Villanova Conference Center. The grounds are absolutely gorgeous, they made a beautiful backdrop for our photos. -The quality of food was important to us, but we wanted a buffet so people could mingle, dance, eat as much or as little as they wanted. They were able to deliver on both. The buffet was a great option for us, and the top notch spread was phenominal, complete with carving stations, and a flaming banannas foster stand for dessert!-Our cake was exactly what we wanted, beautiful and delicious.-The staff at the Conference Center are the most amazing people!! They made me, my husband, and our families feel so welcome, and comfortable. Tim, Paul, and Lisa bent over backwards to make sure we all had the most wonderful day. We are extremely lucky we found this venue, and so very grateful to all of the people there that made our wedding day the best day of our lives!

We absolutely loved having our wedding reception at the Montrose Mansion at the Conference Center. My husband used to work there, and swears by the cleanliness of their kitchen and quality of their food--both of which were very apparent during our wedding. Tim Sweeney, the wedding coordinator, was awesome! He made sure every detail was covered, all the while keeping me, the bride, calm and collected!! We were told by all of our guests that it was one of the best weddings they have ever been to! The scenery is magnificent, as is the staff, who will go far above the call of duty to cater to us on our big day! We absolutely recommend this venue for anyone in the Philadelphia area!

Everything at the Villanova Conference Center/Montrose Mansion was amazing! Over half of our wedding guests were from out of town and even though some difficulty initially occurred in booking rooms, it was remedied as soon as Tim was made aware. The staff was amazing and so accommodating to all of our guests. This venue is not only beautiful, but for the price, so many things are included (the cake, alcohol, food, linens/tables/chairs, etc). Tim even made recommendations for the DJ (who also did a wonderful job!). Compared to what I see other brides go through, my wedding planning was made so much easier by having a majority of essentials lumped into the package. The day of the wedding went flawlessly, and especially Tim and Paul did a stand out job of making sure my husband and I were well taken care of the whole time. They even helped us set up a next day brunch for our family. I would highly, highly recommend this venue to anyone that is looking to have a beautiful wedding and working with some really great people!

Erin and Paul did a fantastic job of ensuring our day was perfect. Our guests are still commenting on how delicious the filet was and so tender you can cut it with a fork. The cheesesteak station during cocktail hour was another huge hit!! We had a lot of traditions and customs during the reception. Erin spent time understanding what the traditions were and made sure they were included. Not only did Erin correspond with me (& both moms) but she also spoke to the other vendors. This made everything go smoothly that day. We also got married on the hottest day in a long time. Their engineer came in that weekend and controlled portable air conditioners around the hotel. Several guests stayed over and thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast too. The only reason I did not give a perfect score was because the beginning planning stages were a little crazy. They were transitioning wedding planners. In the end, it was a wedding that all of family and friends will remember for a lifetime.

Our wedding was out of this world! Tim Sweeney and his team cover all the bases, and accommodated our every need!! The food was amazing and everything went off without a hitch!!

As everyone esle said the grounds and the mansion is to dead for. I was married in May and we booked over a year in advanced. They book up really quickly. We had rough patches in the beginning with trying to get in touch with the wedding coordinator and was a little worried about our day because it took soo long for him to get back to us and such. But within 6 months before our wedding, they were on task. The tasting was so great. At the tasting you get to invite other member and it is held in their formal dinner room with just the wedding party or/and parents, no other wedding couples are there. We also had the rehearsal dinner there which was a cook out on the bottom level of the hotel. The food was great again and everything went very smoothly. After the rehearsal dinner everyone went to the gameroom for the bar, hang out and catch up with other relatives. As for the hotel, we had some trouble with getting an exact number of room that were blocked under our wedding party. It took a long time for people to be checked in (Probably because it was before 3 pm) and even one of the family member had to go to another hotel because they over booked. However, Villanova Conference Center paid for that family members hotel. Some of the hotel room say that it is a queen size bed but really it's a full size. Even though the hotel had some issues it was still really nice to have it in the same place as the reception and wedding. The Ceremony was beautiful and went off perfectly and the reception was great too! Everyone kept saying how the Villanova Conference Center was so classy and the food is the best they've had at a wedding for a long time. The cake is included in the package but from a bakery that Villanova Conference Center affiliates with. It was so good that everyone wanted to take home a piece plus it looked beatiful! Also on the wedding day Lisa the head waitress is there to service you with making sure you eat, putting your flowers in water and even helping you with your shoes. I recommend the Villanova Center for your wedding and reception! It is something I will never forget and I am glad they could help me with it.

I am so glad I had my wedding here! It had the exact look and feel that I wanted. The grounds are absolutely gorgeous and I fell in love with it more each time I went for a visit. We had a little trouble in the beginning with the normal wedding coordinator. He would tell us one thing and then when we'd get the contract it would say something different. He was also very difficult to get in touch with. We decided to book but only because we worked with the assistant general manager, Paul, instead of the regular coordinator. Paul was absolutely fantastic. He was so accommodating and did a phenominal job with everything. The food was wonderful as well and we got so much of it. Some of my guests thought there was not going to be a dinner because of the amount of hor dearves there were at cocktail hour, but we had a 4 course meal waiting for them. We had a waitress personally serving the two of us all night. She brought everything to the room after the wedding and even had a meal waiting for us as soon as we got back to the room. I am so glad I had my wedding here despite the trouble we had in the beginning. It's too bad they are not allowing ceremonies any longer because ours was so beautiful on the steps of the mansion.

The staff at the Conference Center was very accomodating on our wedding day. I had family memebers that called from Italy on that day, and Tim and the rest of the staff made sure that I or someone in my family was able to take the phone calls. Tim and Paul did a great job in making sure that we had everything that we needed that day and that we enjoyed the day. The entire staff was very professional and courteous. The food was exceptional and the venue site itself was absolutely beautiful. The Mansion truly offers a unique experience.

This is a remarkably beautiful site that typically does events at a much higher cost than what we could afford. Tim worked with us to meet our budget, while still offering many of the perks that come with a typical wedding package. In fact, we were orchestrating a non-typical event, using spaces differently than is customary for the site, and we selected a spot on their property where ceremonies had not occurred in the past. While there were a few mistakes along the way, and the day-of readiness needed some support from my friends, we were overjoyed with the final production. Oh, and for ARAMARK food, the chef did a fantastic job providing a meal that people talked about for months. Delicious!

Great folks to work with, top notch staff with attention to detail

Villanova Conference Center is an absolutely outstanding facility. With beautiful space and grounds both inside and out, it allows for an exceptional backdrop for a wedding. The sales team, as well as all the staff, is top notch, and no detail is ever forgotten.