The Woodlands at Woodbury

Review of The Woodlands, Woodbury, New York
Wedding, Sunday, November 6, 2011

It’s hard to believe that our wedding at The Woodlands in Woodbury, Long Island was five months ago. As a busy new bride, I finally have a moment to write a review and share our wonderful experience with all future brides and grooms considering this venue. After our engagement on New Year’s eve 2009 (officially the first few minutes of January 1, 2010), we soon began a six month search for the perfect venue. A great deal of time was spent searching possibilities online, reading bridal magazines and visiting the places that looked interesting. We were looking for a venue that didn’t feel like a catering hall, had only one event at a time, was unique and elegant, a place that could create an intimate setting and above all have some historical background…. a place with a story on which we could begin our own story. Finally in early September 2010, we found The Woodlands and it won our hearts. When we toured The Woodlands we encountered a beautiful Gold Coast Estate on magnificent grounds with an Italian villa style. The house was designed by the famous architects, Delano and Aldrich, who were known for many of Long Island’s Gold Coast mansions from country estates to large ones such as Oheka Castle. The house was commissioned in 1918 by a prominent lawyer of the time named, Victor Morawetz, who gave it the beautiful name “The Three Ponds” (named after the three actual ponds that surrounded three sides of the house in the gardens). Later on, in 1928, the house was sold to the famous industrialist, Andrew Mellon, who bought it as a wedding present for his daughter, Alyssa. The house itself, beautifully preserved as it was from the early 1900’s and the background history had us hooked. My Mom, our official wedding planner and consultant, did a lot of research on the beautiful home and made an album of pictures of its history (if you select the Woodlands be sure to see a copy of this research we gave to Ms. Brower). The estate is now owned by the town of Oyster Bay and is currently a wedding venue run by the Singh Hospitality Group. All the charm and the elegance of the original house remain intact and one might feel transported back in time upon entering the property. The house fascade, surrounding garden walls, entry and staircase halls are all as they were in the 1920’s. In later years, Alyssa Mellon Bruce, changed the name of the estate to The Woodlands and made some interior enhancements such as the beautiful and intimate wood paneled drawing room. My fiancé and I had hoped to have a relatively small wedding of around 100 guests and longed for an intimate setting that would be charming and unique. We fell in love with this room as the place where we hoped to have our ceremony. We felt this was the historical heart of the house and would be perfect for our fall later afternoon ceremony. There are of course, many other lovely options for ceremonies inside the reception room for larger weddings or even outside in the gardens overlooking the beautiful woodland gardens and rolling green lawns. The house itself was extended in recent years with an elegant reception ballroom toward the back of the house. The décor and design is a perfect compliment to the rest of the house. In addition there is a fabulous bridal suite and the groom and his groomsmen can enjoy the gentlemen’s bar which also has beautiful wood paneling. Since your event is the only one at the time, the bride and groom and their family get to be the hosts of this enchanting estate for several magical hours with the assistance of your venue team who help you bring your vision to a reality. While our wedding had only 105 guests, the cocktail hour room and reception room were arranged in such a manner as to maintain the intimacy but still give us all the space the home had to offer.
The setting of the wedding as we’ve described so far was extremely important and The Woodlands was perfect in every way in that regard. Of course, while the venue setting is critical, all of it would be worthless without the proper staff and other basic elements that make a wedding successful as a perfect event. We carefully evaluated these elements as well upon selecting The Woodlands and we were convinced from the beginning that we had made the right choice. The staff we worked with were extremely helpful and willing to go to any length to help us make our wedding vision and all its details a reality. The key person in working with us from the moment we arrived, was our banquet manager, Margaret Brower. She worked with us from the beginning of the journey until the end in every area of our Woodlands wedding. Ms. Brower assisted us in fine tuning the ceremony details, menu, vision, as well as seeing that everything ran smoothly on the day of the wedding. We also were introduced to the general manager, Steve Dumeng, as the wedding date got closer. He supervised the orchestration of the entire event to make sure that every detail was taken care of and that the staff would be fully advised and in place. Shortly before the wedding we also met our Maitre’d, Raymond, who was wonderful and managed the affair to perfection so that we were “worry free” (actually “no worries” was the phrase Raymond would always tell us and it was true). As an added and invaluable person for the bride, the Woodlands provided me with a bridal assistant, Iris, who was with me the entire event, seeing to my every need and keeping me calm so that I could enjoy our day (which I did completely). All the waiters, waitresses and additional staff were also superb. In addition, I would highly recommend any of the house vendors of the Woodlands we used. For our band (9 piece) we decided on After Hours with owner, Phil Vollaro. They were incredible and had our guests dancing and smiling non- stop (they also do DJs etc.). For our photography we used Michael at Gray Studios. He really captured the wedding beautifully and we are continuing to work with him and his staff on crafting our albums and DVD. For flowers, Pedestals was wonderful and went above and beyond to create incredible flowers under the guidance of Virgil Alessi on staff there. With all the house vendors (and there are others listed), it is always best to take the time to interview them (house or not) and see which are a good match for you.
The next big element that was important in venue selection is the food. Here the Woodlands did not disappoint. In truth, we did decide to go to a tasting before booking the venue, but it was worth it to get a clear idea of the caliber of the food. The staff takes the time to assist you in selecting your menu and you have the option to upgrade or add items if you wish. We stayed with the basic menu items offered (all fantastic) as well as the cocktail hour stations and passed hor’doevres. We did add a Caviar station with a magnificent ice sculpture which our guests loved but in truth really didn’t need it since there was plenty to select from. Since we had our ceremony at the Woodlands, our guests were greeted with champagne and some crudités a half hour before as they gathered in the beautiful entry halls. We had a pianist playing some classic love songs which made the pre ceremony really romantic. As an added plus, the bridal suite also has a mini buffet of foods and champagne for the bride and bridesmaids as well as family. We also had additional appetizers set up for the groomsmen in the gentlemen’s bar.
The main dinner selection items we picked were all superb. Our first course was the roasted pear salad followed by a choice of Chilean Sea Bass, Filet Mignon and Duck. One was better than the next. The trio of desserts were also a big hit (you can pick what you like). We had cheesecake, chocolate cake and mini pumpkin pie tarts. Our wedding cake was a vision to behold (provided by the Woodlands) – four tiers (as we requested) with a beautiful design that we had provided a picture of. Our florist added the final touch with a cascade of our signature roses (leonitis) as well as on the top of the cake. Our interior layers were yellow cake and chocolate pudding alternating with layers of chocolate cake and cannoli filling. This is the only item regarding the food that could have been better, the interior of the cake. Somehow the cannoli filling ended up as a buttercream filling with no chips. In the end, the truth is most guests never eat the wedding cake after the trio of desserts but for those brides and grooms that are fanatical about the interior of the cake, you might want to consider an upgrade here. All the other Woodlands desserts we sampled at food tastings were incredible but the wedding cake was hard to evaluate since at the tastings you get very small squares of the various cakes and an array or fillings that you have to mix and match to come up with a decision. Without actually eating a slice of cake with the icing on top, it isn’t easy to know how it will be. Perhaps schedule an appointment with the Woodlands baker or as mentioned, upgrade on your own. For us, although the cake interior was a bit disappointing, the look of the cake was perfect and that was very important to us.
In the end, for anyone considering the Woodlands as a venue for a wedding or other special event, we give it an enthusiastic thumbs up. Our wedding could never have achieved the vision we had and given our guests the experience we dreamed of in any other place. The setting of the estate with the surrounding beautiful property (especially spectacular in fall), the elegant and historical interior, first class service and food, attentive and caring staff all contribute to a one of a kind event. Add to this recipe your own creativity and vision (such as staging the entry halls and mantles with all your own touches in seasonal florals, personal items, photos etc.), truly knowing what you want and communicating that to the staff ….. you will surely achieve an incredible wedding. Our wedding was more magnificent than we could have imagined. Even now, five months later, our guests still have not stopped talking about it. We wish we could live it all over again. With a great venue and staff like the Woodlands (and lucky for us a tireless and talented creative wedding planner like my Mom), we had a day that was unique and unforgettable. To any of you who are planning an upcoming event there, you have selected a great place– best of luck and much happiness. We hope this review has helped you in your wedding journey.
Sincerely,
Jennifer & Dmitriy
April 1, 2011