White Memorial Conservation Center

Yesterday we went to see White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield. The drive out was GORGEOUS... and I can only imagine would be even nicer in the Fall. It was about an hour from Bristol/Plainville- a combination of route 8, some beautiful backroads, and then a short drive through Litchfield.

The place is easy to find, and the drive into the actual center is again, gorgeous. If we ended up having the wedding here- it would be VERY outdoorsy.



This is the Carriage House. We would have the keys to it- no staff or anything, just the building. I guess the people who work at the center live here- but their apartment is quartered off and you wouldn't even know it was there unless you asked about the locked door upstairs (which of course, we did). I think we're supposed to ignore this strange fact- but Mike is a little uncomfortable with it.

Anyway- there is parking to the right and left of the Carriage House.

This is inside the Carriage House- an area we're told can seat up to 200 people. Its not as claustrophobic as some banquet area's I've seen- but we're still not in love with it. This area would serve as our backup-backup if the weather was really, horribly, terribly, awful.

There is also a kitchen, and bathrooms on the first floor.

Tables and chairs for 200 included- we can use them anywhere we want to carry them. The "no staff" would be the only problem here if we didn't want them in the banquet hall.


The second floor of the Carriage House has two dorm rooms like this- which we thought would be kind of neat in case some of our younger more party-all-night friends wanted to crash afterwards instead of driving home. Also- a place for people to change if we decide to do a really casual reception.
Okay, so this is the little stone staircase (three stairs) to the "Activity Field" where we would want to have the ceremony if the weather was nice.
This is the left side of the activty field (from the stairs)... that is a road on the left- so we could drive trucks pretty close but not ONTO the field. The road is part of the conservation center- so its not like cars will be driving up and down all through the ceremony.

However- that is one important point, the center will remain open on that day- so there may be some people there hiking or bringing their kids to the museum. Not a HUGE deal- but not total privacy either.


This is the right side of the Activity Field (from the stairs). As you can see- its HUGE. On the other side of that tree is a pole with electrical outlets. Our thought was to have the ceremony out on this side- in the open. And dinner on the left side- under a large tent. We would just do a tent with a roof- no walls or weather-proofing or anything, because we would use the Carriage House in the case of inclement weather.

This is our favorite part... the "Activity Shed". This is where we'd set up the bar & dance floor... for pre-dinner cocktail hour, and post-dinner drinks & dancing. Its a very short walk from the Activity Field (just up the stone steps and across a small yard). It has electricity, and the picnic tables seat 100. We figured we'd move the tables to one side, (maybe take a few out) and put the DJ & dance floor on the other side.

It looks a little bad in the pics- but doors on all four sides open, and with a few white Christmas lights and some sweeping... I think it could be really cool & rustic looking. I really really like this space!

So I'm going to call the woman who actually does the rental stuff for prices on Monday... but a friend who got married here a couple years ago paid $750 for the Carriage House for an entire weekend. I don't know if she had the Activity Shed also- but I'm sure we could make a deal to combine the two for a bit more... this place doesn't do a ton of wedding business or anything.

The positives I've already covered- we LOVE the field, and the shed. The dorms would be pretty cool & handy- and we have a rainy-day backup on hand. Also- we would use the bathrooms in the Carriage House- so no port-o-potties or anything. We could use any vendors we want- alcohol isn't a problem... they basically just let us use the space and we can do anything we like with it.

The negatives are that in the case of bad weather- we don't LOVE the Carriage House for the ceremony & dinner. Possibly we could do the ceremony in the Activity Shed if it were just drizzly... I don't know. Moving the chairs & tables from the Carriage House to the Activity Field might be a pain- just because there is no staff. We might have to go down and do a few hours or setup on Friday, and then cleanup on Sunday.

Also- having the dancing away from the dinner poses some logistical questions we'd have to figure out.

So there we have it... White Memorial Conservation Center. We've decided that we COULD plan our dream wedding here... so its definitely on the list of possibilities. We're going to see another place today- this one includes pretty much everything, so let's see how we feel about that!