Rockwood Manor

We chose Rockwood Manor for our June 2020 ceremony and reception two years ago because of its beautiful outdoor scenery, which was our top priority for a spring wedding. We ended up having to postpone due to COVID and rescheduled for June 2021 with a reduced count of 25 people. Unfortunately for the lovely setting, working with Rockwood Manor was a nightmare from beginning to end. I have never encountered such an unprofessional and unhelpful vendor for anything in my life. A few of the key problems: - Staff appeared to have forgotten about our event as we received no communication in the months leading up to it - when we reached out to them because we were getting nervous, they had incorrect information about our event and started talking about us rescheduling to 2022 (cue panic on my part). They eventually figured it out but still had many issues with their staff not recording things or communicating things between each other. - Staff told us about additional restrictions on several things during our walkthrough that were not in the contract or in any other communications. For example, we were told that we couldn't have music outside over 55 decibels. When we pushed this issue, they said we could have music outside as long as it was 85 decibels or lower. For context, normal conversation is 60 decibels and most hair dryers are around 85 decibels. - Their event manager was shockingly unhelpful and unprofessional. When we were confused about a requirement (regarding whether we needed a bartender despite not having a bar), rather than working with us to help us figure out a solution, we were just told that it was "clearly stated in the contract." Well, it obviously wasn't clear to us or we wouldn't have been confused. We heard "as the contract states" more times than I can count, any time we had a question. - The day of (during my wedding!) on-site staff told us we needed to put away our own ceremony chairs (?!) and the table that had been set up for the ceremony that we didn't need. My family ended up having to put away the chairs. It is truly a shame that the staff at Rockwood Manor made our experience so terrible, since I believe with a staff that actually was organized, professional, and that cared about having successful events, this would be a wonderful venue. I can only assume because of the good past reviews (and considering we had a good experience when we first toured the site) that the staff and management issues are a relatively new development and I hope they rectify it soon before anyone else has a similar experience.

Rockwood Manor was a fabulous place to host our wedding. To start, they were incredibly flexible throughout the entirety of planning this wedding during the COVID pandemic. Our original wedding date was in March, and they helped us reschedule at least 3 separate times until we finally reached a date for enough out (Sept) and safe enough to host a wedding. Not only were they incredibly patient, flexible, and helpful, they we didn’t change our cost even though our wedding date was going from off-peak season rates to a date during peak season rates. I can’t write enough good things about the venue and staff. During the wedding, we felt incredibly welcome and safe as all the staff took all the necessary safety precautions to promote a safe and healthy environment for the wedding. Thank you again to all of the staff at Rockwood, and we highly recommend using their venue for your events!

Rockwood Manor was the perfect location for our wedding. It was beautiful, affordable, and adaptable. Set in a lovely wooded, secluded area just outside of Washington, DC, this former girl scout retreat has been converted into a venue that has both indoor and outdoor event space, as well as overnight stay options. Because our wedding was on the smaller side, we decided to rent only half of the venue. This is a great feature and it allowed us to have our wedding on a budget. In addition to its delightful combination of rustic location and elegant charm, the staff was a pleasure to work with. They were responsive, and flexible. They met with us in advance to determine ceremony and dinner seating and table arrangements, overnight accommodations, discuss schedule, and other planning needs. They worked with us and our vendors to create our wedding vision. On the day itself, their staff set up and broke down the tables and chairs, and managed the facility. They also had staff on site throughout the event to handle any issues with the venue. After our wedding, we stayed in the beautiful main room in Carolyn Cottage, and our friends stayed in the Skyview Lodge. We hung out in the screened-in porch, which was a wonderful way to end a memorable evening. As soon as we first visited Rockwood, we knew where we wanted our wedding to be. As it turned out, we got exactly the day we hoped for. When you're looking for your venue, it is definitely worth checking out.

Rockwood Manor is a beautiful venue in an excellent location. Our November wedding was everything we wanted it to be. The fall leaves in the courtyard was the finishing touch to our outdoor ceremony. I loved the versatility of different rooms and floors. Our guests loved it! The team was very professional and accommodating to our needs. Allison was so sweet and patient and made everything run so smoothly. For a bride on the budget you can’t beat Rockwood Manor.

Rockwood manor is simply breathtaking. We had our wedding in October, right before the leaves started to change and it was beautiful. The venue was unique in that each part of our wedding was in a different part of the building. This gave our guests the opportunity to explore the venue. The brick outside and the elegant and cozy inside made for a beautiful day. The staff set up all the chairs and tables for us which helped speed up the process of helping set up all our decorations for the day. The only downside was that it was hard at times to contact the venue through both email and phone, so just make sure you contact far in advance in case you get stressed with last minute things. We loved it and it made our day more special!

We were thrilled with Rockwood Manor as the venue for our wedding in May 2018. Everything about it was spectacular. The grounds and manor house are beautiful and flexible for various ceremony and reception options. We rented the property for the entire weekend so we and some of our guests could stay in the lodging on site, which made things easy, fun and cost effective. We were able to decorate and set up the evening before and hold a rehearsal on site, and then stay through the weekend and have brunch each morning. Everyone on the staff went out of their way to be helpful and accommodate our needs and requests, always with a smile and warm words of encouragement. Communication with them throughout the months and weeks leading up to the wedding was easy and we never felt there was a question we couldn't ask. Our guests raved about the beauty of the house and grounds, and the attentiveness of the staff. We will treasure the memories of our wedding at Rockwood Manor for a lifetime.

Great venue. Flexible, caring staff, beautiful location without feeling stuffy or like they're not open to customization and doing it your way. This was honestly our favorite part—how willing they were to help us make the already beautiful space really tailored to us and how we wanted it. We could not have been happier! Our only complaint was the relatively early hour at which we had to turn off our music and end the event. We understand the need to appease noise-averse neighbors, but we would've loved to have another hour to play music and dance.

We absolutely fell in love with this quaint brick manor nestled in the woods, only 20 minutes outside of downtown DC, for our weekend getaway wedding. Owned by the Montgomery County Parks, the manor house is separated into various rooms, which we loved, but can prove to be a bit complicated when having to move people around in the house. This is a "do it yourself" type of venue, which can save you a ton of money because you can bring in whatever you want, but means that either you or a wedding coordinator need to organize outside vendors with the staff at Rockwood. There is no onsite wedding catering available, but several caterers available in the area. We recommend Stone Soup catering! Their food is delicious and they know the venue well! One huge bonus to Rockwood is that all of the tables, chairs, ceremony chairs, etc. are included in the price! That will save you a bunch because all you will need is linens. For a bit of a description, there are three rooms on the top level (we had a bar, appetizers, Photo Booth), a side brick floor veranda (where we had dancing), and a large banquet hall with a catering kitchen and large refrigerators for storage. We brought our own nonalcoholic and alcoholic beverages, which saved us thousands of dollars. There are several gorgeous outdoor areas where you can hold a ceremony, including a stone patio in the back or a gazebo on the side of the manor. Above all, it is EXTREMELY affordable for the region. We paid less than $7000 in total for Thursday-Sunday with accommodations for up to 37 people in B&B style rooms, and 85 people in bunk bed cabins. If you wanted to charge a small fee for the accommodations, you would make back some money and save your guests money! The 13 B&B style rooms each have their own bathroom/shower. The three cabins are actually pretty nice if you can get over sleeping in a bunk. They are air-conditioned or heated depending on the season, and the bathroom facilities are clean and relatively modern. The whole package is an exceptional deal in this region. The only thing that can be a bit frustrating is that the staff at Rockwood are not always reachable by phone and do not communicate information among themselves very well. The staff is extremely friendly, but there were several occasions where I would email or call someone to confirm something and the next time I called or emailed, another colleague would have no record of what I had confirmed and I'd have to start over. On a few occasions, I would have to do this 3 or 4 times. If Rockwood had a dedicated wedding coordinator it would be so much more efficient. That said, we wouldn't have changed the venue for anything. We really loved the charming rustic, vintage feel of the manor.