The Ashby Inn & Restaurant

We hoped to host an intimate wedding reception (cocktail hour and dinner without dancing) and feel so lucky to have found the Ashby Inn. We wanted to make sure that the food was a highlight of our celebration, so we started off by searching for some of northern Virginia's top restaurants. We then reached out to the Ashby Inn after seeing their top marks to begin a conversation and knew that by the quick response and service we received, we would be in good hands! We ended up hosting 35 of our closest friends and family (there was room for up to 40) for our reception on a Friday night. We arrived around 3:00 p.m. (after a chapel ceremony earlier in the day) and were immediately able to start taking photographs on the property, which meant that we would be available to actually enjoy our cocktail hour! The team was hard at work preparing the venue for us and when we finally walked over to the tables under the patio, we were so excited to see how things turned out. We had four long tables with beautiful flowers (brought in from a northern Va. florist) laid out on them - they were simple and gorgeous. In terms of food and wine, we had five different, delicious hors d'oeuvres during out cocktail hour. We then opted for a five-course tasting menu for dinner. Each course was delicious, though our favorite was the fifth - dessert! When we visited the Ashby for a tasting a few months before the wedding, the desserts were our favorite course so we opted for two choices (we gave one of each to each couple) instead of cake. Our guests could not stop talking about the food! We also had a per consumption bar and requested local wines, as we enjoy visiting Virginia vineyards. All of the reds/whites/roses were delicious, and the table service of red/white throughout dinner kept our guests happy. Something worth noting: there is a perfect location outside to host a string trio throughout the cocktail hour/dinner, and if you are considering hiring one, I highly recommend it! Further, when hosting a private event, renting the guest rooms is a requirement - but it was such a blessing to have many of our guests spend the night with us. As such, we opted to have a bonfire after dinner and the Ashby Inn set it up (with platters of s'mores!) and ready to go once dinner concluded . We had a blast hanging out for a few more hours, and enjoyed being able to return to our rooms when we were ready to call it a night. Then, each guest had breakfast the next morning and it was also so delicious! We certainly were well fed. The Ashby Inn even packaged some of their jam for us to use as wedding favors. Lastly, the event coordinator, Rory, was outstanding throughout the entire planning process and the day of the event. He responded quickly and thoroughly to all of my questions leading up to the wedding, and was super helpful on the day of as we got the final details squared away. When planning the wedding, we were hopeful things would turn out as we envisioned. The Ashby Inn helped it turn out even better! We cannot recommend them highly enough if you are looking to host an intimate wedding reception.