We pour our 20+ years of experience in the wedding industry into each and every wedding.
The greenhouse maxes out at 50 wedding guests. The couple, lap children and vendors do not count in your guest count. As much as we'd love to accomodate more, that number is firm. This guest count cannot be combined with the cottage guest count. To determine your count, ask yourself, "who needs to sit down at the reception?"
The greenhouse is stunning on it's own, always full of plants and flowers during plant season. Additional decor is not necessary, unless you have a specific vision for your ceremony.
Your wedding guests are permitted on-site for 4 hours. Additional time is available! We also allow site access 2 hours prior to the ceremony for any vendor set up and DIY set up you'd like to do. This is additional to your 4 hour timeframe, as well as clean up after the reception is over.
We provide two on-site coordinators on the wedding day. They take care of greeting your guests when they arrive, parking, lining up the processional (if you have one), as well as all ceremony and reception happenings. We make sure questions come to us, not the couple.
They also act as your DJ. They handle playing of music and any announcements that need to be made. See the 'Music' FAQ for more information.
We provide ceremony chairs and reception tables, and handle moving the ceremony chairs to the reception space.
We also provide up to 4 farmhouse food tables, a gift table and cake table. We will also have a built in bar for 2025 and beyond!
The Enchantry (with bistro lighting included) is used for plan A or B for your reception - a gorgeous built-in rain plan at no additional cost. On chilly evenings, we can light the fire in the stone fireplace.
There is ample yard space for exploring, yard games, dancing, etc. The garden is available for your guests to walk through, as well as adirondack chairs around the fire pit.
Restrooms are on-site.
We also handle all trash.
Two Realms is a special package we put together for those who want their guests to experience both the greenhouse and the cottage. The maximum guest count for this package is 25 plus the couple. If you have over 25 guests, the Greenhouse Flora & Fauna package will be best for you!
There are two different versions of this package:
Greenhouse Ceremony + Cottage Reception
Cottage Ceremony + Greenhouse Reception
The rain plan for the ceremony and/or reception is the Enchantry. This call must be made by 10:00am the day off so all vendors know where they need to be. Additionally if you have a decor package, the fairies need to know where to decorate!
We need to see what you're interested in first! Your selections will depend on the calendars we check for date availability. Dates that could work for a greenhouse only wedding wouldn't work for a greenhouse + cottage wedding. Once we see your brochure, we'll send you open dates for your desired month/year. We are not able to send available dates until we see your selections.
There is a $20,000 minimum for Friday-Sunday dates and holidays. The minimum can be met by selecting multiple in-house vendors. (Adding our in-house florals, photography, decor/styling, the cottage, etc.) For selections not meeting that minimum, we are happy to offer Monday - Thursday dates... which we do a lot of!
Please note: 2025 is almost fully booked. Our 2025 books will close soon.
It would be silly to call ourselves a greenhouse venue and not include any plants! If you look at the image below, that's a perfect example of what the greenhouse usually looks like. During our plant season (Mid-April - Early November), it's full of plants and flowers, and the stumps in the walkway are always filled with something, depending on the season! That's the beauty of our venue - it's gorgeous without anything extra added.
We are closed for greenhouse weddings November - March.
Food: We provide a recommended vendor list for you! You're welcome to chose from our listed vendors who have been here before and do an excellent job, or do your own research and bring someone in. If you bring in a caterer not on our list, please have them contact us - they will have questions! It's also popular to cater from a favorite restaurant, bring in a food truck or have a pot luck. Vaughan House staff is not permitted to handle food, so please make sure you have all cutlery needed and food servers!
We provide food tables that will be setup underneath our deck where the Enchantry is located.
Music: Because of the unique location of our space, we cannot allow a DJ, bands (string instruments like acoustic guitar, harp, cello, etc. are fine!), microphones or large speakers. Please create a Spotify or Apple Music playlist and share it with us. Based on your music answers in the questionnaire, our coordinators will connect to our sound system and play whatever you want, whenever you want!
Alcohol: A liquor license is required to serve alcohol. All alcohol service must be by a licensed and insured bartender. We have several recommendations! Champagne, beer and wine totaling less than 2 drinks per person does not require a bartender, however the liquor license is still required.
Mobile Go Bar
Yes! Most of our couples are from out of state! Hotels/airbnbs, officiants, caterers, local restaurants, hair/makeup, things to do, etc. all tried and true, all offering expert services.
We want to see your Pinterest board with all your inspiration photos! Be sure to pin colors, arrangements, setups, etc. that you've seen and love. We will recreate it for you, completely unique and custom to you. We supply the decor, set it all up and tear it all down. It will be completed and done when you arrive on the wedding day.
If you do not select our Decor & Styling services, you are welcome to send someone in up to 2 hours prior to the ceremony start time to setup. You will also need to designate someone to stay after to pack up all your belongings.
You're able to add 1-2 nights of stay at the Enchanted Cottage for getting ready/photo/video/overnight purposes. Most of our greenhouse weddings do! Check in is 2:00pm. Two nights will allow you to arrive the day before and enjoy the space as a couple or with a couple friends. You'll wake up on-site in the cottage on the wedding day and have the whole day to get ready. When it's ceremony time, our coordinators will come down and get you! You'll have your wedding at the greenhouse and when it's over, you'll go back down to the cottage for your honeymoon night. Check out is at 10:00am.
We limit the visitors at the cottage to 8 total humans at any given time. The couple may decide who and when those humans visit the cottage.
When it comes to your guests 'touring' the cottage, this is completely up to the couple. If the couple chooses to open the cottage for 'tours' during their reception, it can only be 8 humans at a time, a Vaughan House coordinator must accompany the group and shoes must be removed before entering. It must also be at a time when a coordinator is available and not preforming their necessary duties. The main bedchamber will remain private. If you do not want your guests to 'tour' the cottage, our staff will make sure it remains private for you.
If you do not add on the cottage, please arrive dressed and ready to go about 15 minutes before your designated ceremony start time.
Please note: Due to Virginia Lodging Laws, there will be Virginia Sales Tax at 5.3% and per Bedford County, the Virginia Transient Lodging Tax is 7%. This applies to any package that includes overnight stays as well. This is only applied to your selected number of overnights, not the full proposal amount.
We encourage carpooling! We can park up to 15 guest vehicles. Vendors may use the driveway by the fence to unload and park. Carpooling/shuttle service or Uber/Lyft is required if you are expecting more vehicles than that. Overflow parking is available if needed. We've had full 50 guest count + all the vendors and parking has never been an issue!
Is the greenhouse/Enchantry wheelchair accessible?
Are there restrooms on-site?
Do you take care of all the trash?
Is the Enchantry included with all greenhouse weddings at no additional cost?
Is there a place for dancing?
Can we lit the fireplace and/or firepit?
Do you allow dogs? (Greenhouse property only)
Are you LGBT friendly?
Can we schedule a tour?