Your Guide to Planning a Catskills Destination Wedding

The Catskills and Hudson Valley are an increasingly popular wedding destinations, and for good reason! Brides and grooms who don’t want a traditional catering hall wedding, who want to plan longer “wedding weekends,” and who want to avoid the very high cost of city weddings are flocking to the Catskills to plan their special days.

The Beaverkill Valley Inn has been described as the “best kept secret” of Catskills weddings - we only take a very limited number of weddings and private events each year. We put together this guide to planning a Catskills Destination Wedding to help out lovebirds looking to say “I Do” up here in the mountains.

Find a place where the bridal party and family can stay together.

You’ll want your bridal party and immediate families close by - find a venue that can host them all together. The Inn has nineteen guest rooms with a variation of setups - twin beds, king beds, rollaway beds for children, whatever your guests need. Many of our couples have their bridal party, siblings, parents, other family members, and close friends occupy these rooms for the wedding weekend. As for other guests, we have a list of trusted local house rentals and other inns that can host everyone else.

Plan for a wedding weekend instead of just one day.

As with most destination wedding spots, most of your guests will be coming from out of town and staying at least a night or two. It’s always nice to find a way to get everyone together for more than just the wedding itself. Many couples opt to host a rehearsal dinner or welcome party on Friday evening and a post-wedding brunch on Sunday at the Inn. Since our world-class kitchen can customize any menu, we can design varying menus for each event to fit your budget. We can do a Friday night barbecue and Sunday morning farm-to-table brunch; some couples also have us cater a picnic lunch on Saturday before the wedding festivities start.

Give an array of activities, but don’t be too strict with the schedule.

If guests are coming for a few days, they’ll want some options of things to do, but not such a strict schedule that they don’t have breathing room. The Inn has an indoor pool, a mile of private river for fly fishing, croquet course, basketball court, tennis court, hiking and biking trails, billiards table, and more. Some couples opt to just let guests experience things at their own pace; others will host fun events like fly fishing lessons, tennis matches, or croquet tournaments for some friendly competition and family bonding.

Be clear about how to get to the destination.

The Catskills are only two hours from New York City and four hours from Boston - not a bad trip at all. There are also a few airports close by for those coming from further away. If your guests are driving, make sure to tell them what address to put in the GPS, and we suggest adding a card to your invitation suite with old-fashioned printed directions. Sometimes GPS equipment doesn’t work up in the mountains, or a GPS might not be able to find an address on a country road. If your guests are coming from a metro area like New York and don’t have a car, you could recommend a service like the Catskill Carriage. We can help recommend cab companies to take them from the drop off point to the Inn.

Enjoy the local farm-to-table fare!

One of the best parts of a Catskills destination wedding is the food! There are so many local organic farms, all-natural food suppliers, and artisanal breweries in the area. At the Inn, we grow a lot of our own veggies and the rest is sourced from local vendors. Many of our couples choose to service local craft beers or signature cocktails made with small-batch spirits from Prohibition Distillery. Your guests will appreciate a fresh farm-to-table dinner - so different from the usual catering hall wedding food!

Always, always have a rain plan.

Many brides dream of a riverside ceremony or a reception in a beautiful meadow - but you always need to have a good rain plan in place! In the mountains the weather can sometimes be finicky. Our event team is always ready to move an outdoor ceremony into the barn or to have the tent rental company add tent sides if Mother Nature changes her mind.

Ready to plan your Catskills destination wedding? Get in touch with us for a tour of the Beaverkill Valley Inn.