“We had a great experience with Rixey and for the context of this review we had a 150 person wedding a 48 person rehearsal dinner and a 120 person welcome party all at the manor.
Isadora feels like your kind neighbor who lends you her home for your wedding. There is no “fine print” she is very upfront about what you can and can’t do and she really does let the world be your oyster. She always feels like you’re talking to a real person and not a sales person. She will not hound you about anything and really is good at just making sure the big parts are taken care of as you wish and then she fields the small stuff.
The venue is a blank canvas. For me this was the best and worst part. The best part was we could do anything. The worst part was we could do anything and your mind changes so much in a year and a half. The home was built in the 1800s and you can use it as is, or dress it up. Rixey was SO kind to let us decorate or take down what they had in the house to let us feel like everything felt more like us.
My goals/ priorities going into wedding weekend were:
1. Be with people as much as possible
2. Flexibility
3. Be able to stay on the premise/ friends and family stay with us
4. Not be limited to an xx-hour timeline for the whole weekend where all your things need to be in and out by strict times.
5. Bring own vendors & alcohol (This saved us THOUSANDS, probably 10s of thousands actually.)
Rixey really got us with the “basically it’s an Airbnb with a wedding venue attached” and honestly it felt like just that.
I had spreadsheets of venues from PA/ MD/DC/VA and Rixey was the only venue we could have Thursday- Sunday, bring in all our own vendors & sleep 12-18 people on the premises. (ideally, we wanted to have more people on the premises, but such place does not exist in our price range) Everywhere else that could house more people were resorts or hotels that got you stuck into vendor packages that ate up your wedding budget like it was an appetizer.
Isadora brought us in gave us some vendors she used in the past and liked. Some worked very well for us, others were not our style and that’s okay! She is not offended in the least. She was able to give us , , or she does not have any incentive to push any vendor on you. She tells you who she likes and it’s up to you, if you use them.
Her helpers- she has extra sets of hands, who again feel like friends and family of hers that help your wedding weekend go as planned, from filling up water jugs, to tapping beers, setting up tables, cleaning off tables, dishes, boxing or unboxing stuff, giving out tips, making our bud vases. We literally just handed her the boxes of things on Thursday and they were all set up by Friday at the rehearsal dinner.
Other vendors we used here
Sammys rentals for tent and some tableware
Will Gralley DJ- absolutely recommend kept 3 hour dance floor going all night
Audra Jones Photography- absolutely recommend see photos attached
Good Earth- very fairly priced and easy to work with
Classic catering- some logistical issues, but keep your ducks in a row and you can save thousands here.
Transportation Central Virginia Wine tours- best price we could find in the area, flexible and easy to work with, would absolutely use again”