Potential Wedding Venue #2: Ipswich Country Club

This past Saturday Scott and I took a trip up Old Route 1 North to visit the second on our listing of potential wedding venues -- the Ipswich Country Club. We had a nice scenic ride up the lightly-trafficked road, passing miles of trees, brooks, small little town centers and the Topsfield Fair grounds (which has since turned into a giant lake from flooding of the Ipswich River).
We were greeted at the gate by a super-friendly cute old guy that gave us directions to the clubhouse -- which amazingly enough was exactly one mile away from the gate, down a road lined with gorgeous homes and landscaping. The clubhouse had tons of parking and stood on a hill that looked down over the greens, a pond and a few other beautiful houses on the edge of the golf course.

As we waited to meet the event coordinator, Holly, someone showed us out to the back balcony so we could poke around and get a better feel for the space. The view was really awesome -- I could instantly picture how pretty the scene would look come October, when the Fall foliage started to kick into high gear. The deck was huge - one of two levels - and seemed like a really cool spot for the cocktail hour and hors d'oeuvres (there will never come a day where I don't have to Google the spelling of that).

Holly showed us the reception area, which was really roomy and had big floor to ceiling windows looking out over the golf course. What was really awesome was that they were in the middle of renovating the whole venue -- putting in brand new rugs, updating the bars, re-painting every room, adding new lighting -- so by the time the wedding came around, it would be like a whole new place! She took us over to the bridal suite -- a private suite and bathroom for the bride and bridesmaids to get ready, keep all our stuff, etc. (one thing I was really happy about, that Raffael's actually didn't offer).

Scott and I went outside with Holly to check out the grounds and see where we could potentially do an outdoor ceremony. There was a downstairs patio beneath the deck next to the grassy area on the top of the hill where they've had outdoor receptions in the past. Holly was great about explaining each and every step they would take to spruce up the place before the wedding, like manicuring the laws, planting new flowers in the flowerbeds next to the ceremony area, re-painting the deck (since the wood can get worn down in the winter).

One feature of Ipswich that I didn't even expect but really appreciated learning about was their "built-in Plan B" -- Holly assured us that if we scheduled an outdoor ceremony, they could break down the outdoor setup in an hour and a half's notice, and move all of the chairs and decorations into the spacious room they hold open on the third floor. The "backup" room even had it's own balcony and a bar on each end of the room (so guests don't have to wait in line for a drink!) --hey, I think I like this place!

We sat down to look at the menus and run estimates on the numbers. Holly told us that if we had a favorite dish or family recipe that we really wanted on the menu, the staff would be happy to accomodate! Once we saw the raw bar station, a couple steak and fish options on the menu, and the pricing estimates for the whole shebang, we were pretty much sold. Definitely a $$ out of $$$. I actually told Holly that it was one of the most reasonably priced places we'd seen, considering how much they offer -- she said "they just really wanted to give people prices that were fair!" Hearing that was music to my ears!

We did find out that someone had put a tentative hold on "our date" -- October 8, 2011 -- but that nothing was set in stone. All in all, this place is without a doubt my favorite venue so far. Now to just see a couple more places to have a good basis of comparison... without waiting too long and losing our date!!

My rating of Ipswich Country Club: 4.5 out of 5