Helpful Hints and FAQs

Your next step is to send out “Save-the-Dates” with your wedding date! Then reserve blocks of accommodations for overnight guests and look for your vendors: photographer; florist; music; shuttle services; officiant. Visit our Recommended Wedding Vendors page for ideas!

Your next step with FEAST at Round Hill will be to arrange for a Menu and Event Planning Session, which generally takes about an hour. Please call us to set up an appointment for this purpose. At that time, you will also choose your linen colors and go over certain specific details of your wedding day (see the section under “The Details” for more information).

If you are having a sit-down dinner where your guests are being asked to specify their entrée selections in advance (as contemplated by the wedding package as stated in the brochure and your contract), you will need to send out the entrée selections to your guests with the wedding invitations, so that when they return their RSVPs to you, they will also have provided their entrée choices. Since wedding invitations generally are sent out about 10 weeks before the wedding, you must have made your entrée choices by the time your invitations are printed, so they can be sent out with the invitations.

Accordingly, in the case of a sit-down dinner with pre-selected, advance count entrée selections, your appointment should be no later than 4 to 5 months before your wedding date.

(Please keep in mind that if you do not want your guests to pre-select their entrée choices, you may elect to provide “tableside” choice of entrees, for which there is an additional $5.00 per person charge. In this case your appointment can be made closer to the wedding date.)

In all other cases, i.e., if you are having a buffet or stations dinner, or a sit-down dinner with tableside choice of entrees, your menu planning appointment may be made at any time up to two months before your wedding day.

About three weeks before your wedding date, you will be receiving from FEAST at Round Hill:

• A request for your final guest count and entrée breakdown (for example; 50 Beef, 20 Salmon, 5 Vegetarian). This is due 2 weeks before the wedding.
• A form which accompanies sit-down dinners with pre-selected, advance count of entrees, in which you will be asked to provide the specific entrée choice of each of your guests at each table.
• A floor plan of the dining room which will help you plan your seating arrangements.
• A Maitre d’ questionnaire form.

The forms described above, along with your floor plan, should be returned to FEAST no later than the Wednesday before your wedding week.

Your final count is due two weeks before the day of your wedding. We also need at that time the breakdown of entrees (as stated in the question above) if you are having a sit-down dinner with a pre-selected advance count of the entrees. Please email this information to us at the same time.

The final count should also identify the number of children ages 3 through 12 (half-price) and the number of vendors (also half-price). We need this information so that we can make up your final bill.

Upon receiving your final count, we will email you the final bill, which will be immediately due and payable. A bank check, certified check (or cash) is required for the last payment.

You may add guests after the final bill has been sent to you, but if there are cancellations after you have received your final bill, there will not be any adjustments to the final bill. In the case of additional guests, we will send you a supplemental bill that may be paid when you arrive on your wedding day by Personal Check or Cash.

You will be receiving a “Maitre d’ Questionnaire” form about three weeks before your wedding which you will be asked to fill out and return to us no later than the Wednesday before your wedding week. This form will be asking you to provide details and information concerning your wedding which is important for the Maitre d’ to be aware of to most effectively run your wedding.

Your Maitre d’ will be in contact with you the Monday of your wedding week. He/she will go over all of the details of your wedding day with you at that time, and will be in continuous contact with you during that week as the need arises.

You can arrive as early as 8:00AM on your wedding day. The upstairs bridal suite is exclusively yours for the day. If there is a food tasting that day, no one will be allowed upstairs if you are using it. Tastings are generally over by 12:30 or 1:00PM.

Most brides holding their wedding ceremony at Round Hill have their hair and make-up done here (and their bridesmaids as well). We will provide the bridal suite with water, orange juice and champagne. There is also a coffee station in the hallway next to the bridal suite. You may want to arrange to bring snacks during this time. Many couples order food from C & G Deli (845-782-3333), which is located just down the road from Round Hill and can deliver if you let them know at least two days in advance of your wedding date that you are getting married at Round Hill.

Generally, the ceremony begins about 1/2 hour after the “invitation” time, which allows time for your guests to get comfortably seated. Rule of thumb is that your ceremony lasts about 1/2 hour.

For example, if you want your cocktail hour to begin at 6:00PM and the reception to end at 11:00 PM, your invitation should ask your guests to arrive at 5:00PM; and the ceremony will begin at 5:30PM.

We provide liquid refreshments for your guests to enjoy at the ceremony sit—Iced Tea and Lemonade during warmer weather and Hot Apple Cider and Hot Chocolate in colder weather.

We do not recommend aisle runners for wedding ceremonies because it makes the footing somewhat hazardous, especially for high heeled shoes. We do recommend real Rose petals, and request that you do not use artificial petals in that they are very difficult to clean up for the next wedding.

If you would like your guests to toss some sort of celebratory item after the ceremony, please use only bird-seed, Rose petals or bubbles. For indoor ceremonies, please use only Rose petals.

No glitter or confetti in any form is allowed for indoor or outdoor ceremonies.

We do not permit the use of sparklers, sky lanterns, balloon releases or fog/smoke machines at Round Hill.

If you have planned to have an outdoor ceremony at Round Hill but the weather seems uncertain that day, you may wait until your Maitre d’ arrives at Round Hill before making your final decision where your ceremony will take place. This usually means that you would make that decision 2 ½ hours before the ceremony is scheduled to start.

You and your guests will have a reasonable time to depart Round Hill. If you have arranged to have shuttle bus service take your guests at the end of the evening, please make sure that the bus or buses are scheduled to be here before the party ends.

Your Maitre d’ will pack up your decorations for you to take home with you, upon your request. She will also be giving you a “to go” food bag and your wedding cake “First Anniversary” top.

If for any reason you are unable to take home any of the foregoing that evening, you may make arrangements with the Maitre d’ to pick them up the following morning before 12:00PM (Noon).

At most weddings at Round Hill over the past several years, couples have engaged shuttle services to and from the places where most of their guests are staying for the evening. Visit our Recommended Wedding Vendors page to see our recommended shuttle services.

If there are more guests requiring a shuttle than one bus can accommodate, you will either need to engage a second bus or have one bus make two runs. If you decide on the latter option (i.e. one bus making two runs), you need to be very careful as to how these runs are scheduled, because you want to avoid having your guests dropped off too early for the ceremony or having your guests wait around for a long time after the reception has ended.

FEAST does not provide valet parking. If you would like valet parking for your guests, which is suggested for larger weddings and also during winter months, we recommend that you use MB&L Parking Solutions (contact information is in the brochure, vendor hand-out, and also on our Recommended Wedding Vendors page), which has been at Round Hill many times over the years. If you do not have valet, some FEAST staff will be stationed in the parking lot to help organize and direct your guests’ parking as your guests arrive.

Many couples ask whether they should give a “tip” to the Maitre d’, servers and bartender. As reflected in paragraph 4 of all of your contracts, all gratuities and service charges are already included in the fee which you pay to FEAST, so anything you choose to give to the staff beyond this fee is totally within your discretion. Naturally, the staff very much appreciates anything extra you may choose to give them, but the service and attention you receive during your wedding remains the same excellent standard regardless.

Most couples do give a tip to the Maitre d’ and staff. If you choose to do so, you may give all gratuities to the Maitre d’ before the reception starts, or afterwards, and he/she will distribute it to the staff according to your instructions.

If you have decorations and/or favors for your wedding, most couples drop them off at Round Hill at some time during the wedding week. Please give us a call to let us know when you plan to do this. Keep in mind that we have many Thursday weddings and generally have Friday weddings, so that any drop-off on a Thursday or Friday should be made before 12:00PM (Noon). The drop off on any other weekday must be between 9:00AM – 2:30PM.

Please make sure all of your dropped off items are in containers and labeled with your name and wedding date and are clearly marked and labeled as to what they are and where you would like them placed.

You are free to put the decorations out yourself on the day of the wedding, or you may have our staff do this for you if it simply involves placing the decoration in a particular location. The staff cannot “assemble” your decorations or centerpieces.

You should also plan to deliver the escort cards to Round Hill with the drop off. Please have the cards in alphabetical order, so that the Maitre d’ can more easily put them out for you.

We permit candles at Round Hill, so long as they are placed in a votive holder. Open flamed candles cannot be hung from a centerpiece. Tapered candles are not permitted, unless completely enclosed on the sides.

We do not permit anything to be hung from the elm tree overlooking the back part of the ceremony area.

A food item, such as boxed chocolates or grandma’s special chocolate chip cookies, may be given out as a favor, as long as it is wrapped or boxed and designed to be taken home by your guests.

The gold underlays you see on the dining room tables are standard, as are the copper colored cushions. You have a choice of 35 different colors for the overlays on the dining room tables and for the napkins. You can see the colors available during your Menu and Event Planning Session or visit White Plain Linen’s website. FEAST can provide either Brown or Ivory Seat Cushions for the Dining Room a small fee.

All wedding packages already include one or more specialty stations and a dessert station.

Many couples add specialty stations to cocktail hour, and some also add a second dessert station. However, many other couples stick to the basic wedding package. Your choices depend upon your tastes and budget. It is not unusual to add 2 or 3 stations to cocktail hour. Stations may be added to the wedding up until the week before the wedding.

Given nice weather, we usually place one or more of the stations outside on the deck during cocktail hour, because this is where we expect most guests will be.

As an accommodation and courtesy to you for your wedding, FEAST can provide one Signature Drink for your guests at no additional charge, upon your timely request.

In order to accommodate your request, the signature drink must consist of readily available ingredients, be a simple mixed drink or be reasonably easy to make by the batch in pitchers. Some successful examples in the past have been Mojitos, Sangria, Bellini’s and various types of Martinis.

You must advise us of your request no later than two weeks before your wedding date.

Our standard beers are Bud, Coors Light and Heineken. As an accommodation, FEAST can add up to two beers to the bar at your request for no additional charge. If it is a craft or “specialty” beer, FEAST will add only one or two cases to the bar, if available, depending on the number of guests attending the wedding.

We do not serve any alcoholic beverages prior to the beginning of cocktail hour. Please be reminded that your contract states that you are not permitted to bring any alcoholic beverages to Round Hill, unless you have our prior consent.

Wedding cakes are included in your wedding package. Our wedding cakes are provided by The Pastry Garden, located in Poughkeepsie (in Dutchess County, about a 45-minute drive from Round Hill). You have numerous choices of flavors, fillings and designs, a few of which are considered “upgrades”, usually about $1.00 per person.

Cup cake wedding cakes are also available at no extra charge.

You have the option of making a private tasting/consultation appointment directly with The Pastry Garden at (845) 473-5220 or visit them online at www.thepastrygarden.com. If you do not want to order your cake directly, you may simply communicate your choices to us which we will pass along to The Pastry Garden on your behalf. You may also email to us a photo of what you would like your cake to look like, which we will forward to them.

You may supply your own wedding cake if you wish, for which you will receive a $1.50 per person credit on your final bill or receive an Espresso and Cappuccino Station in exchange.

Regardless of where your ceremony takes place, there are sufficient electrical outlets at Round Hill both outside and in the Atrium.

We have had every imaginable kind of music played at the ceremony. If you have a DJ for the reception, many couples hire the same person to play at the ceremony and cocktail hour. If you hire a band for the reception, most bands can also accommodate your needs for the ceremony. Or you can hire different kinds of musicians to play at the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception.

FEAST can provide a microphone and amp for the ceremony upon request. We have two Bluetooth speakers that synch together which are available for your use or the DJ’s use for Cocktail Hour.

If your Band or DJ has not been at Round Hill before, we suggest that they give us a call directly prior to the wedding date so we can explain the set-up logistics to them. It is important that the Band or DJ load-in and set up in the Atrium be timed so it doesn’t interfere with either your guests’ arrival or with their return from the outdoor ceremony area to the front door of Round Hill. (Some musicians like to park their vans next to the Atrium entrance for load-in at these crucial times). Please see below for more details on Music and Entertainment,

You may have a ceremony rehearsal at Round Hill, so long as it does not conflict with any other event taking place here. Please call the office to confirm a date and time. Most couples do not have a rehearsal here.

No one from FEAST will attend the rehearsal, but if you wish you may make arrangements with your Maitre d’ (if she is available) for her attendance for a $75 charge which is payable to the Maitre d’ and paid directly to her that day.

If the Maitre d’ has not attended the rehearsal (which is the usual case) you will have communicated your ceremony plans, including the line-up, to the Maitre d’ during your discussions with her during the week before your wedding. On the wedding day, the Maitre d’ will organize the bridal party for the ceremony and coordinate the procession with the DJ or musicians playing at the ceremony.

FEAST does not provide escort cards or menu cards.  These are your responsibilities.

Most couples who have sit-down dinners with tableside choice of entrees provide menu cards for their guests, usually about 3” x 6”.  Usually we place the menu cards in a “pocket-fold” of the napkins.

We offer WiFi service upstairs in the Bridal Suite and in the reception area. Service provider and password will be provided that day upon request.

If your DJ/Band has never played at Round Hill, please suggest to them that they give the office a call directly (845) 497-7476 with any logistical issues.

We have multiple electrical outlets both outside at the ceremony area and in the Atrium dance floor. Most musicians set up at the back end of the Atrium, where there are three independent 20amp outlets for their use.

Loading in: Please advise your musicians that they must load in their equipment to the Atrium at least one hour before the guests are invited to arrive. If your ceremony is taking place indoors in the Atrium, the load in should take place at least two hours prior to the invitation time. They must remove their vehicles from the load in area at least a half hour before the invitation time and park in the back of the rear parking lot.

If you have “live” music during Cocktail Hour, it is usually set up on the Deck outside the Bar, weather permitting. You will be discussing the logistics of this with your Maitre d’ when she contacts you the week before your wedding.

Round Hill has two synced Bluetooth speakers available for your use. One is usually placed inside at the Bar area and one outside on the Deck. The speakers are compatible with an iPhone or iPod.

The music being played in the Atrium is easily heard by your guests seated in the Dining Room. Please advise the musicians the volume should not be so high that it interferes with normal conversations in the Dining Room.

Some couples like to have a speaker in the Dining Room as well. Again, please advise your musician about the volume so it does not disturb guests.