Your Wedding Venue in Northern Virginia
"Rixey Manor will always have our utmost gratitude and respect. We were engaged November 17th 2023, saw the venue December 10th, and married January 20th,2024 <3 When I say we could not have done it without the Rixey team, I am being completely honest. They were aware that a very dear family member was ill and that we were in search of a venue that would allow us to move quickly. They not only made it possible, but they ensured we had no additional stress added to our plates. I've always heard the wedding planning process can be overwhelming, stressful --brutal at times. Our experience was the complete opposite. The Rixey team walked us through what to prioritize. They asked us questions about what we wanted -- not what we thought was expected of us. And they gave us our dream wedding in 41 days." (Maddie, Warrenton, VA)
We like to share our knowledge wherever we can to aid in planning your NOVA event. Our goal is to ease you through the planning process. This will allow the day of your event to run smoothly and with as little stress as possible.
Here is what to expect when you join the Rixey Manor Family.
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An experienced and caring team who truly care about your wedding weekend experience, want to learn what your priorities are, and will help you meet your goals within your budget. We have been lucky enough to be an expert for Martha Stewart, The Daily Meal, and OffbeatWed among others.
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Our first meeting (which you can book here) will last about 90 minutes. We take a walk around the spaces and then sit down and go through your wedding priorities and vision so we can match you with some vendors we think will be perfect - and give you advice on how to interview new vendors yourselves. Our wedding venue is about an hour from Alexandria, Arlington and Dulles Airport.
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If you choose to ask for a contract, it will be sent to you directly on our Honeybook workspace. It's a wedding-specific site that allows for invoice reminders, a place to upload all your contracts so we can double-check them, and for all the Rixey Manor team to keep up to date on your wedding coordination.
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We will also send you the Rixey Manor Handbook and a custom Google Sheets spreadsheet to keep track of your wedding planning. The Handbook and practical advice list everything you can borrow from our "borrow cottage" - the less you bring in, the less you have to pack up. It can also help keep your budget low if you don't have to buy or rent the more generic aspects of your wedding decor and let the wedding venue provide them instead.
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There are often several meetings between your first tour and wedding date - catching up on plans, meeting parents, and at the mixers and educational events we plan throughout the year. We want you to feel at home, so we encourage these meetings to take place at our Northern Virginia wedding venue, but we are used to planning with those further afield utilizing Zoom and other remote help.
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We will do the final planning meeting about four to six weeks before your wedding. Together, we will go through every element of your wedding, looking for sticky points and ensuring we understand how best to meet your needs and vision (and get your snack order for stocking the kitchen). We will also invite new wedding vendors to tour the venue so they are prepared for your big day.
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You can schedule a drop-off appointment the week of your wedding to bring your decor, alcohol, and other bits into the Manor a few days early. It lets us check in and reduces our couple's anxiety, knowing it's all onsite.
Below are some other ways to help ensure you are prepared, on track, and don't feel too overwhelmed.
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Rixey Manor Handbook - 30+ pages of advice about talking to vendors, planning your time, and, most importantly, spending your budget wisely. You can read an excerpt below. It is advice very specific to the Northern Virginia wedding market, and to our wedding venue.
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Vendor Recommendations - we can recommend an extensive range of vendors in Northern Virginia for your wedding to cover all styles and budgets. While it's not our job to tell you how to allocate your budget, we feel responsible for ensuring that the people you employ represent good value for money and will deliver on the vision they promised. The vendors we recommend have done that repeatedly (look at our Instagram; tagged vendors are those we love), and if you bring someone new, we meet with them before the wedding to ensure we are all on the same page.
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Bootcamp - a day of practical wedding planning held every year at Rixey Manor for all our couples to attend, ask questions, and learn the valuable bits of a wedding that Pinterest can't teach.
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Table Layouts and Timelines - While we encourage you to make your wedding unique, we also provide table layouts and help you build a timeline for your vendors to help create a natural flow.
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Experienced Team - no man is an island, and no wedding is possible without a great team around to support you and your family. Much of our Team, which ranges from bartenders to someone setting up your rehearsal dinner table, have been with us since we opened and fully reflected the philosophy of the Manor.
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Coordination - while you are on-site at the wedding venue, we include a coordinator to ensure all the hard work we have done together is executed without a hitch. In a dream world, your coordinator is nothing more than someone overseeing the fantastic work of your vendors - but in reality, there are little glitches throughout a wedding, and they are there to offer a solution before anyone is even aware there is a problem.