My husband and I got married at the Bradley Estate in June 2019. We knew we wanted an outdoor wedding and tented reception, and had visited a handful of venues in the Boston area, including Moraine Farm, Fruitlands, and the Gardens at Elms Bank. As soon as we stepped onto the Bradley Estate, we knew it was the one -- and keep in mind, we visited during February when it was cold, barren, and snowy! I am picky when it comes to aesthetics, and instantly fell in love with the architecture and grandeur of the building, the interior rooms, and the outdoor gardens.

Since we live on the west coast, we loved that Fireside Catering would take care of the venue, ceremony & reception set-up, food, and day-of logistics. Tim Holmes was an absolute wedding planning all-star. Working with him made planning a x-country wedding so much easier. He's a detailed, professional, no-nonsense kind of guy. He has made a career out of planning and executing high stakes (and highly emotional) days, and has seen and planned for every edge case. Believe me, I had all the "what if's" in my head leading up to the big day, and he and his team locked down every single detail to perfection. Exactly the type of team we wanted on our side.

Fast forward to the day of our wedding: the weather was forecasted to have thunder showers (did I mention I've always wanted an outdoor wedding?) As soon as I arrived at the venue, spirits were high - there was a calm hustle from the team to get everything in place. Tim checked in with us regularly to give us updates on minute-by-minute cloud coverage triaged from his various weather apps (did I mention he's a professional?) Based on his advice, we ended up making the call to delay the start of our ceremony by 15mins and thank goodness for that decision because the clouds cleared & sun rays were beaming as I walked down the aisle. We ended up having the sunny outdoor ceremony & cocktail hour I'd dreamed of, followed by our tented reception. Plus, a fun thunderstorm during dinner (thankfully while everyone was under the tent), that made for the most outrageously gorgeous post-storm sunset photos. I don't know if it was pure luck or if Tim has a direct line to the weather gods (probably), but I couldn't have asked for a better venue and team to trust with our most special day.

Some closing thoughts:

- For some reason, I was hung up early on about the reception tent not having a wooden floor (there is a wooden dance floor but tables & chairs will be on grass). This ended up not being an issue at all. Nobody notices the ground, and you certainly won't on your wedding day. Same goes for tables and chairs.

- I was also concerned about mosquitoes since our wedding was in June. We left bug spray out, but nobody needed to use it.

- I didn't realize there would be so much daylight! The sun set at 8:30pm, so most of our wedding party happened in daylight and felt like a garden party. Which was unexpected but awesome in its own way.

- If you're looking for an amazing photographer, go with Paul Robert Berman who adores shooting at the Bradley Estate. He was the 2nd vendor we booked right after we locked down our date and venue. Best decision we made.

- Cake! Guests still rave about the olive oil cake from Montilio's.

- Food! I'm really glad we upgraded to the sea bass. The day was a blur for me, so I don't remember much of what I ate, but guests loved the food. I do remember the late-night poutine I ate at 9pm, which holds a special place in my heart.

Where to even begin- I wish we could get married at The Bradley Estate a million times over! We held our dream wedding there for 130 guests after planning it with Jessica Belanger from Fireside Catering for about 18 months.

The Venue: Unbelievably beautiful, words barely do it justice. I know Jessica doesn’t control the weather, but the sun came out just in time for our ceremony and was so so magical. The rain plan (ceremony under the tent) would have been beautiful too! We felt extremely at ease knowing that there was a backup plan in case of unpredictable New England weather. It was also very helpful that we could go to the property anytime because it’s open to the public! We spent a lot of walkthroughs dreaming about our day there. The bridal suite inside the house was the perfect place to watch guests arrive from, and it was an added bonus to have a large private bathroom to use all evening. We opted to start our ceremony 30 minutes early at 4:30 and are very happy we did.

The Food: I’ll just put it in the words of one of my friends who texted the day after the wedding, “the mashed potatoes sent me to the stratosphere.” The food was AMAZING! From the lobster rolls, truffle fries, and mini fried chicken sandwich hors d’oeuvres to the NY Strip and aforementioned mashed potatoes for dinner. We and our guests were blown away! It was delicious. Very minor thing- our cutting cake was almost rock solid when we went to cut it, it probably needed to be taken out of the refrigerator sooner. But it tasted great and our struggle to cut it resulted in cute pictures.

The Planning & The People: Fireside Catering was absolutely fantastic to work with. Jessica felt like a perfect personality match for me, which was great because I (the bride) was the primary wedding planner. I just so appreciated how realistic she was when she gave answers and advice (a small example of many: she strongly urged me to not worry about paying for/getting mason jars for guests to take flowers home in at the end of the night. And she was right, it was totally fine without them.). Several guests remarked that all of the staff working at our wedding were so kind and attentive and we experienced the same. On a separate note, I would encourage other couples hosting their wedding at the Bradley Estate to not be afraid to go off of the recommended vendors list. All of our vendors except one were NOT pre-approved, but the process for getting them approved was extremely painless and simple.

All in all, we could not be more happy with our experience at The Bradley Estate. We’re so thankful for everyone who made our day a reality!

The Bradley Estate is such a perfect place to get married, we can't recommend it enough. Though we were drawn to a wedding on a historic property, the Bradley initially escaped our notice, probably because it hosts relatively few private events each year. The perfectly landscaped walled garden in the back is an unbelievably beautiful location for a wedding ceremony. We were lucky with a perfect fall day, with a pristine house on one side and the first hint of fall color in the woods behind the house on the other side of our ceremony. The ceremony flowed very smoothly to cocktail hour on the patio and at the porch bar, and then out to dinner under the tent. While I was full of nerves that we would be hit with bad weather, the house and tent would have offered plenty of refuge, and having seen the staff in action now, I'm 100% confident that they would have pulled off the logistic hurdles seemlessly. The food was delicious and the service was personal and attentive all night. My parents were so impressed that servers learned their names, checked in regularly, assisted elderly family members, and truly seemed invested in helping us have a perfect day. And we literally cannot say enough about the wonderful Tim Holmes, event manager extraordinaire. He was so responsive to our questions, offered fantastic suggestions, and really "got" the kind of wedding we were aiming for. We are profoundly grateful for his help, and we recommend the Bradley without reservation.