The Capen House Reviews

I recently got married at this venue and it was absolutely stunning. The staff at this venue are all so nice and quick to respond and the price is pretty reasonable for the quality you are getting. We used the Day of Coordinator service, and Hannah was amazing from our first communication until the end of the wedding day. Her knowledge of the wedding day process was extremely helpful and any questions that we had or anything that came up was an easy and fast discussion. I would absolutely book Capen House if I had to go back and do it again!

The Capen House

I cannot rave about this venue enough! My husband and I just had our wedding here and this gorgeous venue really set the stage for a beautiful event.

The location is ideal. It is situated in a quiet area of Winter Park very close to Park Ave shopping and tons of restaurants and cafes, which we liked because it is a very nice area to accommodate traveling guests. It is also not too far from Orlando attractions, which was great for guests traveling with kids.

The venue itself is stunning. It is a well-maintained historic home with a lovely waterfront view, though the major appeal for us was the botanical garden setting behind the house and sculpture garden. The landscaping is gorgeous and encourages guests to explore, which I felt was ideal to keep everyone occupied throughout the cocktail hour. The interior is also very elegant and provides a great backdrop for dancing, catching up with guests, and it is nice to have as a backup in the event of rain.

There is a full kitchen onsite, handicap accessible bathrooms for guests, and a private bridal suite with a separate bathroom. My bridal party used this suite to get ready and frequently found each other back in here throughout the night to take breaks from all the activity or to use the restroom. It’s a very nice perk.

The Capen House does not provide tables, catering, etc. They do require using some of their preferred vendors and you have the option of some vendors such as the cake, florist, etc. This is something to factor into cost, but their preferred vendors are top tier so I imagine you would be in good hands with any of them.

We hired Hannah as our day-of coordinator and I cannot recommend this enough!!! I honestly can’t imagine pulling together this wedding without this service. They coordinated with all of our vendors to make sure our event went according or our vision, made sure our details and finishing touches were all worked out, brought up any questions we might not have anticipated and helped us figure out any outstanding needs, organized our rehearsal, and made sure we had every detail down for the big day. As someone who knew pretty much nothing about weddings before, the day-of coordination was probably the most valuable asset and it really helped having someone who works with the venue directly.

If you are considering the Capen House for your wedding, definitely check it out. I am still over the moon with how perfect our wedding was because of this venue and several of our guests told us it was the most beautiful wedding they had ever attended. This place really sets the scene for a fairytale day.

The staff at The Capen House helped make our rehearsal dinner very special. The setting by the lake is beautiful. The staff was responsive to my many questions. They did a great job determining the layout and then adjusting it as our ideas developed. They helped us execute our plans and did so calmly and with joy. Everyone who attended the rehearsal dinner commented on what a perfect spot it was. We used Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour for a tour after the dinner - a wonderful way to cap off a fantastic evening. I highly recommend The Capen House and the staff for any special occasion.

Beautiful venue and very professional staff
Very responsive, friendly and helpful

I cannot say enough incredible things about the capen house. We worked directly with Katlyn who was an absolute dream to work with. They were so quick to respond to our thousands of questions throughout the planning process and were so great to work with on the day of. This venue has everything we wanted, an open feeling for our guests, beautiful grounds to explore, intimate dancing and the perfect lake view during dinner. You truly cannot find a better venue in Orlando for your big day.

The Capen House is truly a beautiful venue. Kim and Denise have been gems so far and so extremely helpful throughout the touring and booking process answering every single one of our questions and accommodating us as possible!

Beautiful. Beautiful lake view especially during sunset.

The Capen House is a beautiful historic site for our wedding! It was small enough to accommodate our guests numbering 90+ so it was cozy. There is a lovely sculpture garden and museum free for guests and great photo opportunities. The venue was wonderful to work with. Beware no candles fires confetti, flowers are ok! We used a caterer for our wedding. Also no electric acoustics for outdoors, but you can set up music inside using their audio system. Thank you! We had a beautiful wedding!

Kim and Denise at the Capen House were wonderful from our very first visit to the property. We were given a tour of the grounds and told all the rules and nuances for a property nestled in the heart of Winter Park. Kim was always available to answer any questions we had and the answers always came promptly. Kim sent us numerous table layouts and photographs from previous weddings to give us an idea of how we could set up the tables. The day of we were allowed to come get dressed at the Capen House and arrive early so we could have photos taken with the breathtaking backdrop that the house and gardens provide. If you are looking for a romantic, fairytale wedding or event, the Capen House is your location. We couldn’t imagine our wedding day being any more perfect and a big part was the beautiful location. Guests raved about the gardens, lake view and dock, and of course the house itself.

Kim, Denise, George, and Jarod helped us in every step of the way to make sure our wedding went off without a hitch. They provided us with great recommendations for vendors. They do have a required vendor list for somethings but with how well our wedding went I wouldn’t chose anyone else even if I could have.

A huge thank you to Kim and all of the staff at The Capen House. We held our wedding there and it could not have been a more perfect day. Kim was very communicative throughout the whole process and was so accomodating to help us get everything just right the day of. The venue itself is gorgeous...from the gardens outside with the lake as a backdrop to the interior of the house with its beautiful hardwood floors. My guests are still commenting on how lovely the venue was.

Kim was my contact for organizing my wedding. She was on top of keeping in contact with all my vendors and making sure I got as many tours as I needed. The pictures don't do this venue justice. You really have to go and see it for yourself. The grounds are beautiful with all the sculptures to look at and overlooking the lake. The Capen House is gorgeous! The history behind the home, and the grounds of the museum, is what sold us on this venue. Denise, who coordinated and worked my wedding, was just absolutely amazing. She not only worked with the DJ to make sure everything was on time but she also made sure I was okay at all time. She was such a joy to talk to and made me feel so secure about my wedding. When it was my turn to walk down the aisle, I started to cry and get nervous. She gave me the words I needed to hear and the courage to get down to the alter. I would consider her an angel and the perfect person to work my wedding. My wedding was more than I could have ever expected because of this venue and my guests were in awe. Highly recommend this venue for wedding and corporate events.

The Polasek Museum is absolutely beautiful! I love the big oak tree right in front of the lake - which was the center back drop of our ceremony pictures. The Capen house has gorgeous wood floors and perfect for our post reception, dance floor, and cake room. Our dinner was in front of the Capen house overlooking the lake. The venue was perfect for us because we both are lake/water lovers. The pictures have turned out amazing. I could not be happier with how everything went. Kim and Denise, Polasek's event planners, were awesome to work with and quick to respond with emails/questions. We were able to stop by as often as we needed to create the perfect evening, which it was. We loved that it was a BYOB venue and 4Rivers is a choice for catering (their food is awesome). Much appreciation to Kim and Denise for helping us plan the wedding of our dreams. I can't say enough nice things about both of them - they become like family. My guests raved about beautiful this venue is. It's amazing!!!

Kim and Denise were so kind and accommodating! The venue was absolutely stunning and now I couldn't have imagined a better Venue to have my wedding ceremony and reception.

Being here made our day so beautiful! It was like a dream!

This was the perfect wedding venue for my husband and me. We live in a century-old house near downtown Orlando and we love history. Capen House is one of the oldest homes in Winter Park and about 10 years ago, there was a big community effort to save the home from demolition. People raised the money needed to relocate the house on the other side of the lake where it sits today, next to the Polasek Museum. We loved that we and our guests were able to help write a chapter in the house’s story.

In addition, the setting of the home on Lake Osceola is just beautiful. We were lucky enough to get married on a nice day weather-wise and did our ceremony by the lake behind the museum.

A few things (none of these were dealbreakers for us, obviously): You can’t have amplified sound outside (city rules) and you need to stop the event at 9. I think this venue probably is best for small- to mid-sized groups (we had about 80) and can’t accommodate late-night partying. We are in our mid-30s and had a lot of older guests at our wedding so none of this was a huge deal to us. Might be a bigger deal to others, though.

Overall, my husband and I are so happy we got married at Capen House. It really suited our personalities and everything turned out wonderfully. The venue employees were easy to work with and returned our damage deposit promptly.

Beautiful venue. It's very tucked away from everything but it really was perfect for our wedding. Very intimate.

We did our Ceremony only at Polasek Gardens in October, 2014.
The venue was absolutely beautiful and thankfully we had a perfect day. Our ceremony was at 5PM, so it was a bit warm, but there was a nice shady area on the grounds that we used.

I believe service has changed since these last reviews, as my coordinator had changed throughout my process. I worked with Amanda, and she was amazing. I didn't have a cormal coordinator, and she volunteered to help line up my bridal party and send us out. She was friendly and detailed, and went out of her way to provide ice for a bucket of waters I was providing.

All things considered, it's a fairly inexpensive rental facility, but there are no changing rooms available on-site, which ended up costing me an extra a couple hundred $ because I needed to rental a hotel room nearby and Winter Park doesn't have a great hotel room inventory at a decent price!
They also have a very limited list of table/chair rental companies, but they were pretty reasonably priced and fairly responsive.
To combat those potential issues, they've just added a historic home to the property, that is under-going renovations, and I believe their plan is to utilize some of that space as an indoor rental area and possible bridal room, so perhaps that's coming in the future.
I also noticed that just days before my ceremony, they had gotten in chairs of their own (which you'll need to rent, but perhaps it will be less expensive than an outside vendor)

Overall, I LOVED this outdoor venue, and the new coordinator is amazing. I'd reccomend it to anyone. They even sent my husband and I complimentary annual passes after our ceremony there. Very nice touch, so we can go back and enjoy the beauty of it whenever we'd like for the coming year.

The Capen House is stunning! We loved the variety of areas that gave a lovely flow from ceremony to reception without feeling too expansive for our intimate wedding (under 50 people). A big sell for us (aside from the gorgeous gardens and great indoor and outdoor options) was having the Scenic Boat Tour that could pick guests up from the dock and show off historic Winter Park! The staff was so sweet and helpful and worked with us on everything we needed. We also love that the funds go towards maintaining this beautiful, historic Florida house. Such a unique and fun venue!

We love love love this venue. It’s gorgeous, timeless and DENISE In particular is amazing at what she does (event coordinator there), if you can ask for DENISE, do ittt! She loves what she does and it shows. The venue itself is gorgeous, my advice to other brides, the price is great, but make sure you factor in all that you’ll need since this venue has its quirks! You will need to spend a bit more to rent chairs, tables and some form of music if you do an outdoor ceremony and reception that does not need amplification as that is not allowed. For us, this was not an issue as we wanted a string quartet anyways! But do be warned you can’t have a Dj outside. You also need to get ready offsite as the bridal suite is small and there is not a grooms suite. Additionally, they require you to purchase outdoor lighting if your event goes past sunset (so budget for that!) and have a strict cutoff event time of 9pm. Despite these quirks we wouldn’t have had our wedding anywhere else and our day was truly beautiful! I highly recommend this venue to anyone seeking historic charm and beautiful lake views.

We had our wedding ceremony here in the side garden. It was the perfect place because I wanted to get married in the lakes in winter park and the beautiful garden was shaded and relaxed. They have a very specific list of vendors that you can use because of the insurance involved with working around their art. The event manager changed three times since I put my deposit down. I felt like they had strict rules but no one knew what they were and essentially let us break them. I was not crazy about their service. Their ever person, Kim, was supposed to be there the day of the wedding but she wasn't. She sent her friend in here place. There isn't much of a staging area for the bride. They told me I could just wait by the bathrooms. Luckily one of the volunteers went to high school with a bridesmaid and let us sit in the chapel but reminded us that he would probably get in trouble for it a few times. Overall I was not satisfied with the service but loved the location.

The grounds are gorgeous. You cannot beat the beautiful landscaping & amazing sculpture on the property & the lake view is worth every penny! It's a fairly inexpensive rental facility but you do have to provide your own tent, tables, chairs, etc - which can add up. It's located in gorgeous & historic Winter Park. Downsides: rental costs for tent/tables/etc & the staff that worked the day of the event was not the friendliest. No bridal suite. Other than that no complaints! Definitely recommend for someone who loves art & the outdoors! All my guests commented on how unique & beautiful it was.