The Oaks Reviews

I highly recommend hosting your wedding at The Oaks!! Not only is the property beautiful, but the entire staff was spectacular. Lamond was so quick to respond to every question we had. She was extremely accommodating and willing to work with us in every request. We were able to host an entire weekend of events at The Oaks. They coordinated transportation for guests staying at the venue to our Welcome Party, and allowed us to have a brunch on Sunday at The Bistro. I cannot say enough about how amazing The Oaks staff was, and we are looking forward to going back.

We couldn't recommend The Oaks highly enough. From our first venue visit where we were surprised by delicious homemade brownies and tea, to our overnight visit & tasting where all of our questions were answered, we knew we were in great hands. Every member of the team is so knowledgeable, responsive, caring, and passionate. It was a pleasure working with Lamond to plan all aspects of our special day, Chef Doug to create our rehearsal & reception dinner menus, and Joe to execute our perfect wedding weekend. Our guests were so impressed by the service (truly above & beyond), quality of food & drinks, and the beauty of the venue. We are so happy that we chose The Oaks and if we could go back, we wouldn't change a thing!

My husband and I are so happy that we chose to get married at the Oaks. Lamond and the entire staff were extremely helpful and responsive throughout the planning process. Our wedding day couldn't have gone smoother. The venue was picture-perfect and the food was absolutely delicious. Our family and friends are still talking about how amazing the evening was. We also loved that our family and wedding party got to stay at the venue for the weekend. The rooms were spacious and comfortable and it was just so nice for everyone to have a central place to hang out for the wedding weekend. The groomsmen got to do a wedding morning kayak trip in the creek which was truly a highlight. We are excited to see how the renovations turn out and come back for our anniversary!

The oaks was everything and more!! We loved having an “all inclusive” type venue and a place where all of our friends and family could stay.
Lamond is responsive, accommodating and sooo good at her job! She was always available when we had questions. The day of the wedding, she was on top of it. She constantly checked in with my husband and I to make sure we were having a good time & had everything we needed.
The venue is so beautiful and serene. I loved getting to watch the sunrise the day of my wedding with my husband.
The food is the BEST!!! We are still receiving compliments from guests. During the cocktail hour, the food kept coming. This is the first wedding I’ve been to where I didn’t have to hunt down servers and food. Many guests said the same.
Book at The Oaks! You won’t regret it!!

We had our wedding here on 8.27.22 and Lamond and her staff were absolutely amazing! She made sure everything was taken care of so I had zero stress the day of the wedding. People were commenting on how perfectly timed everything was and obviously the food because the food is AMAZING!

The main thing that sold us on this venue that you book the entire venue and its rooms for the whole weekend! There are 15 rooms total so we had our friends stay in the rooms during our wedding weekend. There is also a huge patio with tons of seating so it was really nice to hang out with them after the wedding and make a weekend out of it! Several people commented on how they are going to recommend the venue or how they wish they had their wedding there.

I highly recommend this venue for your wedding!!

We were just married at The Oaks on April 23rd and could speak for hours to the incredible venue, food, location, and most especially, the people. To Missy, Candi, and Lamond, they were the very best to work with – easygoing and professional from the start, and made us feel like we were the only couple in the world to get married there. The cost was affordable, but truthfully, considering the view of the bay, the remarkable condition of the venue, the steak and crab cake dinner, and service, it should have been much, much more. The flow of our wedding weekend included rehearsal dinner on the dock, the ceremony at the point overlooking the bay, cocktail hour alongside the Inn, and reception indoors. The Bridal Cottage and Grooms Suite made the perfect locations for our entire party to get ready (15 total!), and the entire Inn housed our families for four days. We had 150 guests who moved easily throughout the venue and explored St. Michaels during the day, plenty of activities to do before (and after) the wedding, it was easy to find for our out of town family. If there are any reservations in your mind about booking your wedding with The Oaks - get rid of them. This is your sign!! We are forever indebted to this lovely place and the people who manage it.

The Oaks Waterfront Inn is the absolute perfect wedding venue! We fell in love with it the second we walked in! The property is beautiful and the staff is so kind! We were able to take so many nice pictures on the water, in front of the Inn, and in front of their barns. It really meant a lot to us to have all of our family stay on property the entire weekend! We had our rehearsal dinner on the dock and it couldn’t have been more perfect. We got married in August, but there was a very nice breeze from the water. On our wedding day, Candi couldn’t have been more helpful! She checked in several times to make sure we had everything we needed and ensured everything was set up to our liking. Candi and the entire staff were so helpful and couldn’t have been any happier for us! They took the time to get to know us and not just treat us like guests, but family! We loved everything about The Oaks Waterfront Inn and will absolutely be back, multiple times!

The Oaks was the first and only venue that my husband and I toured. Tucked away on a peaceful cove, it had everything we wanted and so much more. It’s big enough to accommodate our family and friends so that we were able to spend extra time with them, but small enough that the staff could take amazing care of us. Attentive service, delicious food, not to mention the gorgeous views from every spot on the property. We will definitely be back for weekend getaways!

Words cannot explain how LUCKY we felt to be married at this venue! The Oaks Waterfront Inn is a dream come true. We initially fell in love with The Oaks and their staff via FaceTime during the COVID pandemic. We visited one week later and it was true - the Inn is amazingly gorgeous!! We were floored by the hospitality, the delicious food, the thoughtful and friendly staff that feel like family, the beautiful landscaping and the homey-ness of the Inn. We got compliments all evening on how wonderful of a venue The Oaks Waterfront Inn is. People are still raving about the FOOD!!!!! We would 1000% not have had as amazing of a wedding day without Candi, Missy and Dolores - not to mention Paul the INCREDIBLE chef and every single staff member. They went above and beyond for our wedding and we could not have chosen a better place. The bridal cottage is one of my favorite parts.. and my now husband loved being able to play all the fun yard games on wedding day. Having a rehearsal dinner, your ceremony/reception and your suites in one place was what we were looking for and it felt like a private weekend getaway for us and all of our loved ones to be together. We love The Oaks Waterfront Inn and will visit for years to come!!! :)

Upon walking into the door of The Oaks for the first time we knew we had found our dream wedding venue. Missy was so friendly and welcoming from the moment we introduced ourselves for our tour, and we were met with that same warmth during our 22 month planning process.

Candi, Missy, and the entire Oaks staff went to stratospheric levels to make our wedding day perfect. We had to postpone our wedding by 5 months due to COVID and Candi was beyond accommodating to change our date and work with us when we experienced some complications due to the Delta variant.

As others have said, the food is incredible - all of our guests have continued to rave. They even turned a simple green salad into a talking point after the wedding, it was that good. We added on the raw bar, signature cocktail, late night snack, and sparkler departure, all of which were executed flawlessly (though we felt the raw bar was an extra special touch).

While The Oaks has no control over the weather, we had a beautiful October day without a cloud in the sky, and our wedding ceremony between the trees was picture perfect. Immediately after our ceremony an attendant met us with glasses of celebratory champagne which was really magical.

The bridal cottage is the perfect spot to get ready in - plenty of space with lots of natural light (and the chic decor makes for cute getting ready photos!). There are many unique spaces around the property to take wedding photos in and the view of the water from the ballroom during the reception can’t be beat. Our family and bridal party all stayed at The Oaks over the weekend and gushed about how wonderful the accommodations, food, and staff were.

Thank you so much Candi, Missy, Dolores, and everyone else at The Oaks who worked so hard to put on such a fabulous weekend. We have been floating on Cloud 9 since last weekend and can’t wait to return for a weekend trip!

I don’t even know where to begin with how wonderful The Oaks and their staff are! To start, we booked a summer 2020 wedding in June 2019- way before COVID was even a thing. Once COVID hit and we realized that our original wedding date was just not going to work, The Oaks was incredibly kind to us and graciously rescheduled everything to this summer. During the unprecedented and uncertain times, they were flexible and accommodating which they honestly didn’t need to be and I think that speaks volumes to the kind of people that they are. As things began to move forward again, The Oaks was with us every step of the way. They suggested amazing vendors, replied to emails within minutes, and accommodated every request. We arrived to The Oaks the Thursday before the wedding with cars loaded to the brim and as soon as we pulled in The Oaks literally took everything from there. It was completely hassle free. We had a DELICIOUS rehearsal dinner under the dock on Friday. The atmosphere that The Oaks offers is truly unmatched and it felt like we were on a vacation. It was amazing that we were able to have closest family and the bridal party stay with us on-site, they mentioned how it felt like a destination wedding and how relaxing it was and nice to be hanging out all together all weekend. Our wedding day was a DREAM. Candi and Missy literally took care of everything. Our last minute rain plan was perfectly executed and I did not worry about anything knowing that they had everything under control. There are also so many beautiful places to take photos there, so while Plan A on the water didn’t work out Plan B was just as magical. Our guests RAVED about how delicious all of the food served at the wedding was and how gorgeous the venue and waterfront was. We have had MANY guests tell us that it was easily the best wedding they had ever been to and we know that is because of The Oaks. I could go on and on but we truly can not recommend this venue enough. THANK YOU Candi, Missy, & the whole Oaks team for EVERYTHING. You made our dream come true. We will forever deeply appreciate you and can’t wait to visit soon! The Oaks will forever hold a very special place in our hearts and I wish we could do it all over again! If you are a bride THIS IS THE PLACE!

We received so many compliments from the wedding guests at my daughter's wedding on the lovely venue, the delicious food and helpful staff-even the bartender was top notch. Everything came off flawlessly. Our family was very happy with the accommodations at the inn and the folks at the venue couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. Many of the wedding guests told us it was the best wedding they had ever attended. A wonderful experience !

I truly do not know how to express how much this wedding venue deserves more than a five-star perfect rating. To begin with the staff on site, each and every one of them bent over backwards to go above and beyond any type of request we had. They worked with us from the very beginning to bring our dream wedding to life. The event planners on site responded to any questions/comments/concerns throughout the entire planning process within minutes each time. They also had extremely strong knowledge of the best vendors in the area (florist, cakes, officiants, etc.). During the day of our wedding, Cali, one of the event planners on site, kept my nerves down the entire time and made it the most relaxing and low-stress weekend. She was there for us the entire weekend doing everything and anything she could to make it the most incredible time of our life. One thing that especially stood out was when my Husband and I came back from our after-party around 2am, Cali had gone into our room beforehand and cleaned up the chaos from the bridal party getting dressed earlier that day, placed our wedding gifts and cards around our room in such a gorgeous way, had our marriage certificate laid out on our bed, and had two pieces of our wedding cake sitting there at the table for us. My husband and I were almost in tears when we saw what they had done for us. She had also previously overheard my dad saying how upset he was years ago when he didnt get a piece of wedding cake at my sister's wedding, and Cali surprised him the next morning with packaged up slices of cake for him!!

To rave about the venue, my husband and I fell in love with the atmosphere the minute we toured there. However, the day of the wedding our breath was completely taken away once all of the flower arrangements, outdoor lighting, cocktail tables, etc. were so elegantly set up. We had several guests claim this was the most beautiful wedding they had ever been to and I could tell they genuinely meant it. One of the biggest perks that made our wedding weekend so great was the fact that our immediate family members and the members in our bridal party could stay together on site together the entire weekend there. It was so much fun to have the bridal party/immediate family all wake up together on Saturday and Sunday morning and enjoy an AWESOME complimentary breakfast in the mansion together. It was such a good way to end the weekend together before heading out on Sunday morning to recap on the wedding and all the fun we had.

To go onto the food, i cannot stress how blown away us and our entire wedding was. I've been to a lot of weddings with pretty decent food, but this was hands down the BEST food I've ever had. From the appetizers during the cocktail hour to the actual meal, it felt like a 5 star fine-dining experience. Not to mention the presentation was stunning. We again had a handful of people tell us that it was the best food they had ever had at a wedding before.

If you choose to have your wedding at the Oaks, you will have the most perfect and magical experience of your life. I am still on cloud nine with how elegant and classy everything was executed. My husband and I will be coming back in the future to celebrate our anniversary at the most special venue :)

You made our wedding unforgettable. After pushing back our wedding two times, I never thought I would say that it was actually worth waiting for, but you all made that happen. I wish I could put into words my husband and my thanks and satisfaction, but there are no real words that would equally describe it. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You made everything magical!

The Oaks goes beyond a wedding venue. This place is a home for the most memorable and important weekend of your life! Every single person involved goes above and beyond to make sure the bride and groom, plus family and friends are well taken care of. The food is phenomenal, service is perfection, atmosphere is incredible. Everything is immaculate. My husband and I and our families cannot thank this venue enough, during a time of unknown and a pandemic they worked endlessly with us to make our entire weekend unforgettable. It was better than I ever imagine and the butterflies will last a lifetime. You need to check this venue out! Tracey, Candy, Katie, missy (& everyone!!!) are insanely generous and kindhearted people. Forever grateful.

The Oaks does it all! First, let me say that my wedding weekend went off without a hitch. All thanks to the amazing staff at The Oaks who anticipated my every need and coordinated with all my vendors so I was able to be completely hands-off on my wedding day. You do not need a planner if you choose The Oaks. They provide you a list of vendors who they work closely with. This is how I found my florist, who I absolutely loved. I even brought in a few new vendors, all of whom told me that The Oaks staff were welcoming and helpful. The FOOD - they feed you all weekend! They cover your rehearsal dinner, two breakfasts, cocktail hour, reception and desserts - all absolutely delicious. In reflecting with friends and family, we all agree the best part about our wedding at The Oaks was that our families and wedding party were able to stay on-site at the Inn for the whole weekend. Their 14 rooms + private Bridal Cottage are extremely well kept and managed. Candi, Tracey & Missy were all wonderful to work with and provided me the support I needed during planning and on my big day. We are so happy we chose The Oaks!

We found The Oaks early on in our wedding venue search and are so happy we did! The natural scenery by the water is one of our favorite things about The Oaks, and we loved the small bed and breakfast for some of our family and friends to stay at during the wedding weekend. The morning of the wedding, everyone took the canoes out on the water and visited others' nearby rental homes just a short paddle away! Paul, Tracey, and the other members of The Oaks team run a tight ship and it was wonderful to get to know them. They have seen every wedding concept, theme, and curve ball before, so they are experienced in dealing with any potential challenges that come up. They also have great vendor recommendations, and we loved the florist they put us in touch with. As a small but busy inn with in-house catering, The Oaks has specific ways of approaching many elements of the wedding weekend, but for the most part these worked perfectly for us. The food was wonderful and the event went off flawlessly! We look forward to visiting The Oaks and St. Michaels again soon and would recommend The Oaks to anyone looking to get married in the St. Michaels/Eastern Shore area.

My fiancé and The Oaks canceled our contract without informing me. I was on that contract and the deposit check came from my bank account. Not only have I been robbed of that money, I’ve been robbed of basic decency and professionalism from the Oaks. Whatever the intent, canceling a wedding behind one party’s back is completely unacceptable. Further, not admitting the obvious contractual mistake made and, instead, lawyering up and cutting off communication with me, is cowardly and shows the true greediness and lack of character of the owners and employees of The Oaks. The Oaks made a major contractual mistake-they should have owned up to it with a simple apology and refund of the check. The date we had is a highly desirable date and I am sure they can, if not already, fill that date. I am beyond disappointed. 

We were married at the Oaks this past September! We looked at a few venues on the Eastern Shore, but nothing else came close to what the Oaks offers. We wanted the venue to be by the water with the ceremony site outside and the reception inside, be able to have a whole weekend there to celebrate (and the Oaks offers the entire Inn to you the entire weekend), lodging onsite for our families and bridal party, and a fun area for our guests to explore since most everyone was travelling from out of town. Many of our guests made it a whole weekend getaway which was amazing! We had our rehearsal dinner under the covered dock - an Eastern Shore style BBQ which was so amazing being able to host it there! It made the planning & coordination process so much easier. Afterwards the bridal party went into downtown St Michaels to enjoy some fun local bars which was a blast. Then Saturday was an absolute dream! The bridal cottage offers everything you and your bridesmaids need to get ready and the guys had plenty of space in the main house to get ready in a big room. Our friends and family also enjoyed exploring the grounds, shuttle boarding and even canoeing! Aside from the beautiful location and inn, what truly makes the Oaks so special is the amazing staff. They do what they do extremely well and have the timing and all the details down. The ceremony, cocktail hour and reception all went along so smoothly all thanks to them! Our guests were greeted at cocktail hour with trays of drinks and appetizers, which are amazing! And the staff even brought us drinks and appetizers to enjoy ourselves after the ceremony. The small details made our day even more enjoyable and they meant so much. Dinner at the reception was absolutely amazing! 3 months later and we are still hearing guests rave about the incredible food, location, and staff! As a little extra, we had a cigar bar outside which the staff set up perfectly and it was a huge hit! The staff kept asking us, and our parents if they needed anything to drink, they kept us on track during the reception, they brought the guest cards into the cottage for us, and even made up a dessert tray which we so appreciated since we didn't have time to eat any dessert at the reception! They do the little details so wonderfully which makes all the difference. At check out, they even gave us "just married" ball caps which was such a fun surprise! Our friends and family had so much fun at our wedding and that's all we could have hoped for! If you are looking for a venue with the whole package, the Oaks is the place for you. Thank you to the entire staff (and special shoutout to Candi, Tracey, and Susan) for making our wedding and us feel so special!! It was all we could have asked for and more!

We wanted an intimate, rustic style wedding in the Eastern Shore and near the water. The Oaks staff recommended our florist/designer and together we were able to create the exact day we wanted!

What an amazing experience it was having The Oaks host our wedding. The Oaks was the first wedding venue we toured and what an impression it left. At each venue we toured after that, we would ask each other which place do you see us getting married at when you close your eyes – every time the answer was The Oaks. We went back for a second visit and immediately knew it was for us. From the first tour, everyone there made us feeling like family.
We knew we wanted a ceremony by the water, but it was also very important for my husband to have a venue that had a backup in case of rain as well as a place for an indoor reception. We hoped we wouldn’t need the backup but unfortunately, a remnant of a tropical storm moved through on our wedding day! We ended up having the ceremony on the large covered dock and it was still perfect. The lights under the dock along with the rain actually made for a very romantic setting. If only the wind had been a little less! Our guests were kept inside until right before the ceremony and none seemed to mind the setting.
One of the best parts of The Oaks is having the Inn available to you and your guests that night for lodging. All of my side was coming in from out of town, so we loved having family be able to say with us there that night . We chose a Sunday wedding, so we only had the Inn the Sunday night. If you book a Saturday wedding, you do get both Friday and Saturday nights. A wonderful breakfast buffet is also included the morning after for guests who stayed at the Inn.
The highlight of The Oaks has to be the amazing staff. Every single person we dealt with throughout the entire process was wonderful. Tracey is the on-site coordinator who we primarily worked with through the planning process. What an asset to have available at The Oaks! She was amazing and so helpful. Always very quick to reply to any questions we had. Unfortunately, Tracey suffered an injury and was not available for our wedding day. Candi, one of the owners of The Oaks, stepped in for Tracey though and did an amazing job for us. She was a pro! Words can’t express the gratitude we have for everything both Tracey and Candi did to help our wedding day turn out to be exactly what we had envisioned. The staff the day of the wedding were also all top notch. We had to many compliments on the service!
Thank you to everyone at The Oaks! Highly recommend!!!

Getting married at The Oaks Waterfront Inn was a dream! This past June 2019, we had our dream wedding at this unforgettable location. From the moment we toured The Oaks with Candi a year earlier, we knew it was special. When you get married here, you get an entire team devoted to making your dream wedding come to life – way beyond the actual wedding weekend. Tracey, The Oaks’ weekend coordinator, walks you through wedding planning and checks in throughout the year. She also did an excellent job fielding questions coming from many different family members as I was too caught up in finishing graduate school to be as on top of planning as I had hoped. She was a huge help. You also receive a free night at The Oaks when you do your tasting! That is helpful to become comfortable with the venue for continued planning purposes. Tracey and the team will transform The Oaks into a retreat for your family and friends for the entire weekend. The best part is having your guests experience the magic of St. Michaels for the weekend - the bridal party relaxing with you at The Oaks and guests exploring the town.

The actual wedding day turned out perfectly. The Oaks team works with your vendors, anticipates your needs, and keeps everything moving smoothly. We received many compliments from guests and vendors on how kind and efficient the staff was in addition to how breathtaking the venue was. We opted to add a “signature drink” to our wedding package. The Oaks designed our drink for us and it was AMAZING – maybe the best drink we’ve ever had (strawberry lemonade mojito, fyi). Our guests loved it, as well. We also added the fireworks to our wedding package. They were the highlight of our wedding. They lasted about ten minutes and were truly better than fourth of July fireworks, per our guests.

Our only suggestions for your wedding day at The Oaks regard the dessert bar and vendors. Firstly, if you add the dessert bar to your wedding package like we did, we highly suggest having the wait staff circulate the desserts (in addition to displaying them on the dessert table) throughout the party the same way they did with the hors d’oeuvres during cocktail hour. About half of the guests we’ve spoken to post-wedding did not partake in the dessert bar – either because they did not see it because of its location in the back of the room or because they were unable to make their way back there in between dancing. That has been fairly disappointing to discover because of the additional cost per head, and we were so excited for all guests to enjoy it. If the desserts were circulating, I am positive it would be a better strategy. Additionally, if you book with The Oaks, I highly suggest booking with their suggested vendors. It makes such a difference to have vendors who are already familiar with the venue.

Overall, The Oaks made our wedding dreams come true. We highly recommend The Oaks for your wedding!! Our only wish is that the whole weekend and wedding day could have lasted longer – we never wanted our dream day to end.

I cannot rave enough about this WONDERFUL establishment, in particular Owner, Candy and wedding coordinator, Tracey. My son was married at The Oaks on September 7th and the entire experience was nothing less than perfect. From the moment we all checked in on Friday until checkout on Sunday, we were treated like kings and queens by a friendly and highly professional staff. The food was fabulous and the service impeccable. We are still receiving compliments daily. If you're looking to have the wedding of your dreams, look no further.

It is honestly hard to think of words that will adequately describe how perfect our wedding weekend was at The Oaks. Tracey and the whole team there were an absolute joy to work with over our year and a half of planning. She was so incredibly accommodating to all of our ideas and wedding day wishes, she very kindly dealt with my many emails of random questions and ideas, and we really enjoyed each meeting we had with her. She is so incredibly helpful and organized, and when it came time for our wedding weekend we didn’t have to lift a finger- she and the Oaks staff made the whole weekend go off without a hitch. Our guests raved about the food and beauty of the venue. The bridal cottage was the perfect and cutest place to get ready and stay in, and having our families right there at the venue with us was so convenient. We were so so sad when the weekend was over, but we can’t wait to go back and stay there again. We LOVE the Oaks and really can’t thank them enough for giving us our perfect fairy tale.