The best possible place to get married, of course, is at the family estate. Lush with emerald lawns and ancient clipped yew hedges, it has distant, glorious vistas, a sweeping circular drive to welcome guests, a grand staircase lined with ancestral portraits to bless the bride’s descent, and sparkling crystal chandeliers that illuminate acres of parquet flooring, installed for dancing hundreds of years ago.
That would be ideal. But most of us make do with something else: a hotel ballroom, a pretty piece of park or stretch of beach, a favorite restaurant. Still, there is no denying the spell that an atmospheric, architecturally impressive setting casts over a wedding.
The good news is that you don’t have to have a relative with a mansion in order to get married in one. The North Shore has lots of beautiful survivors of a storied past. Whether they are museums or private properties, many are available as rented wedding venues.
We have whittled the possibilities down to a short list of five sites. Variously, they provide amenities no function hall can, including extensive landscaped grounds, jaw-dropping views, unique and beautiful rooms, and fascinating histories. Because they have primary functions other than as rental properties, their schedules can be surprisingly flexible, despite the heavy demand.
Do keep in mind that historic architectural elements demand respect: no push pins in linenfold paneling or ancient beams, glitter can be the enemy of intricately carved old surfaces, and deeply colored floral petals can stain woodwork. Historic house curators tend to frown on wax dripping on old stone works.
Getting married in any of these historic houses will make for beautiful photographs. Can wedded bliss be far behind?
WILLOWDALE ESTATE
Built in 1901 and surrounded by the 721-acre Bradley Palmer State Park, Willowdale is a romantic stone Arts & Crafts-meets-Tudor Revival house in Topsfield with its original red slate roof, leaded stained glass windows, oak and cherry paneling, stone-carved fireplaces, and ornate wood molding. The atmospheric rooms include a wonderful conservatory, often the site of indoor winter weddings.
Designed by architect Charles Amos Cummings, who also designed the Cyclorama building in Boston’s South End, Willowdale was the weekend riding estate of prominent lawyer and businessman Bradley Palmer. The house has equestrian references throughout, including the layout, which is in a horseshoe shape.
From May to October, weddings for 140 to 240 are held in an outdoor tent, while indoor weddings for 70 to 125 guests take place between November and April. Included in the services are a helpful DVD and a team of wedding planners.
Willowdale Estate at Bradley Palmer State Park
24 Asbury St., Topsfield, 978-887-8211, willowdaleestate.com
LANAM CLUB
Overlooking the Shawsheen River from a rise above Andover’s North Main Street, the private-dining Lanam Club’s two-and-a-half-story home is a Spanish Colonial Revival house with stucco exterior sheathing, shed dormers, deep overhanging eaves, and an unusual green slate-tile roof.
Built in 1916 for son Billy by famed mill owner William Madison Wood, the house (which he named “Orlando”) was designed by Andover architect Perley S. Gilbert. The interior features elaborately detailed matched quarter-sawn oak paneling, molded plaster ceilings of garlands and rosettes, exquisite hand-carved fireplace surrounds, silver lighting fixtures, and a gracefully vaulted main hallway ceiling.
A beautiful walled garden is the site for outdoor ceremonies; a tent housing up to 150 is a permanent structure from April to November. For winter weddings, the 35-foot-long dining room can seat up to 110. An upstairs billiard room and bridal suite add to the sensibility of an exclusive club. So does the fact that upon their first anniversary, the Lanam invites the bride and groom back for dinner.
Incidentally, the name is an acronym: “L” for Lawrence, “A” for Andover, “NA” for North Andover, and “M” for Methuen.
Lanam Club
260 North Main St., Andover, 978-475-5210, lanam-club.com
WINNEKENNI CASTLE
Set high on a hilltop overlooking Kenoza Lake, Haverhill’s Winnekenni Castle is a dramatic granite assemblage of towers, turrets, crenellation, arched window openings, and other elements reminiscent of medieval European castles. In fact, it was built between 1873 and 1875 as a summer home by Haverhill chemist Dr. James R. Nichols. Inspired by stone buildings he saw in England, he named it and the surrounding land “Winnekenni,” an Algonquin word meaning “very beautiful.” It is one of the earliest works of Haverhill architect C. Willis Damon.
The original Victorian rooms burned in 1967; now the castle interior serves as one big party space augmented by modern functional spaces. Indoor weddings can accommodate up to 150; many more guests can fill the broad terrace and the open surrounding land.
Winnekenni Castle, which belongs to the city of Haverhill, is closed between Christmas and April. This is the ideal site for a do-it-yourself wedding that can be as simple or as elaborate as your imagination and your budget allow. (Or, for nuptials inspired by Arthurian legend.)
Winnekenni Castle
347 Kenoza Ave., Haverhill, 978-521-1686, winnekenni.com
THE STEVENS ESTATE
Also known as Osgood Hill, the Romanesque Revival house built in 1886 by textile magnate Moses Stevens provided a view of his mills below. The mills are gone, but the grand red brick and stone manse by the Boston architectural firm Hartwell and Richardson, surrounded by 154 acres groomed by landscape architect Ernest Bowditch, remains intact. It boasts magnificent carved fireplace surrounds, leather ceiling panels, stained glass, and superb oak and mahogany paneling. Twice threatened with destruction, the house now belongs to the town of North Andover.
From the master suite, brides can watch guests come up the winding drive; in fact, the house seems especially well designed for overlooking the scene and making grand entrances. A recently added ballroom adjoins an outdoor paved area that houses a tent in the summer.
Outdoor weddings can accommodate 250; indoors, there is room for 150. Like all of these houses, The Stevens Estate has lovely flow between indoors and out, with photo ops around every corner.
The Stevens Estate
723 Osgood St., North Andover, 978-682-7072, stevensestate.com
THE CRANE ESTATE
When Chicago plumbing giant Richard T. Crane decided to build a summer home, he bought the most magnificent and auspicious piece of land he could find: the seaside drumlin in Ipswich known as Castle Hill. He then hired the day’s leading architects and landscape designers to enhance the natural beauty.
Crowning the top of the hill is the 1928 David Adler-designed 59-room Stuart-style Great House. From there, a half-mile-long Grand Allée flows down to Ipswich Bay, one of the country’s greatest executions of landscape architecture. Wedding venues include the main house and allée as well as the Italian Garden, the Casino complex, an Italian-style rustic barn, an intimate “colonial” tavern, tents, lawns, and a secluded white-sand beach. All feature dizzying views of ocean, marshes, and stretches of coastline.
Groups of almost any size can be accommodated somewhere within the vast 2,100-acre complex that is a great jewel in The Trustees of Reservations’ crown. There is even an inn on the property.
Castle Hill at The Crane Estate
290 Argilla Rd., Ipswich, 978-356-4351, thetrustees.org