More about
Weddings at The Beardslee Homestead
Much more than just a farm or a wedding venue, The Beardslee Homestead is an elegant country estate dating back to 1785. Full of history including a son who served in the Civil War, and surrounded by majestic rolling hills, the beautiful Unadilla river, ponds, gardens, a vineyard, meadows, and Amish communities driving horses and buggies, The Beardslee Homestead evokes a different time, a refined life, almost a fairy tale.
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The property features a 9-bedroom Federal-style home for the bride and her bridal party. The home is on the National Register of Historic Places and is adorned with period furniture pieces throughout. The property also has a restored post-Revolutionary War era tavern from 1785, three barns from the 1800s, and a Hop House built in 1840 and expanded in 1865, also on the National Register of Historic Places. The fully functional Hop House, one of the only examples of its kind, serves as a Museum of antique agricultural equipment.
All of these buildings are available for your use for your various dinners, gatherings, and receptions.
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At the heart of the wedding festivities at The Beardslee Homestead is the nearly 3,000 square foot horse barn that opens to an endless field of green, gold, and pastel hues. With a beautiful Swarovski crystal central chandelier, an all-wood bar made from black walnut and adorned with Tiffany stained glass, and long banquet tables also of black walnut live edge that can seat up to 16 guests each, the Banquet Barn is both rustic and elegant. The Beardslee Homestead also has a brick-oven pizzeria, fire pits, and Adirondack chairs, ideal for a unique after-party! All of this, along with gorgeous views along two miles of river-front, combine to create a fairy-tale setting for an unforgettably beautiful and fun wedding.
And as you think about your Bachelor or Bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, or Sunday brunch, consider all that the Homestead has to offer: a historic tavern, a distillery and tasting room for liqueur making Italian herbal liqueurs, a Blacksmith shop for knife-making, a a wood shop, fishing and swimming holes, a river to canoe or kayak, hiking trails, a vineyard for a picnic or wine-making, apple picking and cider making, and so much more.
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It was a Fairy Tale. . .Only it was Real.TM
Mission
As parents of the bride ourselves, we put hundreds of hours into our home, property, and wedding planning to try to create an unforgettable wedding for our daughter. All of our guests commented how they would love to return, and some even said they wanted to have their own weddings or their children's weddings at the farm. That is why we are exploring the possibility of opening our property to host wedding receptions.
Vision
Our vision is to provide an extraordinarily beautiful setting for your farm wedding dream and to help create an unforgettable wedding experience for you, your parents, family, and guests, with every detail meticulously planned, yet full of authenticity and spontaneity.
The Beardslee Homestead is walking distance to St. Theresa's Catholic Church and various Protestant Churches and Jewish Synagogues in the area. It is also a short drive to St. Malachy's Roman Catholic Church. Receptions can be designed to make full use of the property and all that it has to offer.
Offering
We are able to offer you our estate including a historic home with eight bedrooms for you and your family and bridesmaids. The home has been featured in Farm and Ranch online magazine. We can offer a wedding hall for up to 200 people featuring long farm tables made from black walnut, a black walnut and pine bar with room for two or three bartenders, a Tiffany stained glass lamp hanging over the bar, and three wagon wheel chandeliers and fairy lights, along with a Swarovski crystal adorned central chandelier. For the cocktail reception we can offer an 1865 Hop House on the National Register of Historic Places and a hops field with room for hundreds of guests and ample room for lawn games. In the event of rain, we can offer an open front, covered horse barn that gives the sense you are outside while being inside.
For other events like a rehearsal dinner or farewell brunch, we can offer a Tavern dating to 1785 with period antiques, for an after-party or even for hors d'oeuvres we can offer a wood-fired Pizza oven, and for relaxing get togethers among family and friends, we can offer a small but beautiful vineyard. And once the party is over, don't forget about our Astronomical Observatory to observe the planets, moon, stars, galaxies, and nebulae. The options are many.
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Depending on the season, apples, pears, grapes, hops, herbs, tomatoes, fresh eggs, peonies, lilacs and more can be picked by you and your guests. We are within minutes from most major denomination Churches, but we can also offer various settings for your wedding ceremony including along the river, in beautiful fields, at the vineyard, at the orchard, in the Hop House, or wherever your imagination is captured when you visit.
We are not wedding planners by profession. We do not offer catering, photography, music, florist, table and chairs, linens, hotel or other services. But, we can rent you a beautiful property. For the hands-on couple desiring a farm wedding or a barn wedding this model allows maximum flexibility of design themes for you to have the wedding of your dreams. We have established good relationships with local caterers, photographers, florists, musicians, and rental companies who would be happy to work with you. We used some of these companies for our own daughter's wedding, and we can recommend them highly to you. We can also help with arranging introductions and even help organize everything for you for an added fee. We know places that your guests can stay overnight that are normally not well-known, too.
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You may rent the property for your special day or even, or you may rent it for a two or three-day wedding weekend (beginning Friday afternoon and going until Sunday early afternoon) including rental of the entire home and estate for your bridal party and various receptions. We are also happy to consult with you regarding local vendors and to design a unique wedding experience for you.
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The Beardslee Homestead is also the perfect setting for family reunions, high school graduation parties, college graduation parties (there are seven colleges within one hour), and visits to historic Cooperstown. Please contact us to discuss your party or event.
