Dellwood Barn Weddings

DBW gave me the wedding reception of my dreams! Firstly, thank you to Julie and Scott for being so accommodating during COVID times. We had to reschedule our wedding from July 2020 to May 2021 because of the pandemic and also my dad getting diagnosed and eventually passing from Stage 4 lung cancer. Obviously I was not in a mood to celebrate and Julie allowed me to postpone our reception (we always planned on getting married at a church) to May vs the fall of 2020 and I'm so grateful that I was allowed that time to get some closure because I had to drastically adjust our reception (it still breaks my heart that I never got my father/daughter dance) and it just allowed me to be in a better place mentally to actual be able to enjoy my day.If you want a beautiful venue and to do very little work to make it even more beautiful, pick DBW. Pay for the upgraded package for their decor rental and you''ll spend an hour picking out pinterest worthy items that have been proven to look good with their set up, and they even do all the work on the big day to stage the items for you. I literally just had to show up and give Julie the seating chart. That was the extent of my decorating. That's it. And it was GORGEOUS. We got so many compliments on the venue! Also, to double up on how little effort I had to really put in planning this reception, DBW's welcome package has a list of all their "preferred" vendors (which is mostly just vendors that have been there before and had a positive experience) and they were all high quality professionals. I went with everyone off their list except for flowers/hair/makeup and have no complaints! We definitely lucked out and had a beautiful day weather wise, which is great because DBW is a big property with a lot of space for guests to mingle outside. Part of the decor package is yard games, so we had cornhole, hammerschlagen, yard golf, various tables/chairs to sit and gather at, a smores bar/fire pit and if you ask nicely and Scott is in town, they'll even do a tractor ride (that you can take booze on!). They also have various horses and dogs (in pens) that are very friendly that guests can interact with. And they are very well behaved. My reception was very casual and whenever the guests that were interested in the dogs came up for pets, there was no jumping or anything. Thankfully we didn't have a very hot day, but we still had the AC on because I was busy busting a move on the dance floor. There's two AC units, but there's one that's directly on the dance floor and you better believe I incorporated dancing in front of it as a move because it was industrial strength and worked so well. The barn doors had to be closed to both keep the noise from the DJ as well as the cool air in but honestly, it was not a factor at all. Honestly, if you work with contracts regularly, DBW isn't really any different. Make sure you read over it and know about the early end time (1030pm roughly, but they want everyone out by 1100pm), the special event insurance, the special insurance if you don't go with their suggested DJ (we went with their recommendation, ZeroGravity/Jeff and he was great, also already has the insurance), the closing of the barn doors while music is on, what alcohol is included in the buyback plan (also just a heads up if you do open bar and you hit your limit that you prepaid for, you can keep a card open and they'll check in with you every $500 to see if you still want to keep it open. Wasn't an issue for us but definitely is considerate since booze adds up fast and some people don't realize once they've been drinking), and things like that. The contract makes it seem like they are sticklers but honestly Julie and Scott were a blast. They even worked super hard to make sure that I had enough space for a Big Buck Hunter game for my reception as well as any other things I had questions or suggestions on. Seriously, they were so easy to work with, cannot recommend DBW enough! Everyone get married here!

My husband's brother had his wedding here. It's a gorgeous place for a wedding! The barn is air conditioned, which is great for summer weddings! The staff was kind and several interacted with my 5 children, even offering them bubbles to take home. The owner, Julie, however, is not a fan of kids. She yelled at my kids as well as the other kids there multiple times and even grabbed my 3 year old by the arm and yanked her. I was standing on the far side of Julie trying to get to my child, but she was blocking my way. After that, I told her to talk to me if there was a problem with my kids (all under 8 years old), but that she was not to talk to them or touch them. She responded by saying she would have the officer on duty talk to them instead! So I made sure she understood that only I or my husband would be talking to them. If you plan on having kids at your wedding, pick a different place.Edited to add: After reading several other reviews from different places and talking to others at the wedding, it seems she doesn't discriminate based on age. She's just rude to anyone. So, if you plan on having guests at your wedding, pick a different place!

We got married at the Dellwood Barn in Sept 2017. We visited the property in July 2016 and knew we wanted a 2017 date. At that point there were only 3 weekends left (a year in advance!) so we had to make a decision that day or risk having 0 weekends in 2017 left to choose from. We met with Julie (owner) and I think she gave us the rest of the day to make up our minds. Between the beautiful grounds and barn and the rental package (more on that later) my (now) husband was sold. I took a little longer to make up my mind because I was worried that this City Girl might not want to get married in a barn. But I realized that everyone would love the location, plus the barn wedding meant we had a built-in theme and I didn't have to come up with one (important since I had NOT been planning a wedding since childhood and had no idea what I wanted), plus the aforementioned rental package also meant we didn't have to buy lots of decorations or deal with cleanup at the end of the night. We also hired Julie as our Wedding Coordinator. You don't have to, but I highly suggest it. She's familiar with the property and its quirks, she has relationships with vendors and years of hospitality industry experience, and she has plenty of experience with weddings on top of that. I may as well address the topic brought up in some other reviews -- that Julie isn't nice to guests. IMO sometimes niceness is overrated and I prefer smart and capable over nice. Yes, I would say Julie was a bit intense and direct at times, but significantly, she gave us a (nearly) flawless and worry-free wedding day. And bottom line, that's what we paid for and all I care about. She kept us on track leading up to the wedding day. She pointed out things we didn't think about during the rehearsal that made the next day look better and go smoothly. And day of she solved problems that we were not even aware of until after the fact. She was professional and knowledgeable and we owe the success of our wedding largely to Julie's efforts and expertise. And she was perfectly nice to us!Booking a Dellwood Barn Wedding (DBW) comes with quite a few stipulations. For example, you must have a special event insurance policy, you must purchase DBW's bartender package (and you can't bring in your own beer or liquor), you either choose a caterer off their preferred vendor list or pay a fee, you cannot serve homemade food or food not prepared in a licensed facility, you must hire a DJ and the DJ must carry insurance (no playlists off your laptop or phone), and you cannot have any live music other than during the ceremony (and nothing amplified when outdoors). You also can't do much of your own decorating as DBW does not permit anything to be pinned, nailed, taped, or stapled to the walls, tables, or chairs. There was also a fairly lengthy list of behavior no-nos for wedding attendees, most of which would not be a problem for a well-behaved person. And Julie and staff (including parking attendants and a uniformed police officer) keep a preemptive eye out for unruly behavior. I don't know how typical all this may or may not be as I've only had one wedding and nothing to compare it to. So, if you want to save money with a DIY wedding and/or require absolute artistic control and/or expect to have disorderly guests, this is not the venue for you. But we liked having so many aspects of the event handled by DBW so it worked out for us.As noted above, a huge selling point of the Dellwood Barn was the built-in theme and rental package option for decorations. Even without the rental package, you don't have to worry about tables or chairs. The barn ceiling is also strung with lights and there are some decorations on the walls. After you sign up for the rental package you make an appointment to check out your options. We kept things simple and went with: high top tables for outside happy hour, chalkboards for signage, a card box, easel for seating chart, lanterns and bark rounds to decorate tables, table numbers, mason jars for head table flowers, and outdoor games. There are about 100 other items to be rented. The only decorations we brought in were some flowers and succulents. So at the end of the night we just had to worry about dealing with gifts, personal items, and the floral arrangements. DBW staff helped with cleanup and claiming all the rental items. You will be penalized if any rental items are missing. Of course the barn and grounds are lovely as well. It's not hard to get photos with scenic backgrounds, both inside the barn and outside. The barn is a historic building but the bathrooms are modern (and clean!). There's a designated area for the wedding party to get ready. There's onsite parking. One of our requirements was to be able to do everything in one location (get dressed, take photos, have both ceremony and reception) so Dellwood Barn really was perfect. We had a beautiful, low-stress wedding day and much of the credit goes to Julie and DBW! 5 Stars!

I wanted to save my 100th review of the year for something special, so here it is.We had our wedding at Dellwood, and I couldn't imagine it being at a better or more special place. Before I talk about why I loved the venue so much I want to take some time to talk about how awesome Julie, the owner of Dellwood Barns, was to work with. Somehow both my in-laws and I found this place. I didn't know it, but they had been in touch with Julie to do a tour. After looking over the website I sent Julie and e-mail. She quickly called me back and right away I knew that this was going to be a good fit. I asked her if she did gay weddings, which was a legit concern for us being a gay couple, and she laughed at how ridiculous that question was. I think for me that was the moment I decided I liked the venue already. Being a gay couple it can be stressful thinking about your wedding. A lot of people don't have experience with them and they may be uncomfortable doing them. Julie's laugh told me that we were going to get along great. The other great thing about Julie was her honesty. When looking at other venues I frequently bumped up against the issue of "hidden fees." The sticker price of a venue may look great, then you find out about all these extra "services" that they require. All of a sudden that budget friendly venue just blew the roof off your expenses. Julie though doesn't hide anything. She lays out clearly what all the costs will be. You aren't shocked later down the road by some secret cost she forgot to mention because it is all on the table. I setup an appointment for my in-laws to go see the barn that weekend because time slots were going fast and we had till the weekend to decide on another venue. My in-laws showed up and face-timed us (we are in CA) and right away I knew I wanted to book the barn (for reasons I'll get into later). We signed a deposit and we were ready to go. As we continued to plan Julie was an invaluable resource to us. There are a lot of things you have to think about for your wedding, and unless you have a lot of knowledge (or a lot of time to google) there are probably things you haven't thought of. Julie was a great at answering our questions and having us think of things we hadn't thought of yet. Julie also acts as the day of coordinator for the venue. Having her as the day of coordinator is a great service. She knows the space, she knows most of the vendors, and she has been working with you through the process. We had no stress on our big day thanks to her help. Ok, so the venue itself. You get so much bang for your buck here. The barn itself is gorgeous! Julie does a great job having some "standing" decorations in it (lights and the such). The other benefit of having the barn is that no matter what the weather is like you have somewhere nice to get married. That is a big deal because our second choice venue, well it wasn't as pretty inside. One of the biggest things everyone kept saying was how much they loved the barn.Beyond the barn you have so much space for guests. This was great for us because we had a lot of people coming in a variety of ages. I joke with my husband that the barn/grounds provided something for everyone, but it is true. There is a fire pit to enjoy cigars or s'mores by. A grassy area for lawn games (which the kids loved). There is also quiet seating under a shady tree for guests to just sit and talk. It was nice to have all that space and options for people. Julie also has decorations for the barn that you can rent from her. DO IT! We did the unlimited rental package which let us choose whatever we wanted and she would do the setup and take down. Showing up on the morning of to a gorgeously decorated barn took my stress levels way down. Everyone has told us that this was an absolutely amazing wedding. I feel like a large part of that is due to Julie and Dellwood. Julie helped us pick our vendors (This Little Piggy for food, Spicy-Meatball for DJ/Photographer, Live Flowers LLC for flowers, and With a Twist for bartending), she helped us navigate the confusing waters of planning, and she was a tireless coordinator. We owe so much of the success of our wedding day to her and to this beautiful space. Julie and Dellwood made our big day all the more magical and we will forever be grateful for that. 100/100

The wedding itself was beautiful and amazing and I was so happy to celebrate our friends that were getting married. It's just a shame this was to follow: We arrive- all is good, all of a sudden a cop shows up and stays. We were all questioning why a cop was there, sure enough they have to have a cop onsite? YIKES. While a couple friends and I were out on the lawn area hanging out by the bag boards our friends kids and other kids were just being kids running around having fun, the cop had the audacity to yell at the kids (7 years old and younger) and tell them if they aren't going to act like adults they should be inside the barn, she continued to tell them she said go in the barn and she means it, they eventually stopped playing and listened to her but I was APPALLED ! Who in the world is that woman bossing around other peoples kids at a wedding they they PAID FOR!!! Later in the evening The bride and groom ordered pizza and the cop had the audacity to eat bought food for the wedding guests! I can't even begin to tell you how horrible of an experience this was having a cop on site. I would never in a million years recommend this place. I don't care how "pretty" it is. You can find better and that's coming from someone who just got married and had the opposite venue experience. People pay a lot of money to get married and you're telling me a cop was apart of the deal bossing people around, mean mugging people, and just being a miserable human being. BIG NO, don't do it.

The barn itself was a great location/environment absolutely gorgeous although The owner Julie was blatantly disrespectful. We were all treated as though we were incompetent children. The maternal parents final dance was cut off. The owners of the venue just seemed unhappy to be there. Parking was difficult because you could not leave your car overnight and There was no parking nearby to accommodate anyone. When taking photos with our professional photographer that we hired outside of the venue Julie explained we were not allowed to leave the venue for pictures and our photographer felt uncomfortable taking Photos on the property because of the overshadowing and micromanagement from the owner. The owners were inconsiderate and it truly felt like we were unwanted and rushed.

We had our wedding here Friday, August 2, 2019, and couldn't have been happier with the outcome. The venue itself is absolutely beautiful, filled full of amenities and there was plenty of room for our 140+ guests. The grounds and barn itself are well cared for and the barn is a really great space for dinner and dancing. We received a ton of compliments on the venue itself from many of our guests. We signed up for the full rental package which was great because they provided a ton of decor, games, and things that you don't need to haul to the venue yourself or worry about packing up afterward. This made it really easy for the bride and me to leave when the party was over with minimal packing up and best of all NO CLEANUP! Julie and her staff were incredible to work with. Julie was in constant communication with us since the day we signed the contract and was available to answer questions and go over everything that may have arisen. She provided a Dropbox link full of resources such as vendors, hotels and shuttles, etc. which made it easy for us to keep things organized. Having the preferred vendor lists, as well as the ability to speak with Julie and get her input when questions arose really helped. Though the contract seemed overwhelming initially, in the end opting for the 'extra' package was totally worth the price, and thoroughly reading and clarifying the contract helped make sure we knew the additional costs from the beginning. The day of the wedding Julie was on site helping us set up, maintaining order and helping to man the bar. We later found out that she handled a ton of issues that arose without us even knowing about them which was amazing because we were able to focus on this day of celebration and enjoy our party and guests. There was an issue with Julie moving a child due to a safety concern (the child was reportedly sticking their hand in a fan, after reports of children being in the walkways and one child's hand being shut in a door) which has been stated by a review below but we, as the bride and groom, fully agree with Julie on this matter as this is her business, her venue, and her home and it was our insurance liability!All in all, its a beautiful place for a wedding and we would recommend it!

Coming from a guest at a wedding here I must say the venue itself is absolutely beautiful. The People running it however seemed annoyed that we were even there. Julie (The owner) cut off the last dance from the brides mother and father (she just seemed like an unpleasant women). She threw away peoples drinks when they were on the dance floor multiple times (Drinks that people paid for as it was only open bar for beer and wine). The bartender was very nice, he seemed to be the only one who wanted to be working the event. When getting prepared to walk down the aisle they gave no direction but " go to the chicken coop" When I asked where that was (they have multiple barns) she pointed behind her and continued on in her golf cart without stopping or helping at all. The owners seemed pretty uninterested and unexcited which was not appreciated. I understand we all have bad days but it was pretty apparent they couldn't wait for the day to be over and everyone to leave.

My son just got married here on 7/20/19. I couldn't be more happy. The venue was beautiful and the staff was great. They were so helpful and treated us like family. I can't say enough good things about Dellwood Barn Weddings. I want to thank your whole staff for all the help in making our day so perfect.

My husband and I drove in from out of state to attend the wedding of my college roommate's daughter. I can not speak highly enough of the wedding facility and surrounding area! There was so much to do around White Bear Lake and Stillwater leading up to the wedding. Everyone is so nice in Minnesota! The Dellwood Barn is located in a serene and peaceful area just outside of town. It's a beautiful setting! The wedding on the hill, outdoor bar for cocktail hour, horses grazing in the pasture, air-conditioned barn, fabulous staff, and delicious catered food made for one of the best weddings I've ever attended. I'm so grateful we made the trip and will definitely be visiting the area again!