Presenting The Hendry House
When I first started thinking about marrying Aaron (back before I was engaged), I envisioned our reception taking place here, at Fort C.F. Smith's Hendry House in Arlington, VA. I found the Hendry House through a search on The Knot for unusual reception venues.
On my first trip to the house, I was surprised to find that it was less than 2 miles from the church where Aaron and I are thinking of having our ceremony!
The house is a blank slate, very clean, and open. It's up to the bride and her planner to bring everything in--from the food, to the chairs, to the decorations. Initially, I thought that was one of the nice things about this place, however, after learning how much goes into having a wedding, I'm not so sure.
Nevertheless, there are a lot of undeniable pros about the Hendry House. For starters, it's the the most inexpensive venue we've found thus far. It's actually about $1000 cheaper than almost every other venue we've looked at!! Not to mention, Arlington County residences get a discount (not a huge one, but still).
As you can see from the pictures, it's very quaint (which we like) and there's a lot of land surrounding the house. Aaron and I saw it together for the first time back in May. I have to admit, I liked the landscape a lot better then. Not to say the red and yellow trees framing the house aren't goregous, but the view from the house was a lot greener (not as brown as it is now).
The only other real downside to this place is that it only seats 65. ONLY 65!! Even if we were willing to scale back our guest list, seating 65 in the house doesn't leave much room for a dance floor. Renters may seat up to 150 with the addition of a tent, which is where most brides opt to have dinner served, but we're not sure we want our reception split into two locations (inside a tent and inside the house).
We have not by any means ruled out this location as the reception site. Cost and location are important factors. We also might change our mind about having a fall wedding (that's still debatable, like I've said, because we also like the spring). I think we could also creatively solve the tent and house issue.
Please take a look and let me know what you think!
The view from the porch (a lot nicer in the spring)
The front of the house
Aaron standing in front of the house
A fireplace in the foyer
The wrap-around porch
The sunroom
The main room
Room to the left of the foyer 
Built-in shelving
The hallway
The kitchen
Stairwell to the upstairs
The brides suite (a large bathroom to the left) 
There are a few rooms not shown in these pictures, such as the groom's changing room. 
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