Wedding venues in Northern Virginia and Loudoun wine country

Northern Virginia is really two wedding regions wearing one name. There is Old Town Alexandria, which is cobblestones, brick and water, and there is Loudoun County an hour west, which markets itself as DC wine country and has the vineyards to back it. What you want out of a day is usually decided by which of those two you are picturing. Fourteen venues below, split into the ones I have photographed and the ones described from their own material.

Which Northern Virginia venues have you photographed?

Morrison House, Old Town Alexandria

I photographed Jessica and Nicholas's June wedding at Morrison House: getting ready upstairs, ceremony in the courtyard, reception inside. It is a townhouse hotel, so the entire day happens in one building and your guests sleep above the party. The courtyard with its portico and fountain does a lot of work on its own.

The Athenaeum, Old Town Alexandria

The Athenaeum is a Greek Revival hall with enormous columns and a walled garden, a few streets up from the Potomac. I photographed Marrissa and Anthony's wedding there, and my records have two more Athenaeum weddings couples planned with me. The ivy-covered brick in the garden is the shot everyone gets and it is genuinely good.

Old Town's real advantage is that portraits need no drive. Cobblestone streets, brick doorways and the waterfront all sit within a few minutes walk of either venue.

Kalero Vineyard, Loudoun County

Kalero is a working Loudoun vineyard and I have an October wedding there. The ceremony and reception spaces sit a short walk apart, which is the arrangement that makes wine-country days flow instead of stalling: you get two distinct settings without anybody getting into a car, and the gap between them stays a walk rather than a block of afternoon.

That short-walk layout is worth looking for specifically when you tour vineyards. Plenty of them have a beautiful ceremony spot and a beautiful barn with a long gravel drive in between, and that drive is the thing that quietly eats your evening.

Capital One Hall and Meadowlark Botanical Gardens

Two more in my records, at opposite ends of the spectrum: a rooftop in Tysons and a botanical garden in Vienna.

What are the Loudoun wine country venues?

Loudoun has more vineyards than any other county in Virginia and most of them take weddings. These are described from their own published material rather than from my having worked them.

Stone Tower Winery

Set on rolling hills with long vineyard views and taking up to 230 guests, which puts it among the larger wine-country options.

Breaux Vineyards

A 404-acre estate with several options on the property including a restaurant, a private cottage and a barn.

Otium Cellars

Just outside Purcellville, with ceremony space overlooking the vineyard and a pond, and tented and patio areas each seating around two hundred.

Goodstone Inn, Middleburg

265 acres in the middle of hunt country, taking up to about fifty guests. The one on this list for a genuinely small wedding that still wants an estate.

Still Meadow

Positioned between Purcellville, Leesburg and Middleburg, with barns and open hills.

The Middleburg Barn

A luxury barn with 35-foot post-and-beam ceilings and chandeliers, at the polished end of the barn category rather than the rustic one.

Shadow Creek, Purcellville

Open fields and mountain views with a purpose-built barn.

Birkby House, Leesburg

An 18th-century estate in the middle of downtown Leesburg with a secluded garden and a tented pavilion. The town option out in the county.

More across the county

Visit Loudoun keeps a full vineyard wedding list, which is the place to go once you know which of the categories above you actually want.

How do you choose between Old Town and wine country?

Old Town if you want the day walkable. Guests park once. Portraits need no transit. There are hotels and restaurants within a few blocks, and the streets themselves are worth photographing. The trade is that you are working within a city, with everything that implies about space and noise.

Loudoun if you want the day to be a place. Long views, room to spread out, and a property that belongs to you for the day. The trade is the drive, for you and for everyone attending, and most guests will want a room rather than driving back to the city at midnight.

Either way, keep it on one property. Wine country tempts people into a ceremony at one vineyard and dinner at another, and that costs a block of afternoon on roads that are not fast.

What does it cost?

Full wedding packages start at $5,000, small wedding coverage at $3,500 and elopements at $2,500, with travel included across Virginia, Maryland, DC and West Virginia. Loudoun and Alexandria are both inside that, so nothing here carries a travel fee. The pricing page has the rest.

Worth saying plainly: Northern Virginia venues generally cost more than the equivalent day in Frederick County or around Shepherdstown, both of which are an hour or so further out. If your guest list is flexible about geography, that is worth knowing before you fall in love with a vineyard.

More on the area on my Northern Virginia page, and DC next door. When you have a date, send it over.

Common questions

What are the best wedding venues in Loudoun County?

For vineyards: Stone Tower Winery, Breaux Vineyards, Otium Cellars and Kalero Vineyard. For barns and estates: The Middleburg Barn, Shadow Creek, Still Meadow and Goodstone Inn. For something in town: Birkby House in downtown Leesburg.

Where can you get married in Old Town Alexandria?

Morrison House has a courtyard that takes a ceremony and a reception without anybody leaving the building, and The Athenaeum is a columned Greek Revival hall with a walled garden a few streets from the water. Both put cobblestone streets and brick within a few minutes walk for portraits.

How many wedding venues are in Loudoun County?

Dozens, which is the actual problem. Loudoun markets itself as DC wine country and has more vineyards than any other Virginia county, so the useful question is not which venues exist but whether you want a vineyard, a barn, an estate or a town property.

Is Northern Virginia expensive for weddings?

It runs higher than the same day would cost in the Panhandle or Frederick County, which is worth knowing if your guest list is flexible about geography. Photography does not change: full wedding packages start at $5,000 and travel across the whole region is included.

How far is Loudoun County from DC?

Roughly an hour west of the city depending on where in the county you land and what the traffic is doing, which is close enough that guests can drive out and back but far enough that most of them will want a room.