Catskills venue guide

Updated

Catskills wedding venues: weekend retreats, barns, and mountain inns

The Catskills are two to three hours north of New York City, and a wedding here often turns into a weekend away. Most venues are barns, farms, retreats, and inns in the mountains, and nearly all of them have rooms where your guests can stay. The tradeoff is that you'll usually hire more of your own vendors, like the caterer, rentals, and music.

We've gathered details on 13 Catskills venues. Pick a starting point and Sage will rank them for your day, with cost estimates wherever the venue publishes its prices.

What should you budget?

Venues with catering for 100 guests

Use − and + to reprice every figure below.

$35k

Typical estimate

The median cost for the Catskills venues that include their own catering.

$30k–$96k

Typical range

Venues toward the top of the range usually include the food, and some include the rooms too.

These are estimates, not quotes from the venues. Many Catskills venues quote only the cost of the space, so a price well below this range probably doesn't include food yet. Your date, guest count, bar, rentals, staff, rooms, service charges, and taxes will all change the final total.

Source: SagetheDate.com

Every filled dot is one the Catskills venue that can host 100 guests, shaded by its own estimate on the same scale as the New Yorkguide's map; grey ones don't publish a venue-with-catering price. Outlined dots are venues in neighbouring regions.

Narrow it down

See which the Catskills venues fit your guest count and budget, and why

Guests

100

By budget and guest count

Catskills wedding venues by budget and guest count

How many Catskills venues come in under common budgets for the venue and food, at the guest counts couples plan for most. Each row counts the venues that can host that many guests and publish a full price for the venue and the food, so the list gets shorter as it grows.

Catskills wedding venues under each budget, by guest count
GuestsTypical venue and foodUnder $15,000Under $25,000Under $35,000Under $50,000
50 guests$35k0 of 63 of 63 of 65 of 6
100 guests$35k0 of 60 of 63 of 65 of 6
150 guests—0 of 40 of 40 of 43 of 4
200 guests—0 of 40 of 40 of 42 of 4

Our estimates for the venue and food, including service charges and tax where the venue lists them, on a Saturday in peak season. Not quotes. A typical figure is shown only where at least five venues publish a price. On their cheapest published date, usually a weekday or a winter month, 1 more venue comes in under $25,000 for 100 guests.

Catskills venues by price for 100 guests

Over $75,000
Kenoza Hall
See which fit your guest count and budget

How venues price weddings

Two venues can quote the same number and mean very different things

Pick one to see what its price contains, what it leaves for you to buy, and what it typically comes to.

You pay for the space and their kitchen

Venues with catering

Venues publish their price in two ways: as a site fee plus a per-guest menu price, or as a bundled package (venue + food).

At100guests

$35k

typical for venues with catering

$30k–$96k

where 80% of these 6 venues land

What makes up the billTypical80% of venues
Venue rental5 of 6$15k$6k–$24k
Catering5 of 6$15k$9k–$55k
Each line is typical for the venues that charge it separately, so they don’t add up to the figure above. At 3 venues drinks are priced together with the food, so they sit inside the Catering line rather than a separate bar charge.

And then you still buy

  • Bar, where it isn’t included
  • Rentals and décor beyond the basics
  • Every other vendor

Good if you

don’t want to worry about sourcing a caterer or any outside catering fees.

What you’d still need to find out

Whether drinks are inside the menu price or billed separately, and what the service charge and tax add at the end.

What changes the math here

Your guests can stay the weekend, but you'll hire more of the team yourself. Most venues here are somewhere to stay as well as somewhere to get married, and many give you the whole property for your event. What they usually don't provide is the vendors. Rentals, music, and often a planner are up to you, many let you bring your own caterer, and some have requirements you'll need to meet before you can book. That means more freedom to make the day your own, and more to organize.

Have rooms for guests
92%

Right on the property, compared with 33% across New York.

See venues with rooms on site
Supplied by the venue
27%

Of music, rentals, décor, planning, and photography. You'll book the rest yourself, often from the venue's list.

See what each venue includes
Allow an outside caterer
62%

Of the venues that say either way, compared with 31% across New York.

See venues that allow your caterer
Have booking requirements
69%

Most often a licensed planner, a refundable damage deposit and event insurance. These cost extra and won't show up in a quote.

See each venue's rules

What kind of place

Start with the kind of Catskills weekend you want

Barn or farm

Open land, a barn, and often cabins or a farmhouse, usually yours alone for the event. The price typically covers the property but not the food, so plan to hire a caterer, rentals, and a bar separately. Ask what the kitchen and electricity can handle.

6 of 13 venues here

Find venues like these

Retreat or inn

Rooms and food in one place, so there are fewer separate vendors to book. Ask how many of your guests the rooms can sleep, and whether you'll have the whole place to yourselves or share it with other visitors.

7 of 13 venues here

Find venues like these

Mountain resort or hotel

Your guests book their own rooms, and there's a restaurant or banquet kitchen on site. Ask about reserving a block of rooms, any minimum-night stay, and how much you need to spend on food and drinks.

3 of 13 venues here

Find venues like these

What different types of venues cost in the Catskills

The same wedding costs different amounts at a barn and at a hotel — and so does the shape of the bill. Two ways to look at it, for 100 guests.

What just the space costs

The venue rental across every venue that charges one as its own line — whether or not they also sell you the food. Just the room, nothing else.

  • Resort$6k (2)
  • Retreat Center$15k (7)
  • Barn / Farm$16k (5)
  • Estate / Mansion$20k (4)

Every venue that itemises a rental, including the ones that cater. Venues quoting a single package over the room and the meal never name a room price, so they aren’t here — and this is a part of a bill, not a whole one, so it can’t be subtracted from the next chart.

What a wedding costs when the venue handles catering too

The whole bill — the room, the meal, and the fees on top.

  • Retreat Center$33k (3)
  • Barn / Farm$50k (2)
  • Estate / Mansion$50k (2)

Venues behind each figure in brackets. A venue can be more than one kind of place, so it may appear in more than one row.

What changes the shortlist here

Three decisions to make early

Count beds, not just seats

Having rooms on site doesn't mean everyone can stay. Ask how many people the property sleeps, whether there's a minimum stay or a set number of rooms you have to book, and where everyone else will sleep. Then think about how those guests get to and from the venue on dark country roads.

See venues with rooms on site

Budget for the vendors you'll hire

Before comparing two venues, list what each one leaves to you: caterer, bar, tables and linens, a planner. Then ask what the venue requires. Some insist on a licensed planner, event insurance, or a refundable damage deposit. These aren't optional, and they won't be in the quote.

See what each venue includes

Decide what the weekend includes

With guests staying over, you could add a welcome dinner, an after-party, or a farewell brunch. Ask which of these your booking covers, when the music has to stop and whether people can keep hanging out quietly afterward, and how check-in and check-out times work with setup and cleanup.

See venues for a weekend wedding
How the Catskills compares with New York
  • Let you bring your own caterer62% vs 31%

    of venues that say either way (13 here)

  • Have rooms for guests on site92% vs 33%

    at least, of all venues (13 here)

  • Give you the whole property62% vs 34%

    at least, of all venues (13 here)

  • State a rain plan85% vs 51%

    at least, of all venues (13 here)

  • Allow music until 10pm or later5 of 5 · same as New York

    of venues that publish a cutoff (5 here)

  • Require something extra69% vs 34%

    a planner, insurance, security or similar, of all venues (13 here)

What affects the cost of your wedding

Your date can change the price a lot

Wedding venue pricing is seasonal. 2 of the 13 Catskills venues we track charge differently depending on the day, and 6 charge differently depending on the month. Every figure below compares a venue with itself, so it says what moving your date does — whatever kind of venue you pick, and whatever the size of your wedding.

Day of the week

Months you’d consider

Peak months are selected to start. Tap any month to compare.

Saturday, peak season

The most expensive date most venues sell, and the date almost every published price assumes. Choose a different day or month to see what typically comes off.

How much less than its own most expensive month a typical Catskills venue charges, comparing Saturdays all year (6 venues price a season)
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

What part of the bill your date actually changes

Not every line on a quote moves. These are the ones that do, measured at the venues that move them.

The venue rental

What they charge for the space itself.

Weekday—
Fri or Sun—
Off-peak month23% lessat 6

What gets added at the end

Taxes and fees mark up a Catskills quote typically by 19%

Every pricing model carries them. At the 6 Catskills venues that publish their fees, the middle result is 19%, with most landing between 13% and 32%.

Food & drinkVenue rentalAdministrative feeSales taxon the bill and on the fees
Solid lines are what a fee is always charged on; dashed lines are charged that way at some venues only. Sales tax comes last, on the bill and usually on the other fees too.
Various fees to considerTypical
  • Administrative fee4 venues

    22%

    Charged instead of, or alongside, a service charge — and usually taxed as well.

  • Sales tax4 venues

    8%

    Set by the state, and charged on the service charge too at most venues.

Dots are sized by how many venues charge that rate. The gold line is the median rate, and every fee has its own scale: read the spread within a row, not across them.

Places worth a closer look

Six Catskills venues to start with

These examples include barns, retreats, inns, and resorts, priced in different ways. Open a venue to see its pricing, capacity, spaces, vendor policies, and other planning details.

Find venues that match your vision and budget

Describe your guest count, your budget, and anything you can’t compromise on. See a ranked list of venues, with why each one fits, trade-offs, and what to double-check.

Try:

Sage the Date reads each venue's own published details, including pricing, catering and alcohol rules, music curfews, rain plans, whether you get the whole property, and how many guests each space holds. Every estimate uses your guest count. When a venue doesn't say, we tell you instead of guessing.

Before you book

Three questions worth asking

  • How many people can sleep on the property, is there a minimum stay, and is the whole property ours for the weekend or only on the wedding day?
  • Which of catering, bar, rentals, and planning do you provide, which must come from your list, and what do you require us to arrange, like insurance, a planner, or a damage deposit?
  • If it rains, where does the ceremony move, does that space fit all our guests, and how late can we decide?
See all 13 Catskills venues we track
How this guide is built

Sage reads each venue's own published pricing and policies, puts different kinds of quotes on the same footing, and estimates the cost for 100 guests. If a venue doesn't say something, we treat it as a question to ask, not a no. Venues can't pay to appear or to rank higher here.