HIGHGROVE ESTATE RALEIGH WEDDING VENUES
It’s Tuesday again, and you know what that means!! A new wedding venue for you to check out! If you missed the last venue posts, you can read about Merrimon-Wynne House and The Stockroom. Today I’m featuring the Highgrove Estate in Fuquay-Varina (only about 20 mins outside of Raleigh)!!
I headed over last week to meet with Angela at the Highgrove Estate, to ask a few questions and take some photos and I had SUCH a great time meeting with her! She is one of the event coordinators and her parents own the venue – her mom is the lead chef, too!! She is SO passionate about personalizing every wedding she is involved with and assuring her clients have a fabulous experience. I love her philosophy, and as most of you know, I am ALL about the experience when it comes to wedding photography! I asked Angela several questions while we were together – read along to find out what she had to say!
How did you get started?
So my parents have always owned restaurants, then they started doing off-site catering for events and weddings. After doing that for a few years, my mom (the chef) got tired of hauling her stuff back and forth and preparing meals in a 5×5 kitchen space for hundreds of people, so they said wouldn’t it be awesome to have a place of our own! Yes!! We found this place, and there was a family living here when we found it, we then bought it and turned it into our wedding venue. Over the years we are constantly changing, improving and keeping things new and fresh.
Tell me about your favorite wedding last season:
I had an older couple, and I remember their wedding so well because they weren’t trying to impress anyone. It was all about them and they were happy, so happy. They were in love and wanting to celebrate with their families and friends. It wasn’t an over-the-top wild party but it was sweet and it was so nice working with them because they weren’t stressed and they were just happy and in love focused on their marriage to each other.
How far out should a bride pay a deposit to secure your venue for her wedding day?
It really just depends. We will book out as far as the couple needs to. We have premium months, which are the ones that go faster, so we recommend our couples booking as soon as they can especially for Saturdays and premium months – May, Oct, etc.
What is included when a couple books your venue for their wedding?
We include a lot. We strive to include as much as possible to help make this process simple. So, all of the tables, chairs, linens (we work with CE rentals and our couples go in and select their linen choice), china for all of the guests, ceremony chairs and a day-of wedding coordinator. We include a champagne toast, wedding cake, light lunch for the girls when they arrive, snack package for the guys and to-go meals for the bride and groom with all of our food packages. 
How do you help couples customize their wedding?
We provide a lot of options and allow our couples to customize so much. We actually have a couple coming up in September and they have a favorite drink at Kanki, and so the chef said, “sure we can do that!” She went to Kanki, tasted the drink, and now we are going to replicate it for their wedding day! We want every wedding to be fun and unique and really personalized to each couple.
What’s one interesting fact about the Highgrove Estate?
Well, the story that we were told was there was a dentist in Fuquay and he had 3 daughters. He built each of them a house, so there were 2 other houses just like this around hwy 401. They are now gone and this is the last one standing. The house was built in the 1950s.
What do you have planned for the future?
We just redid our entire interior the past winter. We did all new flooring, lighting, paint, furniture, drapery, we also redid the ballroom floor at the same time. That was a pretty big project for us and the first time we had a renovation like this in the 13 years we’ve been here.
How many guest can you accommodate?
200 is about our max, especially for weddings when we need a dance floor. We do charity events and can hold more for a benefits dinner when we don’t need a dance floor.
What makes the Highgrove Estate unique?
Weddings and events are our passion. Our team here has a passion for serving people and providing excellence and making a lasting memory for our couples and our clients. Everyone here feels like family (well, a lot of us are family!) but it just doesn’t feel like a job, we all work together every event and have it down to a science. All of us here feel we have the best job in the world! 
Y’all, those getting ready rooms!! Ahh, I am so in love with the girls makeup bar and the grooms retreat! It is so masculine and roar! This venue is classic southern perfection and with the views of Laurel Lake in the background of the ceremony site…what more could you want?!? Wow! If you’re interested in learning more about Highgrove Estate, visit their website and contact them to set up a tour! I’m pretty sure you might fall in love, too! I hope y’all have a fantastic Tuesday!! Xo, Ashley
View more of our Featured Venue posts:
The Stockroom at 230
The Oaks at Salem
Merrimon-Wynne House
The Mims House
This place is bigoted and should be ashamed of themselves.