Winthrop Carter House - Boscawen, New Hampshire

Joe M.

AS a wedding photographer the Winthrop Carter House is a dream venue. From rustic barn to the open field with wooded area surrounding it. To the country inn feel of the rooms and suite. So many places to create magic on your wedding day.

Stephen P.

Winthrop Carter House was our dream venue for our June 1 wedding. It checked every box we were looking for. A rustic-style barn? Check. Dog-friendly? Check. Beautiful grounds with lots of greenery and beautiful flowers? Check. A venue where we could stay for the weekend with our wedding party? We had the whole property from Thursday at 11am to Sunday at 3pm. And the attached farmhouse was extremely comfortable with plenty of room for both relaxing and getting ready. We were even able to host a goodbye breakfast on Sunday thanks to the kitchen with large central counter space, breakfast nook, and dining room table. Not to mention that interior decorating is perfect for photo backdrops. The antique mirrors and fainting couch were particular favorite elements!

The barn itself can come mostly decorated, although you have the choice on whether you want to use their decor or not. The faux trees, strings of lights, and white drapes hanging from the rustic beams brought so much life and texture to the overall look.

We had 120 guests, and while we probably could have fit dinner in the barn in addition to the dance floor, we thought it might be a tight squeeze. Luckily, there is plenty of space next to the barn to set up a tent/canopy, so we decided to do that for dinner and then have dancing and dessert inside the barn itself. That worked out perfectly and I think guests appreciated having the change in scenery, especially since the grounds are so beautifully maintained. And the fire pit out back was a huge hit, too!

There are also several ceremony sites to choose from, but we chose the one directly in front of a large slope filled with lots of natural greenery.

Katy and Colm were an absolute pleasure to work with, from the initial tour of the property to coordinating on the checking in and out protocol. It was all so easy and we are so thankful to have found the perfect place to host our wedding.

Jaclyn D.

My husband and I got married at The Winthrop Carter House in October 2018. We were excited about the DIY venue and the fact you get the venue Thursday - Sunday. We absolutely loved our time spent with family on Thursday and Friday setting up and just enjoying the property with our closest friends and family. We hosted our rehearsal dinner at the house as well. When first booking response time was slow; however, they brought on an outside person to take on the wedding coordinating which helped a lot. Overall, the venue was gorgeous and we were thrilled with our experience.

Christianne S.

I could not be happier about our choice to have our wedding at Winthrop Carter House. Our wedding was on 9/16/17 and it honestly could not have been more perfect. The site is beautiful and really didn't require much for decoration, we just added in our personal touches and the grounds did the rest. The flow this site provides from ceremony to cocktail hour to dinner and the reception is like no other site I've ever been to for a wedding. Everyone was together while having plenty of options for spaces to occupy and socialize. From the fire pit to the two outdoor patios to the barn and the upstairs "gentlemen's lounge". The house is a stunning 1700s renovated get away, it has all the comforts of home and is full of character and charm. It was so much fun to stay there with family and friends for events leading up to the wedding and after. We loved the flexibility of this site, we had the freedom to choose our own venders, set up the place how we wanted it and run the day on our terms. The day of the event coordinator Christina Donahue is extremely nice, professional, organized and hard working. She made our day run smooth and took a lot of potential pressure away from us. It was such an added benefit having her there to help us run the day, and she even offers additional services to help get you through your whole weekend if needed. The owners Katy and Colm are very friendly, helpful and for the most part hands off (unless you need them) after you get your wedding weekend started. They were great following up with us after the wedding and were genuinely happy for us and our very successful wedding weekend. Quote of the weekend "best wedding I've ever been to." Thank you Winthrop Carter House!!

C.M. J.

We're a catering company and we did a wedding there a few weeks ago. It's a very nice older property. Probably near colonial times. They have a nice large event Barn, and a large yard for tent parties. I was actually just going there to pick up the equipment from the wedding and had a chance to meet some of the staff. They are very nice people extremely concerned on how good your event goes.I highly recommend doing weddings here if you like the country style type of a wedding this would be kind of your place!

denise K.

Absolutely stunning! A truly charming, elegant and historic site. Enjoying the rambling home and the beautifully decorated barn allowed us to experience a weekend of wedding festivities. Katy and Colm, the owners, are beyond helpful and strive to make every wedding personal and memorable. Couldn’t have dreamed of a better site and a perfect wedding day.

Eric M.

It is what you make it to be. This venue is effectively an empty furnished house with a venue attached to the back. While we thought we understood what that meant we learned throughout the process that there is a lot to do. Imagine fielding a football team without a coach or a quarterback. Eventually everything was done but through chaos not a plan.

Overall, we had a spectacular wedding there for our daughter and fiancé and the venue worked well for us. We are local and took Thursday and Friday to setup for the Saturday wedding. Breakdown and cleanup took about six hours. Do not think you’re going to setup on Friday and have the rehearsal dinner that same night. On the day of the wedding the caterers need you out of the way. They do not have spare time to wait on you.

So why the five-star rating? We have a large family and pulled this off through sheer force of will.

During the reception we noticed several things that worked well.

Having the dance floor split the seating made it the center of attention. There was very little of the “movie theater” effect (the people in the back fighting for a view).

Having a fire running outside throughout meant that those who were suffering from sensory overload could slip outside to socialize before returning to the celebration. For the grumpy old men of the crowd this was a heaven-sent reprieve.

We built a well-lit photo wall near the rear doors. This received far more traffic than we had guessed it would.

The very concept of a venue where the bridal party stays onsite from Thursday to Sunday is very cool. It also meant that the bridal party could afford to be in the wedding. Three nights in a hotel during leaf peeping season is super costly.

The groomsmen and bridal suite worked well (They need to add hooks to both for coat hangers).

Its proximity to Concord meant that hotels were plentiful. We ran two twelve passenger vans to shuttle guests back and forth (Enterprise in Concord). We ran two to get people there and only one later in the night due to the staggered nature of when guests wanted to leave.

In then end my daughter and her(now) husband had a picture-perfect wedding where everyone had a great time. The purpose of this review is to make sure future prospective couples understand: They can have the wedding of their dreams, but they are both creative director and labor. I would strongly recommend hiring a wedding coordinator for the day of to keep your timeline running smoothly. the venue provides one but they do not do much of anything.

IS M.

My wife and I had our wedding here almost 5-years ago now (I believe the house was somewhat still under construction --but it was still great). Was an amazing 3-day retreat/wedding. Loved it and it certainly was a blast!

-Ivan & Sarah M.

Joe M. P.

AS a wedding photographer the Winthrop Carter House is a dream venue. From rustic barn to the open field with wooded area surrounding it. To the country inn feel of the rooms and suite. So many places to create magic on your wedding day.

Stephen P.

Winthrop Carter House was our dream venue for our June 1 wedding. It checked every box we were looking for. A rustic-style barn? Check. Dog-friendly? Check. Beautiful grounds with lots of greenery and beautiful flowers? Check. A venue where we could stay for the weekend with our wedding party? We had the whole property from Thursday at 11am to Sunday at 3pm. And the attached farmhouse was extremely comfortable with plenty of room for both relaxing and getting ready. We were even able to host a goodbye breakfast on Sunday thanks to the kitchen with large central counter space, breakfast nook, and dining room table. Not to mention that interior decorating is perfect for photo backdrops. The antique mirrors and fainting couch were particular favorite elements!

The barn itself can come mostly decorated, although you have the choice on whether you want to use their decor or not. The faux trees, strings of lights, and white drapes hanging from the rustic beams brought so much life and texture to the overall look.

We had 120 guests, and while we probably could have fit dinner in the barn in addition to the dance floor, we thought it might be a tight squeeze. Luckily, there is plenty of space next to the barn to set up a tent/canopy, so we decided to do that for dinner and then have dancing and dessert inside the barn itself. That worked out perfectly and I think guests appreciated having the change in scenery, especially since the grounds are so beautifully maintained. And the fire pit out back was a huge hit, too!

There are also several ceremony sites to choose from, but we chose the one directly in front of a large slope filled with lots of natural greenery.

Katy and Colm were an absolute pleasure to work with, from the initial tour of the property to coordinating on the checking in and out protocol. It was all so easy and we are so thankful to have found the perfect place to host our wedding.

Jaclyn D.

My husband and I got married at The Winthrop Carter House in October 2018. We were excited about the DIY venue and the fact you get the venue Thursday - Sunday. We absolutely loved our time spent with family on Thursday and Friday setting up and just enjoying the property with our closest friends and family. We hosted our rehearsal dinner at the house as well. When first booking response time was slow; however, they brought on an outside person to take on the wedding coordinating which helped a lot. Overall, the venue was gorgeous and we were thrilled with our experience.

Christianne S.

I could not be happier about our choice to have our wedding at Winthrop Carter House. Our wedding was on 9/16/17 and it honestly could not have been more perfect. The site is beautiful and really didn't require much for decoration, we just added in our personal touches and the grounds did the rest. The flow this site provides from ceremony to cocktail hour to dinner and the reception is like no other site I've ever been to for a wedding. Everyone was together while having plenty of options for spaces to occupy and socialize. From the fire pit to the two outdoor patios to the barn and the upstairs "gentlemen's lounge". The house is a stunning 1700s renovated get away, it has all the comforts of home and is full of character and charm. It was so much fun to stay there with family and friends for events leading up to the wedding and after. We loved the flexibility of this site, we had the freedom to choose our own venders, set up the place how we wanted it and run the day on our terms. The day of the event coordinator Christina Donahue is extremely nice, professional, organized and hard working. She made our day run smooth and took a lot of potential pressure away from us. It was such an added benefit having her there to help us run the day, and she even offers additional services to help get you through your whole weekend if needed. The owners Katy and Colm are very friendly, helpful and for the most part hands off (unless you need them) after you get your wedding weekend started. They were great following up with us after the wedding and were genuinely happy for us and our very successful wedding weekend. Quote of the weekend "best wedding I've ever been to." Thank you Winthrop Carter House!!

C.M. J.

We're a catering company and we did a wedding there a few weeks ago. It's a very nice older property. Probably near colonial times. They have a nice large event Barn, and a large yard for tent parties. I was actually just going there to pick up the equipment from the wedding and had a chance to meet some of the staff. They are very nice people extremely concerned on how good your event goes.I highly recommend doing weddings here if you like the country style type of a wedding this would be kind of your place!