Venue Search #7: Spring Hill in South Berwick, ME

After "crashing" weddings at the Dockside Guest Quarters and Clay Hill Farm, we moved much further inland from coastal Maine to the town of South Berwick.  My mom, Joan Parker, had found and suggested this venue to Katelyn and me and she had actually gone through the trouble of contacting the owner in advance to let him know that we were coming.  While we weren't aware of the venue's hours (not opening until 5:30PM; we showed up at noon), we were able to meet up with my mom's contact and get a quick tour of the venue.

This is a venue in our price range, so read on for more thoughts on Spring Hill in South Berwick, Maine.

That's a nice picture above, isn't it?  This is the way that most wedding ceremonies are set up at Spring Hill, and you can find a similar picture to that one featured prominently on the Spring Hill website.  Unfortunately, what this view doesn't show you is a true sense of where this site is situated.  Here's a better picture:

Just beyond those chairs is the parking lot for the Spring Hill facility.  Which means, of course, that every picture of Katelyn walking down the aisle with her father Tom would have a beautiful parking lot and parked cars in the background.  Every picture taken from behind the officiant would share this view.  Katelyn would be walking along the tarred surface of the parking lot to make her entrance.

Long story short, as I could rant about this for hours; the "preferred" ceremony spot on the premises isn't so great.

Spring Hill does have a lot of space, however, and there are other options in terms of where the ceremony could be held.  Unfortunately, the sad truth is that the best view in the fall would come from this "preferred" ceremony spot, and aside from the view that spot is far from preferrable.  Other sites on the property would be do-able and could probably work out fine, but this is a prime spot and it's disappointing that it's so close to the parking lot.

The interior space at Spring Hill is fine and it works for the wedding party size that we're considering.  It does, unfortunately, feature drop ceilings, which are an architectural no-no for Katelyn.  That said, there's plenty of space for people to sit and eat and there are a couple areas including a porch for people to mingle at.  The other side of the building features a restaurant which would still be in operation unless we paid extra money to commandeer the entire facility, so this is another potential cost that needs to be considered, even though the facility is reasonably priced for what we're looking at spending.

One of Katelyn's major issues with the venue, and something I only want to comment on briefly since I don't want to appear to be speaking on her behalf, is that the interior design is a little bit cheesy.  The facility is well-kept and there aren't any glaring issues with it, but a lot of it hearkens back to the traditional wedding setup.  Since we're trying to be a little bit more modern than traditional, at least in terms of our venue, this isn't a major asset for Spring Hill.

Finally, and of significant importance, is the location of the venue.  There is not much in the area of Spring Hill, which means that we wouldn't really have to worry about any outside interference but also that we would be making it difficult for our out-of-town guests to find convenient lodging.  The closest place to stay is a small bed and breakfast located a little ways from the venue; this bed and breakfast typically only accomodates 5-10 guests, at the most.  It would be a considerable drive in somewhat-rural Maine for our guests to get from their motels to the wedding venue, and that's a potential headache in terms of planning the ceremony and reception and being aware of how people will get there.

As I've mentioned, Spring Hill is within our price range and it does give us some options in terms of what we can do for the ceremony.  That said, I still can't get over how spoiled the "preferred" ceremony site is because of the close proximity to the parking lot for the facility.  If we were to have a late afternoon ceremony, we might be forced to rent the restaurant section too just so that we wouldn't have to worry about yelling over cars coming into the lot to go eat supper.  We are still keeping Spring Hill in consideration, but there are venues on our list above it in terms of what we like.

More information and photographs of Spring Hill can be found at the venue's website, http://springhillmaine.com/. Spring Hill is located about fifty-five minutes from Portland, an hour and a half from Lewiston, and three hours from Bangor.