The Redfield Estate At the Grove

Gorgeous venue! We had our wedding at The Redfield Estate in September of 2015. Carol & Shelley were great in helping us reserve the space and providing recommendations on preferred vendors, which worked out great! After seeing the site without any setup, we knew wanted to be there, but after seeing and being there with everything set up for the wedding it was more beautiful than we could have expected. The rental coordinators and staff are warm and helpful. I would recommend this site to anyone for an event or wedding.

This place is perfect for a wedding. I did not even know this place existed! Perfect day! Wonderful scenery! Just off N Milwaukee Ave! in Northbrook, Glenview area. This place made our wedding perfect!

The Grove Redfield Estate is an absolutely gorgeous place to get married! We had our wedding there at the end of September 2014 and it was perfect. The grounds are beautiful and feel very private and away from the world. The staff at the Grove is very professional and they definitely know what they are doing. We were not able to get the original date we wanted for our wedding because they book up fast, so I recommend booking with them as soon as possible. Note that there are a few rules you must adhere to, such as no sparklers, balloons, rice, and open flames, but these are understandable given it is a nature preserve and national historic site. Even so, I cannot recommend the Grove highly enough! It truly is a fairy tale setting for a wedding.

We had our wedding at the Redfield Estate at the Grove in mid August 2014, and we enjoyed every minute of it. From the beginning, Carol and Mary were great explaining how weddings worked at the Grove and answering all of our questions. And there were many! We booked over a year in advance because we had a particular day we wanted.
The best part of the Redfield Estate is the multiple locations where you can hold the ceremony and reception. We opted for the ceremony in the gazebo and the reception on the lawn in front of the pavilion. Being August, I was afraid of bugs and weather being an issue on our day. We made the back-​up plan of going inside the house or under the pavilion for both and thought the best way to keep away the bugs was to rent the fans and offer bug wipes for our guests. Luckily, the weather was perfect, and the bugs weren’t as bad as we thought. But if you are planning on a summer outdoor wedding, I highly recommend the fans because not only were they our saviors for keeping the bugs at bay but also were a great way to cool off after dancing for awhile.
They offer separate bride’s room and groom’s room to get ready and take pictures in which are beautiful and located on the second floor of the house. They also have signs that they can put out to indicate where the restrooms are located, private event, and wedding or reception I can’t recall. We had our own signs made but still utilized the restroom sign free of charge. This venue would be perfect for a wedding in any season. They have a fireplace that can be lit in both the house in the main room and in the pavilion. There are little lights on the trees year-​round also.
If you want a beautiful outdoor wedding, the Redfield Estate is one of the best locations. It was very reasonable to rent this venue. There are tons of hotels nearby in all price ranges. They give you a list of preferred vendors and people they’ve worked with before. That’s how we found our caterer and our DJ, both of whom were amazing! The only downside is the size of the wedding you want which for us worked out perfectly because we had about 70 guests. They can only accommodate about 125, so choose wisely.
Overall, we were so happy with the Redfield Estate. We received so many compliments on how beautiful the venue was, and it makes for some fantastic wedding photos.

We had our wedding at The Grove Redfield Estate in late July 2014. After looking at a few outdoor venues, we knew The Grove was the perfect spot the second we walked onto the property. Managed by the Glenview Park District, The Grove has a main house, a pavilion, a gazebo, and a large oak tree; all picturesque spots for a ceremony and/​or reception accessible under the rental fee.
We spoke with Carol and Mary who handle all the logistics. After confirming our date, we initially decided on the gazebo. However, after speaking with a few vendors and checking it out ourselves, we realized that, while romantic, the gazebo sits on an island and can be haven for mosquitoes. Not appealing for our bridal party and 80+ guests. Then we were going to have our ceremony and reception in the house. It’s air conditioned and the great hall can easily accommodate 50 people. However, with 80+ guests we would have to break up the guests (50 or so guests in great hall, 20 or so in sun room, 20 or so in dining room) and that’s not something we wanted to do. We could even use a large upstairs that could accommodate 20 – 30 guests comfortably. But after some more research and Google Image searching, we went with the oak tree.
We held our ceremony under the large tree with the guests on the lawn. We held our cocktail hour on the house patio and had our reception in the pavilion. We were fortunate that our wedding day wasn’t muggy or rainy so we completely avoided the mosquitoes. Nonetheless, we invested in citronella candles and rented fans from the The Grove to keep a breeze going throughout the pavilion.
The staff was very responsive during our preparation and answered questions promptly. On our wedding day, we had a staff member that was available and incredibly friendly. The Grove works with a list of preferred caterers (we went with Refined Dining) and hosted a few open houses prior to our wedding that assisted us in making vendor decisions. In our opinion, working with vendors that have experience with The Grove will be beneficial. Due to all the indoor and outdoor options, set ups and breakdowns can be tricky and time consuming. Fortunately, everyone we worked with, from the officiant to the DJ, was familiar with The Grove and that made our special day come off without a hitch.
Everything was perfect, The Grove was magical, and we couldn’t ask for a better wedding.

The Grove was a wonderful venue for our wedding. The grounds are beautiful and peaceful. Our primary contact in the office was Carol. She was quick to respond to all questions and concerns. She also offered suggestions based on her experiences with other weddings. Parking was convenient and a wheelchair was available for older guests. The on site staff on the evening of our wedding was also helpful. We planned to have the ceremony at the gazebo but it was too cold (around 45 – 50 degrees!) so we used the pavilion for the ceremony and dinner. We rented 3 propane heaters and used the fireplace but it was still cold. I’m sure you’ll love this venue if you’re having less than 125 guests.

My husband and I did our wedding ceremony at The Redfield Estate and let me tell you — it was like a fairy tale! Mary worked with us all the way leading up to our special day. She was very quick to respond to any questions or concerns we had and she made sure the whole day went as smooth as water for us! The Redfield is absolutely gorgeous and our pictures turned out amazing! Our guests were so enchanted by the estate and its grounds that we had a hard time leaving. If we could do it all over again we wouldn’t change a thing. We couldn’t be happier and recommend The Redifeld to every newly engaged couple we meet! Thanks again for making it such a beautiful, memorable experience we will never forget.

Who knew that you had to book a reception venue so quickly? I only had a week or two to bask in my engagement bliss before I realized that getting the venue booked was the first thing you have to do. I want an outdoor wedding so I was looking for something that fit that bill. And I did a LOT of searching. I came upon Redfield and really liked what I saw online, so I made an appointment to see the grounds.
Making an appointment was pretty easy. Carol, the coordinator, showed us around. There is a beautiful gazebo in the woods that you can use as your ceremony site or you can use a canopy-​like covered area that is big and open and has a fireplace. This can also serve as an outdoor reception area. The house is beautiful. My fiancé and I really like old houses and old style things so this was right up our alley. There are separate rooms for the grooms and brides to get ready, a nice balcony overlooking the front room, a kitchen where the caterers set up and work out of, and lovely views all around. The backup weather option is to have your ceremony inside the house, which we thought was great. If you have more than 80 people, though, it looks like it might be a tight squeeze. You can also have your reception inside, or just use it as the dancing area/​mingling area. There are a lot of options.
Though there are no leaves on the trees yet, you can tell how beautiful it would be in the summer or fall. Great opportunities for pictures. Carol talked us through what they offer and gave us a folder with a bunch of information. Unfortunately, the date we picked wasn’t available, which was one of the factors in us not choosing Redfield. I know it may sound dumb, and we did think about changing it so that we could have our wedding at Redfield, but we realized it was actually important to us to have that date.
One other reason we didn’t go with Redfield was the times available. If you have a Saturday wedding, your rental is from 5pm to 1am. That includes set up and breakdown. Carol said the vendors come and set up at 5pm and the ceremony is usually at 6:30pm. Then the reception follows. That’s a bit late for a ceremony, especially when you consider that you’ll have to take pictures afterward. By the time the ceremony is over and pictures are done, you might not be eating til 8pm. Sure, you still have 4 hours to dance and mingle, but I know a lot of people that would want to go home soon after that and 8 is a bit late to be eating. Carol did say there was some flexibility with time if another event doesn’t book during the day, but you won’t know until 2 months prior to the wedding. Not a gamble I wanted to take.
The final reason I decided not to go with Redfield was that I just didn’t want to deal with keeping track of various vendors, not to mention that the cost might go up when you have additional outside expenses on top of the venue rental. I’m going with a place that takes care of all that stuff. Of course, if you have a wedding planner, you don’t need to worry about that kind of thing, but knowing me, I’d just be thinking about all of this on my wedding day, and I don’t want that kind of stress.
If you’re okay with the reception times or if you book a different day and you’re okay with outside catering in vendors, then definitely go with Redfield. We really wish it would have worked out. We were originally okay with switching the date, but with the reception times not being what we wanted, we decided we didn’t want to make so many compromises just to make it right. It is our day, after all. Still love Redfield, though, and would recommend it to anyone who wants a beautiful outdoor space and something unique.

Heeey yo! I’m a guy, leaving a review about his own wedding reception.
Contrary to most guys that may review such matters, I’m going to write more than five words!
Beyond that, no promises, but I can sum up our experience using the Grove in one word: Fulfilling.
Being south siders, Glenview seemed like an illogical place to host our wedding reception. After all, it’s north of of Madison! Some of our family members cried foul! A few threatened to revolt! But rest assured, this cozy little venue put their fears at ease.
The Grove at the Redfield estate is a fancy name for a former house that was built within a forest. It is managed by the park district, which rents out the establishment for any event you might imagine.
Beware though, for those with large families or groups of friends. Our guest list hovered around 75, and we were packed in pretty tight. I wouldn’t recommend any more peeps if you’re planning a wedding reception!
For your rental, you get full use of the Redfield Estate house. It included use of their tables and chairs, but you are responsible for all setups, breakdowns, and cleanups. For this we hired a caterer.
We had our wedding in late November, and the whole place was lit up with white Christmas lights. It provided a magical, ‘enchanted forest’ type of atmosphere.
We couldn’t have been happier in our decision to choose the Grove!
(dancing in my chair right now, as my wedding reception review tops five words!)

Improvements are made year after year.
The grounds are well taken care of and the facilities are outstanding.
There is the main house for dining and such but the best part is the pavilion which features a fireplace and covered area for up to 125 guests.
Have your wedding and reception here and enjoy Glenview’s finest nature sanctuary.

Choosing a wedding venue for me was a no-​brainer.
I’ve never fantasized about my wedding like most girls, but I always had a feeling that this would be a great spot to get married. When the question was popped and we had to figure out where to go, this was at the top of our list. It’s historical, cozy, intimate, and has plenty of areas to be outdoors. A fall wedding in a gazebo in the forest, surrounded by colorful leaves? PERFECT.
Carol, the coordinator at Redfield, worked with us well. We never had a communication problem with her and she was friendly and accommodating. The venue also worked really well with our caterer (which was one of the recommended caterers from the Grove) so we had no worries about things falling into place.
The building itself is gorgeous: a large great room, a room in the middle for buffets/​whatnot, a back room with a great view of the yard, a kitchen that is basically hidden out of view, a neat little loft, a couple rooms upstairs, and separate groom and bridal suites. I LOVED my bridal suite. There was a cute desk, some seating, my own bathroom, and a window with an escape route if I didn’t feel like getting married…
We had our ceremony outdoors in the gazebo, with about 100 chairs set up for the guests. The aisle was a long, winding path through the trees towards the gazebo. Afterwards, everyone mingled on patio of the house for drinks while we took photos in the new pavilion. (I have to note, the pavilion was not yet built when we reserved the place, and we were really excited to have it available for our wedding!) We squeezed about 80 guests into two rooms and the loft of the house for the dinner. The rest of the night was in the pavilion, dancing. All of our guests were raving about what a great place we had picked! Everyone enjoyed using all the spaces that were available, as well as being able to roam around the grounds. I couldn’t have asked for a better place for our wedding. Just writing this post makes me want to go back.
I am taking away a star because at the end of the night, some groundskeeper person kept trying to shut the wedding down before our designated end time. We only had a seven-​hour block for the wedding + dinner so we wanted to use every moment we had! Music being turned down early and lights being shut off were not cool. This, however, was the only downside to this place.
One of my friends is getting married here later this year (on the exact date I would have wanted if we choose a winter wedding). I have no idea if I will be attending the wedding, but I’m excited to accompany her on trips to the Grove to re-​live my wedding memories.

We were very excited to tour the grounds for our upcoming wedding. My fiancé and I drove and walked around ourselves before calling to make an official tour appointment. We liked what we saw and we were ready to book this as our ceremony venue. The next day, I called and spoke with Carol and booked an appointment 3 weeks away. I let the staff know what our wedding date was and they said they had that date available. I had 2 phone calls to confirm our appointment and in neither of the calls was I notified that our wedding date was already booked by another party. We drove out from Chicago and so did my mother for our tour only to find out that our date was booked. We spent 2 minutes there and left. It is very unprofessional to not inform a wedding party that their date was already booked. Not only did we waste a precious free Saturday, but we wasted weeks in our ceremony venue search. A phone call or an email could have saved us time and frustration. The venue is beautiful.