Glen Manor House Wedding Video: Two Weddings Above the Sakonnet
Glen Manor House on film, through two weddings we shot in Portsmouth, Rhode Island: the terrace steps, a lawn above the Sakonnet and a dock at dusk.
Most of what you will find about Glen Manor House weddings is photographers’ galleries and a handful of films on Vimeo, and they are good at showing you how the house looks. A film asks a different set of questions: which way the house faces, how the day moves between the house, the terrace and the lawn, and where you can go when you step outside.
We have filmed two weddings at Glen Manor House. Gia and Robert married in early September, in clear late-summer light. Dana and James married in August, on a soft, overcast day. Between them they cover almost every part of the estate.
A 1920s house modelled on Versailles
Glen Manor House was built in 1923 for Moses Taylor. Its architect was John Russell Pope, who later designed the Jefferson Memorial, and he based it on the Petit Trianon at Versailles; the gardens were laid out by the Olmsted Brothers. The Town of Portsmouth bought the property in the 1970s, and a volunteer authority now runs it for weddings and events, according to the house’s own history.
Two practical details shape the day. The house takes up to 175 guests from mid-May to mid-October, and an event runs for any five-hour period between 10 am and 11 pm. Five hours goes quickly, so it is worth deciding early which parts of the day need to happen inside that window, and asking the house what is possible before it opens.
Which way the house faces
The house looks east, down its lawn and across the Sakonnet River towards Tiverton. The sun sets behind it, on the land side. So the river will not give you a sunset over the water; it gives you the colour of the evening sky reflected in it, the same trade-off as at the harbour venues in Boston we have written about, like the Boston Harbor Hotel.
It also decides which way you face at the ceremony. If you marry with the river behind you, you are facing west: towards your guests, the house and, on a clear afternoon, the sun. On a bright day that is worth timing around.
The terrace steps
Both of our couples did their first look in the same place: the broad flight of stone steps that runs from the terrace down to the lawn. Gia came down them towards Robert with the tall windows of the house behind her. Dana and James met on the same steps, with the arched stone loggia behind them. On film, steps make the moment: the bride appears at the top and walks down into the frame.
A ceremony above the river
Dana and James married on the lawn with the Sakonnet directly behind them, between two white pedestals of blue and white flowers. That is the frame at the top of this page. On a grey day the light on faces is soft and even, and the river behind the couple stays readable rather than turning to glare.
Gia and Robert’s ceremony was set on the lawn among the old trees, with white chairs on the grass. Shade like that matters on a summer afternoon, a point we make in our guide to Newport and coastal New England venues.
Inside the house
The house has a curved staircase with a wrought-iron balustrade, and Gia used it the way it was built to be used, coming down it in her dress with her bridesmaids behind her. She and Robert also exchanged letters privately under the latticed portico, out of sight of the guests.
Dinner and dancing are in the white-panelled ballroom. Dana and James’s was set with round tables, gold chairs and a chandelier; Gia and Robert cut their cake there and danced into the evening. Outside on the terrace, they had a champagne tower.
The gardens and the water’s edge
The gardens give you hedged paths, flower beds and old trees for portraits. Gia and Robert’s film ends among the hedges in the last of the light; Dana and James did theirs in the flower beds.
At the foot of the lawn, a wooden dock runs out into the river. Dana and James walked out onto it at dusk with drinks in hand, and those few minutes close their film. If you want the same, ask the house about using it, and save it for the end of the day, when the water turns blue-grey.
From the air
Both films open with a drone shot of the estate, and it is the shot that tells the viewer the house sits on the water. Glen Manor is in uncontrolled airspace, so unlike Boston’s waterfront venues there is no FAA approval to wait on. We checked the airspace at 20 venues we have filmed, this one included.
Planning notes for a Glen Manor House wedding
- Plan around the five hours. Work out early which parts of the day need to happen inside the event window, and ask the house what is possible before it opens.
- Use the steps. The terrace steps are the natural place for a first look, and they work in any light.
- Decide which way to face. With the river behind you, you face west into the afternoon sun. On a clear day, start a little later or plan for it.
- Ask about the dock early. It gives you the most peaceful few minutes of the day, but check with the house that you can use it.
- Leave time for the gardens. Twenty minutes among the hedges and flower beds in the last hour of light is some of the best footage of the day.
Glen Manor House is one of the venues in our guide to Newport and coastal New England, and one we are always glad to go back to. You can watch more of our weddings in the gallery, see what each collection includes, or tell us about your day.