Thornewood Castle Inn & Gardens

My husband and I were married at Thornewood Castle in June 2018. When we first drove into the estate for our tour on February 2017, it took my breathe away. It also snowed on the day of our tour, so it made everything much more magical and real. What made me say yes to Thornewood was that it met all of my criteria: Sunkin garden for the ceremony, indoor dining/reception and a lake for additional photos.

Our point of contact early on was Leann and she was communicative, helpful, and understanding of all of the questions and concerns we had. We were also in contact with Catt who assisted us as we got closer to our wedding date. The contract we had was pretty straight forward, however, there were additional costs that we paid for that were not found on the base price, such as day-of insurance - which you get back if there are no damages to the property (all expectations, additional costs, etc. are on that contract). They also allowed us a final walkthrough closer to our wedding date. A few of my vendors and wedding party came with us on that final walkthrough.

As for pricing, it really does cost an arm and a leg and with potential additional costs, it can certainly add up. With that being said, weekday weddings are lower in cost than weekends and certain parts of the year will cost you more. We married on a Thursday in June so the price was reasonable and the mere fact that we invited less than 40 people, it wasn't a break-the-bank wedding. They offered a discount at the castle if you stay the night but the cost was just not worth it, even with the discount.

I would definitely recommend Thornewood Castle as a place to get married in. I had a phenomenal experience with them (not so much my photographer) but based on current yelp reviews, it looks like you might want to be careful in signing that contract.

If you like historical architecture, this is definitely a place to see. It is apart of a gated community and you will need an appointment. View of the water behind the castle. Large area outside for gathering and ballroom like options inside. Not a lot of parking. I would not try to have an event for more than 50 people.

This place is beautiful, but you should not do business with them.

We reserved our early 2021 wedding date, signed the contract, and paid in full in December 2019. Of course, 2020 brought a nasty surprise and wedding receptions were essentially banned in the state of Washington.

As the date approached and COVID restrictions remained in place, we reached out to see what we could do. Thornewood didn't even reply to our emails or phone calls for five weeks. Eventually, in late 2020 they offered to let us pick a different date in 2021 for an additional $2000 - take it or leave it. Given the uncertainty of the situation at the time, we refused and requested a refund. They rudely suggested that we'd just have to sue them if we wanted to see our money again.

We explored the feasibility of this and had an attorney review the contract. We were told that we should never have signed a contract like this in the first place and we would be unlikely to win. Thornewood walked away with our money and we were left with no recourse.

Our other vendors have told us that our story is no anomaly. It seems Thornewood has accumulated a reputation in the local wedding planning community for screwing over couples and vendors.

Even if you don't think another disruption like COVID is likely, do you really want a venue that takes more than a month to return your calls?

Beautiful space.
We attended a wedding here along w a catered reception.
It's a great place close to the water.

This is the second time that I have stayed at this very relaxing castle! The heart shaped tub is in Lord Byron's Attic. This castle is beautiful inside and out. The staff are very nice and they even let me take my raft out on their lake, provided that I wouldn't bring it inside the castle, The staff leave you with a gate opener and a key to the castle's front door. Because, this is actually someone's home and the staff make themselves scarce so you actually do feel like you live in a fairytale castle. My goal is to stay in each room at least once. Beautiful artwork on the walls as well!

Updated: after I posted one star review in google, they refused to give any reason via email regarding why the check get deposited and claimed they will only talk with us in "legal channel" via attorney

It's a really pretty house, and we enjoyed exploring the grounds and common areas. Unfortunately, we weren't able to stay in the room overnight because I was allergic to something in the room and had a pretty severe reaction. I have no idea what it was, but I know I've had similar reactions in the past to dust and mold. So, this makes me feel like maybe the property is not well-maintained. In general, the grounds did seem in need of some TLC, and the room we were staying in (Rose Red) was quite dated. But I suppose this might be part of the charm. The staffing is lacking as well. When we checked in, we excitedly told the staff person that we had watched the Rose Red miniseries earlier in the week. The staff person looked annoyed, and curtly stated "I haven't watched it, and don't plan to." This seems like an odd response, since that's one of the reasons the castle is well known. Also, we were given a number to call if we had concerns during the night. We did call that number when it became clear we would have to leave due to my allergies, but nobody answered. We were told that if we were to leave at all during the evening or night, we needed to lock the door behind us. So, we had to return early the next day to drop off the keys. In reading other reviews, it does seem like staffing has been a consistent issue with this place.

The short version: in the midst of a pandemic, they took our money and didn't let us postpone, cancel, or transfer. A several-thousand-dollar mistake after months of being given the runarouind.


It's taken me several months to be calm enough to write this review. We were supposed to get married at Thornewood on February 15. We reserved the space over a year in advance, and paid in fully up front to avoid the hassle of installments.

COVID hit. Our families all live out of state, and severe restrictions to gathering sizes were in place. My mother has an autoimmune condition, so traveling was out of the question. We also did not feel we could have a gathering of any significant size given the unknown risks of the virus.

We reached out to Thornewood to ask if we could bump our date back a year. We were told the date was non transferable and non refundable. We asked for a partial refund since we paid in full instead of just a deposit. They said no. After weeks and weeks of the front desk staff being friendly but unable to give me answers, I got a very terse email, which included a lot of moaning about how hard the pandemic had been on them, and stating that "as a kindness", we could move our date to another available date in 2021, but only if we paid an additional fee of half of the deposit amount for that date! After being unresponsive, this "offer" had an expiration of 48 hours.

I understand that COVID was unforeseen and difficult. But every other vendor we had were understanding and worked with us to come to some sort of arrangement. And again- these folks already had our money, and we got absolutely nothing to show for it.

Avoid this venue at all costs.

Another Covid wedding to be ruined by Thornewood Castle. I called this past December(2020) as the country was finding out the vaccine wasn't going to be administered as expected and that there was still a long road ahead. My May 2021 wedding date now put in jeopardy had me calling to see if we could move the date. I chose to pay Thornewood in full at the beginning of COVID because I felt they were going to need the money and that since my date was so far out that it should be fine by the time my wedding rolls around.

No good deed goes unpunished... in calling them about moving the date I was informed that they had decided to put a policy in place at the start of Covid that said "no date changes." The contract, however, doesn't say you cannot change dates. They wouldn't even entertain the idea.

So currently I can invite about 1/5 of my guests to my wedding so the staff can do 1/5 of the work but take 100% of the money.

The wedding, of course, has to be outdoor along with the reception if they even allow it.

Do not waste your time or your money here. They were unwilling to work with anyone (see other comments) during COVID even when no refunds were asked of them and reservations were paid in full.

Don't walk, run away.

A word of caution to the day tripper - DO NOT BOTHER TO VISIT THIS PLACE IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A ROOM OR EVENT BOOKED AND WANT TO BE ABUSED BY AN AGGRESSIVE STAFF MEMBER!
Sunday 16th October 2022 at 2:10pm my wife, daughter and I visited Thornewood Castle to view their wonderful gardens after having seen all the fantastic photographs that have been taken at this location posted on Yelp, Tripadivsor and other search websites. On arrival and on entering the front room of the property I politely requested from a staff member whether my family and I could view the external gardens. We were told that this was not possible unless we had a room or an event booked at the property. (This was not an issue - after all this is their policy which they have a right to set - so there is no dispute on this matter. However, it is the follow-up engagement by one member of their staff that is still relevant as it reflects the direct engagement experienced by me a member of the public.) I thanked them and proceeded to return to my vehicle. On our walk back we noticed their beautiful English garden to our left and wanted to have a quick look in at the gate since this was directly adjacent to the car park. Instead as I approached the car park and gate I was followed out by the staff member and screamed at to leave the property. I can't help feeling that this is because I am a person of color, that this individual felt that it would be okay to abuse me accordingly. I am absolutely disgusted by her behavior and hence feel the need to post this as a warning to all other people and particularly people of color.