The Inn at Willow Grove

The sun is rising on your wedding day, casting a glow on the old-growth trees, flowering gardens, and pristine historical architecture surrounding you. You cinch your robe and slip over to your best friend’s cottage to savor a cup of coffee together on the porch before your hair and makeup artists arrive.

This is the tranquil wedding day energy The Inn at Willow Grove invites couples to experience.

“We really encourage you to have that moment and take advantage of those spaces before you dive into the day,” says Director of Operations Michele Sigler. 

Guests make themselves at home in comfortable cottages and suites individually furnished with inspired designs and antique flourishes, each with its own linger-worthy porch. Spoil-yourself dashes include soaking tubs, concierge service, a house sommelier, and gratis in-room coffee and beignets. A concierge is on hand to prepare your suite or plan a romantic tailored itinerary.

The Registered Virginia Landmark is a beautifully restored 1770s estate that once served as a working community — original footprint structures include a schoolhouse, smokehouse, weavers’ cottage, and carriage house — followed by two decades as a revered bed and breakfast. 

In 2008, current owners David and Charlene Scibal purchased the Willow Grove estate, initiating a massive, multi-million-dollar top-to-bottom renovation that transformed the farm into the illustrious Inn at Willow Grove. With an event Barn, guest cottages, garden pathways, and the Mill House Spa, the Inn at Willow Grove checks all the Charlottesville wedding weekend boxes.

“The Inn at Willow Grove is a top destination for getaways and, because of its history and charm and how it was designed, it’s very reminiscent of that early Virginia Jeffersonian era,” Michele says. “It’s such a serene, tranquil, romantic environment, which lends easily to weddings.”

Wedding weekend flow is relaxed and flexible with The Inn at Willow Grove staff urging couples to arrive early Friday, savor a spa day, and have vendors set everything up ahead of time so they can be fully present with guests and truly enjoy their weekend.

The scenic destination delivers a range of polished venues for a special ceremony, cocktail hour, reception, after-party, and farewell brunch, all without ever leaving the magnificent Piedmont estate. The grounds at Willow Grove deliver an incredible array of natural photography backdrops among a lily pond, large magnolias, several types of holly and boxwood, and flowering shrubs dating back to the 19th century.

Couples welcome guests with a Friday evening pool party and a catered rehearsal dinner in the elegant Hall. On Saturday, celebrations dazzle among the cool shaded Boxwood Gardens and 6,400 square feet of indoor/outdoor entertaining space between The Barn and Ruins. Dine and dance under The Barn’s soaring reclaimed wood ceilings, grand Palladian windows framing beautiful wooded views, and massive stone fireplace. Flow onto the veranda for outdoor cocktails and seating under the stars and invite guests to roam among the adjacent Ruins' beautiful open-air space.

The Inn at Willow Grove catering team handles all meals and can curate fabulous bridal luncheons, rehearsal dinners, welcome parties, and multi-course seated reception dinners. Wow guests with local heirloom salads, seared crab cakes, sumac spiced chicken, and roasted beef striploin with crushed sweet potato and grilled asparagus. Menus showcase the Charlottesville culinary scene and regional winemakers.

“Another incredibly appealing aspect of our property is there’s no timeline, you can host a ceremony whenever you want. If you want to get married at noon, that’s really your decision,” Michele says. “We only host one wedding each weekend. The spaces are yours.”

Gather loved ones at this carefully preserved Southern estate and spend a lavish wedding weekend cloaked in gracious hospitality.