The black doors open onto the courtyard, and the bride steps out between her father and her mother.
He is in a dark suit and a burgundy tie, and not trying to hide his smile. She is in midnight blue, one hand on her strap. Between them, the bride holds a burgundy and cream bouquet against her dress, its flowers trailing almost to her knees. Three stone steps, two potted boxwoods, the golden gravel court, and at the end of it, the guests turning around.
They are not in the countryside, and not in the city either. They are in Châteauguay, in the old quarter, thirty minutes from downtown Montreal. Few wedding venues on the South Shore sit in that spot, and it changes more than you would expect.
Most wedding venues in the Montérégie are in the countryside
The Montérégie is orchard, vineyard and sugar shack country, and many of its wedding venues look the part: a restored barn at the end of a country road, a hall among the apple trees, a golf club, a sugar shack. They have charm, often space, and sunsets over open fields that no town garden will ever give you.
Before you fall for one, check two things the photographs never show. First, the real drive for your guests, because a venue "in the Montérégie" can be twenty minutes from Montreal or an hour and a half. Then, where everyone will sleep, because a country road rarely ends at a hotel.
Châteauguay, thirty minutes from downtown and from the airport
Manoir Blackswan stands at 72 McComber Street, in the historic quarter of Châteauguay. From Montreal, you cross the Honoré-Mercier Bridge and arrive in about thirty minutes. From Montréal-Trudeau airport, it takes the same. From Brossard, La Prairie or Candiac, Highway 30 gets you here without crossing the river, which matters to a family that already lives on the South Shore. Guests driving in from Ontario take the 30 as well, and we wrote about what that drive changes for them.
The estate is privatized for one wedding at a time, for two nights and three days, from May to October. It hosts 20 to 100 seated guests under the Sperry tent, and seven bedrooms sleep fourteen. The privatization starts at $15,000.
A country venue or an estate in town: what really changes
| Criterion | A country venue in the Montérégie | A private estate in Châteauguay |
|---|---|---|
| The drive | Twenty minutes to over an hour, depending on the road | Thirty minutes from downtown |
| The setting | Fields, orchards, the horizon | A walled garden, statues, a stone terrace |
| If it rains | Depends on the venue: barn, hall or a rented tent | The Sperry tent, on a permanent stone terrace |
| Accommodation | Often found elsewhere | Fourteen guests on site |
| How long | Usually one day or one evening | Two nights and three days |
| The style | Rustic, country | Opulent, an antique dealer's interiors |
The rain row deserves a second look. A wedding in an open field is beautiful in sunshine and complicated in a downpour. Ask about the backup plan at every visit, and ask to see it set up.
What you will not find here, and who the Manoir is not for
No fields stretching to the horizon, no vineyard rows, no barn. The Manoir's garden is walled in stone, with its statues, its checkered terrace and its pool. Inside, there is marble, a carved fireplace, crystal chandeliers and furniture found one piece at a time. If you dream of hay bales and string lights under an open sky, a Montérégie vineyard will make you happier than we would, and that is as it should be.
The Manoir is also not for weddings of more than a hundred seated guests, nor for couples who want one evening and one contract that covers everything. The $15,000 covers the estate, the tent and the seven bedrooms; catering, reception furniture and flowers are chosen separately, and we explain why, and what it changes.
Drive the route on a Saturday afternoon
Before you sign anywhere, in the Montérégie or elsewhere, drive the route yourselves on a Saturday around three in the afternoon, from wherever most of your guests will be leaving. An hour on a map and an hour on a July Saturday are not the same hour.
While you are at it, look at where your family will sleep and how they will get home. If the answer makes you hesitate, it will make your guests hesitate too.
Emmanuel HébertManoir Blackswan