The Mansion - Northeast Florida Wedding Vendor

If you are shopping for a venue for your wedding or special event, consider The Mansion. This beautiful house is perfect.. close enough for guests to travel from Jacksonville or Folkston but far enough away to be quietly quaint. We had the opportunity to photograph this beautiful house and meet one of the owners, Tisha Carter. As part of our blog, we asked Tisha to answer some questions regarding their gorgeous venue. Enjoy the pictures and read all about The Mansion.

1. Since this is a new business, tell us a little about how/why you decided to open The Mansion.

We loved the mystique of this old house so much that we purchased it in 2005 to use as office space for our business. To our dismay it became necessary to relocate our business to another location. At this time we were unsure what we would do with this absolutely gorgeous place that we had fallen in love with. It wasn’t until our daughter became engaged and was unable to locate a local facility to host her special day that we realized what we had on our hands. We decided at that point that there was no better place to host such an important moment in her life than our very own Mansion. We felt that there may be more people in her same situation so we have decided to make our beautiful home available to the entire community.

2. Give us some details about The Mansion.

The house was initially built around 1900 and consisted of four rooms made of oversized lumber. The original house was removed around 1927 but most of the oak lumber was salvaged for sheeting in the present house that we call “The Mansion”. Dr. Cole Cleveland Fuqua, Sr. was a doctor for the local lumber company so he chose the best lumber for this house. It has been said that Dr. Fuqua inspected the construction of the house very frequently and was such a perfectionist that he once fired a carpenter for continuing to bend nails over. This magnificent house is proof of his lust for perfection. The house is constructed of oak, cypress, and heart pine. The floors are oak and the closets are lined with cedar. The heart pine open beams in the ceiling of the front three rooms came from Virginia on freight cars and were hand carried from the west side of town hall to the construction site. The Mansion has four upstairs rooms with a balcony and stairwell coming out of the bedroom located off the back side of the house. The stairwell leads to a beautiful private garden setting with a beautiful pavilion. There are a total of four fireplaces two upstairs and two downstairs, three bathrooms two downstairs and one upstairs. There is ample room downstairs to host a small event. The outside reception hall is equipped with a rustic bar and is able to handle large parties.

3. What kind of rental rates should brides expect?

Our rates are very reasonable and competitive to other local venues. Pricing is available on our website: www.thehilliardmansion.com.

4. Are there discounts for mid-week or off-season rentals?

We do offer discounted rates for Friday/Sunday rentals and then even more of a discount for Mon. through Thursday, again all info is on website pricing tab.

5. Do you require brides to use certain vendors? Or, may they hire their own?

Brides are allowed to use any vendor they would like to and there are no vendor charges.

6. What makes The Mansion unique?

.. I think that the balcony staircase is a very unique way for the bride to be presented to the crowd. I also love the fact that the upstairs is set up for the bridal party to hang out and get ready together all the while able to view guests as they arrive.

7. Are there any specials or discounts for upcoming events?

We are offering 1st year special for anyone whose event date falls within the first year of our Grand Opening on 10/10/09.

8. For what type of events is The Mansion available?

The Mansion can accommodate up to 200 people very comfortably utilizing the outside reception area but is also equipped for small parties such as baby showers or birthday parties by renting just the house. We are looking forward to hosting weddings/receptions, birthday parties, reunions, graduation parties and more. We also feel like the Mansion is a unique and beautiful spot for photo opportunities.

9. Anything else you would like to say about The Mansion?

Just that we look forward to serving the community and being as accommodating as possible.

10. Any advice for brides for their wedding day? Or to someone planning a special event?

They should definitely give the Mansion a chance at hosting their event. They won't be sorry!!

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