New Hope charges $2 an hour to park, seven days a week, from 10 in the morning until 9 at night, and on South Main, Ferry and Waterloo the rate doubles to $4 after four hours. That is the town your guests will be circling on a Saturday. It is also why people book here anyway: a mile of riverfront, a bridge to New Jersey, and more historic inns per block than anywhere else in the county.
This guide starts with New Hope and Solebury Township, then moves up River Road to Lumberville and west to Lahaska, then crosses the bridge to Lambertville. Capacities and prices come from the venues themselves. Where a number is not published, it says so rather than guessing. For the county-wide picture, start with our Bucks County wedding venues guide.
The riverfront hotels
River House at Odette’s
The newest of the three, built on the New Hope waterfront where Chez Odette long stood. The ballroom has floor-to-ceiling retractable glass walls that open toward the Delaware, which is the whole point of the building. The venue page says up to 200 guests. You will see 220 quoted on third-party listings, so get the number in writing before you build a floor plan around it. Guest rooms and suites are on site, along with a rooftop bar, a piano bar and Odette’s Restaurant in the building. Rates are not published.
Logan Inn
10 W Ferry Street, at the top of Main. The Riverstone Ballroom seats about 150. The Rock Room holds roughly the same for cocktails, and the Upper Dining Room handles about 50 for a rehearsal dinner or a small reception. There are 38 guest rooms, which matters more than couples expect. The wine program has earned Wine Spectator recognition and the kitchen is run by Chef Jef Marino. By the inn’s own account the peak months are May, June, September and October, with discounted rates January through March. Packages include a premium open bar and valet. See the Logan Inn for current availability.
Black Bass Hotel
3774 River Road, Lumberville, a short drive north. The ceremony site is Terrace-in-the-Woods, a flagstone patio with a waterfall and pond. Receptions happen in river-view dining rooms. There are nine suites upstairs including a bridal suite, and the hotel does its own planning in house, rehearsal dinner through day-after brunch. Guest capacities are not published, so ask for the room-by-room numbers on your tour.
Estates, farms and country houses
Hotel du Village
A French chateau on 12 acres off River Road in Solebury Township. The Colt Ballroom holds 180, the Historic Ballroom 140, and a full buyout runs to 240. Catering is in house. There are cottages and hotel rooms on the property, so the wedding party can stay put. Pricing starts around $180 per person. If you want a big guest list and a single address for the whole weekend, this is the shortest path to it.
HollyHedge Estate
6987 Upper York Road. A historic stone estate with a barn used for cocktails, a modern reception space, a courtyard and an inn on site. Catering is in house and seasonal, sourced from local farms, and the family has run it for about 25 years. HollyHedge does not publish capacities or pricing, which is deliberate; they quote each event. Ask for the maximum seated number in the reception room and the rain plan in the same conversation.
The Inn at Fox Briar Farm
300 Carousel Lane, Lahaska. Fifty private acres. Ceremonies go on the Breezeway Lawn, a hilltop with a garden stone wall and a long view, or indoors against a fieldstone wall in the barn or under oak-beam trusses in the Loft. The barn has a custom ironwork chandelier, two balconies, and real heat and air conditioning. Catering is fully open, plated through food trucks. There is an eight-bedroom inn on the property and the 67-room Golden Plough Inn is a walk away. The fine print is worth knowing: amplified music ends at 10 p.m., the DJ has to use the house sound system, there is a $12 per guest property maintenance fee, and every vendor needs a certificate of insurance. One practical note, the venue lives at thefoxbriarfarm.com. The similar address without the leading word is a parked domain listed for sale, so ignore it.
Peddler’s Village and the Golden Plough Inn
Route 202 and Street Road, Lahaska. Peddler’s Village currently advertises all-inclusive packages starting at $99 per person, with a dedicated planner on every wedding. Older roundups still quote $80 per person and a $12,000 minimum, which no longer matches what the village publishes, so price it fresh. The Golden Plough Inn has 67 rooms spread through the property. Directory listings put the largest space in the 250 to 280 range, but the village does not publish room-by-room capacities.
Quick comparison
| Venue | Where | Largest published capacity | Rooms on site | Catering |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| River House at Odette’s | New Hope riverfront | 200 | Yes, rooms and suites | In house |
| Logan Inn | 10 W Ferry St, New Hope | 150 | 38 | In house |
| Hotel du Village | Solebury Township | 240 buyout | Cottages and rooms | In house |
| HollyHedge Estate | 6987 Upper York Rd | Not published | Inn on site | In house |
| Black Bass Hotel | Lumberville | Not published | 9 suites | In house |
| Inn at Fox Briar Farm | 300 Carousel Ln, Lahaska | Not published | 8 rooms | Open, any caterer |
| Peddler’s Village | Lahaska | Not published | 67 at Golden Plough | In house |
| Lambertville Station | 11 Bridge St, NJ | 200 | Inn on site | In house |
Outdoor ceremonies and public land
Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve sits on River Road south of town and handles its own rentals through bhwp.org. It also books the Moore Pavilion in the upper section of Washington Crossing Historic Park, which surprises people. Fees are not posted; email the events address.
At Washington Crossing Historic Park, ceremonies are arranged by emailing the park directly. The Greene, Sullivan and Washington pavilions are reserved through the state ReserveAmerica system. Two rules catch wedding parties out: drones are banned outright, and commercial photography requires a permit, which means your photographer, not just a film crew.
The Solebury Club turns up on directory lists but publishes no wedding capacity or pricing, so treat those listings as a phone number rather than a fact. Rice’s Market on Greenhill Road is a flea market, not a venue, despite where it lands in some search results. The Bucks County Playhouse at 70 South Main Street hosts private events and its riverside bar and deck is a standing rehearsal dinner option in town, though capacities are not posted publicly.
Across the bridge: Lambertville, New Jersey
Couples shop both riverbanks, and they should. Lambertville Station Restaurant and Inn at 11 Bridge Street has the Riverside Ballroom, floor-to-ceiling windows over the Delaware, an outdoor terrace, capacity up to 200 and an inn attached. The restaurant handles rehearsal dinners and farewell brunches.
One thing to get right before you fall in love with a New Jersey lawn: a Pennsylvania marriage license only works for a ceremony performed in Pennsylvania. New Jersey issues its own license through the municipality where one applicant lives, or through the town where the ceremony takes place if neither lives in state. Different process, different fee, different waiting period. Pick the side of the river first, then apply.
Where your guests sleep
New Hope runs out of rooms on peak weekends, and the venues know it. Block early, and block in more than one place. Between the Logan Inn at 38 rooms, River House, the Golden Plough Inn at 67 rooms in Lahaska, the nine suites at Black Bass, the cottages at Hotel du Village and the eight rooms at Fox Briar, you can cover a lot of a guest list without sending anyone to a highway hotel. The smaller bed and breakfasts fill first: the Wedgwood Inn, Fox and Hound, and the Ghost Light Inn near the Playhouse. The Greater New Hope Chamber of Commerce lodging list is the least stale roster of what is actually open.
The bridge, Main Street and the Saturday problem
The New Hope-Lambertville bridge is two narrow lanes and free to cross, and on a good-weather weekend it backs up in both directions. Main Street is one lane each way with pedestrians crossing wherever they like. Add paid parking from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at $2 an hour, doubling after four hours on South Main, Ferry and Waterloo, and you have a guest who arrives late and annoyed.
Three fixes actually work. Shuttle from one hotel rather than asking 120 people to find spaces. Put the ceremony start at least 30 minutes after you would in Doylestown. And if your venue is across the bridge, tell guests to park on the side where the reception is and walk over, because the walk is five minutes and the drive can be twenty.
The marriage license
Bucks County charges $85 total, made up of a $50 application fee, a $10 ACP fee and $25 for one certified marriage certificate. There is a three-day waiting period. The license is valid 60 days. Both applicants have to appear together, and the county now runs most of this through its online portal with a virtual meeting where you show ID and sign. Offices are at 55 E. Court Street in Doylestown and 7321 New Falls Road in Levittown. Additional certified copies are $25 each. There is no residency requirement, but the ceremony must take place in Pennsylvania. Details are on the county’s application page and fee schedule.
If you need the three-day wait waived, that is a petition to a Judge of the Orphans Court. The county’s waiver page lists $105 and its fee schedule lists $95, so ask which applies when you file. It is free for active military. The county states plainly that travel plans are not an emergency.
Two New Hope names that are gone
Competitor lists still carry both. Marsha Brown, the steakhouse in the converted stone church at 15 South Main Street, has closed; the building now operates as OldeStone Steakhouse. The Raven on West Bridge Street has also closed. If a roundup is still recommending either for your reception, it has not been updated in years, and you should be suspicious of its other numbers too.
Planning smaller? See our guide to small weddings and elopements in Bucks County. For the rustic end of the county, there is barn wedding venues in Bucks County, and for everything else in town, New Hope coverage and the full guides index.
Sources and Further Reading
- River House at Odette’s weddings
- Logan Inn
- Black Bass Hotel weddings
- HollyHedge Estate
- The Inn at Fox Briar Farm
- Peddler’s Village weddings
- Lambertville Station Restaurant and Inn
- Washington Crossing Historic Park rentals and permits
- Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve
- New Hope Borough parking rates
- Bucks County marriage license application
- Bucks County Register of Wills fee schedule
- Waiver of the three-day waiting period
Venue capacities, packages and pricing change without notice, and a few of these places do not publish numbers at all. If you find something out of date here, send us a correction and we will fix it.
