The Crossed Keys Inn is located in what I consider to be the middle of nowhere in western New Jersey. It is specifically designed and marketed to be an outdoor wedding venue. If your dream wedding involves pastoral scenery, autumn sunsets, rustic old barns and Pintrest-y swing sets, this is a good place to check out.
There is no "indoors." The reception takes place under a very large tent. The kitchen and bathrooms are trailer trucks, and I would bet the place shuts down completely in the colder months. Naturally, a place like this is very weather-dependent, and I would not want to be here in the dog days of July or August. However, in early October the temperature is cool, the leaves are changing and it's a joy to be outside.
It's a wonderful location, but beyond that you start to see cracks in the facade. At the wedding I attended, the tent was not lit nearly as nicely or creatively as it could have been. There were strings of paper lanterns all above the dance floor, but unfortunately no lightbulbs in them or wiring connecting them. The decor was just untapped potential.
The food is average or below average, and I did not get the impression that the mâitre'd really knew what she was doing. I was working with a DJ friend of mine and there were several occasions where we needed her and she was nowhere to be found. We had to tell a waiter to find her and ask her to turn the lights down a little bit. People won't dance in a well-lit room. They get self-conscious. You're in the wedding reception industry. You should know that.
