Review - The Birchwood Manor in Whippany, NJ

The Birchwood Manor in Whippany, NJ

Hello! I have no idea how you ended up here. You must've gone pretty deep into the Google results. Good for you! But please keep in mind this was written and published in 2013 and is most likely pretty out of date information! I'm still a photographer though, and you can still check me out at johngallino.com

The Birchwood Manor is a large, versatile venue suitable for any size event. It offers several different sized ballrooms, lovely gardens and patio areas, and tons of parking for guests.

The wedding I shot here was in an unusual room about three times longer than it was wide, with the dance floor smack in the center and ceilings a bit lower than I'd like.

During the day it's a wonderful place for a Spring or Summer wedding, with beautiful gardens and plenty of sunshine. However when the sun goes down I felt the ballroom was a bit underlit. The dim chandeliers combined with the dark wood panelling of the walls made the room look a bit darker than your typical reception hall. That, combined with the low ceilings and unusual layout made it a little trickier for me to get the shots I wanted.

The gardens bear repeating however. Though a bit lacking in shade (the most flattering light for portraits), the outside of the venue is really beautiful.

Food was average and things never felt too crowded in this room with about 130 guests. I'd say if you're in the area, The Birchwood is well worth a look.

More photos after the jump

The dance floor is the middle of the room. There's another 7 or 8 tables behind me in this photo.

Really nice patio for cocktail hour

With very little shade, lighting gets tricky. Face the wrong way and everyone in your photo will be squinting.

Cute little hidden nook in the bushes

Plenty of space for big groups.

Beautiful flowers

Nice lighting during the day. When the sun goes down things get a bit dim inside.

It's hard to capture 'dimness' in a photo (my job is to not do that) but this gives you an idea of how dark it gets. The cake is lit by my flash bouncing off the ceiling.

If you found this review helpful, or you have a personal story to tell about this place, please leave a comment!

And check out my work at johngallino.com