The Duke Mansion wedding venue is one of the premier, if not THE premier wedding venue in Charlotte, NC. They have the most amazing staff and take care of all of their clients like family. They continue to raise the standard of beauty, class and profession! Around the mansion are beautiful gardens which are excellent for portraits. In the back is a gorgeous lawn for ceremonies and inside the reception can be held in one of the beautiful ballrooms. There are plenty of location for sitting and eating and an amazing in house caterer! We suggest the Duke mansion to anyone planning to have a wedding in Charlotte and looking for a wedding venue!
Now, we had the distinct privilege of being able to interview Laura Stump, the wedding coordinator and she is the best in the biz! We are so thankful for her and if you are looking to have the perfect wedding, you would be in great hands trusting her and the Duke mansion on your big day!
Duke Mansion Wedding Venue Interview
How did you first establish the vision to make your beautiful setting into an amazing event venue?
The Duke Mansion was built in 1915 by the Taylor family. The house went through many different families, including the Duke’s, the Cannon’s and the Lineberger’s. in 1919, Buck Duke, founder of The American Tobacco Company and Duke Power Company, purchased the home and doubled the size to its current 32,000 square feet. In 1977 the house was turned into condominiums. In 1989 Rick and Dee Ray, founders of Raycom Sports, considered purchasing a condo. Instead the Rays deiced to preserve the mansion and purchase the entire house and lots that has been subdivided. In 1996 The Lee Institute is established with assistance from The Duke Endowment and turns The Mansion into a nonprofit to preserve it. In 1998 The Duke Mansion opened as a historic inn and meeting place.
In 2006 we officially opened for weddings and other events. Since then we have successfully executed thousands of social and corporate events.
What is the inspiration behind your wedding venue? If you had the perfect bride, what would she decorate your venue like?
We are a southern home, so our clients and guests expect a true warm southern welcome in they walk in our doors and we are happy to provide it! Our perfect bride is one that loves her family and loves to have fun! The home itself does not need a lot of decorating in order to dress it up…it’s beautiful all by itself! We love it when brides take the house to the next level with gorgeous flowers and fun linens but appreciates the true beauty that the home has to offer. Our perfect bride knows how to combine the elegance of the home with the modern touches of today’s high end weddings. (Can you say, lighting?!)
When did your venue open?
We officially opened for weddings and social events in 2006. Our Sales and Events Team are the ones responsible for booking and executing all of our events. Katelyn DeFord is our Director of Sales. She sells corporate events and overseas the entire sales and events team. Vanessa Evans is the Social Catering Sales Manager and sells all the weddings and social events. She details a small portion of the events and hangs on to 12 of the weddings. Laura Stump is the Social Conference Services Manager. She details and executes the vast majority of the social and wedding related events and does 13 of the 25 weddings. We have just hired a brand new Conferences Services Manager, who starts in a couple weeks. She will be responsible for detailing and executing the corporate events.
How many guests can your Venue Accommodate?
The Duke Mansion can accommodate weddings up to 150 guests. We also host countless other events throughout the year large and small!
How many weddings do you do a year/a weekend?
The Duke Mansion caps the number of weddings every year to 25. This number allows the historic home time to breath and be maintained in the manor that it should be. It is also a number that we were happy to come to in conjunction with the Myers Park neighborhood.
What was the most unique event that has taken place at your venue?
One of the beautiful things about this place is that we get to interact with all kinds of people and execute some pretty amazing events! We host everything from multi-day corporate meetings to baby showers, bridal showers, and rehearsal dinners, to events for politicians and pro-athletes. When we execute our weddings here, the client has exclusive use of the space for their wedding. That means we only do one wedding that weekend and are solely focused on our bride and groom.
What types of flowers do you like to work with?
Since the home has a lot of neutrals around it, we see a lot of ivory and white or blush toned flowers with greenery. It allows the beauty of the space to shine through! There are always lots of hydrangeas, rununculus, roses and peonies depending on the time of year!
Do you offer rental items?
One of the perks of having your wedding here is that our estate fee covers a lot of what you may have to rent at other venues! It covers our full inventory of tables, chivari chairs, house linen, china, silverware and glassware. we are always happy to help our clients place rental orders for anything they desire. We have wonderful relationships with the local rental companies and make it easy to streamline your rental process.
What is your favorite part of your venue?
I think I have two favorite thing about our venue…I love how unique this place is and how warm and welcoming it is! The house is so beautiful by itself and full of charm. It’s a Charlotte icon and is a unique little gem hidden away in the heart of Myers Park. I also love how a true southern welcome goes a long way. Our guests have not only come to expect a certain level of service but they know it will come with a smile! Everyone from the Front Desk team, Kitchen and Banquet staff to our Sales and Events team is so open, warm and welcoming. We are always so excited to welcome new families into our home!
How big is the staff/how many people will work on an average wedding?
Making this place run on a daily basis is quite the undertaking. For a wedding or our other social or corporate events, it takes even more staff to make our client’s dream come true. If you tally up everyone up that you see and those behind the scenes in the kitchen and setup crew, you’re probably looking at around 40 people to make your big day happen!
How Can People best find you and get In touch?
To get more information on hosting a social event or wedding, please contact Vanessa Evans at vevans@dukemansion.org. For inquires for styled shoots, please contact Laura Stump at lmstump@dukemansion.org.
