Most weddings are one afternoon. You spend a year planning, then the day itself moves so fast that you remember it in fragments: the first look, somebody's toast, a slice of cake eaten standing up.
A midweek boutique wedding is the opposite of that. You get the whole estate and a guest list small enough to actually talk to. The package includes one day and one night, and you can always add a second night for $1,200. That is the choice we recommend most, because it turns five hours into two unhurried days with your favorite people.
Why a weekday wedding is quietly the better decision
There is nothing second-best about a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Here is what changes when you step off the weekend calendar.
Your date is actually available. Saturdays in May, September and October get claimed 12 to 18 months out. Midweek dates in those same beautiful months are open far later, which means you can get married in peak river season without waiting two years for it.
The pricing is off-peak. At Riverside Inn, Tuesday through Thursday falls in our off-peak tier. The All Inclusive Boutique package starts at $3,195 for up to 10 guests, $4,195 for up to 25, and $5,795 for up to 50. The same package on a peak weekend runs $4,395, $5,495 and $7,195. That difference is often the honeymoon, the photographer upgrade, or simply not starting married life with a balance to pay off. See the full breakdown in the Wedding Investment Planner.
Your vendors have room to breathe. Photographers, florists and officiants are frequently booking a single event that week rather than their third in four days. You get first-choice availability and undivided attention.
The whole property is yours. Every boutique wedding includes exclusive use of the 13,000 square foot inn and the grounds. Midweek, the road is quiet, the river is quiet, and the only people on 6.5 acres are yours.
What two days actually feel like
This is the shape of a midweek wedding with the optional second night added, which is how most couples do it.
Day one, early afternoon. Check-in starts at 1:00 PM for you and your first ten people. Bags go upstairs. Somebody opens the porch doors. There is no timeline yet, just your family arriving one car at a time and hugging in the driveway.
Day one, late afternoon. Rehearsal, if you want one, done in twenty unhurried minutes at the arch. Then the part nobody schedules and everyone remembers: cousins on the lawn playing cornhole or ladder golf, someone's dad claiming he can still beat everyone at croquet, drinks on the porch while the light goes gold over the water.
Day one, evening. Dinner with your closest people, then the river at night. We keep a telescope on the property for guests, and away from city glow the sky over the Ohio is genuinely worth staying up for.
Day two, morning. Breakfast together in the mansion. Not a hotel buffet, not fifty strangers, just your people around a table before the day starts. Hair and makeup spread out through the house. The lawn gets set up while you are still in a robe.
Day two, ceremony. By the time you walk out, everyone there has already spent a day together. The room is warm before anyone says a word. That is the thing a midweek two-day wedding buys you that no amount of budget can buy on a Saturday.
Day two, evening. Cocktail hour by the gazebo, dinner, dancing, and then the shortest commute in wedding history: upstairs.
The setting
Riverside Inn is a restored 1869 estate on 6.5 acres along the Ohio River in Warsaw, Kentucky, about an hour from Cincinnati and roughly halfway to Louisville and Lexington. There are wide porches, a waterfront gazebo, a Carriage House with a built-in sound system, and long open lawn between the house and the water.
It does not look or feel like a banquet hall, because it is not one. It is a house, and for two days it is your house. Read more about the grounds and the guest rooms in Rooms & Suites, and the area in Things to Do.
Who the boutique package fits
The All Inclusive Boutique package is built for 50 guests or fewer. Fifty is a firm cap, not a soft one. If your list runs past that, our Intimate package is the right fit and we will point you there during your tour.
Included with boutique:
- Exclusive use of the inn and the property
- One-night stay for up to 10 guests with 1:00 PM early check-in
- Ceremony space, decorated arch, candles and bud vases
- Sound and microphones for the ceremony
- Cocktail hour with an appetizer selection, beer and wine service, and one signature cocktail served during cocktail hour, or a sparkling wine toast in its place
- Reception space with linens, runners, centerpieces, full setup and teardown
- Dinner with one entrée, one salad, two sides and bread
The package covers one day and one night. You can always add a second night for $1,200, and it is the single addition we recommend most, because it is what turns the wedding into the two-day version described above.
Holding a midweek date
Midweek dates in the best months go later than weekends, but they do go. The honest advice: if you are looking at next spring or fall, come walk the property before you commit to anything.
Build your numbers in the Wedding Investment Planner, browse the rest of the packages on the Weddings page, and then get in touch to schedule a tour. We will walk the lawn, stand where the arch goes, and you will know within ten minutes whether this is your place.