Pine Knob Wedding Venue in Southeast Michigan
As a Southeast and Mid Michigan wedding photographer who’s photographed 70+ weddings, I know the best Michigan wedding venues for your dream wedding day. Hi, friend! I’m Catie Eovaldi and I’ve been photographing weddings for the past 3 years.
Heading into my fourth year of wedding photography, I believe your wedding photos should truly reflect you. Your wedding day will some day be a sentimental memory, and you want images that make you remember even the smallest moments and emotions on your day. My specialty is in providing couples with a gallery that gives them the gift of looking back and remembering it all. But this all starts with wedding planning, specifically choosing a venue. Selecting the perfect venue is the first step in bringing your wedding day vision to life. You’ll want to choose a venue that is not only in alignment with your vision, but one that has an excellent team in place to bring the vision to life. Pine Knob has an excellent staff that keeps wedding days running smoothly, and it’s a venue I highly recommend.
On Michigan’s east side of the state is Pine Knob. Pine Knob is a vast area and you’ve probably heard of it in relation to its many activities. This area consists of a concert venue, ski slopes, a golf course, and two wedding venues. There’s also quite a large housing community in the golf area as well. Featuring private getting-ready spaces, outdoor ceremony spaces, a stunning view of the rolling green hillside of Clarkston, and stunning reception spaces, a Pine Knob wedding is the perfect place for your celebration.
About Pine Knob Weddings
Pine Knob actually consists of two wedding venue spaces. The larger of the two spaces is The Carriage House. This venue can host up to 280 guests and is more modern in its design. With crystal chandeliers for an elegant touch, this space is ideal for couples with a larger guest list and a desire for a modern, elegant style wedding day.
The smaller of the two is the Pine Knob Mansion, and this is the space I have personally worked in before. I loved my time working here! The Mansion feels like a walk through time as it’s still decorated with period appropriate shields, swords, and artwork. The furniture gives this space a more homey feel and your guests will love the ability to choose whether they spend time on the patio or inside the air conditioned spaces. This venue is more historical in nature and features elements of your typical estate venue compared to its Carriage House counterpart.
Both venues share the same catering and bartending teams, so the menus and costs available are for both spaces. The venues also share garden spaces and the golf course. While The Carriage House and The Mansion are close to each other, there is enough space between the two that your guests won’t be confused on where to go! In my time working at The Mansion, I didn’t run into the other wedding party or vendors from the wedding taking place at The Carriage House. The properties are so expansive with so many options on where to do portraits that we just didn’t run into one another, which was great!
You can check my availability for your Pine Knob wedding here!
Pine Knob Carriage House Venue
Outdoor Pavilion Ceremony
Safe from all types of weather, this pavilion will host your ceremony outside near the reception space. There’s not much here in terms of decor, so I recommend bringing in your ideal florals and drapery for this space!
Indoor Wedding Reception
The Carriage House is more modern in design compared to the historical and traditional Mansion. With windows all around for you to see the golf courses and crystal chandeliers inside, this space can hold up to 280 guests. Your guests will be ushered inside for all parts of the reception evening following the ceremony.
Pine Knob Mansion Wedding Spaces
Outdoor Ceremony in the Garden
The official kick off to your wedding day celebration all starts with your ceremony. The best space for wedding ceremonies at The Mansion is set against the gazebo in the garden. Your guests will sit in a semi-circle around the gazebo as you walk out of the mansion, onto the patio, and follow the hedge-lined path to the gazebo.
This area is a bit tight on space, so you really don’t need large floral installations as the gazebo itself can function as a natural wedding arch. Half of this space is under the shade of a large tree while the other is in the direct sun. I recommend having fans or parasols available for guests, especially for those warm summer days!
I would love to capture your wedding day here! Contact me so we can talk about your wedding day vision for this venue!
Wedding Reception Celebration Spaces
From your ceremony, your guests will be ushered to cocktail hour. Ideally, your guests will stay outside on the patio under the string lights while they enjoy butler passed appetizers, but indoor spaces are available. This patio is usually home to a DJ booth to play background music during cocktail hour and those fun dance tunes during the open dancing part of the night. There’s also patio seating with large umbrellas for those who want to be outside, but need a place to sit.
Dinner takes place inside the main dining hall of The Mansion. Fitting up to 150 guests, this space has a large fireplace with shields and swords on the walls. The windows are a main character in this space and are a stunning focal point. Your sweetheart table will be up against these windows providing natural light to light the hall. After dinner, guests can grab a dessert from The Library right next door on their way back out to the patio. The Library is a small space, but perfect to use for a dedicated dessert room.
An additional indoor space was available for use, but this couple used it as a photo booth room. This was perfect because this large hallway style room led outside to the patio.
Catering and Bartending Services
Golf club venues like Pine Knob often have catering and bartending services tied into their costs for wedding celebrations (more on costs later). The catering services were excellent and I overheard several guests praising the food here! As a vendor, my dinner experience is a little different, but overall the dinner experience was excellent. I sometimes experience plated dinners taking a long time. As in the time between courses sometimes takes a moment, but this wasn’t my experience at Pine Knob.
I could probably write an entire blog post on how great the dinner I had at Pine Knob was, but I won’t. Our dinner consisted of the Michigan salad with a delicious raspberry vinaigrette, rolls that paired perfectly with the alfredo pasta course, and a creamy spinach chicken dish with cheesy potatoes and green beans (my weakness on a wedding day). It was delicious and all cooked perfectly.
The featured couple did upgrade to have an additional bar outside, which was a great idea for them. Their August wedding was quite hot and guests didn’t want to stick around for long outside. Having an additional bar allowed for guests to get through the line quickly while also having the option of where to go. The evening cooled off so guests mainly used the outdoor bar during the dancing portion of the night, but having two bars kept the lines short and services quick!
My 3 Favorites Things About Weddings at Pine Knob
Valet Services
There are so many great things about Pine Knob, but I have a few favorites that make me love coming back to work there (which I’d love to again- let’s connect here about your Pine Knob wedding). I felt so spoiled at this wedding venue because of the valet services available. Pine Knob is quite hilly because it’s naturally a golf course and ski hill all in one property. I’m quite used to walking everywhere on a wedding day, so I felt very spoiled when valet offered to park my car after I was finished unloading my gear. It’s also something I know guests appreciated as well!
Personal Attendant
I haven’t seen this at any other venue I’ve been to, but it’s something I absolutely love. Pine Knob designates a staff member as the couple’s personal attendant. Now this isn’t the same as a wedding planner at all, but your attendant will be by your side from the ceremony until the end of the day. Checking in regularly to see how you’re doing, grabbing you drinks, ensuring you have appetizers to eat, and fluffing your gown before your walk down the aisle were duties I saw the attendant doing. Your personal attendant attends to you while a wedding planner attends to literally everything. I still highly recommend hiring a planner for the decor, organization, and other duties needed for your wedding day!
Getting Ready Suites
The bridal suite at Pine Knob Mansion is a dream come true. It’s the largest suite to date that I’ve worked in and has so much room that your bridal party won’t feel like they’re on top of one another. The wedding featured throughout this post had a larger party including six girls. There are two rooms to this space. The first is a seating area, painted in the softest blue with lots of seating. With make up chairs, sofas, dining table chairs, there are plenty of spaces for your party to relax in the morning. The second room is lined with windows all around, making it beautifully lit for getting ready photos. This space overlooks the patio where your guests will eventually be during the reception.
The groom’s suite at Pine Knob is quite smaller than the bridal suite, but usually groomsmen don’t need as much space as the girls anyway! Lined with wood paneling, this space is darker with not many windows but is on the opposite side of the mansion from the bridal suite. You won’t need to worry about accidentally crossing paths because of how far apart the spaces are.
Pine Knob is the perfect wedding venue for you if you want a stunning view of Southeast Michigan’s rolling green hills with a timeless, elegant ballroom and full, colorful garden. If you’re planning your wedding here, I’d love to connect and check availability for photography services.
Pine Knob Wedding Cost
Since Pine Knob offers catering and bartending services in house the cost you’ll pay for this venue is variable based on your final guest count. All couples should expect a minimum cost of $130 per guest along with a 22% service fee and 6% sales tax, as is required by the state of Michigan for catering services.
For $130 per guest, here are the included amenities:
- 6 Hour Indoor & Outdoor Rental
- Premium Bar
- Three Course Sit Down or Buffet Dinner
- Chiavari Chairs
- China & Linens
- Complementary Bridal Suite
- Access to Shared Garden
- 1/2 Hour Clean-Up Time
Ultimately, for a 150 guest wedding I would plan for a venue and catering budget starting at $25,000. There are upgrades available, of course. Some upgrades available (but not limited to):
- upgraded bridal suite
- additional dinner protein selections
- bar upgrades
- additional bar location
- dessert services
- late night snacks
- passed appetizers
Pine Knob Wedding Venue Details
- Location: 45 minutes north of Detroit, Michigan
- Address: 5580 Waldon Rd, Village of Clarkston, MI 48348
- Phone: 248-625-0700
- Website: pineknobgolfclub.com
- Capacity: The Carriage House can host up to 280 guests; The Mansion can host up to 150 guests
- Events: Ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception
- Amenities available: Couples get access to the onsite getting ready suites, in-house catering & bartending!
Let’s start planning your Pine Knob wedding today! Contact me here.
Photos in this post were provided by myself, Catie Eovaldi Photography and include film & digital photography. Looking for more venues? Check out this blog post: Michigan Wedding Venues!
