Location: 100 Woodland Pond Drive, Cary, NC 27513 Capacity: Up to 300 guests (reception); 200 seated with a dance floor Type: Luxury hotel and resort Website: theumstead.com
The Umstead Hotel and Spa sits on 12 acres of woodland overlooking a private lake in Cary, next to William B. Umstead State Park. It is North Carolina's only Forbes Five-Star hotel, with 150 rooms and suites and Herons, its own Forbes Five-Star restaurant, on the property. The lake is the constant: the salon's terrace looks over it, and the lawn runs down to its edge.
A wedding here can move from ceremony to dinner to a lakeside fire pit without a shuttle or a change of address, and the hotel's own rooms keep a wedding party on the property for the whole weekend.
The Ballroom
The Ballroom is 4,015 square feet with soaring 20-foot ceilings, intricate custom carpeting, and dramatic lighting. It divides into two rooms, Ballroom 1 and Ballroom 2, each with its own private prefunction space and outdoor terrace, or opens as one room for a full reception.
The Salon
The Salon is 1,606 square feet and holds up to 100 guests for a standing reception. Natural light pours in through its lakefront windows, and it has brocade-lined walls, an Italian chandelier, its own terrace, and a stone and glass fire pit overlooking the hotel's 3-acre lake.
The Wedding Lawn
Wide stone pavers form a path across the lawn to the water, ending at a fountain, with woodlands on both sides. It is the hotel's outdoor ceremony space.
What We Design Here
The Umstead's rooms are built around a muted palette, so arrangements become the strongest color in the room. Light in the Salon shifts through the day with the lake outside, and design built on scale and texture suits a room this composed.
Outside, the stone path and the water behind it make the whole backdrop, so a ceremony piece needs the weight and height to carry down a long sightline under open sky. The Salon's smaller footprint and fire-pit terrace suit low, close arrangements for guests talking across a table.
Practical
The Umstead is off I-40 in Cary, close to Raleigh-Durham International Airport. On-site lodging covers a wedding party and its guests across the hotel's rooms and suites. Parking is worth confirming with the venue when you book. For dates and details, contact The Umstead's events team directly.
Hidden Door Floral Studio is a Raleigh wedding florist designing for weddings across Raleigh, the Triangle and North Carolina, and happy to travel beyond. To talk about your wedding at The Umstead Hotel and Spa, schedule a consultation.
Need flowers there today? See same-day flower delivery in Cary.