The Laurel Wedding Cost (2027): Prices & Capacity

The Laurel is a Hill Country-style chapel and reception hall on six wooded acres beside the Cottonwood Creek greenbelt in Grapevine, a few minutes from DFW Airport. Vows happen in a timber-trussed chapel with pews and a tall arched window, or on a tiered lawn under the trees; dinner moves to the Great Hall, with its stone fireplace and beamed ceiling. The number that defines it is the rental: $9,995 on a peak-season Saturday, $6,995 on a peak Friday or Sunday, and as little as $4,995 on an off-peak weekday.

The rental is the start, not the bill. CN Catering handles food and every bar, a police officer is required at every event, the party itself runs five hours and guests sleep in nearby hotels. This guide covers what a full wedding costs, how the chapel and hall work at your guest count, what happens in the rain and where to put everyone.

The Laurel's edge is the chapel. Plenty of Dallas–Fort Worth venues set chairs in a ballroom and call it the ceremony room; this one has pews, exposed timber trusses and a big arched window looking into the evergreens, and it stays a chapel while the Great Hall next door is set for dinner. That means no mid-evening room turn, and an indoor ceremony that feels like the plan rather than the fallback. On a good day you still have the choice of the tiered lawn under the trees.

It also solves a common DFW compromise. One of you wants greenery and a retreat feel; the other doesn't want guests spending the weekend in cars. Here the setting is wooded and quiet, but DFW is 15 to 25 minutes away and the closest hotels are five to ten. It's an escape for the day, not a remote estate stay, and that keeps transport simple.

The value is in the date. At $9,995 on a peak Saturday, the rental sits well under The Olana's $22,000 or Knotting Hill Place's $14,500, and a peak Friday or Sunday saves $3,000 with the rooms looking exactly the same. The trade-off is flexibility: CN Catering runs food and every bar, so the real cost of the wedding lives in that proposal, and the included venue captain manages the building rather than your timeline. Get the catering quote alongside the venue quote, and budget for your own coordinator.

The sweet spot is 150 to 250 guests. The 325 dinner maximum is real, but the chapel seats a little over 260, so above that the indoor ceremony gets tight and a band, bars and dance floor need a drawn plan in the hall.

Best for: Couples who want a proper indoor chapel and a separate reception hall on one wooded property, with an easy airport and hotel plan, at 150 to 250 guests.

Think twice if: You want your own caterer or bar, a party well past five hours, guests sleeping on site, or an indoor ceremony for 300 or more.

Rental is priced by season and day of the week. January, February, July and August are off-peak; March to June and September to December are peak, so a June or December date pays full rate. Friday and Sunday are priced the same as Monday to Thursday.

Holiday dates can be priced differently. Ask how tax and service charges apply to the rental and the catering before you compare totals.

These are RoamRecs planning ranges for a peak-season Saturday with a four-hour hosted bar and a 10% contingency, including tax, service charges and police security. They exclude guest hotels and travel, attire, rings, a welcome dinner or brunch, and any tent. A peak Friday or Sunday takes $3,000 off each range; an off-peak weekday takes off $5,000.

The line couples underestimate here is food and drink. The $59.95 and $69.95 figures are entry menus, so a full wedding dinner with appetizers, dessert, staff and a hosted bar lands well above them once service charges and tax are added. Ask CN for a complete proposal at your guest count before you sign the venue. The second is time: five event hours goes quickly with a ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner and dancing, so price any extra hour across the venue, bar and security together.

The chapel and hall are finished rooms, with stone, timber and big windows, so you can spend on flowers, lighting and a good table rather than covering the building. CN Catering offers linens, tableware, dance floors and lighting; agree which of those must come through the venue before your florist and rental company quote.

A wedding here moves between buildings rather than resetting one room: vows in the chapel or on the lawn, drinks on the patio around the fireplace, then dinner and dancing in the Great Hall.

Plan around the dinner figure, not the 400: that's a standing reception. At 150 to 250 guests the Great Hall holds dinner tables and a dance floor from the start, with room for bars and service routes, so nothing moves while guests are celebrating. At 300 to 325, ask for two drawn plans before you sign: the full dinner with band and dance floor, and the indoor ceremony for everyone who's coming. The Great Hall can be divided into smaller areas, which helps for a welcome reception or a smaller wedding.

The Laurel has one of the stronger rain plans in the area, because both main rooms are permanent and indoors. If the lawn is out, the ceremony moves into the chapel, which many couples would have chosen anyway, and dinner was always in the Great Hall. Nothing about the evening changes shape.

The part to plan is the middle of the day. In good weather cocktails spill onto the patio; in a storm, guests need an indoor zone while the hall is finished for dinner. Use a divided section of the Great Hall, agree the layout in advance, and keep it clear of the catering routes. Above about 260 guests, the chapel won't seat everyone, so agree the wet-weather ceremony layout before the date. Set a decision time with the venue team, keep umbrellas at the doors and plan a covered drop-off for shuttles. A tent isn't part of the standard plan here, and with two indoor rooms you shouldn't need one.

There are no guest rooms at The Laurel. The Magnolia and Pecan suites are for getting ready, so every out-of-town guest needs a hotel. The good news is that Grapevine is built for it, with airport hotels five minutes away and a walkable historic downtown ten.

Put most guests in one hub, ideally the Bass Pro Court pair or Hotel Vin, with one alternate, and run a single shuttle loop. Use the hotels' airport shuttles for arrivals, but book your own wedding-night transport: an airport shuttle isn't an event shuttle. As a rule of thumb, 120 traveling guests fill about 60 rooms, not 120. Fairfield Inn has several similarly named airport hotels nearby, so give guests the exact name.

CN Catering is the exclusive food and beverage partner, so there's no outside caterer, no BYOB and no independent bar. Menus can be buffet, plated, family style or stations, and CN runs the bar from zero-proof and mocktail menus up to top-shelf spirits. The useful quote is a complete one: appetizers, dinner, dessert, dietary meals, children and vendor meals, bar brands and hours, staff, service charges and tax.

You choose your own florist, photographer, videographer, DJ, band and planner. Staging, lighting, dance floors, linens and tableware are offered through CN, so settle which ones must come through the venue before booking overlapping suppliers.

The venue captain runs the building on the day, but that isn't a planner. Budget for a coordinator to own the timeline, rehearsal, processional and outside vendors. A complimentary one-hour rehearsal is often available Tuesday to Friday before the wedding when the venue isn't booked.

The clock shapes the party. The rental includes six hours of setup, a five-hour event and one hour of breakdown; a 5pm to 10pm celebration, for example, means an 11am load-in. Agree the last song, last call and guests-out time in writing, and price any extra hour before you book a band. Clear sparklers, open flame, confetti and any hanging installation with the venue in advance.

Vows happen in the chapel or on the lawn. The chapel isn't tied to a denomination, so couples planning a church-recognized religious ceremony should agree the setting with their clergy first.

A Texas wedding needs a marriage license and an authorized officiant. Licenses from any Texas county are valid statewide. In Tarrant County the standard fee is $76, plus $100 if neither of you can show Texas residency; a state-approved premarital course lowers the fee and waives the 72-hour waiting period. The license is valid for 90 days, so couples flying in should collect it at least three days before a Saturday wedding.

Point everyone to DFW. The venue sits by the airport's north entrance, so it's one of the easiest airport transfers of any DFW-area wedding venue. TEXRail runs from DFW Terminal B to Grapevine/Main Street station in about 10 minutes, handy for guests staying at Hotel Vin, but it doesn't reach The Laurel.

Not if you run a shuttle. Guests staying at the airport hotels or in downtown Grapevine can arrive by hotel shuttle or train and ride a contracted wedding shuttle to the venue, with an early return for older guests and a final run after the last song. Parking is free for anyone who drives. Agree with the venue where a full-size coach can load, turn and wait before you book one.

April and October are the picks for a lawn ceremony and a patio cocktail hour: warm days, comfortable evenings and the trees at their best. May and October are also the wettest months, so lean on the chapel as a ready plan rather than a disappointment. June and September are hot enough that a later ceremony, shade and water matter.

July and August are where The Laurel gets interesting. They're off-peak, a Saturday drops to $6,995, and with a chapel and a Great Hall you can hold the whole day indoors without it feeling like a compromise. November and December are still peak-priced, so a winter-looking wedding doesn't automatically earn a lower rate.

Check the Grapevine events calendar before setting a September date. GrapeFest fills downtown hotels and streets for a long weekend each year (the third weekend of September), which matters if Hotel Vin is your hub.

Best for: Weddings of 150 to 250 guests who want a real chapel and a separate reception hall on one property, a dependable indoor plan, and one of the shortest airport transfers in the metroplex. Also couples with flexible dates: a peak Friday or Sunday saves $3,000, and a July or August Saturday saves the same.

Things to consider: No rooms on site, so hotels and shuttles are on you. CN Catering is exclusive for food and bar, a police officer is billed on top, and the event runs five hours. The venue captain isn't a planner. Above about 260 guests the chapel can't seat everyone, so the indoor ceremony needs its own plan.

• Do these rental rates apply to our wedding year, and are holiday dates priced differently?
• What does CN Catering's complete proposal look like for our guest count, with appetizers, dessert, bar hours, staff, service charge and tax?
• Is there a food and beverage minimum for our date?
• How many police officers will we need, and what do they cost per hour?
• Can we see a drawn Great Hall plan at our guest count with the band, bars and dance floor in place?
• What is the exact chapel capacity, and where would a group too big for the chapel hold a wet-weather ceremony?
• Where do guests have cocktails in the rain while dinner is set?
• What are the last-call, last-song and guests-out times, and what does an extra hour cost across venue, bar and security?
• What does the venue captain handle on the day, and what should our coordinator own?
• Which rentals, such as linens, dance floor and lighting, must come through CN?
• What are the balance due dates and the cancellation and postponement terms beyond the 50% deposit?
• Where can a full-size coach load, turn and wait, and what's the step-free route from parking to the chapel and hall?

• Knotting Hill Place, Little Elm: a European-style estate with a 300-seat Cathedral and a 300-seat ballroom, and outside caterers allowed for a fee. Better for couples near 300 guests who want their own caterer.
• Hidden Pines Chapel, Highland Village: a similar Hill Country-style chapel and reception hall for up to 325, with planning, linens and setup bundled in. Better for couples who want more of the work included in one package.
• The Room on Main, downtown Dallas: a window-lined sixth-floor ballroom for 320 that also works with CN Catering. Better for a city wedding with guests in walkable downtown hotels.
• The Olana, Hickory Creek: a French-inspired mansion for up to 250 with in-house catering and a vendor package. Better for couples who want a grand house and one team handling most vendors.
• Hotel Vin, Grapevine: a downtown hotel with a ballroom for 250 at banquet rounds and 120 rooms upstairs. Better when keeping guests and the reception under one roof matters more than a chapel and lawn.
• Hotel Drover, Fort Worth Stockyards: a Western hotel with a timber Barn seating up to 225 and 200 rooms upstairs. Better when guests should sleep where the party is and spend the weekend in the Stockyards.

The RoamRecs Dallas–Fort Worth wedding venue guide compares chapels, estates, city ballrooms and hotels across the metroplex, from The Room on Main and The Mason in Dallas to The Olana and Knotting Hill Place in the northern suburbs. Save the collection to keep your shortlist on one map.