***Hernder Estate as a reception venue, guest's point of view***
Hernder Estate has beautiful reception hall. As far as I could tell there were two halls to choose from both of which have a very rustic feel to them with wood panels, beams and walls as well as a picturesque stone wall inside to add character. The bar is small, which worked fine for the 100 people at the wedding, but you may run into problems if you're trying to fit 200+ in. The upstairs venue has high ceilings and the downstairs venue looks almost identical except it has low ceilings.
The courtyard outside is an elegant stone patio, perfect for getting some fresh air. Be aware that there was mingling with the wedding below us because the courtyards overlap.
There is a free wine tour for guests before the reception starts.
They have their own kitchen which made phenomenal food. Seriously, tender chicken, fresh vegetables. We were quite impressed. Their kitchen also does catering for other venues in case you ever wanted to know. Also, I loved that the manager came around through our main courses and made sure everyone's food was okay and our evenings were going well. Very nice touch.
The bathrooms were clean and had saloon like doors on all the stalls which was a little different.
The one downside to this place, the wedding was during frosh week and there were no cabs to speak of. (If you've ever been to St. Catharine's you'll realize this is a city wide problem and not the winery's fault.
Regardless of fault 10 of us were still stuck there at 4am waiting for cabs. (Luckily the guest gift at this wedding was a bottle of wine each so the closed bar didn't pose any problems what so ever. We were set there.)
The manager came up with the idea of her staff members driving us home in their cars for a nominal fee. Good idea in theory, except my boyfriend and I ended up sitting on milk crates in the back of a dirty work truck in our fancy clothes for the 15 minute drive back.
Anyway, they did get us home from wine country despite the cab shortage which was above and beyond so they get extra points there.
***EDIT: Came to a second wedding here last weekend (mid-February), this time in the lower level. The bride and groom had had hired a shuttle service which was nice and meant cabs weren't an issue. They had the ceremony here as well and did a great job of it. The ceilings are little lower than even an average place but it really didn't affect the night much at all. This wedding was buffet and again the food was fantastic. Two for two Hernder has done a great job*** read more