Old Oaks Country Club

Old Oaks does not say whether you can book a wedding here, and that is the first thing to know. The club was founded in 1925 on roughly 200 acres in Purchase, and its course is an A.W. Tillinghast design built out by Charles Alison and finished in 1927. What it has never published is a policy on outside events. We read the home page, both Private Events pages, Golf Outings, the Membership page, the Gardens and Main Terrace page and the course history. None of them states that a non member may hold an event, and none of them says a non member may not. The home page describes Old Oaks as one of the premier member owned private country clubs in the United States. The only eligibility language anywhere on the site sits on the terrace page, which describes a space suited to members and guests entertaining on a larger scale. That is members and their guests, not the public. Call the private events office on 914-683-6001 and ask the eligibility question before you fall in love with the place. Everything below assumes you have asked and been told yes.

The club describes itself as member owned and then stops

Here is the whole of the evidence. The home page calls Old Oaks one of the premier member owned private country clubs in the United States. The Gardens and Main Terrace page says the space suits members and guests entertaining on a larger scale, and that is the only eligibility language on the site. The Private Events pages describe bespoke private events and give a contact, Iwona Sterk, on 914-683-6001. The Golf Outings page talks about groups of 20 to 100 or more players. Nowhere does the word public sit next to the word event.

What is missing matters as much. There is no public inquiry form, no pricing, and no listing for the club with a starting price on The Knot, WeddingWire, Zola or Wedding Spot. A photo gallery of an event held at the club does exist on PartySlate. Under our rules that is proof a party happened. It is not proof that anyone can buy one. Until the club tells you otherwise in writing, plan on a member connection being required.

A 1925 Tillinghast course that Rees Jones has been rebuilding since 2016

The golf is why people know the name. A.W. Tillinghast designed the 18 hole course in 1925, and Charles Alison of Colt and Alison built it to Tillinghast’s specifications and routing, finishing in 1927. Ken Dye’s 2001 work added length and deepened the bunkers. The irrigation was replaced in 2010. A new maintenance building and a 3,000 square foot indoor practice facility followed in 2012.

Rees Jones has led the current programme since 2016. Bunkers rebuilt, tees added, more than 200 yards of length, an expanded practice range and a three acre short game area. One detail for the pedants: a third party club directory gives 1929 as the founding year. The club says 1925, and we have gone with the club.

Nine named rooms and a tentable terrace with not one published capacity

The clubhouse spaces have names and nothing else attached to them. Grand Hall, Main Dining Room, Oak Room, Tree House, Living Room, Library, Gardens and Main Terrace, Acorn Grille and Pool Patio, and the Halfway House. The club says the Main Terrace can be tented for larger events.

The private events page refers to weddings for 250 or more guests. That is the only number on the subject anywhere. There is no maximum, no room by room seating count and no cocktail figure. If you are planning for 180 people or for 300, the site cannot tell you which room works. The terrace tenting is a weather option the club mentions in passing rather than a rain plan it commits to.

There is no price here, because the club has never printed one

The club’s own pages carry nothing you could put in a budget. No rate is published, no minimum is stated, and nothing at all is said about how a service charge or tax would be applied. Nor is there a vendor policy, although a club running its own dining operation would be expected to cater in house. There is also no marketplace listing for Old Oaks to fill any of it in.

You may find membership figures circulating on third party sites. Their own publisher labels them estimates, so we have not recorded them, and you should not budget from them. Old Oaks discloses neither what it costs to join nor what it costs to hold an event.

Purchase and Harrison are the same address, and both are in Westchester

A small thing that confuses searches. The club sits at 3100 Purchase Street with a Purchase mailing address, and Purchase is a hamlet inside the Town of Harrison. Some datasets file the club under Harrison and some under Purchase. Both are correct, and either way the property is in Westchester County, which is the only county this directory covers.

It matters because the surrounding clubs are a dense cluster and the names travel badly. If you are comparing quotes, check the street address on each one rather than the town label, and make sure the club you toured is the club that sent the contract.

What to ask if a member does offer to sponsor you

Start with eligibility in writing. Can a non member hold a wedding here, and does a member have to host it or simply introduce you. Then ask what else is running on your date, because member dining and golf continue around a private event and the club has made no exclusivity statement. Then the terrace: if the ceremony is outside and the weather turns, is a tent included, is it an extra, and by what date must the call be made. Then the fees, itemised. Then the end time, which nobody has published, and whether the clubhouse has a noise rule of its own.

One more. Ask who caters and whether you may bring anyone in. The club publishes nothing on vendors, and on a property like this the answer is usually the clubhouse kitchen plus a short approved list. Get that list before you book a band or a photographer who charges to work somewhere new. Ask too whether the club takes a commission on anything you bring in, because a private club with one kitchen usually has a view on that.