Love Gate

It has become a worldwide phenomenon: symbolically locking your love with a padlock around a fence, chain, or gate. Lovers then throw away the key, showing that they never again want to separate from their beloved. Fences, bridges, and rails are becoming loaded down with love, but you don’t have to travel around the world to find a place to lock your love.

At Stonebrook Manor, we have been inspired by this custom and now offer you a place to affix your lock during your wedding where it will be safely protected as a permanent reminder of your love.

The History of Love Locks

Many point to a tragic Serbian love story as the true origin of love locks. In the story, a young schoolteacher in the town of Vrnjacka Banja fell in love with a soldier who went off to war. When his country fell, he stayed in Greece and married a woman there. The schoolteacher died of a broken heart, and to avoid her fate, young girls began placing love padlocks on a bridge where the couple supposedly met. This story became more well-known nationwide when it was popularized by the poetess Desanka Maksimovic in her “Prayer for Love.”

The tradition was spread beyond Serbia by visitors and especially by the Italian novelist Federico Moccia, who in 1992 and 2006 published two young adult romance novels that mention the rite.

Initially, the love locks were considered charming, but as they have spread, they have become more controversial. Many cities and other governments have decided to stop the tradition by imposing fines on lovers, removing the locks, or sometimes removing the gates and other features the locks are attached to and placing them in storage out of sight.

Love Locks in Denver

At Stonebrook Manor, we’re hopeless romantics, and we couldn’t help but give our couples a place to put such a romantic and everlasting reminder of their eternal union that began right here at our wedding venue.

Every couple that has their wedding at Stonebrook Manor can put up a love lock during their ceremony or reception. You can find love locks easily by searching online, though many bridal boutiques and wedding supply stores sell them as well. It’s best to have your love lock engraved so you can find it when you come back to visit during other occasions when the grounds are open.

To maintain the purity of the Love Gate, we ask that you only put a padlock—and not other decorations—on the mesh areas of the gate, not on the lettering or ivy.

Want to learn more about the romantic features that Stonebrook Manor offers for a wedding? Please contact us today to schedule your complimentary tour.