Need Help Finding Non-Traditional Venue

ap31414

It's been almost 6 months since my S.O. and I got engaged and we haven't planned a thing. Sure, in my mind (and pinterest board) I have it all planned out, but now as we start to ACTUALLY plan, I'm hitting a wall and getting super frustrated.

We're having our ceremony at city hall on a Friday - just immediate family and maybe a friend or two. The following evening (Saturday) we're having a cocktail party to celebrate our marriage. Ideally, the venue would be a restaurant in/around Boston that could hold 45-50 people for a cocktail reception, great food and (here's the kicker) - let us have a dj/small dance area. 

I've been finding restaurants that either don't allow a dj, or require full buy-out which is just waaaay beyond our budget. The great thing about restaurants is they didn't charge a rental fee provided you hit the food/beverage minimum. The non-restaurant venues I'm now looking at require a rental fee AND you have food/beverage on top of that, so it's just so expensive. I also want to be able to have really delicious food, so some of the typical hotel/country club type venues won't cut it for me. 

This may be an impossible ask - but does anyone have any suggestions!?

laurag524

Where have you looked? 

Check out some of the hotels in Boston.  Be up front about how many people you're having & what you're looking for.... we ended up having two weddings in Boston (Long story...) but we were able to negotiate with both our venues to make it far more affordable.

ap31414

Thanks for the suggestion - I"ll start looking at some hotels next. Did you have your two weddings at hotels?

simcal18

What's your budget?  The Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center is beautiful and would fit your needs, but it's abut 4K to rent the space.  Catering is extra but since you bring in your own caterer you have the flexibility to bring in one that makes the type of food you want and is within your budget.

laurag524

@ap31414 - we had our small Indian wedding of about 75 people at the Taj Hotel.  They were really flexible with us on pricing since we had it on Friday at lunch time.  Our bigger Saturday wedding was at the Lenox Hotel. They were also really good with pricing and gave us some deals. They have a minimum of 75 people, but they do smaller weddings at City Table downstairs.

jkepros

Our reception was at Tapeo on Newbury St, which might be a little too small for much of a dance floor (we didn't have a dj/dancing), but their sister restaurant, Solea, in Waltham, might be a good option.  

They were great to work with (same owner for both restaurants); our contract was to rent out a portion of the restaurant for a flat fee.  It included open bar all night, and a 15-course tapas menu (3 passed apps during cocktail reception, a 9-course dinner, and 3 dessert options).  Flat fee was great bc with open bar, there were no surprises.  They even offered to make anything extra off the menu/take some special requests to accommodate food allergies, etc (basically, guests with the special requests were given a menu and told they could special order anything on it--a couple guests took them up on the offer, and it was no additional charge for us!).  

The waitstaff kept everyone's sangria glasses full, and the food was brought out at comfortable intervals.  There was an over-abundance of food, and we tried to pick a variety of different options (different meats, veggies, etc) to suit different palates.  I think pretty much all of our guests said we had the best food of any wedding they've attended.  

We saved on decorations bc we loved the warm, quirky, cozy atmosphere.  Basically all we added to the tables were colored Moroccan lanterns with LED tea lights inside, and a large flower arrangement to the bar (I think we spent <$300 on decorations, and half that was the floral arrangement).

Not sure what their current rates are, or what the options are at their various locations (Tapeo, Solea, Kika Tapas, Cuchi Cuchi), but if you like warm and cozy, might be a fun option.

MandyMost

It makes sense that a restaurant won't let you get a DJ without renting out the whole place. You can't exactly have a DJ in one room, and a regular restaurant in another room. I agree that hotels are probably your best bet for a small wedding with a dance floor.

metrobabe

I know a lot of venues have smaller rooms that aren't really designed for weddings, but can do weddings.  The Four Points Sheraton in Norwood for example has a room I think called Zacharies that is gorgeous.  Also if you're on the south shore Indian Pond in Kingston has a smaller room off to the right that's got a ton of character and would be perfect.

ap31414

Thanks everyone! I love some of the suggestions - considering our budget we opted to stick to a restaurant and avoid paying a room rental fee. We ended up finding a restaurant in Boston that has a private space AND allows djs. Aside from fitting our needs, it's a beautiful and unique space - we really lucked out.

Though, after speaking with the restaurant's event planner we may opt to nix a dj and use an ipod OR find a dj that requires a small set up. We have a lot of time to figure all that out, so I'll probably spend a lot of time perusing the boards and reading up on ipod weddings vs djs. 

Thanks again!

lindseyluJH

Would you mind sharing the location you decided on? Thanks.

ap31414

Mooo in XV Beacon. it's EXACTLY what I pictured in my mind & their menu is off the charts.