Unique Venues

lzimm13

Hello! I'm fairly new here, I've never posted on the local boards. I post mainly on the NYE board. The BF and I have recently started to look at venues and things to get an idea of how much this shebang is going to cost us and exactly how earnestly we should be saving to pay for it. One thing we decided is that we need to have a unique venue, not your everyday wedding site. It will probably be our one splurge. The city is a huge factor for me. We live in the burbs but I go to school in the city and have always loved it. We will be moving out of the area shortly after getting married and having it in the city is important. My question is: Have any of you had your wedding in/checked out places like The Franklin, The Natural History Museum, UPenn Archeology and Anthropology museum, Aquarium, Art Museum, The Zoo or any other venue of interest and what was your experience, how pricey were they?

[Deleted User]

Try [url]Partyspace.com[/url] for unique venues. I looked into a few museum settings and they all had a rental fee, plus the pp food fee, and often you needed to rent other items like tables. What is your budget? That will help girls here point you in the right direction. I have been to a wedding at the Constitutional Center. I liked it, we got into the museum early to look around, the space was very cool as was the view. I have no idea how much they paid.

shirz903

I am getting married at the Please Touch Museum. Their caterer is Max and Me who is very pricy. We are actually bringing in an outside caterer which adds to the cost. On top of that you have to pay rental fees per room you want to use per hour. Its pretty pricy, but depending on time of day and season there is some wiggle room.

lhobart

We talked to the Zoo about having our reception there and the staff could not have been more helpful.  Our drawback was the required caterer.  That company we found very non-responsive and unable or unwilling to adjust their menu for our event.  We did give that feedback to the Zoo and we were looking late in 2008, so maybe things have changed.

CleverEuphemism

Have you checked out Columbia Station in Phoenixville?  It's an old train station (the bridal suite is a caboose!)  The caterer there is pretty reasonable and very nice.  We really liked it but decided to go with another venue that was closer.

cathnator

I've been to a company holiday party and formal in college at the Aquarium. Both times I had a great time.  Its especially nice that they have a large deck that overlooks the Philadelphia skyline at night. They have a facility rental fee, if my memory is correct I think its in the 3K ballpark.  Otherwise I don't remember the food/drinks being more expensive than other venues (ie...$100/person)

Lindsey620

also check out the FUEL House - I've never been there, but I've seen pictures and it looks like a cool place to have a wedding. Good luck!

Lalanav

When I was considering Philadelphia venues, I looked at the Franklin Institute, because that would have been amazing..WAY out of my budget, though.  The prices ranged from $3500 for one small room to about $7000 for multiple room, just as a rental fee.  And they had a mandatory caterer...Frog something, and their prices started at $135/person, without tax or gratuity.

CA2PABride2Be

If you've got the money, you can also do Citizen's Bank Park.  My FI is a huge Phillies fan so we looked into that but it's pretty outrageous.

krissy609

I don't know if you would consider my venue unique, but I absolutely loved it and we got many rave reviews. The Curtis Center has a famous tiffany mosaic where cocktail hour is held and then the dinner is held in the atrium, with a glass ceiling, fountain, it is beautiful! I think Cescaphe runs about 160/per head, not sure of the actual price since my family knows the owner. http://tinyurl.com/mtnuuf

jewels2730

I wanted a city wedding too -- no burbs.  We are Philly transplants and live in the city, so the #1 priority for us was having our wedding here.  So I get what you are saying. In my own research, city venues that you are listing above start at about $135-$150 a head plus the site rental fee.  Most of those fees begin at $3,000 and go up to $8,000.  The Franklin Institute will be a minimum of $150 a head with Frog.  The only way we made a city wedding work was to have it at FUEL.  The rental fee is $6,500 but we were able to bring in our own caterer who was able to get us under a $100 a head.The Atwater Kent Museum is in the city and is closed for all of 2009, but would be a very affordable space to have a CC wedding. 

susandstanek

I would tell you to see an event at these places.  The Franklin Institute is a beautiful space but has terrible acoustics.  i was at a wedding there and you could not hear the speeches through the microphone a few seats away.  I hear the constitution center has teh same problem.I looked at the natural history museum for a work event -- again, very coold but oddly shaped and i imagine it would be difficult to use for a wedding but it cool if you like diansaurs about.There are some cool places in the city but I am not sure of the cost.  You should check out the pyramid club -- they would give you the skyline and it is a great and interesting space.  The downtown club is cool too.  there are some cool mansions in town too that have that old philly feel to them.  Just be sure to check out the venues acoustics as they are not ballrooms designed for these events for the most part.

LaRositaMonita

The key is to just pick a bunch of places and start visiting.  We can give you some info here, but not nearly as much as the event planners at the various venues themselves.  One other suggestion for a cool place to have an event is the Adventure Aquarium in Camden. I hear that weddings there are beautiful.

lzimm13

Thank you for all your input girls! We're not exactly into the planning process yet and we don't want to waste peoples time at the venues, we're just trying to hash out a budget to see what we will be able to afford and how much its going to cost us. I love your suggestions and advice they were exactly what I was looking for and at about $150/head, what I expected as well. He loves the Academy of Natural Sciences because of the Dinosaurs...I do too. lol so we might actually have to go check that one out! Thanks!

nancyr

did u look into city hall? haven't been to anything there but have seen pics and evidently can be quite amazing...just a thought.  also the old mansions as someone else mentioned can be great!  well worth checking out...just don't forget the parking issues and be sure your band/music can be used inside... i know some have problems with indoor music for dancing.