New member looking for a venue in center city!

tduckworth

Hi! I just got engaged, and I have started looking for a reception place in center city, Philadelphia. I have about 250 guests, and I am looking for a venue that has a cool city feel to it. What do you think the best places are? I'm not really looking to go over $150 per person. 

jelybeancg

Welcome!

The space where the Real World was filmed. I think it is called, TRUST?? I am not sure the pricing but it has a different feel. The Curtis Center is a neat space.

Personally, I think the Please Touch Museum and The Franklin Institute are neat places for a wedding.

All the places I looked at were historic in nature. So if that is what you might be interested I can better recommend something.

lauren123455

My fiance and I wanted the "city" feeling as well, while my mom was really interested in the hotel ballroom thing after helping a friend of hers with her friend's daughter's wedding at the Please Touch (which I'll get to below).  We looked at lots of Center City hotels and LOVED the Loews.  The Millenium Ballroom that we chose has more of a unique city feel because it has lots of windows and is more modern feeling than other ballrooms I've seen.  And they allow you to use the 33rd floor for cocktail hour, where there's floor to ceiling windows with panoramic views of the city.  So that might be something to look into --- a Saturday night is slightly over the price you quoted (but not much!) and includes tax, tip, cake, and every single thing we could think of (other than flowers, photos, music, special lighting, etc). 

TRUST (which is also interchangeably referred to as FUEL, which I find rather confusing) is an awesome space, but I think it's too small for you. 

I went to a wedding at Please Touch and LOVED it.  Like I said above, my mom's best friend's daughter's wedding was there.  They ultimately didn't love that they had to use so many vendors (chair and table rentals, curtain rentals to make the space feel more intimate, caterers, etc).  But that's all personal preference.  I don't know how accurate of a statement this was, but the mother said that she could have had the wedding at the Four Seasons for the same price, once everything was said and done. 

Similar to Franklin Institute and Please Touch, my FSIL got married at the Free Library and that was really cool.  They had the ceremony and cocktail hour in the foyer area and then did the reception upstairs on the roof.  But you can do everything in the foyer, or cocktail hour on the roof, etc.

Curtis Center would be a great option for you.  That's run by the Cescaphe Group, and I think you might like their other venues as well (Cescaphe and Tendenze, which is super modern inside).  The other two are in Nothern Liberties, though, so if you wanted to stay right in Center City that might not work. 

Kimmel Center is a cool, unique center city place.  I found their pricing to be confusing, but I think the quote ended up being over $150pp.  Arts Ballroom by Steven Starr might be fun to look into. 

lauren123455

Also, Congrats and welcome!  Do you have a fun proposal story to share??

jbaby731

Welcome! I'm going to second Curtis Center! The price is over $150/person but you get so much for the price! I'd also recommend Cescaphe Ballroom and Tendenza as PP said, if you're willing to have the wedding in Northern Liberties - I'm actually getting married at Cescaphe Ballroom and I am so excited! They have been amazing so far and I have total faith in them.

Please Touch Museum is another cool city venue, although I really don't have much info on them.

Let me know if you'd like any more info on Cescaphe! I'm more than happy to help

birdie119

I second the Curtis Center!  I also want to throw out the option of the Crystal Tea Room.  I got married there and they are definitely a well-oiled machine.  Everything went so smoothly the day of the wedding and it will defintiely fit your budget and space requirements!  It's right by city hall, so it definitely gives you the city feel!

ooodsie

Heres a 4th for the Curtis Center.. My reception was there - see my photo link in my signature line.    Cescaphe was great to work with, food was awesome, location was amazing etc.    If you have any questions, I don't check here every day, so feel free to email me - kimberly.rock at comcast.net

shirz903

I got married at the please touch. Fell free to PM me, but I will say all in all it was over 200 a person. 

QTsgirl522

Welcome and Congrats!  I love all the places already recommended.  If you do a Friday night wedding you can often get discounts.  I loved the Down Town club.  It had great views of the city.

lalarochelle

The Constitution Center would also be great I think. All the city museums when used as venues have Max&Me as their exclusive caterers and they start at $150/pp and go up. I thought the Constitution Center would be amazing for a wedding because it overlooks Independence Hall etc...and at night looks amazing with the full glass wall.
Congrats and have fun planning!

RecoveringActor

I have no venues to suggest, but I just wanted to say welcome & congrats!!! 

jelybeancg

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_pennsylvania-philadelphia_new-member-looking-venue-center-city?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:105Discussion:49a80e12-915a-4864-b02f-5fab068f2e5bPost:888efb7d-f698-4f54-820a-ba72acb9db9e">Re: New member looking for a venue in center city!</a>:
[QUOTE]Welcome and Congrats!  I love all the places already recommended.  If you do a Friday night wedding you can often get discounts.  I loved the Down Town club.  It had great views of the city.
Posted by QTsgirl522[/QUOTE]

I am getting married at the Down Town Club! I didn't think to recommend it because I wasn't sure if it was OP was looking for.

OP, if you are interested in the Down Town Club, let me know I can give you info. I do know you can get in for under $150 a head depending on what meal choices you select if you do Friday Saturday afternoon or Sunday. Or winter, which is what I am doing.

rom704

Hi,

All the choices mentioned are great ones. I do not know if you are including taxes and service charge with the $150/pp you are quoting. If so, you may want to look at the Marriott Courtyard in Center City. THe hotel is very nice.

tduckworth

Thank you everyone!! I haven't been on because my finance and I were entertaining our parents this weekend- they were meeting for the first time!! (we had so much fun!). I'm definitely going to check out all those places you mentioned. I guess we'll just have to go to some of those places and narrow it down from there. I was also thining about the water works because it is close to the church I am looking to get married in. Anyone know anything about the waterworks??

Thanks again!

brizzie918

yay congrats!  All of the options mentioned are great...if you are looking for a unique downtown venue on Avenue of the Arts, you should look into the Philadelphia Theatre Company. They rent the space out- its basically brand new.....i think it would be affordable.Just a thought- i did a completely unique venue so i usually like those types of things.

lalarochelle

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_pennsylvania-philadelphia_new-member-looking-venue-center-city?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:105Discussion:49a80e12-915a-4864-b02f-5fab068f2e5bPost:269f9bbf-6bf9-4814-93c3-f244745e73de">Re: New member looking for a venue in center city!</a>:
[QUOTE]Thank you everyone!! I haven't been on because my finance and I were entertaining our parents this weekend- they were meeting for the first time!! (we had so much fun!). I'm definitely going to check out all those places you mentioned. I guess we'll just have to go to some of those places and narrow it down from there. I was also thining about the water works because it is close to the church I am looking to get married in. Anyone know anything about the waterworks?? Thanks again!
Posted by tduckworth[/QUOTE]


I know Waterworks is Max&ME catering also, so they start at $150 and goes up

jesskbloom21

The society of the colonial dames is near Rittenhouse. You can pick the caterer, so you can kind of determine your pp cost. They do have a site fee, but I don't think it is too bad.