CEREMONY/RECEPTION RECOMMENDATION-COLUMBUS

Jane Domian

The Columbus Athenaeum, Downtown Columbus Our wedding was 9/6/09 and both the ceremony and reception were at The Columbus Athenaeum at 32 North 4th St in downtown Columbus. It is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL venue and the entire staff at TCA is amazing. They answered every question and concern, handled everything with professionalism and care - and made me feel as if I were the ONLY bride and the ONLY wedding they had! We had 145 guests and our ceremony was in the Macedonian Room and the reception was in the Oak Room. I heard so many compliments, and heard the word "elegant" a lot...and I think that had much to do with the facility itself. I did NOT want a wedding reception in a room that looked like a VFW - with low ceilings and streamers as "decorations." That was definitely not a problem at the Athenaeum - every room is unique and beautiful! I would wholeheartedly recommend the Athenaeum to anyone who is looking for a venue that handles all the details - and would be glad to share more specific details about our wedding with anyone who asks! Take a look at their website: columbusmeetings.com for pics!

MsMandyJD

I want to hear more!We are booked there for May!What vendors did you use?

Jane Domian

Which room(s) are you using? We had Mark Dantzer as our DJ - he's amazing! We wanted to be announced at the reception and immediately go to the first dance with all the wedding party staying on the dance floor - and then father-daughter dance and mother-son dance. He played all of the songs we'd picked and they transitioned from one to the next seamlessly - and he did an awesome job! He also did our wedding ceremony music, which was perfect!! Ruthie's Cakes did our cake - and she did a wonderful job for us! We had 3 flavors - almond, chocolate and lemon - and everyone raved about all the flavors. The cake was completely gone! I picked 3 different designs for each tier - from 3 different cakes that she'd done in the past...and it turned out beautifully! I did all the bouquets/boutonierres/corsages in silk myself, so we didn't use a florist. But the place didn't need it. It was all lit up with candles and the ficus trees made for very soft, very romantic lighting! We used a photographer that wasn't on their preferred vendor list - but didn't cost us any extra from the Athenaum. His name is Andriy from Azar Photography. He's from the Ukraine, so doesn't speak fluent English - but he was SO agreeable and did a fantastic job for us. Very reasonable, too! You should look at some of his photos: azarphotography.com. We figured we did our entire wedding for about $12,000! PS, At first we were a little taken aback that we had to use their vendors...but in the end it worked out great. We didn't have to 'babysit' any of the vendors since they've done so many weddings there. Plus, it was good to get quotes from all the vendors at once and then do a compare/contrast and meet with the ones we wanted to go further with. Let me know if you have any other questions - I LOVED planning the wedding and it went perfectly! There was not a single thing I would've done differently! Do you know which sales rep you're working with at the Athenaeum yet?

ehampto

Hey, I'm having my wedding their next July. I will be working with Tiffany. I haven't gone in yet for my details meeting, but I am really excited about it. We will be in the grand ballroom, due to our guest size of 250.

Jane Domian

The Grand Ballroom is very cool, too! We considered doing a New Year's Eve wedding there, but in the end opted for having it on the Sunday before Labor Day as we were given a price break on the room rental for having it on a Sunday. We worked with Gina, so I don't know Tiffany, but I DO know that they work as a whole team - and they all know what plans you have for your specific wedding inside and out by the time the big day arrives! I was pretty detail-oriented - and made a list of what each table was supposed to have on it. They had everything done perfectly! I was a little confused when we had our first details meeting because we had so many things to decide and had lots of lists with food choices and prices...but don't worry if that happens to you, 'cause it becomes clearer the longer you work with them. And definitely go to the food tastings so you can make a good decision about what to have to eat for your guests. The food was wonderful! Congrats - and have fun!

amyannosu

The Athenaeum is indeed beautiful, and a sort of "one stop shop" for weddings, which is great (my venue was a wedding factory of sorts, so I have nothing against that) but just be careful for nickel and diming. We strongly considered TCA ourselves, but every little thing you want to do is charged for: placing votives down, placing wine glasses down, having a candy buffet, even bringing your own alcohol (which is supposed to save you money) costs you something like $7 extra per person from what I remember (plus there's another per person fee to have glassware instead of plastic cups), which defeats the whole purpose. And they charge you to bring in vendors that are not on their preferred list. All I'm saying is, know what you want and what you'll have to pay extra for.

monicac86

I am also getting married there in May! Our ceremony is in the Corinthian Room and the reception is in the Hellenic Room. We are working with Gina also.

Jane Domian

@amyannosu I know what you mean about the nickel-diming issue - many wedding venues are like that...but we didn't have any real issue with TCA over that. They were extremely accommodating. We figured we saved several hundred dollars by purchasing the alcohol ourselves and using their set-ups. We did a buffet - and the package included centerpieces. There were no separate charges for 'placing' items on the table. Best advice - ask a lot of questions so you know what you're paying for. We had to do a spreadsheet so we could compare 'apples-to-apples' on our costs. The Athenaeum came out the definite winner for us! @monicac86 That's great - a May wedding will be beautiful! Both of those rooms are lovely as well! Tell Gina I said hello! :-)

MsMandyJD

We have the large theater for the reception and the priory room for the ceremony. The only thing we know for sure is the photographer.  Everything other vendor I can't manage to make a decision!

Jane Domian

I LOVED the Priory Room and really wanted to have our ceremony there, but we thought we were going to have too many people. Turns out we could've fit everyone in - but by that point it was too late. I bet your pictures will be beautiful in there!! We were happy with the Macedonian Room for our ceremony, though. No complaints! If you can afford Mark Dantzer, he's a great DJ. (I think he's a little pricier than some of the other DJs on TCA's Preferred Vendor list), but he can tailor the music to whatever you want. He also did our ceremony music - and I never felt like we were "missing" the live musician aspect of a lot of wedding ceremonies. Hope your planning goes well!