Boston Wedding Venue Ideas

So I got a question the other day from someone doing research on Boston wedding venues, wondering if  we found any other venues in Boston (as in, other than The Wang Theatre where we got married) during our research that were really cool too. And the answer is yes. While the Wang provided the look we were going for in the location and price range that we wanted, there were several other great venues we strongly considered.

First of all, if you have the budget for it, check out the Boston Public Library. This was actually my original “dream venue” before we found out the cost. After that, it became my inspiration when looking for new venues. Can’t you just picture it? The marble courtyard, the great reading room, the grand staircase. It’s all so wonderfully romantic and charming. So Boston. Check out these photos from a wedding that was held there last year to see what I’m talking about.

We looked at some of the museums in the area as well but ruled them out for various reasons. I would have DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN immediately if we could have had our wedding at my favorite of all favorite museums in Boston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum, but tragically, they don’t allow weddings there! (They do allow other events to be held there so keep that in mind.) Neither does the Museum of Fine Arts allow weddings.

The New England Aquarium, Boston Children’s Museum, and the Museum of Science, all do allow weddings however the aquarium does not have room for a dance floor (or so reports my friend who attended a wedding there. We didn’t actually visit or research it in depth. I do know that the reception is held in the main central area there where the live penguins are which at first is like, omglolzCUTE!!! but actually is more like poop smell poop smell everywhere.), and neither the Children’s Museum nor the Museum of Science felt exactly in line with the tone we were aiming for. That’s not to say they’re not very cool weddings venues.

Another consideration that may work for you but didn’t work for us is the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University. It has the same beautiful courtyard look of the BPL and Gardner but not only is it closed for renovation right now, I also learned that you are not allowed to hold ceremonies of any kind in the museum (something to do with it being owned by a university) so we would’ve had to seek out a second venue for our ceremony, which we weren’t willing to do. However, if you’re not getting married for a few years (hmm, actually maybe a lot of years) and wanted to get married at a church anyways, this may be a good consideration for your reception.

The two other venues we did seriously consider were:

1. The Artists for Humanity EpiCenter in South Boston. This super modern gallery-like space is mostly used to house afterschool art programs for underprivileged and underserved youth in Boston. They also claim to be the “greenest building in Boston.” While we liked this fact and adored their mission (all proceeds from event rentals go back into the program as well which we loved), the space is very bare and would require a lot of additional decor dollars to be allocated toward making it look like a wedding venue. Additionally, it is in kind of a warehouse-y area of South Boston that didn’t capture that Boston spirit we were looking for.

2. The Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center in East Cambridge. This community center for the arts in Cambridge provides a nice space for weddings and again, is a non-profit with a good mission. This was our plan B. While we weren’t as wowed with the space as we were with the Wang and they didn’t have the dates we were looking for, they were one of the more affordable options we considered. Definitely worth a tour to see if it feels right to you!

One more venue I want to mention that we didn’t really explore too much but that looked cool was the Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts in the South End.

Lastly, someone asked if we had looked into the beautiful new Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) building on the waterfront. Yes, we did. And it’s $15,000 and you have to rent out the whole building. So that put it out of our league but it’s still a gorgeous space for those of you with hardier wallets. :)

Hope this helps!  All of you Boston brides, are there other unique wedding venues you’d recommend?