Venues for Weddings in Boston
So, at least it seems to me, I have seen it all. What follows is a list of some of the venues I researched and visited, and what I found to be positives and negatives about each.
The first thing to consider, in my opinion, is what kind of guest list you’re looking at. Do you need to seat fifty guests or five hundred? When Jeff and I were choosing our reception place, we actually used our choice of venue as a means to get our guest lists under control. When my mother started talking about inviting neighbors who had moved away from our neighborhood ten years previously, and who we were not particularly close with when they were there, we knew we had to take some sort of action. We found a place that could accommodate 120 people (I will tell you about it later), put down our guest list, and let the families divvy up the remaining spaces. It worked like a charm.
So, however you go about it, determine the size of the venue you need. From there, I recommend you check out a variety of places. Unless you’ve imagined your wedding down to the color of the candles and the style of the chairs since you were young, there are so many terrific ideas in this city.
The first place I checked out was the New England Aquarium. I grew up on the coast of Southern California, and my love of ocean life has always been a big part of who I am. As my husband feels the same way, I thought the Aquarium would be a perfect place to represent who we are as a couple while still providing a nice, elegant party for our guests.
The Aquarium is, in fact, lovely. They will seat the guests around a four story tank in the Main Exhibit Hall with a multitude of exotic fish and ocean life inside. With some decorations and nice tablecloths, the Exhibit Hall looks quite lovely, and can seat up to 320 on three levels.
Although Aquarium provided a unique, entertaining, and beautiful backdrop for our reception, I did find some drawbacks that, while probably perfect for some, did make us shy away from choosing it. The first was that the seating takes place on three levels, which can be accessed by a closed staircase just outside each room. We were afraid we would have three separate parties going on. For smaller weddings, however, this should not be a problem. The other drawback we found was that it was a bit dark (to emphasize the beauty of the illuminated tank). Also, it is, well, the Aquarium. We had some concerns that the slightly fishy smell would be unappetizing for some of our guests. The New England Aquarium is located at Central Wharf, Boston, MA 02110. The telephone number for their friendly and helpful events staff is (617) 973-5205, or you can email them at lhughes@neaq.org.
The next place we considered was the famous State Room (at that time called the Bay Tower Room) at the Sixty State Street Center building. The State Room is on the 33rd floor of this beautiful, historic building and offers panoramic views of the entire city. A five star restaurant, there was no doubt in our minds that our reception would be up to the highest echelon of elegance. They can accommodate large parties and small, the lower half of the “Great Room” can accommodate up to 380 for a sit down reception. The upper half can accommodate 150. If your guest list is extremely large, you can have the entire “Great Room,” and they will accommodate a guest list of 499 people. It is a fairly pricy choice, but an absolutely stunning one. Our decision was that it was just too posh to really represent what we wanted people to experience as they celebrate our new lives together, but if elegant is what you’re looking for, the State Room in the Sixty State Street Center building will not disappoint. They are located at 60 State Street, 33rd Floor, Boston, MA 02109. The telephone number for their events staff is (617) 854-5000.
Another option we explored was expressing our love of the ocean another way that we thought would be unique and fun for our guests. We considered a Boston Harbor cruise. The Spirit of Boston offers a beautiful package for up to 559 guests. They provide an elegant meal with hors d’oeuvres, salads, entrÃ?©e selections such as filet mignon with founder and crabmeat or salmon en croute stuffed with herb cheese. The cruise can last for various lengths of time, depending on what you are looking for. We considered this option seriously, but had some concerns. This sort of wedding would exclude anyone arriving late, and would trap everyone and disallow them from leaving early, which felt quite strict to us. Also, should any of our guests have a tendency toward motion sickness, their experience would be anything but joyful. If these concerns are not overwhelming to you, it is a wonderful option. The Spirit of Boston is docked at The World Trade Center, 200 Seaport Boulevard, Suite 75, Boston, MA 02210. They can be reached at (617) 748-1400.
At this point in our search, I was becoming quite frustrated. Besides these three venues, I had checked out numerous others, which I did not find interesting enough to report here. I was stomping along the waterfront in frustration the afternoon I was disappointed to discover that the New England Aquarium was not quite what I had dreamed it to be, and trying to get my mind around the ever expanding guest list when I happened upon a reasonably sized, attractive restaurant on the water, hanging over the harbor. I was struck by its simple, unassuming elegance and its location. I stamped inside and grumbled at the hostess “do you do weddings?” She ran upstairs to their events level and brought down an entire package of information. This restaurant was Joe’s American Bar and Grille. It was fantastic. It could accommodate 120 guests, which seemed like a much friendlier party to us than the ones our beloved mothers were cooking up. They offered simple fare of excellent quality, and the events planner ended up becoming my angel of references, giving us fantastic recommendations for florists, cake designers, photographers, and DJs, all of which we ended up using. The reception was perfect, and out guests had such a good time they had to be bounced after being reluctant to leave over an hour after the contracted time. Joe’s American is located at 100 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, MA 02110. Their events coordinator can be reached at (617) 367-8700.
Finding a place to accommodate everything you want for your wedding day can be an extremely challenging undertaking. Once you find that “right” place, you’ll feel more relaxed, and ready to enjoy some of the finer details of planning your day. Best Wishes.
