Sooooo, I’m getting married. Over the past month or so, we’ve looked at many a wedding venue. I figured I’d share the information I’ve gathered in case it makes anyone else’s life easier.
Greystone Inn
Greystone – Greystone was the first place I though of when I started planning my wedding. It’s a beautiful old house with sprawling grounds and a convenient location.
Pluses: reasonable prices, furnished interior reduces rental costs, centrally located, beautiful home, guestrooms available.
Minuses: Strict rules (since the house is historic), only specific caterers can be used, management is disorganized (btw, some of the contact info on the website is incorrect)
Carol's Garden Inn
Carol’s Garden Inn – I had to go see this place because it has incredible prices and looked great on the website….
Pluses: Super cheap! Rural country feel in town. Two guestrooms available.
Minuses: awkward location (it’s in a neighborhood), forgetful management (innkeeper was out running errands at out meeting time), limited parking, not nearly as pretty in person.
Arrowhead Inn
Arrowhead Inn – Historic bed & breakfast north of Durham. I’ve heard good things from many people about the place.
Pluses: Quiet, quaint setting. Beautiful historic home, guest rooms available. Very professional, caring staff.
Minuses: In order to have a weekend wedding, you have to rent out the entire inn for the weekend, making in much more expensive than initial estimates. Use of the on-site caterer is required and prices are pretty steep as well. Limited space is available making weddings of more than 150 impractical.
Golden Belt
Golden Belt, Cotton Room - this huge space downtown isn’t finished yet but it’s already pretty impressive.
Pluses: renovated warehouse looks great already and it isn’t even finished, massive space, onsite music venue, convenient downtown location.
Minuses: venue is rented through Triangle Catering Company and they have pretty steep minimum prices making it impractical for a small wedding. Since it isn’t finished yet, it’s hard to commit to.
North Carolina Museum of Life and Science
North Carolina Museum of Life & Science – Fun, unique environment with multiple locations available for rent, depending on your needs.
Pluses: reasonable pricing, onsite caterer (Grayson’s Cafe) is available but not required (i’m vegan and they offered to let me bring in someone who could better suit my dining needs), unique environment let guests view museum exhibits during your reception, plenty of parking
Minuses: Most spaces are relatively small, making large celebrations difficult. Having bugs, wolves, and dinosaurs at your reception might not appeal to everyone.
Bay 7
Bay 7 – Large renovated warehouse in the Tobacco Campus.
Pluses: Large space, great location.
Minuses: Books early (the date I wanted was already booked, 15 months in advance), I didn’t get pricing since it isn’t available when I needed it but I’ve heard from a few independent sources that it’s pretty pricey.
Rigsbee Hall – versatile indoor space downtown.
Pluses: Nice location
Minuses: Fairly small. The website says it holds 250 people but the seating charts show much less.
Duke Gardens
Duke Gardens – Beautiful Gardens on Duke’s Campus.
Pluses: It’s gorgeous, there an indoor space, patio, and several outdoor spaces available for a small wedding.
Minuses: You can’t make reservations, you have to go through a complicated lottery process in order to book the venue. Once you add up all the fees, it’s pretty expensive. Since it’s a public garden, you might have strangers wandering around your event.
Washington Duke Inn
Washington Duke Inn – Fancy hotel and golf club just off Duke’s Campus
Pluses: Full service, if you’re into that sort of thing. Indoor and outdoor space. Plenty of room for your guests to stay onsite.
Minuses: Expensive. Despite the Inn’s attempts to match with the rest of the old stone of Duke, it doesn’t quite have that old world feel it’s going for.
I was disappointed to learn that Hill House isn’t available for rental. When we contacted them, they said only non-profit organizations could use their space.
Know of any other great, reasonably priced, outdoor venues in Durham? Then leave a comment. Thanks!
Hi! This is a great blog that really provides some beginning groundwork for interested brides! I just wanted to plug our wedding venue options and procedures here at the Duke Gardens. My name is Jennifer Copeland and I’m the Coordinator of Events over here at the Gardens and it’s true, they are beautiful, I’m bias of course. So first of all, thank you for including us on your list. Secondly, I would just like to mention that not ALL reservations go through a lottery system. The lottery system only applies when you’re booking a year in advance. So if you wanted to get married in Spring of 2010, right now those dates are open and do not require a lottery procedure. We also only started doing the lottery to cut down the unfairness of brides “camping out” for days trying to book their event a year in advance. As far as it being a public garden, that is true, however we also use “Private Event” signs to avoid anyone wandering in to check out your ceremony.
Hope this helps! If anyone has any questions or would like more information they can call me!
Thanks for the information Jennifer!
My sister had a beautiful and near-perfect wedding at Duke Gardens, but there is a major drawback that brides should know about: There is no private place for you to get ready or hang out before the ceremony. You share a bathroom with the general public. This bummed me out. If Duke Gardens ever comes up with a solution for this, it will be absolutely THE perfect wedding venue. But until then…
So… Where did you pick. I just got engaged and I am looking for a venue in Durham, and we are vegan too. I looked into everything you wrote up and was feeling the same way. I’m dying to hear what you came up with!!
Actually, I got very frustrated and we decided to go to Las Vegas instead. If you’re looking for a caterer, speak to Sam @ Durham Catering, he offered to do exactly what I wanted, which was mostly vegan for a reasonable price. Unfortunately, ever other aspect of the planning process was pretty horrible. Best of luck to you though, I hope your event is great!