Help me find my wedding site!

May 3, 2009 10:15 AM

Wedding venue in the greater Boston area, near some sort of H2O.

Getting hitched!

All I know right now is that I want the venue to be in the greater Boston area (i.e. could be as far as Concord, Cape Ann or as close as Boston/Cambridge) next summer. We'd like to keep costs down, but we're contending with big families so it'll probably be around 150 people. We'd like to at least look at places where we can bring in the caterer and the booze. Could be on a river, estuary, pond, puddle, ocean. I just want some water visible. The ceremony and reception will probably be at the same spot.

I've looked at indiebrides and the eventective site and don't find that user friendly. Just wondering if you've ever been to or heard of some wonderful watery venue in the Boston area, preferably that won't cost a fortune but can accomodate a decent sized crowd.

Any other Boston wedding tips (vendors, etc.) more than welcome! Along those lines, I'm trying to avoid anything remotely conveying "princess."

posted by semacd to food & drink (14 answers total)

I grew up in Lincoln and we have a place called the Pierce House which is just about the perfect place for a wedding. Check it out here and here and here. Good luck!
posted by pwally at 10:35 AM on May 3, 2009

I attended a wedding and reception held at this place in Middletown, Connecticut and it was quite nice and picturesque on a lake. Though I don't know what the cost was and the mid-point between Boston and NYC might be a bit "Greater" than you're thinking... Concord, MA or Concord, the capital of NH? I might just be confused by marketing since the main airport in Southern New Hampshire is now called "Manchester-Boston Regional Airport".

Also on the far edge of the arguable Greater Boston area, I've been to some nice mountain-top weddings up New Hampshire ways and in Vermont that involved distant but spectacular views of entire lake regions. But the only one I can remember the name of, Castle in the Clouds, is obviously very explicitly princess.
posted by XMLicious at 10:36 AM on May 3, 2009

I recently overheard someone talking about getting married right on the dock at Courageous Sailing Center in Charlestown...

A little rustic, maybe, but it's definitely on the water, and it's got a great view.
posted by sriracha at 10:49 AM on May 3, 2009

The Boston Garden (with the ducks) - I've seen lots of brides on the bridge that crosses the pond taking pictures, there are also generally really pretty flower patches, and swans are romantic!
Odiorne State Park, in Rye, NH - it may be a bit far north for your taste, but it's a gorgeous rocky coastline. I was invited to a very low key wedding there, and though I couldn't go, I'm sure it was awesome. They have a lot of ground, and views of the ocean all over it!

The Willows in Salem - an old amusement park. Everyone loves skee-ball and animatronic monkeys, and carousels, and beach. They have a gazebo, I think, and lots of docks.

I'm sure it would be expensive, but it'd be really awesome to get married in the New England Aquarium...
posted by ChuraChura at 11:19 AM on May 3, 2009

Courageous Sailing Center in Charlestown...

BTW -- The sailing center (Pier 4, Charlestown Navy Yard) sits between the USS Constitution (Pier 1), USS Cassin Young (Pier 2) and Tavern on the Water (Pier 6). The Navy Commandant's House is steps away and available for weddings, receptions, etc. (details at the hyperlink).
posted by ericb at 11:23 AM on May 3, 2009

The Museum of Science, which is right on the Charles, hosts weddings and is not princess-y at all.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 11:23 AM on May 3, 2009

Plimoth Plantation also hosts weddings, and provides costumed support as well. They're on the Eel River, and not too far from the ocean.
posted by Melismata at 11:31 AM on May 3, 2009

I know you said Boston area, but I would strongly suggest you to consider the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve in Wells, Maine. It's only an hours drive or so from Boston. I was in the wedding party for my dear friend (and fellow Mefite) nellish last year, and absolutely fell in love with the gorgeous scenery at the Wells Reserve. There's water, trees, rolling hills and fields and everything else that you've asked for in your "wish list".
posted by carabiner at 11:35 AM on May 3, 2009

The MIT sailing pavilion (right on the Charles) has been known to host wedding functions - I don't know if it can handle 150 people, but it's fairly large. It isn't exactly full of Gothic beauty, but it has it's own charm :)

MIT also has a chapel about three blocks away in which people are often married.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 11:45 AM on May 3, 2009

Another reason I would advocate a rural location, apart from the potentially nicer scenery without the urban jungle in the background, is that as a wedding attendee I usually find the driving easier than in a more metropolitan area. Not only do I usually find simply the navigating to and from the location simpler but a down-town wedding so often ends up being a parking hell where you've got to coordinate getting car pooling with someone to a shuttle area and then taking the shuttle to the reception or whatever, and you can't just go back to your car and grab something you forgot (though I'm a single man, so my car is my purse.) It's been really nice on the occasions when I've been able to just drive up, park in the ample and voluptuous lot, and walk in the front door. (Okay, admittedly, part of the reason for this preference is that I tend to be late for everything and my car pool partners chew me out.)
posted by XMLicious at 11:57 AM on May 3, 2009

The Museum of Science, which is right on the Charles, hosts weddings and is not princess-y at all.

as does the aquarium
posted by bowmaniac at 2:15 PM on May 3, 2009

You got big bucks? The Crane Estate in Ipswich.
You got not so many bucks? Danvers Yacht Club

Also check out any number of yacht clubs in the area.
posted by Gungho at 2:21 PM on May 3, 2009

http://pointbreezeonwebsterlake.com/ in Webster. Definitley not-princess
posted by andreap at 3:31 PM on May 3, 2009

Highly recommend the Kennedy Library . they have different spaces which you can pick from, and you can also pitch a tent in the gardens next to the bay, and have a lovely view out to Boston. Beautiful. Check out different spaces at http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK+Library+and+Museum/Space+Rental/Spaces+and+Fees.htm
posted by darsh at 7:07 AM on May 19, 2009