LBloom

Disclaimer - we realize this is somewhat of a wild goose chase - can anyone suggest wedding venues in the Greater Boston area? Bride/groom are both graduate students at Harvard - so we need tasteful and elegant, but on the frugal side (around $75 pp tops), if you know what I mean. Probably about 125-150 guests. The bride wants a venue where both the ceremony and the dinner can all take place, preferably someplace "unique" and "memorable". A place that does a complete "package" would be helpful. More on the formal side than informal.About 90% of the guests will be out of towners, so good hotel availability is needed. Looking for June 2015 date. Wants open bar, plated hors d'ouevres, choice of entree and elegant desserts.

Thanks!

travelgourmet

Les Zygomates does private functions and I think the space is nice. Not sure about cost though - $75pp seems awfully low for a "formal" wedding with an open bar.

shaz60

I'm sure you can get a place for $75 a plate but not with an open bar. We paid $50 pp for hors d'ouevres, entrees, toast, and dessert at a wedding hall six years ago for DD #4's wedding. The bar was another $30 per head. It was a typical wedding hall, very nice but not particularly elegant and certainly not unique, in Stoneham with nearby hotel accommodations.

Perhaps Harvard has some places that would be suitable and you could contract with a caterer to provide everything else including the alcohol.

jamie99

Please reconsider the open bar. My late husband and I got married in 1976 and did open bar at his insistence. Our tab at the time at the mid-priced Southern California restaurant was about $2000!! Many of the guests had not seen each other in awhile and a lot of them were engineers (for some reason they seem to drink a lot) and they actually closed the bar down.

Can't help with a venue, hopefully another Fodorite can provide suggestions.

Ackislander

We went to a wedding at The Swedenborgian Church opposite the old Busch Riesinger. It is a lovely place for a wedding, and the guests can walk to a variety of places in Harvard Square or on Mass Ave.

Unless an open bar is an absolute must in the bride's culture, they are on the way out because of the large, very large, huge, massive liability issues in Massachusetts of providing unlimited alcohol to people who then go on to drive. If she insists, have her father talk to his lawyer first. Seriously.

$75 sounds low to me, too.

rizzo0904

Tupper Manor in Beverly at Endicott College...no idea on price, but very pretty.

Glen Magma Farm

china_cat

I think your best bet of making that budget, and including open bar, is to have a place where you hire the caterer, hire a bartender and buy the liquor yourself.

there used to be a website that listed all the historic homes in MA that could be rented out for weddings. I camn't find it, but if you google sufficiently I'm sure it will turn up. I know friends did a reasonably priced wedding at the Commanders Mansion in Watertown. The Trustees of Reservation have a couple sites. There's the Codman Estate and Gore place. I don't really know how much these would cost as rentals, but I do think if you get a place, and hire the caterer it is easier to control the bar tab and the cost than if you use a hotel and restaurant. I think the Crane Estate in Ipswich is probably really expensive, but sure would be an awesome place to have a wedding!

the only other problem is a lot of those properties will be stretching to hold 125-150, or you will have to spread out hte guests in different rooms.

cw

There is a publication from the state that lists historic properties for events. See http://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc/mhchph/hphp.htm

We attended a nice wedding at the Wiilowdale Estate in the Bradley-Palmer State Park in Ipswich. I like the suggestion of the Commander's House in Watertown.

Many historic homes can be expensive to rent. Think 4-5K. And June is high season for weddings.

I'd spend some time searching www.theknot.com and in general looking for local, less well-known venues. Also look at country clubs and yacht clubs, though some are more casual.

Sassafrass

Look at Longfellow's Wayside Inn in Sudbury. It is historic and well kept with wonderful gardens. There is a beautiful white church/chapel and nearby a beautiful old stone gristmill and waterfall. Prices and menus for wedding packages are posted on their website. It is a non-profit organization and prices seem very reasonable. Years ago, I was visiting the park by the gristmill and saw a bridal party leave the inn, the bride and her father in a white horse drawn carriage, and go to the church. Lovely. The place has only a few rooms, enough for the family, but there are other hotels nearby.

kawh

back to open bar... consider having only wine... you have to try much harder to get truly drunk over dinner and wine than shots and the hard stuff... also you can control costs easily.(if they permit, you can buy all the bottles of wine and take home all the remaining bottles after).

330east

Marriott Boston Newton

Sassafrass

Just looked up Longfellow's. They have wedding package menus at $59.00, $69.00, $79.00 and $99.00pp. Even the $59.00pp menu had very nice selections. It even includes a tiered wedding cake, tea and coffee, but does not include wine and other drinks.

gail

A friend's son is getting married at a winery in southern NH - not sure which one, but just googled and apparently several offer such packages. They are having both ceremony and reception there and I know she described it as reasonably priced. An open bar compromise is that this winery can provide a barrel of wine. Certainly unique and not really that far from Boston.

Amy

I'm afraid I can't help with Boston venues, but I would like to recommend a really helpful thread on cost savings. (Please don't be put off by the title.) http://www.fodors.com/community/fodo...ding-ideas.cfm

Some of the tips there include that a Friday evening (quite elegant!) or Sunday wedding can be a significant cost saver, and the general vibe is about making the wedding personal and meaningful to the bride and groom rather than an overall generic wedding effect. That is, if I might respectfully say, quite a large wish list for quite a frugal price in an urban setting, so maybe some of those suggestions will help the couple "cut their coat to fit their cloth", so to speak.

cw

Just noticed this list for wedding venues on the Massachusetts site, http://www.massvacation.com/explore/weddings/

It had some locations that were new to me.

ILUVPARIS

Another good website www.sudburyjp.com

Just click on the Venues tab. Good luck!

KTtravel

Have you considered having it at Harvard? I have no idea of the costs but I would think guests would enjoy seeing the school and it certainly would be convenient for the bride and groom.

http://www.universityevents.harvard....-type/weddings

HKP

Went around and around on this one 2 years ago for DS and wife. Loved the idea of the Wayside Inn, although one consideration is where guests would stay if coming from a distance. There are a number of nice venues, and the price drops a bit the further out from Boston you get, but there is ALWAYS the question of guests' overnight accommodations and transport to the airport if they're flying in.

Almost got married at Harvard myself 45 yrs. ago, but even back then, parking was a deal-breaker.

sharona

I've attended a couple of events at the Lyman Estate in Waltham. It's a gorgeous setting and their web site says there are two hotels within two miles of the property.

http://www.historicnewengland.org/hi...s/lyman-estate

Some friends got married at the Mary Martha Chapel and then had their reception at the Wayside Inn. The Grist Mill is just across the street from the chapel. It was made for wedding photos. Well, not really, since the mill was built almost 100 years ago as a working mill. The problem with this location is that there aren't a lot of nearby hotels.

http://www.wayside.org/tour/martha-mary-chapel

HKP

LBloom - how do things stand as of now?