(already subscribe? log in).

Boston wedding venue guide

Weddings

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

February 12, 2012|By Elizabeth Gehrman

(KENDALL PAVAN FOR ZENOBIA…)

HOTEL BALLROOM

Hotels offer soup-to-nuts service, with in-house planning help, a staff that really knows the drill, and affiliated vendors at the ready to take care of every detail. Jessica and Dwayne Barnes of Sturbridge (pictured at far left) married at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in 2008. “They made it very easy,” she says of the planning staff and the hotel’s reliable, knowledgeable vendors. Lauren and Vaios Theodorakos, who live in Weston, celebrated their wedding in the hotel’s Grand Ballroom in 2007. Her only regret is that she didn’t take better stock of the size of the room. “We only had a four- or five-piece band,” Theodorakos says, “and we needed like a 12-piece band.” Her simple cake, too, got a little lost. “You really have to understand the scale of the room,” she says.

> Fairmont Copley Plaza, Back Bay, 617-867-8562, fairmont.com/copleyplaza

Cost to rent $150 per person and up

When to book 12 months in advance

Maximum guest list 450

Also consider Lenox Hotel, Boston; Liberty Hotel, Boston; Seaport Boston Hotel; W Hotel, Boston

HIDDEN GEM

Many out-of-the-way venues, like the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, offer the most freedom for plan-it-yourself-minded couples. “It’s not a wedding package,” says Aimee Kerr, who married Patrick Kerr there last fall (pictured above). “It’s not for a couple who just wants to write one check.” Kerr, an artist and art teacher who lives with her husband in Brookline, designed and printed her own invitations. She and the groom also found the caterer and DJ, had simple flower arrangements done by Whole Foods Market, brewed beer for the ceremony, and had each of seven friends who love to bake bring a cake. The result? Exactly what they wanted – including the cost. “I wouldn’t do it any other way,” Kerr says.

> The Multicultural Arts Center, Cambridge, 617-577-1400, cmacusa.org

Cost to rent $3,800 until July 1 (the cost generally increases annually)

When to book 18 months in advance

Maximum guest list 200

Also consider Museum of African American History, Boston; Artists for Humanity EpiCenter, Boston; Harvard Faculty Club, Cambridge (open to everyone, but many universities have venues only for alumni and others who are affiliated)

STATELY HOME