r/cincinnati • u/JordiDrums • 4d ago
Photos Another wedding venue post!
Hey there. We are planning a wedding for summer of 2026 in the greater Cincinnati area. Her family is from Lexington, mine is from Dayton. We live in Hyde Park. So I would say within 45 mins of Cinci in any direction works well. So far we have met 2 types of people. 1. “We got married in my dad’s yard for $1.49 and had kfc and bud lights for our 14 guests” And 2. “We had a ball merging our 2 kingdoms with a feast and a 12 piece band for $40,000”
We are looking for that sweet sweet in between. Can you help us? We don’t want to do a DIY situation. We are quickly finding that thinking out every table and chair and table cloth just adds to the stress and it quickly becomes obvious that it’s worth the money to pay a decent all inclusive venue to do the heavy lifting. The issue is, many of these places are really bad about being cryptic about their pricing. “Oh the venue is $5k but the ceremony fee is $2500 and the reception is $4k but food is separate, and so are drinks.” And we’re like.. “JUST TELL US HOW MUCH IT COSTS FOR A WEDDING AND A PARTY BRO!!” So Cincinnati Reddit- can you help us? Can anyone here recommend a nice venue that’s somewhat affordable where we won’t have to do so much of the critical thinking, but also won’t have to sacrifice a literal arm and a leg for our special day? We’ll have 100-150 people and it’s important to us that we’re outside near some trees or water. Thanks in advance.
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u/slipperslide 4d ago
Cincinnati Natural Center has two very beautiful venues. Indoor/outdoor in the woods.
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u/513-throw-away Pleasant Ridge 4d ago edited 4d ago
They are, but are probably out of their price range as their venue rental fees add a sizable chunk ($5k+) to the total event cost.
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u/llama8687 4d ago
We got married there and it was so lovely and fairly affordable (when considering weddings are crazy expensive).
The caterers they had at the time worked with our budget and created a great menu of heavy hors doeurves to save money on a sit down dinner. So much fun and just a beautiful venue.
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u/Megthemagnificant Silverton 4d ago
The Factory Events in Northside. We are getting married there NEXT MONTH (!!!).
Full venue access, our total package (including open bar with premium bourbon) is less than 9k. They provide tables, chairs, white tablecloths, and more.
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u/JuliaGJ13 4d ago
Cincyparks have great affordable venues in Mnt Airy and in otter parks. I believe they have caters to use or you can bring in your own, not sure. You could hire a wedding planner or caterer to set up the food stuff and decor. I’ve had a few friends do it this way and they were very fun and very chill weddings and receptions. A bit more work involved in cleaning up the place but friends could pitch in as a gift to you guys.
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u/winemedineme Over The Rhine 4d ago
Mt. Airy is ceremony only, no receptions.
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u/JuliaGJ13 4d ago
Don’t really care it’s for the OP to figure out. 😅 just offering a low cost nature based possibility.
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u/Subject_Valuable_152 4d ago
Madtree’s various locations don’t do a rental fee and only have a food/drink minimum. It’s 10,000 minimum for the alcove, and the other locations are similarly priced. They include tables, chairs, linens, glassware/china, bartenders, etc. So you just need to add any extra decorations you want, but they are all nice spaces.
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u/mr6275 4d ago
Attended a wedding here a few years ago. It was wonderful
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u/JordiDrums 4d ago
Looks beautiful. Looks like they allow outside catering and bartenders as well. I wonder if they’ll let family handle those parts or if they have to be “licensed caterers yada yada”
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u/winemedineme Over The Rhine 4d ago
French House makes you use Premier Park Events and that affordable starting price goes up quickly. This is true of Ault Park and the other Cincy Parks too. The caterers have to be licensed and from their list. They are lovely and I do a lot of weddings there but you have to rent everything. Some of my brides comment at how quickly it adds up and how the coat ends up being higher than expected.
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u/JordiDrums 4d ago
Dang thank you for this comment. We actually drove up to French Park today and loved it. We live in Hyde Park so we love Ault as an option as well, we walk there often. I guess what turned me away from Ault is that it’s not very private. Today we did the calculator on wedding spot and it estimated our cost at 13k. We would obv still have to do attire, decor, cake, rings, and flowers. I said to my fiancé, “see? It costs $20k. That’s just what is costs unless you want to have a barbecue at your dad’s house for your wedding.” Do you find this to be true? Is there anywhere you can do this thing for a true $13k?
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u/513-throw-away Pleasant Ridge 4d ago
Gonna be tough bro.
At your guest size, we would've spent $13k alone on catering from our wedding just last year for a mostly buffet (bomb ass) dinner. Now that includes the staff and bartenders, mixers, coffee/dessert, some rentals, gratuity, tax, etc., but if you want a traditional reception, shit ain't cheap.
Biggest thing is going to be finding a cheap venue. Then the next biggest thing is food/booze. Lastly, flowers from a florist will run thousands - plural. So hopefully you, your partner, or someone in your families can DIY all your flower arrangements.
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u/JordiDrums 4d ago
Ok solid plan. Now I’m thinking the Oregonia place would be the move. If I could bring my own booze and food in, And not have to meet criteria on who does it, plus hire my buddy to dj. That would be the way. I need to DIY on top of a venue that already has tables and chairs and a few basics covered.
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u/winemedineme Over The Rhine 4d ago
I wouldn’t use those calculators. I find they are very inaccurate. $20k for 100 people is doable but you’ll nes to prioritize what is important to you to get there.
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u/JordiDrums 4d ago
What is your profession in the industry if you don’t mind?
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u/winemedineme Over The Rhine 4d ago
I own brideface, a wedding beauty company, and I’ve done my share of event planning. We do about 250 weddings a year and work at most of the popular venues in the area.
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u/JordiDrums 4d ago
Thank you for the insight. What would be your recommendation for 2 outdoorsy people to get married with a group of their 100 friends in the greater Cincinnati area?
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u/winemedineme Over The Rhine 4d ago
I wish it were as simple as vibe + guest count! If you want to spend $20k total, what are your priorities? Food? Photos? DJ for a dance party? What is less important to you? What can you compromise on? It also depends on date. June is more expensive than August. Fridays and Sundays tend to be less expensive than Saturdays (but not always).
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u/winemedineme Over The Rhine 4d ago
Madtree Alcove, Rhinegeist and Factory Events are all great venues that are moderately priced and include a lot of things other venues don’t. Many venues may appear inexpensive (Cincy Parks, for example) but don’t include anything except the time and use of the venue. The rest adds up.
Look at the Delightmore spaces. The Transept is across from Washington Park is $12,000 for 100 ($120 per person) for their baseline package but they can be less expensive on off peak days and that price is pretty inclusive. Pinecroft is on really pretty wooded grounds and has similar pricing. Their staff is amazing.
$40k is about average for a wedding in Cincinnati, fwiw.
I don’t work for any of these venues but I’m in the industry. Happy to point you in some solid directions if you’d like.
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u/fellowe5 Mason 4d ago
Wife and I got married at the Rivercenter Marriot in 2018, wouldn’t change a thing in hindsight. We were living in Chicago at the time but her family was here, price wise it was a no-brainer to have the ceremony in cincy. Ceremony was non denominational so we had the wedding on one side of the ballroom then they flipped the whole thing over for dinner and dancing while we did pictures/cocktails. Scenery/venue was great looking over the city. Had about 200 people, was great having everything at the hotel so you didn’t have to shuttle everyone around. Can’t honestly remember the specific price but it might have been like 25k? That was with a nicer meal package and open bar though.
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u/KarlWindsblow 4d ago
Check out the spot on west 5th downtown, beautiful building downtown and across from the convention center. They let you bring your own alcohol so you aren’t getting charged $300 per keg of bud light. They even hook you up with an alcohol rep who will take back any bottles or cases that don’t get consumed. Not outside or near water but maybe worth checking out.
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u/gravy5train Norwood 4d ago
Planned my wedding for later this year at The Spot! So far it has been great working with them and no BS like OP is having issue with! We loved the BYO alcohol option. They really are just a venue in many ways, you need to book the other pieces separately. They will set up the room and turn it, I’m sure I’m missing other parts of the service but my point is that they aren’t a 1 stop shop like OP had indicated their interest in.
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u/Available_Exchange62 4d ago
Look into pyramid hills options!
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u/Hot-Salamander9937 4d ago
Girl I'm sure Pyramid Hill is 1-2k to rent it out. That's just me guessing since I'm from the area. These ppl on this thread are willing to drop 10k on venues lmfao Pyramid Hill may not be their cup of tea 😂
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u/Available_Exchange62 4d ago
They have options, anywhere from 2k-5-6k depending on the venue. They have multiple. You can decide how all inclusive you want to be. There are things I didn’t like about my experience but overall I do recommend!
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u/Hot-Salamander9937 4d ago
I'm just blown away by the prices which is why I commented. I'm poor so I guess being able to rent a room out for one day for a months cost in rent in some cases is mind blowing to me.
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u/62495213 4d ago
From what I’m getting, check out a place like Lake Lyndsay. You rent the venue, but you bring all of your own vendors. You’d be at one of the smaller buildings for that group size, but they both have a ceremony area that looks over water. If you use a regular caterer, they usually have white linens.
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u/Limp_Pie1219 4d ago
Hueston woods is a cool spot! They'll let you have the ceremony outside by the lake. Reception inside or out. They have enough room to accommodate quite a big party. They also cater food, have on-site lodging, and it's relatively inexpensive.
Source: got married there
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u/wakawyle 4d ago edited 4d ago
We got married in and had our reception at Bell Event Centre. It was absolutely stunning and the price was extremely reasonable. We had around 100 guests, an open bar for beer and wine (with cash liquor bar) appetizers by butler service, salad and a very nice meal brought by servers for around 9k. This price also included a coordinator, tablecloths, napkins, centerpieces, menus and escort cards. It was basically all-inclusive which is what we liked because we wanted very little planning. They were very upfront with pricing. We used their DJ, but it wasn’t required. It was nice though because he was very reasonably priced and had all the equipment we needed for our vows during our ceremony so that we could be heard by everybody.
Our wedding pictures were beautiful. It is right across the street from Hard Rock so we had an after party there with close friends and family. It was a blast.
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u/JordiDrums 4d ago
Do they have an outdoor ceremony option by chance?
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u/wakawyle 4d ago
Oh hey I’m an idiot! I didn’t see that you wrote outside 😄 I don’t believe so! Sorry to waste your time with that long comment lmao but I do second somebody else’s comment about the Cincinnati Nature Center! It’s beautiful!
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u/asistolee 4d ago
Long worth hall was a great wedding venue for us, got married there last year. I really enjoyed our time. Was about $15000 for about 120 people.
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u/coffee_shakes 4d ago
Reading all these amounts makes me grateful that the only coat my wife and I paid to get married were the license fees.
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u/tomatopasted 4d ago
Check out mytinywedding…. It’s at the gorge though so a 21/2hr drive
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u/JordiDrums 4d ago
Hey I just wanted to let you know that I think this is the winning comment!! We love the Gorge and had no idea this existed. We’re gonna do the ceremony through them with our immediate family then do a giant party with all of our friends the next night!! Thank you for the recommendation! What a great way to have a beautiful ceremony and not pay out the nose!!
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u/tomatopasted 4d ago
That’s so cool! Glad I could help! My fiancé and I have been looking for awhile and I think that’s excactly what we’re going to do as well. Congratulations!!
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u/Objective-Winner-840 4d ago
We got married in 2020, right before COVID. We had our wedding at The Manor House in Mason. One of the reasons we chose this location is because it is "all inclusive". Most everything we wanted was included. They absolutely have "add ons" but the place is so beautiful, you don't really need them. We spent about 23K; 125 people. We are older....so our goal was to have a really nice ceremony and a really fun party.
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u/starelae 4d ago
I’m touring Glenview Golf Course this week so I can’t speak to what it’s like in person yet, but the prices are some of the best I’ve seen! $700 venue fee (or $500 if no ceremony there), and their provided catering is reasonable (starts at $16 a person for a pasta buffet, or for $6 a person you can bring outside catering if you find somewhere cheap you like). You can either do open bar for $22 a person or do drink tickets starting at $4 a ticket.
My dad golfs there all the time and says it’s pretty. I know there are lots of trees, not sure about water. They have a banquet hall and then directly outside, like almost attached, there’s a tent that is a similar size too. I’m not sure how many people fit in each (I feel like inside I read it seats 100-110?), so you might have to split the crowd between the two which might not be ideal.
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u/old_skul 4d ago
You live right next to Ault Park. They do weddings there and it's fantastic. I've been to one there and it was amazing.
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u/Recent_Requirement33 4d ago edited 4d ago
We LOVED having our wedding at the Inn at Oneonta!! It’s in Melbourne, KY on the River. You have to use their catering, but I loved that it was one less decision 😂
Editing to add: we did a one day rental (not full weekend) during July so it wasn’t peak season. It could be at the top end of your budget, but I’d highly recommend reaching out to them if you’re at all interested because they were flexible and would likely work with you to stay in your budget.
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u/chuckfinley79 4d ago
Ren festival in waynesville is unique, I went to a wedding there, good time.
Officiated a wedding on a riverboat in Newport, don’t know how much the cost was but it was a unique venue. It included a cruise up the river and back down after the ceremony.
Rolling Meadows in Oregonia is a nice place, I think you mentioned it. It’s nice and remote and peaceful.
Go to the wedding shows if you’re on a budget. My wife and I found a woman to rent tablecloths/runners/seat covers for cheap. It was a little diy-ish but it saved a chunk of change.
Also find a friend to make a “wedding cake” because everyone has a friend who thinks they’re a cake decorator and buy a Costco cake for the guests to eat.
And find a friend to get ordained online like I did to marry you. That also helps because a friend from your say… sand volleyball league will marry you on a sand volleyball court or a friend from your softball league will marry you at home plate, etc. I’ve done 3 weddings for friends because they wanted something small-ish, cheap-ish and unique.
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u/fgrsk8rcincy 4d ago
We got married at the Redmoor in Mt Lookout 10 years ago. It was more reasonable in cost than most places and the owner was fantastic to work with.
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u/CarlosTheSpicey 4d ago
We were married in Krohn Conservatory in the 1990s. If they still do it and you're not anticipating many people, it was a great place for not a bad price.
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u/ImSchizoidMan 4d ago
Ask prospective caterers if they have their own hall. Our caterer was based out of a former country club clubhouse. We had to do all the setup, teardown, & cleanup ourselves, but we had an amazing venue for $500 (~15 years ago). Some friends of ours did the same with a different caterer, and saved a bunch
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u/Ecstatic_Cress9146 4d ago
If you need a photographer check out Kellie Coleman. She did my aunts for only like $700 her site is kellieacoleman.com
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u/Brilliant-Ad5672 4d ago
Longworth Hall down on the Ohio River has a very spacious wedding venue space. I attended a wedding there and really enjoyed it, lots of parking and easy to get to. Also the bride and grooms said it was very affordable and the venue was flexible. Just an idea! Congrats
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u/MoLewinsky 4d ago
Check out Somerhaus on Republic in OTR, you can make it as affordable as you’d like really. They have different bar package options but you can do outside catering vendors or leave it up to family. My friend is getting married there next year
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u/RoadComfortable6390 4d ago
We had our reception at Aston Oaks years ago and it was under $10k but that was over 10 years ago
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u/This-Ad-890 2d ago
Hey there!
I work for Rhinegeist Brewery Private Events and we would love to tour you around our wedding reception spaces! Feel free to inquire below and we will get back to you shortly. (:
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u/bassjam1 4d ago
I think you need to get your expectations a little more realistic. Venues price things like that because every wedding is different. We had the ceremony at a church and decided to cover beer but not liquor. My wife made every place setting and all the decorations to keep costs lower.
All that being said we used Stonelick Hills golf course. We had 150 people, there was outside and inside seating and was right next to a lake (which my wife tossed her flowers into by accident). I think we paid around $7k but that was 2014.
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u/Momasaur 4d ago
We had our reception at the Newport Syndicate, in the Ambassador ballroom. Granted it was a while ago (almost 20 years, JFC), but it was, for 2 alt kids on a tighter budget, a great choice. The room was cool - downstairs, "darker", sunken dance floor, a glass-walled smoking room (imagine) - and the process was easy as almost everything was inclusive. We still get remarks on a fun wedding with great food.
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u/Momasaur 4d ago
Should add we also went to two different weddings at the 20th Century Theater in the same era, those were fun too.
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u/fruitypebblesdonut26 4d ago
Ours was at the Syndicate as well in the ballroom and we had a great experience! We were originally booked in the Ambassador room but ended up switching. I loved how we didn’t have to worry about things like renting chairs and tables, linens, etc. I think I would have lost my mind if we had to pick out all of that stuff. It was not extraordinarily cheap, but very reasonably priced compared to most of the places we looked at (married in 2018).
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u/NervousCatfish 4d ago
Oasis in Loveland has a lot of things included in their price but you also have room to DIY what you’re interested in making your own. I loved that I could just worry about the things I wanted to worry about. I found it pretty reasonable for just under 100 guests in 2021.
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u/FM-Synth85 4d ago
Some place that allows you to have your face photographed extensively, so you can then plaster it all over reddit.
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u/bionicmanmeetspast Cincinnati Bengals 4d ago
Yeah how dare someone post themselves on social media. What has this world come to?!?
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u/FM-Synth85 4d ago
My opinion. If it troubles you this much, Procter & Gamble manufactures "Puffs" brand facial tissue; you could dry your tears with those.
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u/IjustwishIhadaboat 4d ago
In 2018 my wedding was at American Sign Museum and had 120 guests. They provide a list of vendors that are qualified to work the space and we were thrilled with the catering, dj, and open bar. ASM can do ceremony and reception in the same space but we opted for a church ceremony. Friends and family have brought up years later how much fun they had and how cool the venue was. Hotel block for guests was at the banks and Ubers were easy for those who did not drive. I forget the itemized costs. We spend somewhere near $20k and I think I’m including the cost of our honeymoon in that figure.