Old city philly wedding reception help (Philadelphia, Penn: rental, receptions, hotel)

[devchonka]

Hello everyone I'm new on here. I've been racking my brain doing "the research" and still nothing really fruitful.

I'm getting married, and I'm really interested in having everything be in old city philadelphia. One of our friends took a photo of us walking at penns landing together just before we got together (which is now a logo type cover for the invitations), and we just spent a lot of our beginning around that area so it seemed appropriate to have the wedding there. Plus, I'm a huge fan of being closer to nature and water, but keeping it philly.

I'm hoping to have the wedding at Old St. Josephs or Holy Trinity...or if that fails, rent the 18th century garden national park i came across...its a beautiful litte spot and it not very expensive.

I'm failing horribly at finding a very inexpensive and layed back place to have our reception in. Actually, it goes two ways:

A. Inexpensive beautiful wedding reception spot. I'm very interested in Seaport Museum -even getting married there- though i don't know the average people payed to have a small reception there...anyone know an estimate? I'm having 50 people tops. I can spend max of 3000, if i'm marrying there as well then the price goes up to 5000.

or

B. Inexpensive place with dancing and alcohol and casual fun atmosphere to party and celebrate (yet, have food at) in old city. We love techno music, rock, jazz.

Could anyone recommend a place for me? I'd love to just take everyone to a great bar with dancing and food, but i'm also interested in a sit down dinner for our parents. Oy vei. Best chance is for the seaport museum to be inexpensive enough (with the "extras" like linnens and center pieces and food and flowers) so the younger crowd (mostly everyone) will then (after wedding and dinner) just do our own thing and go take a trip through all the bars in the area haha.

Help

[my83328]

Try Cescaphe on 2nd Street. I'm a non-denominational minister and I've performed several weddings there and they seem to do a great job and have a lot of fun doing it. Makes for a joyous affair. M

[TracySam]

If you like the "old" in Old City, you might try the City Tavern:
The City Tavern Restaurant And Online Store, Philadelphia Pennsylvania

The chef has a TV show, and I just recently had lunch there and it was really good. It dates back to the 1700's, though it was demolished and rebuilt years ago.
They do private affairs like weddings, and I'm sure you can get a DJ to do whatever music you like. The people who work there are all dressed in 18th century garb, which could be cool.

[ajb842]

Unfortunately, a CC wedding is usually not cheap. However, depending on the size of your party, you migh tbe able to hold your event at a restuarant. Check out La Veranda which is near Penn's Landing. The Charthouse and The Moshulu are also on the water and relatively reasonable. Remember that much of your wedding budget is the alcohol and the day and time of the wedding. Consider a Saturday/Sunday AM, or a Friday PM. Someone suggested Cescaphe, which is nice, but not in your area and probably out of your budget. Since I don't know your ideal price pp, it's difficult to tell you where to look. But I do think a restaurant may be your best bet. There's also a place in old city called Cebu, but I'm not too sure how expensive they are, but they can accomodate large parties/weddings. Another place, Estia, which is not in old city but closer to our theatre district is also reasonable with the ability to accomodate a wedding. As a wedding planner myself, it's important to be flexible especially when budget it an issue. Alcohol runs about $10-$20pp extra depending on where you hold the reception(for an open bar). If this is important to you, then go splurge. If not, try to have just wine or a bar on consumption to cut costs. Let me know how it goes! (also, check out Patou)

[orrmobl]

There's a Union hall on Delaware Ave. I think its the Sheetmetal Workers Union hall? I think it was fairly reasonable when we were looking for wedding halls...

[deeni]

My wedding was on the Moshulu and it was fabulous!! We got married on a Friday evening in December which helped get us a better price. They put up a heated tent on the deck for the ceremony and then we all went inside for the reception. It was very reasonable especially compared to the Center City locations that we priced. The guests loved it because it was not your "traditional" wedding hall or hotel meeting room.

[mltimes]

You mentioned a budget of 3K/5K but I'm not clear if that is just your site rental budget (looks like it is). Without knowing your per person budget or total budget for food/drinks, it's hard to recommend other locations but I agree that a restaurant rental would be best so you have everything in a package. For restaurants with good food and room for 50, look at Positano Coast.

For site rental only type of places, Society Hill Dance Academy (indoor) and the Head House Shambles (outdoor) can be rented for wedding receptions. Both are less than a 5 minute walk from OSJ, St. Mary's and Trinity. For the shambles, contact the South Street Head House District. There's also the Down Town Club, the visitors' center and the NCC.