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We're beginning our wedding planning and one of the places that caught our eye was Bay 7 in the American Tobacco Campus. Has anyone hosted an event there or been to an event there? We're looking for some experiences/opinions on how it all works since it looks like a lot of it is Do It Yourself.
As some background info, we're looking at about 80 attendees (mostly flying in) but want it to be pretty roomy. They'll all be out of town and we're looking to do a non-church ceremony (I haven't figured out where you'd do that yet if you used Bay 7?).
I have seen people get married on the lawn in front of Bay 7 (in front of the water tower). Wedding looked really nice, the only problem is you have people that are able to walk all around you. A co-worker went to a breakfast networking even at Bay 7 and said it was nice, and I have walked by events going on their and they always look very good. I haven't been to one myself though.
I've photographed a wedding and reception there, and while it was a bit unusual, it worked out well. The ceremony and cocktail hours were downstairs (it's a large enough space that it didn't feel strange), dinner was served upstairs (this is where it was very tight - I had trouble moving between the tables), then everyone moved back downstairs for the festivities. They set out many tables and chairs downstairs, so anyone who wanted to could sit and rest.
My wedding was there in April. We ended up hiring a day-of coordinator, as the majority of our guests were out-of-town and we didn't want to burden any of our friends/family or be unable to be gracious hosts.
We had the ceremony downstairs (facing the waterfall), the cocktail hour upstairs, and the dinner/dancing downstairs (this was set up during the cocktail hour).
Feel free to message me if you want more info re: vendors, etc. I'd also be happy to send you to our photographer's website to see pictures of the place in action!
I've been to a few corporate events in Bay 7, but never a wedding.
Another venue that you may want to be aware of is the Cotton Room at Golden Belt. This space is owned by an actual catering firm, so your options are limited as far as which vendors you can use.
We're planning two years out so we're trying to really find the right place. The mister and I are incredibly secular so no church ceremony, hence wanting to find a really good fit for the whole thing. We're not much for country clubs either (beautiful, just not our thing) so we are investigating historic durham or bed and breakfasts for the weekend - something a bit unique and cool for our out of town guests.
I appreciate any and all suggestions (we're looking into Cotton Room as well now) - all of the places tell you great stories and show you pretty pictures, but I think the best viewpoint is of guests
@ Boardjnky4 - yeah, it says it holds 400 but if you did everything in one place, we're thinking it would be nice to have it really big so there can be "Zones." I've been to too many weddings where it's really crammed and crowded
We're planning two years out so we're trying to really find the right place. The mister and I are incredibly secular so no church ceremony, hence wanting to find a really good fit for the whole thing. We're not much for country clubs either (beautiful, just not our thing) so we are investigating historic durham or bed and breakfasts for the weekend - something a bit unique and cool for our out of town guests.
I appreciate any and all suggestions (we're looking into Cotton Room as well now) - all of the places tell you great stories and show you pretty pictures, but I think the best viewpoint is of guests
@ Boardjnky4 - yeah, it says it holds 400 but if you did everything in one place, we're thinking it would be nice to have it really big so there can be "Zones." I've been to too many weddings where it's really crammed and crowded
I hear you there, but that place holds something like 400 people.
There are some other really great places in the area that (in my opinion) would be a much better fit for a smaller group.
I say this because my fiance and I have also looked at a lot of places in the area.
We had a fancy event for work at Bay 7 and it worked out very nicely. Accessibility ended up being awkward for older folks, because the elevator was in the corner where all the catering prep was set up. But I'm sure that could easily be fixed if we did it again, move the prep area to the other corner.
Very nice, versatile space. We did cocktails upstairs and dinner downstairs.
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