Now that we've narrowed down the city, my fiance and I needed to book the venue and book it fast! Savannah is a big time wedding destination and Spring is prime season. We hopped on a flight to SAV and had a whirlwind weekend of venue, photographer and wedding coordinator shopping.
I design hotels for a living which has resulted in the side effect of being incredibly picky about hotels and I've come to detest hotel ballrooms. Our venue had to have some character!
So with ballrooms eliminated, that left us with only a few but excellent options.
- restaurants with event space
- outdoor venues
- museums and museum houses
- raw event space (think old brick warehouses or old train station turned museum)
I'm going to walk through each one because I would have loved to run across something like this when I was venue shopping. So Savannah brides - this one's for you.
1. Charles Morris Center
This is a raw event space with a catering kitchen. It is stunning, big and in a great downtown location. It wasn't right for us because it was more expensive than our other options, it wasn't available on our date, and it was actually too big for us. This would have been fantastic if we were to have 150+ people and a big band though so if that is more your style, check it out!
2. Ships of the Sea Museum
This is an outdoor venue with a huge garden (mostly a rectangular bricked area perfect for a tent) and the attached museum house. We really loved this place. The garden is beautiful, the museum is very cool (filled with huge shop models and the house itself is an architectural gem) and the staff were very helpful. We were hesitant to do a 100% outdoor wedding because we were concerned about rain and I wasn't thrilled with the tented look or expense. Again, this would be perfect for another couple - just not us.
3. Garibaldi's Restaurant
This space is stunning! It was just a little too fancy for our taste.
Ok.. I'm starting to feel like Goldilocks at this point
4. 10 Downing (the top floor of Churchill's Pub)
This place is fabulous and the banquet manager, Mark is awesome! We love it so hard! Unfortunately it is too small for our wedding reception but we love it so much that we've booked it for the rehearsal dinner.
5. Vic's on the River
WINNER! This place has it all: A fantastic menu, river view, old world charm, wood floors, ceiling beams, exposed brick, huge windows, chivari chairs! We are so excited!
And after falling in love with our reception location, we had one more stop. (where to say "I do"?
6. The Davenport Museum Garden
First of all, it would be silly to talk about getting married outdoors in Savannah and not mention the ridiculous amount of lovely options (21 garden like squares throughout the city) and Forsyth Park. They are all perfect and affordable outdoor wedding locations. We wanted something a little more private and the Davenport Garden fit the bill.
Another fantastic and often blogged about venue is the Harper Fowlkes House. It is an amazing wedding venue but was a little too much for our budget and we'd have the outdoor weather/ tent factor again so we decided that it wasn't for us.
Other Non-Hotel locations to consider
- Roundhouse/ Railroad Museum
- Telfair Museum
- Paula Deen's "Lady & Son's Restaurant"
- Some B&B's have great event space for elopements and intimate weddings
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