So you’re engaged and looking for the perfect nontraditional wedding venue for your upcoming nuptials? Well you’ve landed in the perfect place – we’re Rhode Tripper Photography, alternative wedding and elopement photographers with a love of all things offbeat and nontraditional when it comes to getting married. If you missed it, our first post about nontraditional wedding venues in Rhode Island was a huge hit, so we decided to follow it up with a series of information about venues around New England. Today, we’re kicking it off with the Boston area of Massachusetts. We’re going to cover venues that are around the Boston area and on up to Newburyport.
Industrial Wedding Venues in the Boston Area
Garage B Events – Brighton, MA
Garage B is a sick restored 1940s garage located within the Charles River Speedway, a beautiful shopping and dining marketplace. Good for seated events of up to 160 or open events for up to 240 guests, this place is perfect for the laid back couple who loves white washed brick, giant glass garage doors, and good vibes.
Harpoon Brewery – Boston, MA
If you love the seaport district and good beer, then Harpoon Brewery is the perfect venue for your wedding. With huge windows overlooking the harbor and an insane selection of craft brews, you can’t go wrong with these industrial yet warm and cozy beer hall vibes.
Olio – Peabody, MA
City not entirely your vibe but you still want industrial feels? This historic concrete building and former theater is located just outside of Boston in the town of Peabody. I’ve seen this space transformed into everything from a moody goth-vibes wedding to a colorful disco wedding, and with huge windows you’ll get some sick natural light coming in as well.
SoWa Power Station – Boston, MA
This beautifully restored power station boasts HUGE ceilings, stunning brickwork, and an impressive history. If you’re looking for a more polished industrial feel, this is definitely the venue for you.
Warehouse XI – Somerville, MA
Finished with white brick walls and dark floors, this industrial gem is perfect for the couple who loves modern elements, but is really once again enough of a blank slate to go nuts with design.
Historic Wedding Venues in the Boston Area
Boston Athenaeum – Boston, MA
Calling all book and art lovers! The Boston Athenaeum is perfect for library lovers who want something a little more intimate than the BPL. Cozy book nooks, iron railings, and impressive artwork – all catered by The Catered Affair – yes, please!
Boston Public Library – Boston, MA
Even before I became a photographer, I knew that the Boston Public Library was a stunning place to get married. You can choose from the outdoor courtyard, the famous McKim Bates Hall, or any variety of other rooms within the library for a literary lover’s dream wedding.
The Crane Estate – Ipswich, MA
Located on a National Historical Landmark site, this estate boasts rolling (literally) lawns and stunning stonework. You can host your wedding using the house, the barn, or a sailcloth tent and take advantage of the 2,100 acre property for endless photo locations!
Garrison Inn – Newburyport, MA
Perfect for the couple who is daring, colorful, and desiring an intimate wedding. The Garrison Inn has the most insane pink tea room full of old paintings and a lot of velvet. If you choose this one, please pick me to be your photographer (I mean honestly, pick me for any of these venues), but I’m especially obsessed with all of the pink!
Tupper Manor – Beverly, MA
If you love manicured lawns, arched doorways, and what can only be described as a stunning oversized breakfast room, this venue is perfect for you. Keep things historic, make them more spooky – with a venue like this the inspiration is everywhere.
Museum Wedding Venues in the Boston Area
Institute of Contemporary Art – Boston, MA
The ICA Boston has a range of options for any wedding vision – a water’s edge patio, art galleries, a theater, and rooms with floor to ceiling windows for skyline views of Boston. Once again, exclusively catered by The Catered Affair, you’re bound to have an incredible meal as well.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum – Boston, MA
Another excellent option for an especially nontraditional wedding, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has both an intimate, modern wing for 90 guest seated or a picturesque courtyard with room for a larger cocktail-style reception. This museum also has a very interesting history of entertaining guests, travel, theft, and more!
Museum of Fine Arts – Boston, MA
The MFA in Boston is exactly what you envision the exterior of a fine arts museum to look like – stone columns and historic charm. The interior, however, has both that same historic charm as well as a huge contemporary event space with tall ceilings and huge windows (are you sensing a theme here?) Please note that in order to host your wedding here you do need to have a quite pricey yearly membership so keep that in mind if you’re working with a tight budget.
Peabody Essex Museum – Salem, MA
The Peabody Essex Museum has a more eclectic set of collections that your guests will love to enjoy as a part of your wedding. Situated in the heart of downtown Salem, MA, you can also enjoy witchy vibes, great food, and excellent accommodations for your guests to make a weekend of it and enjoy the historic nature of the area.
Botanical Wedding Venues in the Boston Area
The Herb Lyceum – Groton, MA
This magical wedding venue allows you to host your guests inside a working greenhouse. For up to 150 guests, you can’t go wrong with herb gardens and delicious farm to table dinner.
The New England Botanic Garden – Boylston, MA
Receptions take place here in a conservatory named The Orangerie with options for ceremonies in two different gardenscapes. With the perfect mix of brickwork, glass ceilings, and concrete flooring, you can really transform this space into a magical fairyland or a tropical paradise or something in between.
Downtown Vibes Wedding Venues in the Boston Area
Dearly Studio – Somerville, MA
A newcomer to the wedding scene, this space is located in the Bow Market – a killer place for retail, dining, and even a florist! Built especially for anti-cookie cutter micro weddings, this space is bound to be a hot commodity as soon as they open – summer of 2023!
Hotel Salem – Salem, MA
Hotel Salem is the perfect place if you want a one stop shop for your wedding weekend festivities. They have a rooftop space, a cellar, a lounge, and a quaint restaurant/ bar all in one hotel. With water views, prime location in Salem, and a sweet colorful meets modern industrial vibe, you can really make this space fit your downtown wedding dreams.
9OFS – Boston, MA
Indoor/ outdoor living? Try indoor/ outdoor wedding. This completely unique event space has a grassy rooftop terrace with a reflecting pool situated in the heart of downtown Boston as well as a concrete, industrial loft space indoors with more skyline views. You seriously just need to see it to believe that something like this exists in Boston.
