Most Stunning Wedding Venues in Cleveland Ohio

Why Are These The Best?

Choosing a wedding venue is a huge step in bringing your wedding vision to life. So much about how your wedding will end up looking and feeling will be due to the venue you choose. The good news is that in Cleveland, Ohio we have some truly amazing choices to work with. I often tell people who are born and raised Clevelanders that they just don’t get it. Even people who have lived in Ohio I don’t think fully understand what I’m talking about when I say the amount of amazing and diverse venues we have right here is pretty incredible, and not at all typical.

We’ve compiled a list of our very favorite wedding venues in the Cleveland, Ohio area not just to photograph at but that we feel do an amazing job at hosting such an important day for our couples. Each venue is going to be great for different reasons but hopefully, this guide will give you a solid jump if you’re wedding planning on a few of our local Cleveland area wedding venue gems that are right here. First a few thoughts.

Choosing the Venue That’s Right for Your Event

When you are making your choice of a wedding venue there are a few things you should consider. Those are the kinds of things that you need to be considering as you’re touring venues and chatting with your different options. Simply put, wedding venues are not all things equal.

When you’re thinking about the overall scope of wedding planning I would say you can’t quite put enough emphasis on the importance of choosing your wedding venue. It sets the stage for the entire day of what your wedding is going to look like. The overall theme and atmosphere of your wedding day are very much based on what that venue looks and feels like. Conversely, once you choose the venue you are entirely locked into the look and feel of that venue.

Overall Feel

You can use this to your advantage if you want to be a little bit more minimal in your use of decor. Or maybe you want to plan a sustainable wedding and you want to rely on the beauty of the venue itself then thinking about making your venue selection is going to be essential. On the other hand, if you have a unique vision that you know you will need to start from scratch and have a blank canvas to create, there is no point in getting a venue that’s going to have a lot of unique character and possibility if you’re going to be covering it up.

Guests

How will your guests be taken care of and where will they stay? For some weddings, 95% of their guests will be flying in from other areas. So where those guests will stay, transportation, and making sure that their guests know where they’re going are all essential pieces of wedding day considerations. Some wedding venues are absolutely gorgeous but they’re just a little bit further out or a little bit harder to get people to and from. Whereas others are literally in hotel ballrooms and it’s as simple as walking down to find the elevator. Something to consider when you’re thinking about the ease of the experience for the people you love.

Hospitality

Although there is a huge amount of excitement when you are first beginning wedding planning and I hate to be the bearer of bad news… I’m going to be quite honest with you. If you don’t know this already, wedding planning is actually quite difficult. My number one piece of advice is to tell you to hire a wonderful wedding planner (we are happy to send you referrals, even if you aren’t our couple) and make sure that you have the kind of wedding professionals around you that can give you the support that you need. But despite all of that there will be some stress involved no matter how much we would like to think otherwise. Choosing a venue that has excellent hospitality and customer service is something that I would consider essential. You need to know that when you send an email it’s going to be answered promptly, that the staff is there to support and help your vision come to life, and that your guests and family will be treated with respect and honor.

You would think that this is somewhat obvious, but what you may not realize is that as much as this is the most important day in your life for some wedding venues in the Cleveland area and elsewhere, they are doing upwards of four or five weddings per weekend. Each of the wedding venues on this list, I believe all have great hospitality teams and that is one of the reasons that we’ve chosen to include them. But I do think it is worth mentioning, because unfortunately if you are the 4th wedding on a weekend, and you are at a venue that doesn’t pride itself on hospitality it can be a really unfortunate situation. One that I don’t believe any couple deserves on such a once-in-a-lifetime day.

Indoor or Outdoor

This is a major first step in choosing a wedding venue category. The reality is in Northeast Ohio outdoor weddings can be absolutely stunning, and they can also come with their own challenges. These weddings might be held everywhere from a private garden in a home to a garden on museum grounds like the Cleveland Museum of Art or Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens. They are generally surrounded by florals and can have everything from an extremely classic or historic feel to a very modern tented wedding design, depending on the venue. Although most of the time they lean into the more classic/historic category. Estate and country club weddings tend to be very classic in feel with a very traditional vibe to them. The benefits of these types of outdoor weddings other than if that’s the aesthetic that you’re going for is that most of these venues are extremely versed in hosting outdoor events and are well prepared.

Below you’ll find some of our favorite venues separated into four categories, the best Cleveland wedding venues. The best Cleveland museum wedding venues, best garden wedding venues, and lastly the best winery wedding venues.