Science Museum of Virginia Reviews
Reviews
4.4 out of 5 rating
4.4 out of 5 rating
14 Reviews
89% recommend it
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![Kieran]()
Kieran R. Sent on 08/30/2023Magical Train Themed Wedding
I cannot stress enough how much my wife and I loved having the Science Museum of VA as our wedding venue. We're both academically nerdy, my wife is into trains, and this was the perfect place for us. We worked closely with Chris and he was great! On our first tour we were hooked but we came back multiple times to show the venue to our families and with our wedding planners.
Our ceremony was outdoors by the train tracks, cocktail hour in the front portico, and reception in the main entrance. We had a solid rain plan that both my wife and our families felt comfortable with. My wife and I had individual getting ready rooms within the museum and our bridesmaids were able to explore the museum during down time.
There was great communication throughout the process and on the day of the wedding. An exhibit was even able to be open during the wedding reception which was a huge hit with our guests! My wife and I had no time to explore it on the day of our wedding but came back the next day and lived it all together, just us.
All attached photos are by 3 Cats Photo -
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![alexisdemetra]()
Alexis Sent on 01/03/2019Dewey Gottwald Center Wedding - Amazing!
In November 2018, I had my wedding at the Science Museum's Dewey Gottwald Center. It was magnificent! The venue is BEAUTIFUL and so large. It does have a dark feel to it since it doubles as a exhibition hall during the spring and summer. The black walls needed some brightening up, but ultimately, it was the best place to be! It has a HUGE patio that overlooks the train tracks and FFV building. We had 315 guests with a 30 foot dance floor and still had plenty of room to spare.
Matthew was our contact and was the absolute best. Throughout the year before the wedding, he would let me and my fiance in to see it set up for different occasions to get ideas. The day of, he was helpful and really amazing to us. The only downside is it has a hard end stop time of 11pm. Not a deal breaker for us-- but good to know if you're looking for something that was available later. We love this space and love how it was in the center of Richmond!Science Museum of Virginia's reply:
Thanks Alexis! It was a pleasure working with you and your awesome family. What an amazing job you all did planning your wedding!
- Matthew -
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User886298 Sent on 08/02/2012This was the perfect place for us to get married! They worked with us to help us get exactly what we wanted for the wedding and the reception. Everyone was extremely easygoing and fun to work with. Matt Forrest was always easy to get in touch with, and helped us plan everything (even throwing out some helpful "in case of rain" ideas). I couldn't have asked for a more perfect location! -
User1616930 Sent on 05/13/2014We had our wedding here in the Rotunda, an amazing space that has a lot to offer if you are looking for a different take on a wedding space. We did the ceremony in the Rotunda, moved our guests to the room next to the rotunda for the cocktail hour while our fabulous planning and catering team flipped the rotunda area for our reception. It's a great space for a wedding and the museum does offer a range of options for space and provided our guests with a day of museum ticket discount, which was nice for our out of town guests, esp those with children.
I would highly recommend if you use this space for your wedding or related event that you work with A Sharper Palate catering (they know how to work really well in that space and the food is excellent), the Lighting Professor (he made the space look truly elegant and knew how to accent the room), and use Lovebirds Planning (Kate knows how to plan an event that is amazing in this space, she's great). These vendors worked well with the museum staff and know how to make events happen in the museum.
I would also suggest careful communication with multiple event planning staff, not just one person, and having any requests/needs for space outside of the ceremony/reception in writing (e.g., room for photos/space for getting ready), not just phone conversations or wedding run through conversations with people, things seem to not be communicated clearly among the different people/offices at the science museum (understandable, it's a museum first and a great one, not primarily a wedding venue). I had some day of unexpected problems with the space I thought I had for getting ready that I had agreed on with someone in advance but that seemed to have not been communicated to others or noted on the science museum calendar.
I would still 100% recommend this space. It's gorgeous, unique, and also really convenient with parking, near the airport/downtown hotels, and made for an elegant, fun event, just what we wanted. -
Laura Sent on 12/09/2017My husband and I held our wedding reception here and we could not have been more thrilled with how it all turned out. The setting was beautiful, and we also did our first look in the balcony above the front doors of the rotunda before our ceremony at a nearby church. Doug was a great help, and let us visit many times to see other wedding set-ups as we planned our wedding reception and cocktail hour. If you are planning to have a live band, please know that they do have a stage. It was not originally presented to us...but our band found out they had one and it was a huge help. We comfortably fit 185 guests all seated at tables. I would highly recommend a wedding reception in the Rotunda.
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