201-250 guest capacity
This venue can host up to 250 guests
About this vendor
BRAND NEW BEAUTIFUL SPACE: VISITOR HALL 2024
We are so thrilled to announce the opening of our brand-new Visitor Hall! This exquisite space serves as our primary event venue, accommodating up to 200 guests. Imagine your guests surrounded by our remarkable collection, including the beloved "Happy" the Haplocanthosaurus, creating an unforgettable ambiance for your event.
Whether you're planning a small intimate gathering or lavish celebration - you won't discover a more inspiring setting than the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Our galleries and collections provide a perfectly unique and stunning backdrop for your special day. We'll help you create an unforgettable experience, customized to your exacting standards.
Pricing details
Starting prices
Reception:
$4,000
Ceremony:
$4,000
Bar services:
$37 per person
Catering:
Contact for price
Starting prices don't include service fees, taxes, gratuity, and rental fees. Guest count and seasonality may also affect prices. Peak season for this venue is Apr-Dec.
Amenities + details
Ceremony Area
Handicap Accessible
Indoor Event Space
Outdoor Event Space
Reception Area
Wireless Internet
Covered Outdoors Space
Dressing Room
Liability Insurance
On-Site Accommodations
Ceremony Types
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Religious Ceremony
- Second Wedding
Guest Capacity
- Up to 250
Settings
- Museum
Venue Service Offerings
- Bar & Drinks
- Cakes & Desserts
- Food & Catering
- Planning
- Rentals & Equipment
- Service Staff
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.
4.6
out of 5.022 reviews
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My husband and I, and all of our guests, had the time of our lives on our wedding night at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History on 7/13/24. Words simply cannot describe how perfect the museum and their staff made our evening.
-First and foremost, the museum has the most helpful and attentive staff. Anne, the manager of private events at the museum, made our process so smooth and stress free. She really had our back throughout our year of planning and she was more than happy to accommodate all of our requests for our party.
-The newly renovated hall made for an immense amount of space for our 200 guests and the beauty and cleanliness of the hall had us and our guests in awe. When I, the bride, first walked in the hall on our wedding day, I broke town in tears with how beautiful it was. It was seriously the setup and design of our dreams. Our guests could not stop raving about how cool our venue was- we were told by several guests that it was coolest wedding they had ever been to. The dinosaur and exhibits added a unique feel to the evening which our guests really appreciated.
-My husband and I really wanted to make sure we had a huge dance floor when searching for reception halls. Anne made sure to listen to our plans for a big dance floor and she executed them perfectly! The entire layout of the hall worked out nicely. Our DJ had more than enough space for all of his gear as well.
-The food was amazing- simply put. Levy is the catering/ restaurant company that the museum is partnered with for event food. I have never had better wedding food in my life- and our guests agreed. We received a lot of positive feedback from our guests about how amazing the food was. We highly recommend the garlic braised short rib and airline chicken for meals (the cauliflower steak vegetarian dish was highly enjoyed as well). We also highly recommend the shrimp and beef Wellington passed appetizers- those were also a huge hit. All of the food and drinks were perfect. Lindsey, the catering sales manager, was so helpful to work with when planning our menu. She was more than willing to make a few changes to the menu to make sure our night was perfect.
-We used the cake company associated with Levy- the bakers name is Sarah. We had the lemon cake with strawberry cream- and again, so amazing and a huge hit! She allowed us to drop off a few of our florals the day before so they could be added to the cake decor. It ended up more beautiful than I could have imagined.
-The wait staff and bartenders with Levy were some of the best we have experienced at an event this big. Again, our guests gave us feedback about how attentive, kind and efficient the wait staff was.
If you are on the fence about who to book for your wedding reception venue, your answer is right here. CMNH is the move! I would use them again for another large event if the opportunity presented itself. Thank you so much CMNH and Levy! We had the best wedding thanks to you.
If you want something dramatic and fun, this is your place!! Anne was absolutely spectacular to work with to get everything set up for our ceremony and reception. She was so quick to respond to us with any questions we had, and she was so helpful in getting plans set. Having both the ceremony and reception right in the museum was so much fun. Our guests LOVED the atmosphere, and they could grab a drink and walk through the exhibits throughout the evening! I can't say enough how CMNH made our wedding night absolutely perfect!
Response from the Vendor on 05/23/2022
Thanks Melissa & Jack! Such a fun group- we loved having you!
Ever since I was a kid it was my dream to get married at the Museum of Natural History, and our wedding there was everything I had hoped for and then some. We knew (as everyone reading this probably does as well) that the venue itself is amazing: we had our ceremony in the courtyard, the cocktail hour in the geology hall, and dinner and dancing with the dinosaurs. But we didn't know just how great their staff would be to work with. Our point-person was Anne, who could not have been more accommodating with our persistent requests and questions while we planned the wedding from out of state. Between her, Kim (our main contact for Zack Bruell, the museum's caterer), and their staffs, they thought through and handled details that wouldn't even have occurred to us, like making sure our playlists were loaded across the A/V systems and plotting where the bars should be to encourage people to flow throughout the museum. So many of our guests told us that this was the coolest wedding venue they'd ever been to, and we couldn't have asked for anything more!
Any questions?
Our recent October wedding at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History was so amazing! The museum staff was very polite and professional, the food was wonderful, and our event coordinators helped us every step of the way and responded to our questions very quickly. CMNH was great about following all Covid-19 rules so my guests could feel safe during the event. If you're looking for a unique venue for your special day I absolutely recommend the Cleveland Museum of Natural History 100%!
Venue was gorgeous and reasonably priced but venue was poor at communicating things with us and the sprinklers came on during our cocktail hour.
If you are looking for the most unique and entertaining venue for you and your guests, this is the place to be! We just had our wedding at the museum a couple weeks ago, and our guests are still raving about it. The dinosaur exhibits and animal enclosure were our favorite parts!
On top of having the endless entertainment of the displays, the staff there are the greatest! Their special event's coordinator Anne was as excited about our wedding as we were. She was super accommodating especially because we were planning our wedding from New York. She is super organized with a concise packet of information that answers practically anything that come up. Also she was very quick to respond via phone or email.
The museum is contracted with Zack Bruell Events for catering. It was also a pleasure working with Kim and Molly. Again, all were super flexible working around our travel schedule and all our lat minute changes to the guest list. And the food.... to DIE for.
The museum also contracts with Solus lighting who brought to life the night of our dreams. They offered soo many options for coloring, shapes, and the expertise to make it all work together.
Overall this experience has been excellent and we would HIGHLY recommend this venue!
Response from the Vendor on 06/17/2019
Thanks Katie! We loved every minute and were honored to be part of your special day!
An amazing museum for the ceremony and reception! We got married in the atrium in front of the pendulum with the big windows, had the cocktail hour in the animal room, and of course, the reception was in the dino room. Everyone couldn't stop talking about the cool location. We had the museum open for our guests to walk around, and the earthquake simulator was a hit! Also, Anne and Katrina did a fabulous job keeping things running smoothly and helping organize with the remaining vendors. The staff there also packed up all of our decorations and put them in my parent's car afterward so we didn't have to worry about cleaning up. Overall, very impressed and loved how it all turned out! It was also super affordable and no food and beverage minimum like most museums and hotels in the area.
We love this venue. The staff (Anne & Kim) were responsive and helpful. They made our planning so much easier. The venue is unique and most of our guests remarked that this was "the coolest/most unique wedding" they had ever been to. It was really three venues in one - we had the cocktail hour in the animal room, the ceremony in the planetarium, and the reception in the dinosaur/hominin room. We would highly recommend the CMNH to anyone in search of something more atypical!
Response from the Vendor on 07/11/2018
Thanks Megan! We loved working with you too....your Planetarium Ceremony...out of this world :-)
We had our reception here, and it was AMAZING! When I found out that CMNH was available to rent for weddings, I told my then-fiance and we both agreed we had to have the reception here. We are both huge nerds so the venue would really reflect us (haha), and my husband is also not big on dancing, so the museum setting would give him something to do during the reception instead of just standing off to the side of the dance floor awkwardly. The museum staff was admittedly a little hard to get in touch with early on in the wedding planning process (like when we were a year to 6 months out), but the event coordinator became very responsive as the event drew closer, and accommodated emergency updates to the seating chart when we found out family members couldn't attend due to illness, a friend was planning to come but forgot to RSVP, etc. Our guests all loved CMNH and had a great time at our reception, and so did we!
This venue was fun for all of our guests. The space is beautiful, and all of the guests get to see the museum exhibits throughout the cocktail hour and reception. It was perfect for families who brought young children with them because the parents were able to celebrate with us, while the kids explored the museum. Even people without young children enjoyed viewing all of the exhibits and taking photos with the dinosaurs.
What a perfect venue! It is challenging to envision this as a wedding venue when walking around the museum during operating hours, but I couldn't imagine being any happier with any other venue. The entire team was PHENOMENAL in helping us plan and execute our wedding. Quick response times from the event coordinator, wonderful ideas and suggestions and support. Our wedding was flawless, we were blown away, our guests loved the unique setting. My husband and I aren't big on dancing, so we and our non-dancing guests enjoyed being able to walk around and enjoy the exhibits. We got married in the front lobby, and our reception was in the big hall with the dinosaurs. We got the lighting package for the reception, and it was incredible! I just cannot say enough great things about this venue. Fantastic value, fantastic setting, amazing wedding!
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History was a dream to work with. From the very first walk through until last call, they were fantastic. Anne and her team were always very timely in responding to my silliest of questions. They have a pre-approved caterers that they worked with which I loved because that meant we didn't have to vet every caterer in Cleveland before getting quotes. They also have their own liquor license which kept that cost down a lot compared to other venues I've seen. Anna let us drop stuff off the day before which allowed us just to relax all day of the wedding. When we showed up between Anne and our caterer, everything was in it's place and perfect. Nothing in my opinion could have gone smoother! I highly recommend this venue. We are still getting compliments on how much fun it was to go to a wedding at a museum. Plus, fun fact, you don't really need to do anything else after you book it! All I had to do was favors and center pieces- no other decorations, literally! It was fantastic and I'm sure a huge time and money saver in the end. 100% worth the value and then some.
We were set to go with CMNH as our venue. They gave us complete price lists for everything. Anything you need has an additional cost. Basically, to have your wedding its double the listed price with hidden fees. We had an appointment to meet with the catering coordinator. She did not have samples or menus for us. She met with us in a hallway and told us that it would be $120 per plate. This is for 1 entrée, one side and a bread. No cake cutting service. Drinks are in extra $50 per person ($45 if you don't want water. Yes there is a water fee.) . We were pretty shocked, as other museums were half the price and included appetizers, salad, 2 entrees, 2 sides,drinks, champagne toast, and cake cutting. Then she asks "Do you want plates for your food and silverware? That's going to be extra as well." All in all about 200 per person. It was a very disappointing experience.
Response from the Vendor on 08/10/2015
Our apologies for the miscommunication! Pricing falls somewhere between $100- $150 per/guest for everything: museum rental, catering, rentals and bar. We never charge for water, and cake-cutting is always free. We try to provide an accurate est...
imate when meeting with individuals but obviously fell short this time! We'll work on clarifying the fee structure in order to improve the client experience.
We loved having our wedding at the Museum! The planning staff was very professional and easy to work with. They were so helpful the day of the wedding with coordinating the evening and making sure everything was taken care of. We had planetarium shows as the wedding favor, which all of guests loved. It was an amazing night and I would do it all over again if I could!
My husband & I choose the museum because it was unique and had a variety of settings to provide for our entire wedding ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. Between them and their preferred vendors (Solus Lighting & Taste of Excellence) everything was set up perfectly for the event. The staff was courteous and everything was done discretely, none of the set-up or tear down was intrusive or noticeable. Bar bill was shockingly affordable and museum let us choose exactly what we wanted to serve to keep the costs down. Guests told us all night and after the wedding how wonderful the museum was and what a great choice. We could not have been happier with the value we got for the cost and how wonderful museum staff were to work with before the event. Plus there were dinosaurs in every photo!
There were drinks with eagles and otters, and we did The Wobble with Apatosaurus and T-Rex. Folks will be talking about our wedding reception for a long time.
More importantly the staff at the museum, from patient preparation to above-and-beyond day-of execution, did exceptional work.
Special thanks to Joe and Ashley, who made sure we always had drinks in our hands, that the timing of every moment was exactly how we wanted it, and that every arts-and-crafts object was laid out to exact specifications.
Service was not only delivered perfectly, but also warmly. We highly recommend this place.
We knew before getting engaged that the CMNH was going to be our venue. We both love the museum and I go every year for my birthday. For the price and what you get the venue is the best deal that I have come across. Dick Heislman is lovely and his laid back approach to wedding planning is not only refreshing, but very helpful. So many of the people we dealt with through our search for a caterer, dress, etc were SO tightly wound and high strung which only stressed me out more. Not at the museum. Everyone was very nice and laid back. The museum is gorgeous and you don't have to add tons of extras to the scenery to have a gorgeous wedding. I cannot recommend this venue enough!
We saw many venues, but once we saw the museum and had a walk through with the head of special events, the search was over. Dick Heislman was wonderful to work, and his laid back style always put me at ease. I planned the wedding long distance, and Dick and his staff were very flexible with scheduling meetings and tastings around my trips into town and were very easy to get a hold of over phone and email.
We have received so many compliments on our choice of location since the wedding. I highly recommend the Museum of Natural History for any Cleveland brides looking for a beautiful, unique location.
I loved my venue! On 9/2/12, I had my wedding at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History! My guests, family, husband and I had an amazing time. Our friends left us saying it was the best wedding they had ever attended. Dick Heilsman, the contact person for the museum is thorough, knowledgeable and efficient. He conducted business well with not only my (divorced!) parents who both had a big hand in planning, but with my vendors as well. What an amazing venue for the cost! The museum has its own tables and chairs which you can use, so it saves you a lot of money in the rental process if you have your ceremony there because seating is provided for the ceremony, and then for the reception, they have a good amount of tables. The lighting package is inexpensive and well worth it. The whole first floor of the museum is available for your guests to walk through, which is perfect for older guests, or in my case, more religious/conservative family members who weren't interested in drinking and dancing. The museum provides its own alcohol package, and its an EXCEPTIONAL VALUE! My wedding had 200 guests, and with an outside caterer that could have cost me upwards of 5K, but the museum package is MUCH less. In addition to the exceptionally large space, great exhibits, beautiful lighting, and valuable amenities, the art museum boasts a great space for both dancing and mingling. The only qualms I had were that during a busy wedding season, we were unable to have a very thorough rehearsal in the museum because it was setting up and preparing for so many other ceremonies besides ours! We had to do our rehearsal dinner/traditional rehearsal at my family church, and kind of improvise on the steps, but everything worked itself out beautifully the day of! I couldn't recommend a better venue! Any bride who loves museums should look into this amazing venue!!!
We knew one thing we we started planning - we didn't want to have a traditional hall. The museum was perfect for us. We are a pretty nerdy couple with come very nerdy friends and lots of little kids in our families so we wanted something that wasn't just dinner and dancing. Everyone seemed to enjoy the interactive exhibits and the out door animals.The only down side I can think of is that the museum contact doesn't respond very quickly to email (my preferred method of communication) but he does respond quickly to a voicemail.
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History provided a very unique venue for our wedding reception. The museum staff was mostly flexible with our requests and generally took care of any concerns we had. Dick Hieslman, our point of contact at the museum, was integral in helping us book the right caterer, choose the right layout for our reception space, and generally taking care of the add-on details.
At times, I had some communication issues with the museum, but overall, this space worked well for us. All of our guests had a fabulous time, and our first dance was under the neck of the brontosaurus. How many couples can say that?
It was unique. We ate dinner among the dinosaurs. We got married in front of a huge window overlooking a waterfall. We took photos in the garden. We had the cocktails in the anthropology wing in the mid of lions and bears... it was fantastic.;Warm in there. We asked for the air extra cool (it was July after all) but it was still very warm. Made most people not want to dance.
Contact
1 Wade Oval Drive, Cleveland, OH
Meet the team
Anne Thompson
Events Director
Hello! My name is Anne Thompson and I am the Manager of Private Events and Group Sales. I also work closely to Maggie Willkomm, our Venue Sales and Event Coordinator. Please feel free to reach out with an event inquiry or any questions. Cheers!
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