Florence Griswold Museum

in front of the river with a gentle sloping lawn for the guests chairs, so everyone had a great view. Our cocktail hour was on a covered veranda on the side of the museum and they very generously let us use their tables and chairs from their outdoor restaurant. Our reception was in a tent at the back of the museum over a slate floor outside. The tent and caterer’s tent were thankfully included with the contract. We needed to do a pre wedding ceremony including signing our marriage license and they let us use a beautiful indoor meeting room for that. We had a first look on the small dock overlooking the river. We got a tour when we were deciding between venues. We had a few reasons we chose the Flo Gris over the other venue: they offered both a flower garden and water/river view, they offered a backup plan for ceremony location if it rained (thankfully the weather was gorgeous!), they had power hookups outside for our DJ and other vendors who needed power, they were more handicap friendly as we had 2 guests in wheelchairs, they had indoor bathrooms with AC, the locations from ceremony to cocktail hour to reception flowed really well and were all separate locations, and the caterer’s area was nicely hidden by a rose trellis that included a driveway in the back that was perfect for the caterer’s truck to pull into. They were very easy and wonderful to work with answering our questions. They worked well with our wedding planner and our other vendors. We had so many compliments from guests who had never been to the museum before, saying it was an excellent wedding venue for a summer wedding, and that they wanted to go back to see the museum’s exhibits and gardens. They had a preferred caterer’s list but we asked if we could bring in an outside kosher caterer for religious reasons and they were very accommodating about that. We also liked that they only allowed about 6 weddings a year, so we felt really special and appreciated we were the only wedding that weekend. They had a suggestion to do a hydration station with iced tea & lemonade drink dispensers and bottled water in front of the ceremony. It was a great suggestion to provide our guests with cold drinks before our outdoor summer ceremony. The Florence Griswold had so many wonderful elements as a wedding venue that it was easy to choose them. If you chose the Flo Gris as your venue, I suggest having the bridal party get ready at the Old Lyme Inn across the street, they were also a great choice. We highly recommend the Florence Griswold Museum for a wedding venue, they helped our wedding be a success!