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About this vendor
Historic Glen Echo Park is the perfect year-round setting for any event - from traditional, elegant affairs, to fun and whimsical birthday parties and weddings playing off the Art Deco-inspired architecture of this unique National Park.
The historic Spanish Ballroom is Glen Echo Park's largest rental space. It can seat 450 guests, including space for dancing. The Bumper Car Pavilion started out as one of Glen Echo Park's main attractions and is now one of our most popular rental venues. With its old amusement park charm, it’s a great place for weddings, receptions, bar / bat mitzvahs, and company or family picnics. With enough space for 200 guests with a dance floor, it may be the perfect location for your next event!
Amenities + details
Ceremony Area
Covered Outdoors Space
Dressing Room
Handicap Accessible
Indoor Event Space
Liability Insurance
Outdoor Event Space
Reception Area
Wireless Internet
On-Site Accommodations
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Religious Ceremony
Settings
- Ballroom
- Garden
- Historic Venue
- Park
- Tented
- Trees
Venue Service Offerings
- Food & Catering
- Rentals & Equipment
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Reviews
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4.7
out of 5.010 reviews
I don’t want to bury the lede here: we had such a great time at our wedding (and from the feedback we’ve heard, so did our guests). We wouldn’t change the day, and because Glen Ech...
o is such a magical place, we’d still recommend it.
Do you hear the however coming? The staff that runs events for the park is kind, but completely and utterly overwhelmed. It took multiple follow-ups and literally weeks to get responses to basic planning questions. As far as I can tell, there are not self-service resources available for anything, and some of the rules in the venue contract are confusing or contradictory so you’ll definitely have questions. If you choose this venue, schedule your walk-through as early as possible and come with a GIANT list of questions as this may be the only chance you get to get them answered.
On the day of the wedding, park staff was 30 minutes late to open the Hall of Mirrors, our getting ready space. We had our hair folks and wedding party members standing around waiting, and it made for a very stressful morning when there didn’t need to be any stress.
Because the staff was late, we were running behind for wedding party photos on the carousel. We’d paid extra for a photo permit and ended up only having a few minutes to get the group shots because they wouldn’t hold the opening - despite, again, the fact that that park staff was the reason we were behind.
As others have noted, the list of approved catering vendors is fairly short but we found it provided enough options to choose from without feeling either overwhelming or too limited.
Again, we loved the outcome and had an absolutely wonderful day. But getting there was tough. Know what to expect (and not expect) from the park, and decide if it’s worth it to you to take on the extra work to get to the day.
Such a fun, unique, and special location. We had our ceremony in the Cuddle Up and the reception in the Bumper Car Pavilion. We also rented the carousel for cocktail hour, and the ...
Hall of Mirrors to get ready in, and for a handicapped accessible bathroom. We worked with a couple different people during a staffing transition, but once Laura joined the team, everything fell onto place! Absolutely perfect day.
We had our reception in the Bumper Car Pavilion. It was lovely. We loved being in such a silly, fun, historic building. Riding the carousel was just too much fun, and the art deco ...
surroundings are so appropriate to the event. There was a bit of stress because of a potential federal shutdown, which would have forced us to relocate, but gratefully that did not come to pass (thanks, Congress). It was such a special night, thanks, in part, to this wonderful park. I'm so grateful to those who worked hard to save it from demolition, and to the staff and friends who keep it a thriving local institution.
Anyone who knows Glen Echo Park knows that it is a very special place. Most of your guests won't know Glen Echo Park and they'll be blown away.
I personally did not want to hav...
e a traditional 'hotel ballroom' sort of wedding. My husband and I pride ourselves on being fun, a little silly and whimsical. Glen Echo allowed us to have a wedding that was just our style.
Only reasons why we gave Glen Echo 4 stars instead of 5:
You're limited to their list of approved caterers (which were tasty but didn't allow us to be quite as budget conscious as we might have been otherwise)
It's an open air venue - no air conditioning, no heat. We lucked out with the most perfect weather imaginable but we felt we needed the safety net of wedding insurance to help with potential weather issues (again an expense we might not have incurred elsewhere).
Despite these - we highly recommend. Your photos will be amazing and your guests will have a wonderful time!
Glen Echo was the perfect find for our wedding. We wanted a venue that would allow us to have a fun and non-traditional wedding and Glen Echo gave us just that. We totally playe...
d up the vintage carnival theme and used that for inspiration in our decorations, food, cake topper, etc. We rented the carousel during cocktail hour which our guests loved and it made for great pictures of us and the bridal party.
The staff at Glen Echo were extremely helpful throughout our planning process. Emily and Dwight were prompt and helpful in answering questions and problem solving to make our day go smoothly.
The only slight downside to Glen Echo is that there are rules and guidelines that you must follow because it is a National Park. However, this was all stuff we could work around (i.e. no liquor allowed so we just served beer and wine) and it really was not a big deal.
My husband and I chose to have our wedding at Glen Echo because it was a place we loved to go as kids, and the environment is so fun. We had the most amazing time there! The staff ...
was really friendly, and incredibly accommodating. There was someone there on staff to greet our guests when they arrived. We had a our reception in the Bumper Car Pavilion. It was so open, and it absolutely beautiful. Our guests loved being a part of nature, without being completely out in the open.
Glen Echo is a fun and unique venue. I went there as a child to watch plays and ride the carousel. As I got older, I always imagined my wedding there. We used the bumper car pav...
ilion and were able to use minimal decorations to bring in our wedding colors and make the venue unique to the vision for our wedding. Our guests really enjoyed the atmosphere and especially enjoyed riding the carousel. Emily Rogers is easy to work with and the price is great ($2500 for whole day, we started decorating at 9am and the wedding was from 4 – 9:30ish). We were also able to get really great wedding photos due to the amazing venue.
Glen Echo is a magical place to have a wedding -the carousel, the lights - it just felt like another world! The staff there was very helpful and was always available to answer my ...
questions.
We visited the park on a date several years ago, and I just knew it would be an incredible place to host a wedding. Emily, the site manager, is amazing to work with, and our guests...
loved all the unique details: the trolley car, carousel, cuddle up, and bumper car pavilion. It really stood out from every other wedding we'd gone to, and because it's a National Park property, the costs were not that expensive, plus the money was going back to the arts community they have on site. Our photographer loved the site as well, and our photos are really unique!
It is the most unique site in the DC Metro area. Glen Echo Park is historic and you can do so many fun things like ride the carousel get a popcorn and cotton candy machine and r...
eally make it your own.;There are only a handful of caterers you can hire. Don't hire Matters of Taste. And hope for good weather!
Contact
7300 MacArthur Blvd, Glen Echo, MD
Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts & Culture