Herreshoff Marine Museum

ake sure everything has been thought of and organized.

to pop in last September after a full weekend of venue hunting in Newport. I immediately fell in love with the incredibly beautiful waterfront setting, the unique Hall of Boats and the laid back atmosphere. It felt like us and Elsie was so welcoming and knowledgable from the start. Planning a wedding is stressful but planning a wedding cross-country is even harder. Elsie was great to work with always with a fast response and inviting me to come see other weddings that were taking place when I was home for planning so I could get a feel for the day. When it comes to the actual wedding day it was PERFECT! Our ceremony was on the dock, our cocktail hour in the Hall of Boats and our reception in the tent. All of our guests were commenting on how cool the venue was. Ben and I had the most fun at our wedding and enjoyed every second. Ben especially when he got to fire the cannon at the start of the reception. :) If you are looking for a water front venue in Rhode Island seriously consider the Herreshoff. It was everything we wanted and more!

Herreshoff. The event manager, Elsie, was so engaging, supportive and assured us that we could have a “ beautiful wedding “ for our daughter. And there was a Sept. Sat.night available. Our daughter flew back to the west coast and after discussing with her fiancé, the Herreshoff was booked. The ceremony was on a beautiful quay, the cocktail hour in the historic Hall of Boats, and dinner and dancing the night away in a beautiful tent located 15 feet from Narragansett Bay. There is a suite for the bridal party also. It’s necessary to have a caterer and there are multiple excellent caterers that are approved by Herreshoff. This venue is special, unique and a backdrop for a fantastic sunset. We had guests from all over the USA and England who not only attended a beautiful, fun wedding but were treated to a bit of maritime history. Elsie the venue manager was so helpful to me, MOB, answering all my questions and assuring me while planning a wedding with the bride on the west coast! She is great to work with. If you want a wedding with a water view, sunset, dock, nautical venue in a quaint NE town, make a visit to the Herreshoff Marine Museum!

Highly recommend for a beautiful summer night event!

was helpful, friendly, and responsive. The outdoor ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception were all more beautiful and fun than I'd let myself imagine they would be! MOB

minor small mishaps with seating and needing a table for our pre wedding ketubah signing but otherwise flawless and truly amazing. We'd love to come by for our anniversary this year! Thanks again for all your hard work and Elsie for personally walking me down to the ceremony as I was taking my personal time before seeing everyone! :)

to answer ALL our questions. She was a true delight. The house of boats was a beautiful and unique setting. I'm so grateful we chose the Herreshoff.

by to see something or email Elsie with questions that came up, she was more than accommodating! The venue is absolutely stunning and speaks for itself! We chose to do our ceremony on the dock, which was so beautiful. We chose a caterer outside of the preferred vendor list and they did not move the chairs for us from the ceremony to the reception tent, but Elsie was able to have her staff move the chairs for a nominal fee. We also chose the Hall of Boats for our cocktail hour, as soon as we saw this spot, we knew we had to take advantage of the super cool space! Our guests loved looking at the boats, and even being able to board some of them! If you're getting married in the summer, I highly recommend getting some industrial size fans to create some cross breeze. We got married in August on 90+ degree day and were told there would be a breeze (there wasn't and it was very hot!). In hindsight we would've rented a few fans to create a little breeze. Regardless of heat, our guests were happy! The waterfront has just been redone and is stunning! The landscaping is beautiful and there are so many places to take photos, including the docks with the many beautiful boats. One of the reasons we chose this venue is that every time we went for a visit, regardless of weather, even with no decorations, it is just absolutely breathtaking! You really need very minimal decorations to make it magical. Another reason is that even if we did have a rainy day, we would still have that inside/outside feel. The bathrooms, which are a fancy porta-potty set up, are nice and clean - and air conditioned! There is a space outside the building where you can set up amenities, not much room inside. They also have the option to shoot a small (but loud!) cannon at sunset, which was a really fun touch for us and our guests! Elsie is upfront with what the staff is responsible for on the day of, which is very little. Anything that has to do with facilities, they are there to help out with! And Elsie was there to help us set up before walking down the aisle, making sure everyone went on time and in the right order. But all other event coordination is done by someone else of your choosing (most likely the caterer.) We couldn't have been happier with our choice to get married at the Herreshoff Marine Museum! It has been three months and our guests are still telling us how much they loved it! If we could do it all over again, we would choose Herreshoff every time! <3 Also, I would HIGHLY recommend renting the Peacock Alley house. It is so gorgeous and was the absolute perfect place to get ready on the day of our wedding. We actually chose our wedding date based on when the house was available!

e location it was. I would highly recommend a New England style clambake (Compton catering was awesome) and having cocktail hour in the Hall of Boats. It was a true New England party.

e was there to answer any question I had and I had many! Having grown up in RI I was worried a waterfront wedding would be unreasonable however Herreshoff is a fantastic value. It is stunning and you get huge amounts of space both on the docks and under the tent. The entire staff is easy to work with and incredibly accommodating. We had a clambake rehearsal dinner in the hall of boats, rented the peacock alley house for the weekend and had an outdoor ceremony/cocktail hour with reception under the tent. Having the house next to the venue rented made the weekend beyond perfect. We were able to have the bridesmaids get ready there and also use it as a "home base". This means the groomsmen got use of the bridal suite and it made pictures beyond easy as we were all in one location. Words cannot describe the whole weekend properly, we wish we could go back and do it all again! Thank you Elsie and Herreshoff for the wedding of our dreams!

ster Marc helped my husband and I achieve the wedding of our dreams complete with a flag ceremony and cannon blast. Elsie answered any and all questions we had leading up to the meeting, met with myself and family more than a couple times and on the day of the wedding was there to help with EVERYTHING. Thank you Herreshoff!

ding a getting ready suite. We had an outdoor wedding, with cocktail hour in the hall of boats and the reception under the tent. We had perfect weather and the photos came out beautifully! I would recommend this place to anyone looking for a waterfront, nautical themed wedding. We loved that we could also use the beach for our caterers to set up a New England clambake. We had around 215 guests and it was just right.

perfect everything was. Moreover, Elsie, Marc and the entire Herreshoff staff were incredible. Elsie answered every question and ensured everything went off without a hitch! We also rented the Peacock Alley House which was beautiful and incredibly convenient. After looking at what felt like every venue in MA and RI, nothing compared to Herreshoff and we couldn't be happier with how everything turned-out. You can see pictures of this beautiful venue here, taken by Lyndsay Hannah Photography: https://lyndsayhannahphotography.com/2018/09/02/indian-meets-italian-americas-cup/

earsal was booked inside the museum during our setup. Guests who arrived early had trouble finding parking for the ceremony. Most of her time was at spent at this rehearsal or her office and briefly made an appearance at our event. It seemed like she was avoiding us. She blamed everyone else for a chaotic setup, did the least amount of work possible, and gave no apology. She claims it’s normal for setup to be chaotic. This was unorganized chaos, not organized chaos-there’s a difference. She blamed me for hiring someone to help setup. She took this opportunity to leave instead of staying on-site to help answer questions. If I didn’t hire someone to help, it would have been worse. You don’t book two events to overlap and help BOTH clients.

nd it was the perfect venue for a traditional RI clambake. We found everyone on staff to be very easy to communicate with and very honest (which is always appreciated!) The tent is spacious for a reception and the dock was a beautiful setting for our ceremony. We appreciated that there was plenty of parking for guests and that everyone had room to explore the waterfront during the evening. The getting-ready room in the museum is an added bonus. A fantastic package at a good price! Can't recommend Elsie enough - she totally took the reigns as soon as we got to the venue and we didn't have to worry about a thing. Peace of mind on your wedding day is priceless!

e tent however you want which makes it easy to put your own personality into it. We did run into issues in terms of the organization of the Herreshoff. In the year leading up to the wedding we had three different coordinators, which unfortunately meant things we were promised originally we were told they couldn't do down the road. My only advice would be to definitely consider hiring your own Day-Of coordinator to keep on top of things - otherwise, great choice!

was magical, and all our guests kept commenting on how beautiful the setting was. Maggie Church, the event coordinator, was so sweet and easy to work with, and the Museum lets you bring in any caterer you want. They also have an indoor space (a boat hall) you can use, as well as a waiting/dressing room for the bride. Best of all, the space was a steal compared to other venues in Bristol and Newport. So happy we got married at Herreshoff!