Mashantucket Pequot Museum

This venue just speaks for itself. The breathtaking glass windows just open up the space brilliantly allowing the sunlight to enter along with the greenery, giving everyone space to breath and have a good time. The coordinators, staff and team were absolutely accommodating to all of our needs and they did not allow us to feel stressed throughout the entire planning process! Recommend to everyone!

We held three of our wedding events at the Pequot Museum. We could not be happier with how things went. The one thing our guests continued to tell us throughout the events and afterwards, was that our venue was incredible! Shantal and Phil were great in helping us coordinate the logistics. There really is no venue that is more picturesque with little effort.

Excellent venue! Our wedding was postponed a year due to covid19, we never skipped a beat and were always in contact with Shantal with no issue. All staff were great and everything worked out perfectly, even with a ton of rain the day before the wedding and last minute changes to ceremony location. My guests all commented on the absolute beauty of the venue, and I am still hearing from people about how much they enjoyed it. The observation tower made for stunning photos and a nice touch for guests to be able to go up and check out the scenery. Overall this was an excellent choice for a wedding and we highly recommend.

Would of loved to see this venue in person however we drove an hour and a half to get a tour and the sales person never showed up. We never received an email or phone call back after reaching out and waiting an hour. It was very unprofessional and disheartening that someone, anyone, couldn’t have the decency to at least contact us. We were strongly considering this venue for our wedding, and this let down made us realize that the staff here doesn’t care.

A dreamy wedding cannot be complete without a magical reception, and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum was the perfect setting for our amazing day's end! The Gathering Place was spacious and welcoming, surrounded by windows to the lovely wooded outdoor scenery. Aside from the absolute beauty and sparkling flair of the Museum, the event coordinators shined! Phil Lavallee and Shantal Lapid helped us to create a living fantasy! Our fall event was bright and cheery, with elegant touches and warm nuances throughout! Working with our wedding coordinators, they laid out a picture perfect reception with a backdrop of Connecticut's fall foliage that could not be adequately described. They were professional, courteous, friendly, organized, flexible, knowledgeable, and just amazing! Our day was perfect! The ambiance created will never be forgotten! The blend of tradition and contemporary design was divine. And the celebration of our heritage raised the joy to another level! The food was delicious! We even had a donut bar to further sweeten the day! I'm thrilled we selected this incredible venue, and that our family of 200-plus was able to share in the glory of it all. If you are looking for a place to make your special day spectacular indeed, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum is the place! Our happy life together began there!

Part I: To anyone considering Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center, On July 6, 2019 we hosted my brother’s wedding reception at this exquisite and one of a kind venue! My mother and I are the wedding industry ourselves and being wedding decorators, we have had years of connections with multiple venues in the tristate area, however, I can confidently & genuinely say that there is no other venue in the tristate area that compares to the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center (MPMRC). I am writing this review not only because Shantal Lapid & Phil Lavallee deserve the utmost recognition for being the masterminds behind this venue, but also because, although my mother and I are in the wedding business, it is a complete game changer when you have a wedding for someone in your own family and you are now the client yourself. I want to be able to provide others with the clear and concise wedding go-to advice that I feel like will make this process less stressful and more enjoyable. Here are some of the most important things we learned during this process: 1. Do your research and find a venue that is known to be accommodating: a. In our culture, we have nearly 3 events for a wedding celebration (because dealing with the stress of one event is never enough for us haha). The reception was at MPMRC, however the first two events were in New Jersey. The difference between the venue in NJ versus MPMRC was like comparing oranges to apples. We had the most stressful and difficult time dealing with the venue in New Jersey because they were never willing to accommodate to our needs. Everything was always an additional charge somehow to the point that they even had my sister in law resign a new contract with new policies that were never discussed initially. Nothing was provided to us with the room as we were expecting. It was an additional charge for projectors (and if we brought our own projectors, there would be a convenience fee due to the hotel), if we chose to change the table/chair layout than originally agreed upon, there would be a charge, and to even get the banquet room just an hour before the event (since my mom was decorating, and being the mother of the groom, she also wanted to get ready for the events properly, so she kindly requested to get the banquet room as earliest as possible, however even though the room was not occupied, the hotel management wanted to charge us $1,000 for early access to the room.) I am sharing this information, because I want you all to understand the difference between dealing with a venue that is not accommodating to a venue that is accommodating. b. When we first got to know Phil and Shantal of MPMRC for the reception, they were so interested and shocked that the family of the groom would also be the decorators of the event. They were more concerned for us than we were for ourselves and made it a point to accentuate the fact that we also need to enjoy this event. Without us even asking, they provided the venue for us a day earlier to get all the decoration done AND even allowed us to pick up all the decoration items the day after the event. I mean, never in our years of being in this industry ourselves, have we EVER found any management this understanding, accommodating, and giving. Since the projectors were not provided to us at the venue in New Jersey....

I had my wedding and reception here on june 15th! It’s such a beautiful venue and a hidden gem in the state of Connecticut! Both Phil and Shantel went above and beyond to help make my dream wedding a reality! Thank you so much for everything! I would recommend this venue to all future brides!

Such a beautiful and unique venue! We recently had our wedding here and were able to use the garden area and the main gathering space. The gathering space is truly unique and the architecture makes a statement on its own. Phil and Shantal did everything to make our special day perfect. They were both fantastic to work with over the course of a year of planning, and when the big day came, they were on top of everything. Just beware as the museum is active, procuring service staff and linens comes at an added cost and effort to you.