Museum of Life + Science

We had our wedding at MLS in April 2023 and had a great experience. Rachel is a lovely person and was great to work with throughout the wedding planning process. We did the Magic Wings package and were lucky enough to have perfect weather for our big day. It was nice to know that the museum has a built-in rain plan if needed too. The ceremony area is so beautiful and does not need any additional decoration, which is a big plus! WE had about 145 guests (which is close to the max capacity I believe), but it worked great and did not feel cramped. We did pretty basic decorations underneath the tent for the reception and it still looked gorgeous. Our guests loved getting to explore the butterfly house and riding the train. We did pay extra for additional photo time pre-wedding and to extend the length of the reception (given you can't start the ceremony there until 6:30). I think those add-ons were helpful. Overall, the museum was a perfect venue for our big day. It is beautiful and unique and the team there is awesome!

If you’re looking for a space that is unique and filled with natural beauty this is the place for you! Our late March 2023 wedding on the Butterfly House lawn was MAGICAL! From the beauty of the space and the experience of cocktail hour in the butterfly house our guests had a fantastic time. Rachel and her team are great and were wonderful to work with through the entire process. The museum also has so many amazing photo locations!

We had our wedding at NCMLS April 30 2022. The venue coordinator Rachel was absolutely amazing and the staff were so kind and friendly. We did the wings and wonder package, which worked out very well given NC’s finicky weather. We also added 1hr of photography time, 1 hr of reception time, and the animal encounter. All were excellent calls that gave us the chance to enjoy ourselves at a more leisurely pace. The animal encounter was an extra dose of delight for our guests and we’ve had many folks tell us it’s the most fun they’ve had at a wedding.

The butterfly house was a wonderful and fun place to get married. Releasing the butterflies was a standout and the whole staff made it easy to have the small ceremony we wanted. Their wedding package was put together smartly and was everything that we wanted

Working with Lauren and the team from the Museum of Life & Science for our wedding was fantastic. We got married by the Butterfly House and with lucky weather, our wedding was a beautiful dream come true. We used the lawn for the ceremony, the tent for the reception, and the Butterfly House for our cocktail hour and our guests had a fantastic time exploring and enjoying the beautiful garden. Lauren and the museum coordinated with our vendors very well so that a lot of the setup and organization was handled for us, so all we had to do was show up and get married. It’s worth noting that because the venue is a museum first and foremost, there are some business restrictions you might encounter that you wouldn’t at another venue. For one, your vendors will only have an hour to setup because they will not be allowed in until the museum has closed for the day. The museum closed at 5 and our guests began arriving at 6. Because Lauren works with the Durham vendors closely, we didn’t have to worry and they were easily setup within the time frame, but if you have more complicated needs keep in mind that that your vendors may have extra time constraints imposed by the museum. We highly recommend adding extra photography time to explore the museum grounds, and extra reception time since the wedding has to start a little later in the evening. Additionally, because of the way the museum is operated, you will need to make your rainplan and weather call a few days in advance. We took a risk and got lucky that it didn’t rain, but keep in mind the museum is a little more restrictive when you use an outdoor space. The Museum did work with us on the vendor setup and the making a rain plan, so while these constraints are a little more restrictive than other venues, we felt like we were in capable hands and didn’t have complicated decorations or demands for the space (it’s already in a beautiful garden, so we didn’t want to over decorate). Having our wedding at the Museum of Life & Science made for a unique and memorable night, the staff was super friendly and the space is beautiful. We highly recommend taking a tour and seeing if it’s the right place for you!

It’s impossible to put into words just how perfect our wedding day was thanks to the Museum of Life and Science and their incredibly wonderful staff. After considering a total of 25 different wedding venues throughout the state (and touring 8 of them), I can say with absolute confidence that, as far as venues go, the Museum of Life and Science is the BEST of the best. We held our ceremony on the lawn outside the butterfly house and had our reception under the special events tent. WEEKS after our wedding, guests are still commenting on how “magical” our venue was, and we couldn’t agree more. The grounds are beautifully landscaped, and the glass, butterfly house provides a really dramatic ceremony backdrop, so we were able to keep décor relatively simple since the space is already so naturally gorgeous. But in addition to the incredible space itself, Lauren and the rest of the museum staff were an absolute DREAM to work with and made the sometimes complex and overwhelming process of wedding planning so manageable! From the moment we first met Lauren, she made us feel so taken care of and reassured that our wedding day would go off without a hitch (which it ultimately did!). Lauren was ALWAYS available to answer our questions in the months leading up to the wedding, to advocate for us when some challenges arose with a few of our venders, and to make sure all our needs were met on the day of. She worked so closely with us (and so well with the rest of our venders) that she truly felt like a friend by our wedding day. On top of that, all the museum staff we interacted with on the day of the wedding were absolute saints and treated us like royalty. One staff member drove us around the grounds in our own private golf cart so we could squeeze in a bunch of pictures at different exhibits while another caught butterflies for us to use in our photographs (talk about going above and beyond the call of duty!). Everyone blended seamlessly into our day with warmth and professionalism, and we just couldn’t have asked for better folks to spend our special day with! If you’re still on the hunt for a wedding venue, you can stop searching now because this one can’t be beat! Pro Tip: We HIGHLY recommend picking a date in May when all the flowers are in bloom!

My husband and I had an amazing wedding at the NC Museum of Life and Science! We did the Magic Wings package, which has the ceremony on the lawn outside of the butterfly house, the cocktail hour in the butterfly house/insectarium, and the reception under the special events tent. The venue is gorgeous and unique, and our guests LOVED the liquid nitrogen margaritas and animal encounter! We have no regrets about having our wedding here. It poured rain right after our ceremony, but we were still able to have our reception under the tent without a problem. Lauren, our venue coordinator, was very sweet and helpful! A few things to be aware of before booking (all of which the museum will tell you) The museum has an automatic rain back-up plan if your wedding is scheduled to be outdoors (inside the museum itself), which is great! However, you need to decide whether you'll move your wedding indoors by the Wednesday prior to the wedding, after which you have to pay $500 to change; you can’t change anything after Friday. We didn’t think much about this when we booked the venue, but it ended up calling for rain on our wedding day, and being forced to make a decision on Wednesday (when the forecast was still 50/50) was very stressful. We ended up going with a “partial” rain plan, with the ceremony under the special events tent, and then having our coordinators move all of the chairs onto the lawn for the ceremony because the museum would not let us change the plan for chair placement. I would recommend that the museum offer more flexibility in switching between the partial rain plan and the original plan, because it seems very easy to do even with limited staff and would have reduced our stress level significantly. Also, be aware that you only have one hour for set-up, and that you will also likely need to extend your reservation time if you have both the ceremony and reception at the museum! Again, the museum was very clear about all of this from the beginning – these are just things to think about that may be more consequential than you initially think. Overall, we absolutely loved having our wedding here and would choose this venue again in a heartbeat!

Lauren and her team at the Museum made our wedding so special! We decided to get married in the treehouses, and Lauren did a wonderful job of figuring out how to stage the ceremony so that guests could see, hear, and enjoy everything. The photos beforehand on the Dinosaur Trail, the cocktail hour in the Butterfly House, and the reception on the lawn were all perfect. While load-in time at this venue is pretty short since it’s an active children’s museum, Lauren still made it easy for us to have everything ready on time. We also appreciated having access to a golf cart to help move guests with mobility challenges. I grew up going to the Museum as a kid, so to get married there was meaningful and magical. Highly, highly recommend this venue and their warm, capable, responsive events team!!

Absolutely wonderful! A fantastic, nerdy, unique wedding venue. Lauren and the events team were amazing. They handled every detail, even the ones I did not think of. They are professionals, and yet they love to have fun and make sure your event is fun too. I would recommend them to all of my friends who are getting married in the near future. The venue itself is gorgeous - wonderful outdoor and indoor backdrops. Our pictures were amazing - and with dinosaurs!

Our wedding at the Museum of Life and Science was absolutely perfect! Lauren was responsive and a delight to work with throughout the planning process, and the rest of the day of staff were friendly and completely on top of everything. Our wedding day went off without a hitch and we appreciated that there were no hidden costs for anything. We chose the magic wings package (ceremony on the lawn, cocktail hour in the butterfly house, reception under the tent) and it truly was magical. The guests raved about the liquid nitrogen margaritas, the butterfly house, and even the insect exhibits! The only downside is that the time frame for set up is rather limited since you have to wait until the Museum closes to start setting up. The Museum was clear about that from the start so it wasn't a surprise, but if you choose the Museum, be sure to discuss this early on with your other vendors (especially your florist) to ensure that your plans can realistically be set up in only an hour!

Planning a wedding with this venue has been a terrible experience. It's really awful to have such negative feelings about my venue when it is supposed to be the happiest day of my life. We tried to find an alternative venue (meaning we were willing to forgo all our deposits) but unfortunately all the other vendors we liked were no longer available. I think its a beautiful venue but I in retrospect I would have foregone this venue for a place that had more incentive to deliver for weddings. For specifics Response time on emails is highly variable from immediate to over a week later replying at 8pm on a Friday and not being in the office to answer a call less than a minute later. Service Quality: To be fair we have yet to execute our event but due to my lack of confidence in the venues coordinator we ended up hiring a coordinator adding an additional over 1K cost that was unplanned. If you do use this venue I would budget this in early. Professionalism: Very unprofessional (sending follow up emails that we will lose our date because we haven't given a deposit when we already did, replying to emails after business hours before long weekends and not responding to phone calls, not fully responding to questions in emails) Flexibility: When I did the original tour I was told they were VERY flexible, I listed a bunch of things I wanted to do and my plan and the coordinator was all ears, it turns out that this is not the case. The museum did not do anything wrong in this circumstance as all the contract does give them significant control over the ultimate decisions about certain details of the event, we were just told something different upfront then once we signed the contract it was a different story. My honest advice would be if it is not too late to find a new venue do it, I wish a more honest review had been available when I had started planning.

We had a fantastic wedding at the museum. For what you get the price is great and the coordinator Lauren was there to help and answer questions the entire time. I planned my wedding from Texas and she was more than happy to provide the extra support needed to make sure my day was perfect. The venue itself was beautiful and my guests had so much fun. We got married outside of the butterfly house and had our reception in the tent. The cocktail hour had guests on the train, in the butterfly house, and experiencing the animal encounter. It was a perfect night and I can't imagine my wedding at any other venue.

We could not be happier with our choice to have our wedding at the Museum of Life and Science! It is such a unique venue and it's perfect for those who might not want the classic church/ballroom event. One of the best parts of having your wedding there is being able to take pictures all over the grounds, our photographer was so excited to shoot in the butterfly house and in the hideaway woods. Another benefit is the ability to move your event inside if you decide to book the lawn/tent and the forecast shows rain, which was my biggest fear in choosing an outdoor venue. Also, Lauren, the events manager, was absolutely wonderful to work with and was on top of everything during the planning process and the event itself.

Seriously, this is an amazing venue! All of our guests commented on how great and unique it was. The staff was incredible; they were flexible and worked hard to help everything run smoothly. They took care of so much of the day, we hardly had anything to worry about. It was a little pricier than having our wedding in, say, a hotel ballroom but TOTALLY worth the extra cost.

We had gone to an after-hours event at the Museum of Life and Science before my fiancé and I were engaged. When we were looking for places to get married that would reflect us, we thought about the Museum. We wanted to have the wedding outside but knew we’d need a backup area in case of rain, extreme heat, etc. The Museum was perfect. They only schedule one event per night so if the weather is iffy, you can move it inside. We used the lawn area next to the Butterfly House and it was great. Kelly and her team coordinated everything without a hitch. The space was lovely and I have had nothing but compliments about how everything went. How can you beat providing your guests with a train during cocktail hour?

Amazing place to have a wedding. I love this museum and the event coordinator Kelly Taylor is great. She told me in the beginning that they will try to do anything to make it your "dream wedding" and they did. The museum is very flexible and I did not feel they were trying to profit from you which I think is partly based on its locale - a museum with a focus on education and science. Everything turned out beautiful and guests loved the location. It will be so nice to go back to visit with my husband in the future and hopefully bring our own kids there too if we have them! You also get a discount on the reception priced if you sign up for a membership.

Great for kids and adults - we used the butterfly house reception area and the outdoor area. The kids loved the 'bugs'. The tent we set up worked well for the band and dancing.;The museum didn't want us to use an outside caterer at first. We had to really push for that.