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About this vendor
Join us August 24th at 5:30pm as CBF host our Wedding Expo. Our expo is a chance to see our space dressed up, resembling what a wedding day at our venue, and a chance to visit with local vendors for wedding planning. Our expo will feature cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, music, and a complimentary raffle. We hope you will join us for an intimate evening on the Chesapeake Bay!
Chesapeake Bay Foundation is a beach event venue located in Annapolis, Maryland, featuring the Merrill Center. Right on the beach, couples couldn’t have any more of a stunning backdrop for their wedding. Nestled amongst nature and stunning water views, the Merrill Center offers impeccable indoor and outdoor wedding spaces for couples to wed at.
Facilities and Capacity
This lovely venue can accommodate up to 200 guests. Featuring floor-to-ceiling windows, a cozy tented wooden deck overlooking the water and the beach, couples and guests are sure to have a wonderful time. With elegant and enchanting décor, clients will have the ideal space to customize for their ceremony and reception.
Services Offered
Chesapeake Bay Foundation offers a wedding manager to help assist you with your wedding, from catering to florists to photographers. Our Venue offer the following services:
Private Beach
Boat Access / Dock
Bridal suite
Exclusive venue use
Tables
Permanent Tent with Fans and Lighting
Outside vendor
Pet friendly
Preferred caterers only
Amenities + details
Covered Outdoors Space
Indoor Event Space
Liability Insurance
Reception Area
Dressing Room
Handicap Accessible
On-Site Accommodations
Outdoor Event Space
Wireless Internet
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Religious Ceremony
Settings
- Backyard
- Ballroom
- Beach
- Waterfront
- Industrial & Warehouse
- Tented
Venue Service Offerings
- Planning
- Rentals & Equipment
- Tents
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help
you make those big decisions with ease.
4.9
out of 5.07 reviews
Review photos
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We truly are not exaggerating when we say that CBF was the venue of our dreams! When we set out on our venue search, we had a couple of criteria on our must-have list: (1) a settin...
g that would be beautiful, majestic, and unforgettable; (2) convenient and comfortable on-site facilities for our guests; (3) a venue fee that wasn’t going to cost an arm and a leg; (4) somewhere that wasn’t just a “wedding venue,” but rather was part of some broader mission/cause; and (5) a location that was meaningful to us and our family.
We still can’t quite believe how lucky we were to find all of these and more in CBF. For views, you can’t beat the gorgeous natural surroundings or the stunning wood beams/architecture. For facilities, CBF has free and plentiful parking, as well as on-site bathrooms (so you don’t have to deal with the nonsense of renting a bathroom trailer). The venue fee is SO reasonable, especially when compared to other (frankly far less beautiful) venues in Maryland, DC, and Virginia. You also don’t really even mind paying the venue fee when you know that most of the venue fee goes to supporting CBF’s mission of saving the bay, which is further bolstered by CBF’s wedding-policy of banning single use plastics or Styrofoam. Finally (though this is just personal to us), my husband’s grandparents lived in Annapolis and the lighthouse where we scattered their ashes is visible from the CBF beach, which made the location extra special.
However, we never felt more affirmed in our decision to choose CBF than in the week leading up to our wedding. Just days before we were supposed to get married, we learned that Tropical Storm Ophelia was scheduled to hit Annapolis—thereby putting CBF in the flood zone—exactly on the day of our wedding. But with Shannon’s support and the work of our wonderful vendors, the team seamlessly turned what was supposed to be an outdoor beach wedding to a covered wedding on the deck seemingly overnight. And even with 50 mile per hour winds and sometimes sideways rain, our wedding could not have been more beautiful or joyful—which was in no small part due to CBF’s flexibility, kindness, and willingness to roll with the punches.
If you’re at all on the fence about CBF as your wedding venue, don’t be. Come rain, shine, or even a hurricane, I promise you won’t regret it!
I'm so glad I found CBF as a venue for my wedding. From the beginning, they we're very responsive with any questions I had. The planning process with them went so smoothly. And the...
venue itself is just gorgeous. I was so blessed with beautiful weather the day of my wedding, and the beach made such a nice backdrop for our ceremony. So many of our guests came up to us to tell us how amazing the venue was, and how they never even knew it was there. It truly is a hidden gem, and I can't recomend it more!
The CBF Philip Merrill Environmental Center was our dream venue with stunning views of the Chesapeake, an expansive tented deck reception, and an honorable commitment to sustainabl...
e practices. We could not be more impressed with the staff as well as the venue itself. The preferred vendors were amazing and helped make our wedding day run smoothly, the use of the 31 acres of grounds resulted in some incredible pictures, and the use of both the indoor/outdoor components of the venue made our late October wedding day an all-around success. I would highly recommend the CBF venue to anyone looking to have an incredible wedding day on the Chesapeake Bay!
We had such an amazing time hosting our wedding at the Merrill Center. All the guests thought the venue was stunning and we loved getting married on the beach with all our friends ...
and family. Could not have asked for a better venue!
CBF was the venue of our dreams. We wanted to get married on a beach and have the freedom to design an event that would really fit “us”. No place that we toured even held a candle ...
to the Philip Merrill Environmental Center. They let you provide your own bar, and choose from a list of caterers, which meant that we were able to serve a Brazilian menu. We loved that the venue is environmentally friendly, and that our venue fee would help support the Chesapeake Bay.
Emily Blackman knew every contingency plan for rain, social distancing, etc, and helped us design a layout that would work in any circumstance. There is a big tree on the beach, which provides some shade during the ceremony, and the deck is spacious enough for several tables, a bar, and a dance floor. They also provided some decor and a cornhole set, which was just an added bonus for a perfect night.
Our reception at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation was beautiful and perfect! Our guests loved the option of being inside or outside and the beach access is a plus! The deck was spacio...
us enough for dancing, mingling, and sitting and the tent was the icing on the cake. Perfect location all around!
It was an environmentally friendly building with a view of the Bay. We could have the ceremony and reception there.;If you have the ceremony and the reception at CBF you may want...
to purchase an extra hour (in addition to the 5 they give you).
Contact
6 Herndon Avenue, Annapolis, MD
Philip Merrill Environmental Center