The Columbus Athenaeum

Perfect Reception Venue!!

9/20/2014 Elisa M

The Athenaeum was the 2nd venue that we saw and I was instantly sold on the Olympian Ballroom. The room has such a dramatic feel. I loved that the cocktail hour is in the balcony to oversee the ballroom. The room looked amazing! I couldn't say more positive things about the Athenauem! We had the best experience here which made our wedding day perfect! Ann Clark helped us throughout the wedding planning process. She did an amazing job with everything. Ann helped set up our wedding timeline that coordinated with the DJ and photographer. We ran a little behind on some the entrances and dances but she worked hard to keep us moving. I absolutely loved every minute of our reception with the help of Ann. HIGHLY recommend having any event here!!

Wedding Venue

8/08/2014 Heidi H

We ran across the Athenaeum at a local bridal show and by change my husband was familiar with it because he had been to an even their previously. Danielle explained the different rooms & prices for a Friday wedding so we set an appointment immediately. When we went for our meeting with TCA our consultant was Anne Smith. She made sure to sit with us so that she best understood what our expectations & budget was for our wedding & then proceeded to walk us through the venue to all of their event rooms. The moment we saw the Large Theatre room we absolutly fell in love with it. It was so different than anything we had ever seen before. On top of the unique venue the prices for our Friday wedding were next to unbeatable for the type of wedding we were wanting. We booked our venue within a week of meeting with Ann. Throughout the entire process (November-August) Ann stayed in contact with us, making sure we stayed on our time lines & if we needed any help. She was really great to work with. Now that our wedding has come & gone I can tell you this.. TCA helped us throw our dream wedding. The large Theatre room was stunning, the lighting was beautiful, the center pieces (they provided) were beautiful, everything that we brought was set up perfectly & we have received compliments almost daily on how great the food was! Not only that but we did this by staying at a reasonable budget! My only compliants with TCA would be: The room was extremely hot during rehearsal & we were told it would be better the next day for our wedding & I don' believe that it was. We had several of our guests comment on how hot it was in the room & they would step outside to get fresh air and would miss something going on inside.

Beautiful, Elegant with Great Customer Service

7/05/2014 Elizabeth M

Ann Clark was my wedding consultant and she did a great job helping me plan out all the details in a stress-free,kind and professional manner. The great thing about this venue is they cater everything (delicious!) and the rooms are so nice, I barely needed to add any decorations (just flowers). I would say that it's smart to designate someone or some people to help carry out and load gifts, etc at the end of the night because it was somewhat chaotic. Otherwise, this place is amazing. They do a ton of weddings and clearly know what they're doing.

The Perfect Reception!

7/05/2014 Holly P

The Athenaeum was the FIRST reception location my husband and I scouted…we decided on it that day! We held our reception in the Olympian Ballroom it was everything we could have hoped for and more! From the delicious catering, to the seamless transitioning from one part of the reception to the next, the Athenaeum goes above and beyond to ensure that your event is stress free and is EXACTLY what you wanted. The decor, parking, and loading/unloading of everything was all done with complete ease. The Athenaeum knows how to throw a gorgeous wedding, their service is impeccable and I couldn't imagine having held my reception anywhere else. Danielle L. also deserves very special mention for all of the hard work she didn't coordinating and planning our event…she truly made the entire process a joy! Holly P.

A great time!!

6/28/2014 Emily T

My wedding reception was in the small theatre, and the athenaeum was absolutely fabulous. The venue itself is beautiful, and they set up all of the decorations for you. Although I was a little concerned that we had to cater through them, the dinner and desserts were delicious! They have several different packages (very flexible in what they include) that are great for most budgets. My event manager, Gina, met with us several times to make sure we had all the details decided on, and then they took it from there. The Athenaeum was a great, hassle-free reception venue!

Wonderful service!

5/31/2014 Angela H

At my first meeting with Ann, I was very impressed with her attention to detail and how she made me feel like my wedding was important to her. She followed up with me and invited me to one of their food tastings. I looked at 2 other venues and I felt that the Athenaeum had the best first impression and was the best value. I booked the venue about 16 months ahead of time and throughout the whole process, the Athenaeum walks you through everything. We met pretty early on to go over details and at that meeting we established a lot of the planning. It was very helpful for me so that I could communicate everything to my other vendors. Ann took excellent notes and didn't miss a beat! I was very impressed on how she got every detail right and I didn't have to question her because everything was laid out in front of me on our banquet event order. Of course there were small changes made in the several months leading up to the wedding, and every single change was noted and updated in a timely fashion. I never doubted their abilities to pull off a successful event. During the wedding, Ann was there to direct guests and to ensure we had everything we needed. We had a room for the bridesmaids and I to relax right before the ceremony. They watched the clock for us and let us know when it was time. Everything was just as we had discussed and there were no problems. It's clear that the staff at the Athenaeum are professionals in the business. The service they provided was exceptional! The reason for the 4 star on quality was mainly because of one of our entrees. We had 2 entrees that we had tried at the food tasting so I knew what we were having at dinner. We served chicken beurre blanc and london broil with bordelaise sauce. At our tasting, the london broil blew my taste buds away but at our wedding, it didn't taste the same nor as good. I was a little disappointed because I was so looking forward to eating it again! But on the flip side, the chicken beurre blanc tasted better than I had remembered so I was happy with that. I even ate my husband's chicken! The other thing that gave the quality a 4 star were the uplights in our reception room. I added purple gels to the uplights to create more of a purple glow to the room. Either the gels weren't that great or the uplights because you could barely see the purple. Minor detail that I noticed moreso in the pictures because I wanted that purple in the background. Honestly, I could not have asked for a more perfect wedding. The stage at our reception was perfect for our special dance performance and I think everything about the venue made our day more special. There are a few important things when it comes to your wedding and venue is probably number 1 and based off the experience I had with the Athenaeum, I would not hesitate to recommend this venue to anyone. They did a wonderful job and being a bit of an OCD bride, all the details were perfect!

Five Star Reception

4/12/2014 Bethany F

great service and coordination! Gina is fantastic! Food is delicious ... we would highly recommended the mash potato bar.

TCA made my wedding fabulous!!

3/01/2014 Allyse H

The rooms are more beautiful in person than online, you must schedule a tour here. We used the Large Theater for both our ceremony and reception because it was so original. We worked with Trisha, and she was there as much as we needed, which was super helpful. I originally didn't want a wedding planner, but having her there for suggestions and support was priceless. I would absolutely recommend TCA again, they are fabulously attentive to detail and their deadlines give you one less thing to worry about because you know that they're taking care of it.

Gorgeous Venue

11/02/2013 Erin W

Overall, we had a really great experience with The Athenaeum. To start, the venue is simply gorgeous. We had a reception of 200 people in the Olympian Ballroom. It truly is a room and venue like no other. So much history. So much romance and classic elegance. Our reception turned out STUNNING. Ann was great to work with and the staff at TCA was wonderful. The staff the day of (along with Ann!) were just fabulous. They made you feel so great, and one thing everyone told me before my wedding day was to "Make sure you eat dinner!" well, TCA makes sure you do. They bring you a plate of food, appetizers, drinks, their level of customer service was spectacular especially during that night of!

Wonderful Reception

9/21/2013 Lauren P

The Columbus Athenaeum was one of the first venues that we saw and visited when we started planning. We were really interested in the "all-inclusiveness" of their services. Add that to the gorgeous historic building and we were sold. Honestly, I couldn't have been more happy with how our reception went, the level of service the Athenaeum provided and the helpfulness of the event coordinator that we worked with (Ann Clark). Planning: The planning process was really helped by our coordinator. Ann was available to answer all of our questions (in a timely manner!), provide suggestions and really help us create the flow of our reception as we were DIYers with no Wedding Planner or DOC. Throughout the planning process we made numerous changes (even some last minute) and she was very accommodating and interested in us having the day that we wanted. Food: While we loved the idea of an onsite caterer, I was a little bit worried about what the quality of food would be. We were able to attend a tasting where they had a buffet set-up with a lot of the variety of HDVs, entree's and deserts. Literally there was SO MUCH food at the tasting- and it was totally yummy! This put my worries to rest. The night of, the food was still great- big portions, fresh veggies and great temperature (we did a plated meal). We actually missed our cocktail hour due to photos, but the staff was nice enough to have a little bit of everything at our head table when we sat down for dinner- everything was great

Wedding at TCA

8/24/2013 lauren w

Overall we had a wonderful experience with the Athenaeum although the change to the alcohol policy wasn't favorable to customers. We also had an issue with the bartenders not replenishing liquor as promised which we did not find out about until about a week following the wedding. The venue was beautiful and Anne was helpful throughout the entire process. Other than the issue with the alcohol the event went off without issue.

Athenaeum was Perfect!

8/03/2013 christy f

Once I walked into the Olympian Ballroom, I knew that is where I wanted our reception to be. We had a guest list of just over 300 people (only about 190 attended) and that was the best room in Columbus I had found (for a great price). We got engaged end of October and married in August, so with a short timeline, I wasn't sure if we were going to find the best place. Trisha was amazing from the second we met with her on our very first tour, to the day she called me and told me they had an opening in the ballroom for the month I wanted it. Trisha paid attention to all the details and made sure everything was great for us. She gave honest opinions (which I am a huge fan of) and didn't try to "sell" us on anything. The only downside to this venue (and most all others) is that you don't get to taste the food before you book the room. However, my husband's grandmother is still talking about how the prime rib she had at our wedding was the best she has had in her lifetime (she still talks about it to us when we see and its been almost 2 months!). The strawberry salad dressing was one of my favorites (one of the many great suggestions by Trisha) and people were going up for seconds. We knew people that had not gone with this venue because of their lack of a liquor license. However, they have a liquor license now, and it is great - you only buy how much alcohol you want to be consumed! I hated looking at other venues and how the only option was to pay per person. At the Athenaeum, we were able to buy as much beer & wine (we did not do liquor) that we thought our family & friends would consume. They even said that if there is any left over, that we could have taken it home with us. We ordered the perfect amount and there was no alcohol left over (we did ask them to save a bottle of red & white wine for us to keep). I personally did not like any of the ceremony rooms, so we did our ceremony elsewhere. This is a great place for a reception though - especially for the price, we were VERY happy with this venue. Thanks again for a memorable evening!

Must Have Venue

7/27/2013 Anastasia S

We booked the Athenaeum about one year before we got married, and worked with Ann Clark to plan our dream reception. She made the entire process go smoothly, from choosing linens to picking out our dinner choices. The Olympic Ballroom was absolutely beautiful, and we could not have asked for a better experience. We would highly recommend the Columbus Athenaeum to other couples!

The whole package

9/07/2013 Erin W

When I was seeking a venue for my September wedding, the Athenaeum surpassed every expectation I had with their venue. The inclusions of catering, tables and chairs, centerpieces, the ability to have both our ceremony and reception in the same building, all contributed to my decision to hold my wedding there. We had the ceremony in the Priory, which had the look of a cathedral with the feel of an intimate ceremony and the reception in the Small Theater across the hall, which was such a beautiful room that decorations were hardly needed. The planning process went smoothly, Trisha Morris was my coordinator and made it very easy for me to plan from a distance. I was very impressed by the ease of the event on the day, things ran seamlessly and I could tell that the staff was well practiced. The food was excellent, all of my guests were complimenting it throughout the night. The only part that may have been slightly off was making sure we were out in the allotted amount of time at the end of the night but we didn't feel rushed or pushed out, but the deadline is pretty set in stone so if you're looking to be able to have your event taper off whenever it naturally does so this is something to keep in mind. Overall our experience here blew me away, the space looked amazing and really represented me and my husband as a couple. The Athenaeum also recommended vendors for us which was very helpful since we were not familiar with what was available in the Columbus area. I highly recommend this venue for anyone who loves architecturally interesting spaces, delicious food, and top-notch customer service.

Wedding

7/06/2013 alyssa h

We loved having our wedding at the Columbus Athenaeum! The venue is gorgeous and all of our guests could not stop talking about how amazing the food was!

Beautiful event, not so beautiful management

7/06/2013 Laura B

Pros: Our wedding was gorgeous, beautiful and elegant. Our wedding coordinator was wonderful and I loved working with her! She was prompt in responses and always tried to be available when I came to town as I was an out of town bride. The food tasting was delicious and very well done. We had a cookie table, which is not the most convenient addition to a reception. The coordinator worked really hard to give us what we were looking for, and the cookie table was the highlight of the evening! The food was delicious, and we heard wonderful comments from all of our guests about how beautiful our reception was. Cons: We were one of the "unlucky" ones who booked The Athenaeum before they acquired a liquor license. When we met with them initially they raved about how cost effective it was to be able to get alcohol outside the venue. We booked with them with this in mind with our budget. A few months down the road we hear they had acquired a liquor license and we were now legally bound to order through them. We had already found another vendor for our alcohol, but still had to use them. It seems strange they had no idea they were getting a liquor license when we signed the contract. When we met with our coordinator we found out that management was not going to provide any additional "accommodations" for the inconvenience of the change. We then learned that we would not be able to keep OR sell back any unopened liquor we hadn't drank but had already paid for. This seems very unethical to keep liquor WE PAID FOR and sell it at a higher cost to other wedding parties at another date. We also were not able to take home any of the DELCIOUS food left over from our wedding. I know many couples who were able to do this after their reception with other venues. Again, another way The Columbus Athenaeum failed on customer service. My father had spoken to management at one point during the alcohol issue and the man was defensive from the beginning of the conversation and wouldn't listen to his comments. We weren't looking for free alcohol, just additional services for the inconvenience of changing the policy after we signed a contract. Overall, the Athenaeum is a beautiful venue, serves amazing food and we had an amazing time. Their policies are fairly extreme, and management is a pain, but their staff are wonderful and accommodating as much as they can be. Brides, just know the policies WELL before you sign any contracts!

Mixed Emotion

5/11/2013 ciara s

we originally booked with this venue since it was bring your own alcohol. we signed a contract stating that we would bring responsible for bringing our own alcohol and 6 months before the wedding they informed us that we no longer able to bring our own alcohol and had to purchase through them. after they informed us of this they then proceeded to tell us that if there was any liquor left over that we couldn't take it or get a refund for it. Day of our wedding was beautiful and set up with out missing a beat. Our coordinator who was supposed to be there through the night ended up leaving half way through the night. when we asked one of the servers where they were they informed us that the coordinator was no longer there. Beautiful wedding reception, organized, great food, disappointing surprises.

Great to work with!!

5/03/2013 heather k

Such a great evening! The staff really knows their stuff and will work with you to ensure your night is special! Loved it!!

Made the wedding day so easy!

5/04/2013 Caitlin G

Ann at the Athenaeum made everything run so smoothly the day of! I was able to just relax and enjoy the evening. If anything went wrong, I certainly had no idea because she handled everything. They do have strict rules, but if you are willing to follow them, then they go above and beyond to make your day beautiful!

Great Venue and Staff

4/20/2013 Amanda S

I worked with Trisha on my wedding reception and ceremony at TCA. She was knowledgeable, and responded quickly to my emails. She was easy to work with and we really enjoyed working with them for our venue. The tasting was really well done and although there were many other couples participating in the tasting the sales reps and the chefs made every effort to answer questions and give advice. As for the night of the event, everything was where it was supposed to be. Trisha did a great job of communicating with us throughout the evening. Everything went really well and I didn’t have to worry about the venue which made enjoying the day much easier.

Gallery

The Columbus Athenaeum

Columbus, OH

Capacity: More than 400 | WEBSITE | PHONE

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