For Stylish Celebrations in a City of Culture
Holds ceremonies and receptions
The Neon House is a contemporary wedding venue that fits right in with its surroundings in Norfolk, VA. This unique indoor space can be found in the city’s official arts district. Known as the New Energy of Norfolk, or NEON district, the area sets a vibrant scene for celebrations. Couples and their guests can explore exciting locations such as art studios and opera houses. This one-of-a-kind venue lets couples experience the city in a whole new way.
Marcy Telfer and her husband Chef John Patrick own and operate The Neon House. They decided to launch the venue following the success of their catering business. These talented professionals have brought delicious food to events for over 20 years. Growing from this experience, they now want to offer couples a dynamic place to tie the knot. The venue has three distinct event spaces for a modern, industrial wedding. The Studio is the largest area in the property. It has plenty of room for grand celebrations of up to 299 guests. Exposed red brick walls and beams add an enchanting urban element to the occasion. Decorated with string lighting and custom florals, the space feels rustic and romantic. Natural light pours through a unique glass garage door. This brightens up the celebrations for a lovely day-time ceremony. For even larger gatherings, couples can extend their event into The Gallery. On its own, this area has a capacity for up to 250 seated guests. Together with The Studio, it can fit over 500 loved ones for an unforgettable occasion. This industrial-chic space has a vintage charm. Antique columns mark the entryway, hinting at the sophisticated celebrations to follow. Finally, more intimate events can be held in The Loft. It seats up to 20 guests and is ideal for small events or as a lounge area.
The team at The Neon House brings a diverse set of skills to every celebration. These forward-thinking professionals know how to pull off sophisticated city celebrations. The energetic staff at the venue will oversee the details on the day. They want to set the happy couple free from responsibility. The team at Chef by Design, the owners’ catering business, will create a delicious menu. These skilled cooks strive to ensure that every event goes out with a bang. They aspire to design mouth-watering dishes as unique as the happy couple. Their one-of-a-kind cuisine is served with a smile by highly trained staff. Marcy and John want to help couples remember this once-in-a-lifetime event. Couples can rent the venue for a relaxed portrait session with their chosen photographer.
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Woman-owned Business
Speaks English
Amenities + details
Amenities
Ceremony Area
Dressing Room
Handicap Accessible
Indoor Event Space
On-Site Accommodations
Reception Area
Wireless Internet
Ceremony Types
Civil Union
Commitment Ceremony
Elopement
Interfaith Ceremony
Non-Religious Ceremony
Religious Ceremony
Second Wedding
Vow Renewal Ceremony
Settings
Industrial & Warehouse
Venue Service Offerings
Bar & Drinks
Cakes & Desserts
Cupcakes
Other Desserts
Food & Catering
Planning
Wedding Design
Rentals & Equipment
Service Staff
Any questions?
Meet the team
Chef John Patrick and Marcy Telfer
The Owners
Chef John Patrick and Marcy Telfer are the husband-and-wife duo who head The Neon House and Chef by Design Catering. They have realized their dream of having their own Hampton Roads venue.
Reviews
5.0
out of 5.011 reviews
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Review Summary
This AI-generated summary is a snapshot of this vendor's ratings and feedback.
The Neon House venue in Downtown Norfolk has received rave reviews for its exceptional staff, delicious food, and beautiful industrial-meets-romantic setting. Reviewers praised Marcy, Heather, and Mandi for their dedicated and professional service in making wedding dreams come true. The venue offers spacious bridal and groom suites, a seamless planning process with in-house catering by Chef By Design, and a convenient location for guests. Guests were impressed with the stunning ambiance, customizable options, and the ability to create a personalized wedding experience. Overall, multiple reviewers highly recommend the Neon House for a magical wedding day.Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 9
Kelsey H
Highlighted review.
5.0
4/26/2024
We booked The Neon House for our wedding on 04.20.24 and WOW! I could not be happier with the venue, the staff, and how our whole day turned out!! The Neon House is owned by the hu...
sband and wife team who also own and run Chef by Design catering. I will talk about Chef by Design separately but also WOW!!!! The venue provides the perfect balance of INDUSTRIAL with exposed brick and concrete flooring, and ROMANTIC with plush couches, gold shelves, string lights, and ivory curtains. It was the perfect mix to represent my husband and me; made only better by the kind staff and incredible food. It has plenty of space for a separate ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception area without having to deal with room flipping; and also provides a beautiful bridal suite as a getting ready area. With the in-house catering and the venue providing or aiding in all rentals needed for the big day, it doesn't get easier in terms of wedding planning. I worried that the large venue would end up looking a little unfinished on the big day, but instead it was even more beautiful than I ever imagined.
We loved the venue, staff, and again the FOOD so much that we also booked our rehearsal dinner with The Neon House! Again this was an incredible experience and made the transition for the big day seamless. The staff was accommodating enough to allow us to bring most of our wedding decor to the rehearsal and step up as needed the night before.
Marcy (owner) and Heather took care of me from start to finish, found a way to accommodate all my requests, and handled my (I admit) bridzilla moments with grace. I could not ask for a better venue or staff to help bring my wedding vision to life!!
Anya K
5.0
3/09/2026
We loved our venue and the staff that worked with us. They made sure we were happy and fed. Always kept us in the loop of things
Any questions?
Morgan S
5.0
12/16/2025
Loved everything about our venue and food. Our wedding was magical.
Robert P
5.0
7/10/2025
WOW! Just WOW. We got married June 2025 and highly recommend the Neon House for your venue! It’s a hidden gem in the Neon District of Downtown Norfolk. The minute we walked into th...
e Neon House for our tour we were greeted with superb hospitality, kindness, and Chef John’s delicious Neon House cookies. Marcy, Heather, and Mandi were instrumental in the planning process of our wedding. They work very hard to make sure your dream wedding vision came to life!
When you use the Neon House you are required to use their catering company, Chef By Design (CBD). OMG. The food was amazing. Our guests are still raving over our menu. The team works with you to create the menu of your dreams. You don’t have to have the basic cookie cutter wedding food. We did stations, which allowed our guests to have a variety of options.
During our wedding planning process, everyone kept telling us you will never get to eat your food at your wedding. I’m here to say, the CBD team ensured that we ate all of the food. Right after our ceremony, we were greeted with a platter of all cocktail hour food. For dinner, we were able to visit the food stations and then had ample time to eat! This is a Bride and Groom’s dream!!
The bridal and groom suites are amazing. We had a huge bridal party. There were 20 people in the bridal suite during the getting ready process and there was plenty of room.
We really enjoyed having our wedding in downtown Norfolk. Our guests stayed at the Glass Light Hotel only 0.7 miles from venue. The vibe is very similar to the Neon House. It matched perfectly. We had lots of out of town guests and Norfolk was great location for easy access to Ubers, airports, etc.
Overall, we highly recommend the Neon House and CBD! They made the wedding planning seamless. Do yourself a favor and have them apart of your future wedding day! You won’t regret it.
Kayla M
5.0
2/20/2024
My husband and I couldn't have been happier with the service we received from the Neon House team. From the day we paid our deposit to the day we walked down the aisle, everything ...
was amazing.
First of all, the venue is beautiful. There is an elevated industrial feel to this location. They have wonderful rental packages. We were easily and affordably able to transform the venue for our 70's themed wedding. Secondly their menu is incredible. There are what feels like unlimited options. Each option we chose was delicious. Our guest could not stop talking about the food. Finally, their team's customer service was impeccable. We loved our interactions with Marcy, Heather and the entire Neon House team. They helped to ensure that our day ran without a hitch. I am so glad that we chose the Neon House as our venue!! It was one of the best days of our lives.
Kelly S
5.0
11/19/2023
We have been getting messages every day “best wedding ever!” And an INSANE amount of compliments on the food which was superb! Your staff was absolutely amazing in every way. We wo...
uldn’t have changed a single thing.
Nichole B
5.0
11/06/2023
We were married at The Neon House on Saturday 10/28/2023 and I absolutely could not recommend it more as a venue. It's been almost a week and I'm still completely overwhelmed at ho...
w beautiful and perfect our wedding was. The planning process was smooth and simple and the owner, Marcy, and her assistant, Heather, were so kind, helpful and fun. They also knocked it out of the park with other vendor recommendations and helped us build what was truly a dream team. We fell in love with the industrial look of the inside and with the location in the Neon District of Norfolk, which is full of murals. I just know we got some incredible photos and I can't wait to see them. We also fell totally in love with the spacious bridal suite. We were able to bring in on-site hair and makeup and my bridesmaids and I had a blast getting ready and relaxing through the morning. It was so fun to be able to sneak downstairs or look over the balcony railing to see all the decorations coming together and it made my day that much more special. I was even able to order a catered lunch that was brought up to us! We used separate spaces for the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception and it was so convenient that everything could be in different spaces that were decorated differently, but all in the same building. The staff were all incredibly professional but also really fun which created the perfect atmosphere. And the on-site catering (Chef by Design) was phenomenal. They did our food, bar, and cake. We received so many compliments from our guests on both the space and the food, it was overwhelming. And having it all handled through the Neon House was so convenient and made our lives really easy. I think no one would guess how simple it was for us to have put on this beautiful event. I could go on forever about every perfect detail but the bottom line is that The Neon House is a stunning venue that's extremely easy to work with. If it has the vibes you're going for do not hesitate to book them!
Emily B
5.0
9/27/2023
We got married at The Neon House back in June and had an amazing day.
During our initial venue search, this venue fit our needs as we were able to customize almost everything to ...
our vision. We also wanted a venue that was not outside or a farm which can be hard in Hampton Roads!
The team at The Neon House and Chef by Design were great to work with given the number of questions we had throughout the process.
It was very convenient that you had to use Chef by Design's catering (CBD owns The Neon House) as their caliber of catering was superb. We had excellent food that was memorable for our guests.
We had an all black dress code for our wedding which worked beautifully with the exposed brick, lighting and ambiance of the venue.
We were able to customize our layout and went through several visions to get it exactly right for our guests and flow. This was not something that every venue can accommodate and this was another plus on our end.
We were also glad to be able to provide our own alcohol as again there are several venues where you need to use packages through the venue itself.
We were also able to visit and go through the layout and flow of our event several times.
Heather, Marcy and Joanie made each visit, tasting and our day great! We were thankful to have such a great team that was focused on bringing our vision to life.
With every vendor there will always be hiccups, etc especially for such an intense day and long planning process. We did experience those, but they were minor in the scheme of how great our day was.
We could not have picked a better venue!
Susan J
5.0
9/28/2022
I can't possibly say enough about this venue! We had the most amazing wedding. Marcy and her team are true professionals, beautiful venue, great food, awesome experience. They walk...
ed us through from beginning to end and helped us create the wedding of our dreams.
Caitlin B
5.0
8/05/2022
The Neon House was the perfect venue for our wedding. During the planning process, they did a phenomenal job providing us with options and ensuring every bit of our day was what we...
envisioned. The venue itself is gorgeous (a great industrial setting with lots of exposed brick and natural lighting) and the food was DELICIOUS. The Neon House staff made sure our day went so smoothly.
Spenser G
5.0
9/09/2021
Beautiful, unique venue in the Neon District of Norfolk! The Neon House had just started to open up when we were looking for venues in March 2020 and then COVID hit...but we are so...
happy to have found TNH. It perfectly fit the more urban and modern look we were going for versus some more classically themed venues.
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