The Waddell Center

beautiful venue that is already decorated and the staff was super helpful and accommodating. Food was amazing and my guests continued to compliment me on the space! thanks for a great evening filled with wonderful memories!

Absolutely wonderful venue. We’ve been to a total of 3 here, including our own, and have been impressed every time. Prices are very affordable and the staff goes above and beyond to make sure everyone is taken care of. Our lead server for the night also made it her priority to take care of the bridal party as well as the parents of the bride and groom. We did the signature buffet and all of our guests seemed to love it, I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback.

one star to warn brides about this venue. This is an honest review of my experience with the Waddell Center being my wedding venue. We had our wedding on a Friday night and we paid for a contracted 6 hour time. 1) The staff began to tear down my chair covers and tables over an hour before my time ended, while DJ was still playing and guests were enjoying the evening. I was SO confused by this. No one asked me (the contact who planned EVERYTHING or the groom) I emailed one of the coordinators who I worked with for most of my planning after this sharing the bad experience, and she said that the lead server asked our parents.... they didn't plan the event and I did not have them as a day of contact. I did not authorize anyone else to have a say in our decisions for the evening, we paid for this entire event ourselves. 2) Two of our guests money/wallets were "misplaced". The distinctive catering "staff" who were tearing down our chair covers and tables were not wearing company logo shirts and there were several men running around the reception during our contracted time taking down our chair covers (again, while DJ was playing before our contracted reception time was up). The waddell center had an event the next day (hmm, I guess that was my problem). The food was really good and our server was great, it was just the fact our night was interrupted when we were having so much fun. I remember looking up while dancing and seeing the several "staff" in all black, running around the venue (While guests were still sitting at tables) taking linens off...... I hope to warn brides. I hope no other bride will have this memory of the end of her wedding night. Just be warned... it was shady. The best day of our life was quickly tarnished with this end of the night memory. We did inform the distinctive catering event planner about all of this.

The Waddell Center was such a beautiful venue. It was such a relief to know that the place was already decorated and that we really didn't need to add that much to the space. They were super accommodating with our vendors. Family (in the catering industry) that went to set up couldn't stop talking about how helpful and wonderful they were. The space was perfect for our guest list of 150 without feeling too cramped, while still feeling full. They were wonderful!

My husband and I chose to have our wedding reception at the Waddell Center. We have nothing but positive comments to say about our experience with the Waddell Center. The staff was so helpful the day before and day of the event. My other vendors also commented on the friendliness of the staff members. I mostly worked with Sarah and Nicole. They specifically were awesome to work with. They were timely in their responses and never made me feel unwelcome if I had a question. The team of Distintive Catering is so professional! They were so helpful and knowledgeable in hosting events. My guests had no complaints. The food was excellent and the bar service was on point. We are so thankful we went through Distinctive Catering for our wedding reception.

We had our wedding at the Waddell Center and it was wonderful! From day one until the wedding, their attention to detail was wonderful and they frequently communicated with us to ensure everything went smoothly. We highly recommend them!

My husband and I were looking for a venue with an urban/industrial feel with exposed bricks and beams. Waddell Center delivered just that at a reasonable prices compared to other options in the area. They also redid and updated the entire interior of the venue after I booked and it looked amazing for the wedding day! In additional to being a nice location, the coordinator, Sarah, and any other staff I worked with were great. Very quick responses and accommodating to any requests or questions I had. The only hiccup was that when we came the day before to decorate, the tables were set up differently than what we discussed. However, the staff member that was there immediately fixed the problems and got us what we needed, which was helpful. Also, we had a great experience with the food and bar through distinctive catering. The food was great and we had multiple guests come up and tell us it was one of the best wedding food and bar service they ever had. All in all, we are so happy we booked with Waddell Center. They made everything easy and our reception was beautiful and a blast.

The Waddell Center is an affordable, great looking venue. However, I considered myself a very low maintenance bride and the staff did not live up to our expectations at all. We only met with the coordinators twice total - which was great, but any notes they took were not displayed when we arrived to the venue on the reception day. The room was not situated how we talked about, the coordinator was not present at all any of the day - and during the reception, there was NO manager on staff - only servers that were college aged. Because of this, the one thing we really valued was the ability to play our destination wedding video for everyone, we have so many issues with the A/V and no one offered to help or knew what to do. This was something we voiced early on as our most important factor in choosing a venue. Overall, great spot and value, but staff and service - very disappointed.

We held our wedding reception at the Waddell Center. It’s was a nice space at a reasonable cost. Sarah, our main contact was easy to work with. When Sarah wasn’t available, another event coordinator would attempt to answer our questions. Personally, I think the Waddell Center is a bit of a hidden gem. I know a lot of brides are looking for the “Urban Chic” venue and this can offer just that. The open ceilings with brick give it nice character. Its location is close to downtown yet there is a ton of parking, which is great for guests. We received a several compliments on the food (catered by Brann’s) and the space in general. You do have to supply your own decorations and aren’t allowed to hand anything from the ceiling. They currently don’t have risers for the head table but do offer lighting for the head table and cake table. Initially we were told that we may not be able to have a band as the space is somewhat connected to an apartment complex however we ended up having a band and there was no issue. Overall we were pleased with our choice and would recommend it to future brides looking for a downtown space on a budget.

As I was in England at the time, and my fiance was in North Carolina, I sent my mom and two sisters to scope out reception venues for me. Upon visiting this one, all they had to say was: "This place fits your personality and style perfectly!" My fiance also loves urban-type venues with exposed beams and exposed brick, so that was a nice plus. We weren't able to attend any tastings, either, so I was a bit nervous about the food. There was no need to be, as everything was amazing!! We got loads of compliments from our guests. The staff (Kim in particular) was very helpful about answering my questions via email and phone in a quick manner throughout the entire process. However, I will not give this venue a full 5/5 for a couple reasons. Firstly, they should offer tastings more frequently. They seem to only have 2 or 3 per year, so if you cannot attend these specific dates, then you are simply out of luck. Secondly, when cleaning up the venue at the end of the night, they did not ask which decorations we would like to keep, and many hand-crafted items got thrown away. Lastly, upon calling to inquire about said items after my mom noticed that they were missing the next day, they complained to her about how messy we had left the place. I know for a fact that my family stayed and took care of everything we had brought, so I am not sure what this is referring to, unless they expect us to take care of table linens and dishes as well. It was disappointing to come back from my honeymoon and hear this from my parents, as I had had such a good impression of them up until that point. However, I will still give them a 4/5 because they did deliver when it came to affordable and delicious food!

I used Brann's Catering for my reception at The Waddell Center. The Waddell Center is brand new and has a urban/downtown feel. Everything went off without a hitch. It was an amazing venue. I loved the layout of the space. There is a nice space for all of the tables (fitting up to 250 people) and a great cocktail area in the back wear people can relax and drink. Food was absolutely fantastic. We had the pot roast and chicken. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. It turned out absolutely perfect. The one downside was that the slideshow set up wasn't compatible with apple/mac products but it wasn't too hard to fix.