When we found Carnegie, I couldn't believe this beautiful architectural gem was somwhow "hidden" in the middle of Dupont Circle. It is truly a grand space and was an amazing setting for the wedding. Alexis was easy to work with from the start and incredibly responsive. The ability to have so many beautiful rooms at your disposal was also a plus. The rotunda is magnificent and there is hardly a space in the city that can rival it. We did not bring in any outside lighting and the natural lighting during our sunset ceremony was gorgeous. All our guests could not get over how elegant and grand the space was. The dining room is warm and initimate and when the pocket doors are open for dancing back in the rotunda, it creates the perfect distance between dining and dancing, while still making everyone feel a part of the event. Overall, I could not have picked a better venue - they were flexible on so many issues with vendors and the space was just gorgeous and timeless, while initimate for groups large or small.

Beautiful venue (everyone was impressed, even the guys who normally couldn't care less about such a thing) and a wonderful team of people to work with at Carnegie. The best part of working with them (besides the truly amazing photos we were able to get because the whole place is just so beautiful) was that there was always someone available to answer our questions, so we never had to wait and wonder like with some other vendors. If we could do our whole wedding over, we would still do it at Carnegie.

The only downside was that they were not flexible with regards to the rehearsal time and then asked us to change the time after we had already booked a restaurant and paid a deposit for brunch that day (we put our foot down on the time change, and they seemed to be okay with it). That inflexibility was understandable since our rehearsal had to be on a Saturday, and they had to work around that Saturday's wedding. We ended up not being able to have a traditional rehearsal dinner and instead had to have a rehearsal brunch beforehand, but it worked out okay in the end.

The venue cannot be beat. It is stunning and our guests were amazed at how beautiful it was. The women at the venue are generally very helpful. We did have a hiccup with one of them (who is no longer there) exaggerating how many guests could fit there, only to find out with a month to go that our expected guest count would be a super tight fit. Unfortunately we had many guests decline (out of town for both sides) so our actual turnout fit just fine, but it would have been an unpleasant squeeze had everyone been able to attend, and that wasn't great to find out so close to the event. Also, they're a little inflexible in terms of load-in and load-out time, and while the base price sounds great (for DC), with the 10% holiday weekend surcharge and the extra hours we added, it ended up being rather pricey. However, the sheer beauty of the venue outweighs all of that. Just keep in mind that you really only get tables and chairs included so it's a lot of work to find all of the additional services you will need.

Carnegie Institution was an amazing venue! It was so beautiful, and the people we worked with were great. It's the perfect place for a DC wedding, and their prices are much better than similar venues!

I cannot recommend the Carnegie highly enough - they were wonderful. Reasonably-priced venue in DC where you can hire any caterer you want? check. Gorgeous venue that requires no decoration at all? check. Responsive and helpful staff who reply to emails quickly, can set up tours of the site at the drop of a hat, and are always polite and friendly? check, check, check.

The venue was beautiful, had every space we wanted, easily accommodated our 90 guests, and allowed us to drop things off the day before to store in advance. Alexis was great, and was always quick to reply to the endless chain of questions I sent her way. The cost is not extremely low, but a venue of this type (lovely historic building) that is this flexible (amplified music is fine, red wine is fine) that can accommodate all your guests INSIDE and not partially in tents, that allows you to bring in your own caterer and avoid huge food and beverage minimum costs....it balances out.

Had my wedding at the Carnegies on 9-10-11. It was truly a beautiful setting. The marble and decor limited the amount we had to spend on floral and other decorations as it is truly beautiful unadorned. It makes for great pics on the steps facing 16th street, in the rotunda, and even in the round driveway on P Street. I had 17 10 seater rounds in the ballroom and that was just enough; anymore and it really would have been too crowded. As is...the waiters had just enough room to maneuver around to serve. Dancing in the rotunda follwoing the reception worked well especially with guests being able to flow in and out of the boardroom for drinks or to sit. We added small circular tables with 2/3 chairs around the edges of the rotunda for our older guests to be able to sit down and watch the fesitivities onf the dance floor. The staff was great and very flexible in terms of letting us come and see the venue multiple times in advance with different vendors. I would most definitely recommend it. Here is a link of the 6 minute "review" of our day that shows how truly beautiful the venue looked...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InqrePFFkDI

Carnegie is a *breathtaking* venue. I was in love with it from the minute I saw it and feel so lucky we were able to have our ceremony and reception here. The staff, especially Alexis, was so responsive and very flexible the week before the big day. For DC, you cannot get a venue like this for the price. All comparable venues go for 10k and up - this is truly the best bang for your buck if you really want the DC feel. The only downer is that holiday weekends are up-charged, so it ended up being a little pricier than we originally budgeted for. Worth it in the end. Our guests are still raving about the beauty of Carnegie....

This place is the BEST place, for the money, to get married in DC. Laura was incredibly helpful and the most responsive of anyone we worked with. She allowed us to visit the venue countless times (and even practice our first dance more than once!) It is a gorgeous venue and we were thrilled with our choice. I would recommend it to ANYONE. The best part is that you can use any caterer you want and you can even bring your own alcohol. And, everything is all in once place: ceremony, cocktail hour, reception...the perfect choice for anyone trying to have a "simply elegant" affair.

Pros: The building is beautiful - all the rooms you get with a rental (the library, the boardroom, the ballroom, and the rotunda) have an old-style elegance (marble, wood panels, natural lighting); We were able to hire vendors of our choosing; We were allowed to store items at the Carnegie the day before (and our caterer was even allowed to drop things off the day before); The rental included a rehearsal the evening before; The Carnegie only books one wedding a day; the hotel that is next door (Hotel Rouge) is incredibly accommodating and different than the average hotel.
Cons: It's popular - you need to book a year in advance for popular wedding dates (but that seems to be thet case for most venues); It's not metro accessible. That said, there is parking across the street and its locationon 16th street makes finding a cab easy; While there are cheaper venues in the neighborhood, none of the venues in that area were as gorgeous and spacious at that price.

Our wedding reception was amazing, and it had so much to do with the beautiful Carnegie Institute.

My now husband and I wanted a DC wedding, and were very close to signing a contract with a nearby hotel. However, we felt like we didn't want to be restricted and have the typical cookie-cutter wedding.

We were so fortunate to come across Carnegie and we instantly signed with them. Make sure to book well in advance as the spring and summer dates go very quickly. (We signed in April 2010, and we got one of the last July 2011 dates available.)

Carnegie was a beautiful building, perfect for our sit-down dinner (ballroom) and dancing (rotunda). We paid extra for the use of the main entrance on 16th street, and its impressive stairs. Our bridal party had a wonderul separate area to arrive and relax in, before our introductions.

We were able to bring in our own vendors with Carnegie and there were minimal restrictions. (We did have to purchase day-of insurance, which was very easy). We were able to drop off, and store some items the day before the wedding which made set-up on the day of so much easier.

On the day of, the space showed beautifully. In addition, Carnegie offers tables and chairs at no additional cost. (We did rent chivari chairs from a separate vendor).

Alexis was wonderful to work with. She was always so quick in email responses and made the process run so smoothly. She was always available for questions, walk-thrus and suggestions. She was also there on the day-of to make sure the event ran smoothly.

We are so pleased that we chose Carnegie. Our guests were so impressed and danced the night away in our summer in DC wedding.

We had a great experience at Carnegie. It was the only venue we looked at because as soon as we saw it, we knew it was the perfect place. We wanted a place where we could seamlessly host both the ceremony and reception, where we could choose our own caterer, and a place that would require minimal decor. Plus, you can't beat the gorgeous 16th Street location.

(If it seems expensive to book Carnegie, consider this: We saved a lot of money because we didn't need to go crazy with the flowers or hire professional lighting people or anything like that. The venue stands on its own because it is already so beautiful. Even the ready room for my bridal party and me was beautiful, an old fashioned library with books lining the walls. We got great pictures in it. Plus, we didn't have to pay for limos or other transportation for our guests because the venue is so convenient to many hotels. You can also bring your own alcohol to save even more money.)

We had about 110 guests, the perfect size for Carnegie. We filled the rooms but weren't crowded, and unlike some huge ballrooms, our relatively small group wasn't swallowed up.

We had the ceremony in the rotunda (gorgeous in the early evening light), our cocktail hour in the boardroom and rotunda, our dinner in the adjoining ballroom, and our dancing back in the rotunda. Things flowed incredibly well with the help of the caterer to move chairs and set up everything.

Our guests were SO impressed with the venue. I think we got more compliments on how beautiful it was than on anything else the entire night. The best thing of all: there's a gorgeous spiral staircase that I used for my "grand entrance" before walking down the aisle in the rotunda. Although I was a little nervous about sliding down on my butt, it turned out to be a beautiful and dramatic start to the ceremony, and the guests raved about it. I felt amazing.

The people who work at Carnegie were responsive and helpful all the way through. Alexis and Laura answered my anxious emails right away and really worked to put my mind at ease. Keep in mind, though, that they are not wedding planners, so you may want to consider hiring a day-of coordinator to take care of things like directing other vendors. Our DOC was excellent: Lynnecia Johnson of Sophisticated Events. Highly recommend her, and since she's familiar with the venue, it would be seamless.

Overall, I would recommend Carnegie to anyone, and I am so pleased that we chose to have our wedding there. It was probably the best decision we made in our entire wedding planning process, and it set the tone for a really amazing event.

I had my 6.19.11 wedding ceremony and reception at The Carnegie Institution. My point of contact was Alexis Flemming.

I found the CI to be the perfect place for our DC wedding. It was the most cost effective, elegant place we found! You bring in an outside caterer, so there are no limitations there. You are also allowed candles and red wine, which many museums in the area do not allow. There were little to no restrictions from the CI and we were able to create our ideal wedding!

My only complaint was the heat. We had the large, front doors open before the ceremony, which let out a lot of cold air. We closed them during the ceremony and then opened them again during the cocktail hour. Even though the AC was blasting early on, it was no match for those large doors being open. The staff did everything they could to lower the temperature and raise the fans, though.

Alexis, our point of contact, was helpful, courteous, and prompt. She always answered emails and phone calls immediately.

I highly recommend this venue for hosting any event!!

Carnegie Institute was a wonderful place to have our wedding. It is beautiful and unique. They are very flexible with vendors and allow you to bring your won alcohol with no corkage fee which saved us quite a bit. The only downside is the lighting and sound. We did not bring a lighting company for financial consideration and the lighting in the place was quite dull. The acoustics in the place is also quite strange due to the unique build of the rotunda. But we still had a dance party at the rotunda and our guests had a blast!!

The Carnegie Institute was the perfect setting for our wedding! We had around 140 guests and there was plenty of space to walk around and dance. Everything was elegant and beautiful. Alexis was very helpful and flexible- especially after I brought several vendors to the location. She is easy to work with and made everything run smoothly. I couldn't imagine a more perfect location to get that intimate DC feel! Highly recommended!

My wedding guests raved about our wedding venue - they couldn't get over how gorgeous the Carnegie is and what a perfect place it is for a wedding reception. My husband and I couldn't agree more! I researched tons of venues in DC and the Carnegie was the one place that I found that was beautiful (inside and out), fit a decent wedding crowd (we had 160 which is about the max), was very affordable, allowed you to hire whatever vendors you wanted (incl. caterers), and felt very old school DC :). Their event coordinators are very professional and helpful as well. I cannot wait to see my photos from the wedding with the Carnegie as the backdrop!

Best hidden gem in DC! We live in the area and must have walked past the Carnegie hundreds of times, each time saying how gorgeous and romantic the exterior is. When it came time to find a wedding venue, it was first on our list to check out, even though it doesn’t show up on a lot of DC wedding venue lists for some reason.

The Carnegie is just beautiful, with amazing architecture that is fun to look at and stunning in photos. The space is so diverse; you get the elegant and intimate rotunda, the cozy and warm board room, and the classic and spacious dining room. Not to mention that they give you full access to the upstairs balcony and historic looking library. You won’t even need many, if any, decorations or flower arrangements because the venue is so perfect on its own. I don’t know how they’ve kept it in such perfect shape all these years!

Our wedding was 100 people, but the place could easily and comfortably hold up to 140 I bet. We had a round ceremony in the rotunda (utilizing the great, spiral staircase to walk down), then we moved everyone into the board room for cocktail hour while the band set up in front of the big doors in the rotunda and while the caterers moved the chairs into the dining room. Then after dinner, we just had a huge dance party in the rotunda. The gorgeous marble floors made for a great dance floor! They dimmed the rotunda lights and kept the uplights from the alcoves on so the place looked very cool. I was worried that the dining room might be too cut off from the dancing, but it wasn’t at all. People could take breaks at their tables in the dining room and were still close enough to the action on the dance floor.

The staff were so friendly, professional, responsive and helpful throughout the entire process, they really are terrific over there. The venue is so laid back compared to most other historic DC venues. Not to mention the price was FANTASTIC! I still can’t get over all we got for the price.

We highly recommend the Carnegie to any and all couples!!