This was a great place for a wedding reception. We chose the 3rd floor of the NEC. Beautiful spot with the treetops, waterfall and under the stars in the Acro dome. Food was great and servers were professional and attentive. Highly recommend.

The event coordinators were amazing to work with here! They were very helpful and stayed in contact with us through out this whole pandemic. We had to move our wedding twice because of the pandemic and the museum did their best to help us keep it together!
I could not have asked for a better location for my Halloween wedding, the atmosphere was perfect for our costume wedding.

One of the easiest parts of this wedding was deciding to have the rehearsal dinner at NCMNS. Robert was great when we were booking and Jeff was the caterer from Rocky Top (Planet Cafe'). The food and the venue was the easiest part of the whole wedding experience. No question was too simple or silly and I asked many! :) Would choose NCMNS and Rock Top over and over again. Outstanding!!!

Having our wedding at the Museum of Natural Sciences was a great experience. Not only was the venue amazing and interesting for our guests, but the Special Events Team were very helpful in making our day special. They were responsive to all our questions and were flexible to changes in our rental plans. Their pricing was also very accessible to weddings on a budget. Sydney and Blair were extremely easy to work with and we would highly recommend considering the museum as a venue for any special event. They have so many space options for any event size.

The Museum of Natural Sciences was the perfect choice for our wedding reception! The space was warm, inviting and beautiful which also meant we only needed minimal decorations. The Nature Research Center was ample space for our 130 guests, 14 round tables, buffet, waffle bar station, and much more. The marble staircase made it possible for the wedding party to make a grand entrance. The Daily Planet provided the most incredible dance floor with soft blue hues highlighting the walls behind the space set up for a DJ. Guests were able to dance, observe from the upper levels, meander through the museum exhibits and mingle with friends. It was a pleasure working with Sydney, we couldn't have asked for a better experience or a better venue.

The Museum of Natural Sciences was an amazing place to hold our wedding ceremony and reception. They were able to accommodate all of our requests and were very helpful from the initial tour all the way through the end of our reception. Communication was excellent, and the all of the staff members were courteous and professional. Highly recommend!

Wow, what an amazing venue for our daughter's wedding reception! We had planned to have the wedding near our home in Wake Forest, but when my daughter and her fiancé toured the NC Museum of Natural Sciences they were hooked. She's an archaeologist and he's a teacher, so it suited them perfectly. It was also the least expensive of all the venues we looked at. They chose to have it in the Nature Exploration Center (dino dome, not planet) which was amazing. We used The Great Raleigh Trolley to shuttle the guests from the hotel to the reception and back which I highly recommend!
The night started with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres on the 2nd floor as well as all the first dances and toasts. Guests enjoyed exploring all the exhibits. Then we all went to the 3rd floor for a buffet dinner and dancing with the dinosaurs. Although I was worried about the layout, it worked out great. There's nothing like dancing with pterodactyls flying above you! We had a wide range of ages that attended, from infants to elderly. All were very happy. Because of the layout, tables could have conversations without screaming and others could be getting crazy on the dance floor. We had 145 guests and the space was perfect. Rocky Top is the sole caterer for the museum and they were fantastic. The food was absolutely delicious and service was excellent. Petal and Oak did all our centerpieces and flowers, they were outstanding! The pies came from East Durham Bakeshop and were delish!!
In hindsight, I wish I would have hired some teenagers to chase the little ones around while they explored, just to give the parents more time to visit. Aside from that, it was fantastic and so many guests said it was the most fun they've had at a reception! Thank you Sydney Bannerman for all you did to make the evening so memorable!

Perfect venue for an affordable wedding! Great people who work with you, and they are very responsive and helpful. :)

This venue was amazing! My guest loved every moment of the reception. The caterers Rocky Top were friendly and the good was perfection. The service was excellent. We could not have asked for a better Venue!

I am the mother-of-the-bride, and my daughter and son-in-law wanted something really different and unique for their wedding, and I wanted to make sure that the guests had a good time and were entertained the whole evening. We ended up having a costume wedding at the museum, and I think family and friends will be talking about how much fun they had for a long time. Even when the bridal party was off with the photographer, the guests could have a drink and walk around looking at the exhibits. The museum staff (and the caterers from Rocky Top Catering) are all awesome and worked with us, even when we threw them some "curve balls". We have a wonderful, lasting memory which includes dancing beside dinosaurs and dining near beautiful North Carolina nature exhibits. I definitely recommend this venue for weddings.