When we started planning our wedding two years ago, we knew we wanted to get married in Philadelphia and I very much wanted an outdoor garden wedding. At first, I was worried about the restriction of no DJ, but once I toured with Meagan Regina, I fell in love with the venue. Not to mention, Meagan went to my college rival so we instantly had a connection. We loved the history of the ballroom - from George & Martha Washington's 25th wedding anniversary being held there to the original room being sold to bring Jews over from Europe during the Holocaust. As we were having a Jewish wedding and were planning on having a ketubah signing, we knew the ballroom on the top floor was perfect. We had countless walk throughs and Meagan was always readily available to answer any questions and walk through scenarios with me. Come 2020, and #Covid. Meagan was so helpful in the postponement of our original May 2020 wedding. By August, my fiance and I decided we just wanted to get married. We contacted Meagan once again and we were told Powel House was still under renovation, but the sister house, Hill Physick was available where I began working with the other Megan, Megan Thibodeaux. August 15th, 2020 we were able to have our dream wedding, with 15 guests COVID style, at Hill Physick and we were still able to have our ketubah signing in the ballroom of Powel House. I cannot recommend Powel & Hill Physick enough. In the end, I got my dream, an enchanted garden wedding in the heart of Old City.

Perfect venue for a smaller wedding in historic Philadelphia!

We had a wedding reception for 65 guests at Powel in late September and we could not have picked a more perfect setting.

The combination of the house's main rooms and the garden spaced the reception well, with guests able to mingle and chat in the yard, or wander inside to observe the amazing history throughout the house. Anyone with an American history fascination may find themselves glued to the old tools of Ben Franklin and various portraits and sketches of our founding fathers.

We cannot say enough about the garden. The entryway is perfect for a bar that doesn't butt up against dinner tables, and beautifully leads into the main garden space. We were blessed with clear skies so we cancelled the tent but kept string lighting (thanks to Ocean Tents for their great setup). We set up some cornhole and beer pong in the back corner which allowed a nice split between guests looking to sit and mingle and those who wanted to get a bit more lit. We've seen it set up with the tent, and it looks good, but if you have a chance to go tent-less with the string lights it creates a truly magical setting. Just google "Powel House wedding" and you'll see what we mean.

Working with Meagan and the rest of the Powel House team was a breeze. She completely understood the wedding vibe we wanted, gave great suggestions and support, and was always flexible with schedule our visits leading up to the wedding and our drop-offs and pick-ups before and after.

Some FYIs:
- The venue can fit up to 100 but considering the size we had, that 100 would be pretty tight.
- There are some limitations for music since it's a Philadelphia row home and neighbors' houses are fairly exposed to the garden. We brought a nice Bluetooth speaker and while it worked well for the back (party) half of the garden, it was hard to hear up front. Best to have a 2 speaker setup if you can.
- Since the garden is mostly grass, we recommend picking up some heel protectors and having them available so people aren't limited in their footwear.
- We booked the extra hour so it was a 5 hour reception from 5pm-10pm. It was an additional $500.

My husband and I wanted to get married outside and were able to do so comfortably at the Powel House in November! The garden is beautiful and the building itself is picturesque. Our even coordinator was extremely flexible, and helped us make decisions about where to do what. I highly recommend this place as both a museum and venue! Thank you to Jennifer and Jonathan!