First off, Severance Hall is a BEAUTIFUL venue. For the price (relative, of course), nostalgia, beauty, layout - this is definitely one of the most fabulous places to hold a wedding in University Circle. I grew up going to Severance Hall for concerts, plays and commencement ceremonies and had no idea that they actually hosted weddings until I started researching my own event. We live out of state, so we took a weekend trip to Cleveland and my fiancé - who had never been to SH before - walked in and said, "this is the place". And so it was.
The contracting process was pretty simple. Severance Hall works with a single caterer, Marigold, so that makes it a bit of a package deal. We signed a contract, put down a deposit and moved forward from there. The only thing holding me back from giving the venue a "5", is that I found the parking situation (managed by Standard Parking) to be a little strange and the process not as straightforward as one would imagine. Also, ladies (and gents) be warned that if you are looking for a "warm and fuzzy" site manager, you are not necessarily going to get that here. Sean was introduced to us after we'd already signed on the dotted line and he was fine, just always seemed to have something better to do.
With regards to the actual wedding day, I was super impressed with how everything came together. The event was more beautiful than we could've ever imagined and the setting was perfect for the vintage-ish vibe that we were going for. Some 5-star highlights that stand out to me from the "day-of" include: great bridal suite, awesome event staff, smooth transitions for guests between ceremony/cocktail hour/reception, great venue for pictures and video, beautiful set up, great location, Marigold Catering, HUGE dance floor, great acoustics. Overall, I definitely recommend Severance Hall!