Straz Center for the Performing Arts Reviews

As it has now been a little over a week since my wedding at the Straz Center, I still can't seem stop thinking about how incredible of an experience it was and how my envision of every minute of my wedding came to life. The ceremony was held under the tent, overlooking the Riverwalk, cocktail hour by the fountains during sunset on the Riverwalk and the reception was held at Maestro's upstairs. Everything about the venue is gorgeous for an early evening wedding, including all of the places perfect for photo ops. The food was also amazing - especially the chicken florentine! Now regarding the staff - they were awesome every step of the way! Christine was the absolute best, so accommodating, direct, always available, very flexible, and professional. Her team was also by my side every step of the way on the day of. They did everything they could, never telling me it wasn't possible. One of them even sewed a garter on my leg when I realized I had forgotten mine! If any fires occurred, which a few did, they were quick to handle, before I could even worry. My wedding was all it was, simply because of the place I chose to get married. The Straz and it's staff exceeded all of my expectations.

If your looking for something different the the average traditional wedding then this is the perfect venue for you. i am a vendor in the industry and have seen over a million different venues in my time and i fell in love with the straz they have the most amazing tent on the water its honestly breath taking. all my guest are still talking about how beautiful are wedding was. also Christine Webb is a pleasure to work with . and is very helpful i enjoyed working with her so much I'm sad i don't get to see her all the time anymore. any concerns i had she took care of and had me feeling not stressed anymore. also they let are puppy come and take pictures with us which was so much fun to have her there. there food is delicious i still have guest talking about the lamb chops we had at our cocktail hour. and the open bar was good also. i even let the chick fil A cows crashing our wedding which our guest went crazy over in laughter. i must say the straz made our wedding the best day of Our lives and I'm so grateful i had there Team make are Day so Special. Thank you straz again ! you guys rock!!

They are wonderful to work with! We are very excited to get married there!

We loved getting married here! Our ceremony was held in the garden area. It was so beautiful that we didn't need a ton of decorations or flowers. It is shaded year round, so our guests weren't hot. The cocktail hour was held in the second floor bar area of the Morsani lobby. Our guests loved the location! The reception was held under the tent. From the moment we toured the Straz through the days after our wedding, the staff made me feel like a princess. Anything I needed was handled with ease. The planners took care of any problems that arose without me even knowing. It really allowed me to remain stress free and actually enjoy the evening. I highly recommend this venue for anyone! There are many locations to host any or all parts of your wedding!

LOVE the coordinators at Straz and the venue!! The first time we toured the Straz we fell in love with it. It's glamorous! From the tent by the river with chandeliers for our ceremony to the reception set up in Maestros with a wall of floor to ceiling windows overlooking downtown Tampa. I was obsessed with the lighting and layout of the event spaces. It is a great package deal from venue to catering. Then the best part, our coordinators, Jenna and Karen. I can't say enough about them. Jenna wasn't just a day of coordinator, she helped me through the entire planning process with quick responses and truly excited to be a part of our wedding. She helped execute every detail I came up with and went the extra mile without pause. I didn't have to worry at all the day of our wedding. I trusted her completely and she handled the night smoothly. She made me feel like the most important person and I know she had a hundred other people to deal with. If I could do it all over again I would choose the Straz and especially if I got to work with Jenna!
Thank you from The Iser's

We could not have chosen a better venue for our wedding. The staff at the Straz, especially Jenna Ribarich, were absolutely amazing. The facilities and food were perfect and everything went so smoothly. Jenna was on top of this wedding from day-one, as if it was her own. She kept in touch with all of our vendors and made sure that we had everything we needed the day-of. The venue was so beautiful, or pictures came out great. They even added extra lighting to our ceremony location, without me even asking, to add to my purple dream come true!

When we walked into the Straz Center on our tour, we knew right then that this was where we were going to get married. It is an amazing space with just enough being different without being weird. We got married in the main lobby on the grand staircase and it was amazing. Everything we needed was on-site and once our guests arrived, they never had to leave. The atmosphere is great and the staff is even better. The coordinator took charge on the day of and left us with nothing to worry about. The food for the reception was from Maestro's, the on-site restaurant where we had the reception, and it was amazing. They really put out a great affordable product. We love the theatre and we couldn't have picked a better venue for our wedding.

We had the most amazing wedding reception at the Straz Center. From start to finish, they did absolutely everything they could to make our day as special as possible. The food was delicious, staff was amazing (especially our wedding coordinator Nikki Jordan) and the location was perfect. They even let us take pictures on the main stage prior to the reception! The Straz Center made our wedding everything we could have hoped for (and more!) and we highly recommend it to anyone thinking about having their wedding here.

I cannot describe how happy I with the Straz Center. Nikki and here team were so accommodating to me and my super bridezilla demands! When I told everyone that we were holding our reception at the Straz, most people were surprised that could be a reception site. It was beautiful. We held the cocktail hour at outdoors by the fountains and the reception was at Maestros restaurant. Everything was perfect. They opened the dressing rooms early in the morning so the wedding party could get ready there. Our first look and pre ceremony pictures were gorgeous. The reception was everything one could as for and the food was delish. This space is unique and modern. Loved it!

The Straz was a beautiful venue and the food was delicious. The only thing that wasn't awesome was the audio quality with the mic for the toasts; it was difficult to understand the speaker. Overall, I would highly recommend.

I had the pleasure of working with Nikki at the Straz center. They truly were flexible and hardworking throughout the process. My decor rental company was a huge disappointment by showing up an hour late. There were only two workers when it was suppose to be a team of people. They came with missing & dirty chargers, no workers and alot of panic. Nikki along with her AMAZING staff JUMPED IN RIGHT AWAY TO HELP MY WORTHLESS VENDOR SET UP THE ENTIRE RECEPTION ROOM DECOR! They treated all of us and our guests with the most kindness!

There was a glitch at the end of the night when the Straz Center lost my cake topper but they were quick to refund me my little $30 with an email of my receipt. Very smooth transaction. We were able to reorder a replacement for a keepsake in no time.

I do believe they will work with you as much as possible and beyond to make you as happy as can be!

Thank you Nikki and the Straz Center for a magical experience=)

My husband and I live in NJ so finding venues in Tampa, FL was a bit of a challenge. However, with the help of one of our maid of honors we found the perfect venue! We wanted a Hollywood red carpet theme and after viewing photos of previous weddings online we knew that the Straz would accommodate our theme. In addition, they offered a discount during the summer for their ceremony location which helped with our budget. They offered an inside and outside ceremony option which was a huge plus because it is usually hot and rainy during the summer in Florida. We ultimately used the inside option because it was expected to rain that day. We chose to do our ceremony in the Carol Morsani Hall and our cocktail hour upstairs where they normally display expensive art work. Having our ceremony and cocktail hour inside added more value to our theme and we were so impressed with how everything was handled by the Straz’s coordinator (Nicole Jordan), our event coordinator (Kristy Galke) and the Straz’s staff. Nicole was a very busy woman so I had to call from time to time to follow up on emails that I sent but she would call me back in a timely manner. She was great to work with especially as the wedding date approached. She was very accommodating to our requests and went above and beyond for us. One of the most exciting highlights for us was taking pictures on one of the theater stages. We had our reception here in the Maestros Restaurant and the food/drinks were great. Since my husband is Jamaican we wanted to incorporate his culture in our wedding. We asked Nicole if we could have them serve Jamaican Rum Punch at the reception and she delivered! It was a hit with all of our guests so we were very happy with Nicole and the bar supervisor accommodating this request.Overall, I loved this venue. We were like movie stars for a day or at least we felt that way!

We had excellent service during our wedding event. We were very satisfied with the food, bar, and overall quality of service from this vendor. Our reception ran smoothly despite the fact that the initial event coordinator from the Straz quit weeks before our wedding and never bother letting us know. Yet, Straz found a replacement right away and she did a very good job taking over our event.

Sometimes it took a few emails to get a question answered, but that is my only complaint. The food was amazing and the service was great!

Overall loved the Straz Center. The tent next to the river was a reasonable price and beautiful space. They provide inside as a rain location free of cost which is a huge perk. Maestros was an amazing venue inside with great views of the city, and entire wall is windows. During the summer they have discounted prices due to being the off season which was a huge selling point. They also don't have a lot of extra costs due to being a non-for-profit (ie cake cutting fees etc..) The food was good and the venue was very flexible. The flexibility also comes with some disorganization from the office prewedding. I would suggest having a day of coordinator or a friend serving in that role. However the day went off beautifully and the interns were amazing. The space is gorgeous and doesn't need a ton of decorating and with so much available with out extra fee's it was the the perfect place. They included linens' that are black and white, dance floor etc... We were also allowed access to take pictures on the stage since there were no performances which was beautiful. The location was perfect as well if you have lots of out of town guest since there are hotels in walking distance and things do downtown!

From the minute we met our event coordinator, we fell in love. (Side Bar: our coordinator struck out on her own during the planning process and continued to work with us anyway, you can find her by searching Jenna Ribarich) Great value for the price. We particularly appreciated that they had all the supplies we needed to do the ceremony and reception onsite (tables, chairs, linens, flatware, simple center pieces, etc.). The girls and I got ready in the dressing rooms behind the main stage, which really added drama to the day of photos and videography. There was plenty of space to move around as well. Warning: there is no cell reception down there so you have to communicate via wifi (messenger, facebook, imessage, etc.) We had a major hiccup, as most FL weddings do, however...rain and lightning were imminent and the call had to be made to move the wedding inside instead of out along the river (as i had dreamed). To be honest, i was not a fan of where the ceremony was hosted - in the Ferguson - but the planning crew and our florist (Jenna, Lainey and the folks at Hannah's Flowers) really went above and beyond to try and make it as beautiful as possible. The reception backup room was lovely, and everyone had a great time in there. Begrudgingly I have to admit that it was probably cooler in Maestro's than the originally planned outdoor space, and the lighting was better for the photography and videography team as well. All in all i would definitely recommend that the Straz be on your short list. And a word of advice for ANY venue you choose, its very important that you really like BOTH the ideal and back up situations. You really just never know. In the end it never rained, which I think was the most frustrating, but by the time we realized we were in the clear there was no time to move anything.

The Straz booked a major show during our event. Overall, they were able to execute our event, but it was after multiple requests and what felt like excessive pushing to service certain basic items for our wedding day. Also, we had multiple wedding coordinators in training during our event and somehow with a director and 3 coordinators, all of them left at the serving of dinner leaving the last of our evening to the banquet director. Our sparkler exit was poorly coordinated as well as our cake cutting. The cake did not start to get served until well after the cutting was over as the staff seemed completely unaware we even cut the cake. The bride and groom had to dismiss tables for the sparkler exit as the coordinators were no where to be found. Overall, we had a beautiful day, but we had to constantly create tension to get things accomplished. If you choose this venue, we would highly recommend getting an outside planner to assist with managing the straz outside of their coordinators. The food, bar and table service were great. The logistics seemed to pose problems even with a excel sheet and spelled out timeline of events.