The Solarium at Historic Scottish Rite Reviews

Our wedding a few weeks ago at the Solarium exceeded all of our (already quite high) expectations! This was the only venue we looked at—after visiting and talking with Beth and Cindy (and doing a pretty thorough search of online reviews), we booked it right away because it offers the perfect balance of easy elegance, flexibility, and affordability. The space is really charming and distinctive, with tons of options for indoor/outdoor use and beautiful windows for perfect lighting for your photos. I didn’t realize going in to the planning process that it would be so important to be able to customize the space and vendors to our vision and budget, but that turned out to be key in making the event ours. You can bring in any vendors you like, as well as your own alcohol, which opens up a ton of options and can significantly lower your costs I highly recommend the pizza oven/food truck route—we did pizza from Strada Napoli and ice cream from Queen of Creams, and it was so lovely to enjoy al fresco and our guests loved it. Many of our guests are from Atlanta but were unfamiliar with the Solarium and Oakhurst more generally, and they were really taken by both. Meanwhile, our out-of-town guests rented Air BnBs or stayed in nearby hotels, and they loved their weekend in the neighborhood. Perhaps most importantly, the ease of planning was fantastic. Beth and Cindy are total pros at this, not to mention incredibly nice. Through the planning process, I came to really appreciate people who are organized in a way that doesn’t feel stressful, and Beth and Cindy are exactly that. Beth sent perfectly timed emails to keep us on track, and answered all our questions promptly. I had to do most of the planning from out of town, and they were really accommodating in giving multiple site visits. The best compliment we received from our guests was that the wedding felt elegant but not stuffy, and we have the Solarium to thank for that!

This is where my husband and I got married, and could not have picked a better place! Cindy and Beth were amazing to work with and quick to respond with any questions we had. The venue was perfect for our 125 guests and beautiful to say the least! We had the option to do an indoor or outdoor wedding, but went with indoors since it was a February wedding (even though it was 80 degrees on our big day...but who would’ve known that would be the case). We were able to use our own vendors and weren’t “stuck” with what the venue had to offer. They were very communicative with our caterers and a pleasure to work with. I would highly recommend using this venue for your special occasion!

We were so grateful to have found the Solarium. If you are planning a smaller more intimate ceremony and cocktail hour and dinner reception this place was perfect. They don't put a ton of added fees on you, they are very flexible to work with and very accommodating. They basically let you do anything except put glitter on the floor and holes in the wall. The other feature is that for having a plan B or rain plan for your big day this place is perfect. The garden is beautiful for the ceremony but it is very easy to move everything inside. It is also worth the money, significantly less than you will find around greater Atlanta. I highly recommend this venue and the staff!

The Solarium was a great venue! They were flexible with the rental block, allowing me to use an hour in the morning for decoration set up. Everyone we spoke with was very professional and nice. They allowed us to do a "decoration site visit" to see if our ideas would work in the space. We enjoyed our reception at the Solarium very much!

We loved this place for our small wedding! The price is great, you can bring in your own food and alcohol, and it's gorgeous! Would totally recommend this for anyone having an intimate event.

I could not be happier with my choice to have our wedding at the Solarium. All of the staff were extremely helpful, responsive, and so kind. The venue was beautiful and the price could not have been better!

We loved having our wedding at the Solarium. We knew we wanted flexibility of vendors and we were able to choose whomever we wanted. The place was beautiful and suited our needs for a small sized wedding. The staff were responsive to our needs and questions. We had such an amazing Wedding Day at the Solarium.

The Solarium couldn't have been a better place to get married! It was perfect.

This was the perfect reception venue for us- flexibility to bring in whatever food, decorations, music, and fun we wanted, easy to work with, and beautiful. We had a great dance floor, space for a fire pit outside, and enough space for everyone without feeling lost in a huge space. I loved it!

The Solarium is the perfect venue for and indoor or outdoor wedding ceremony and reception. Our ceremony took place outside and reception was indoors. The staff is friendly and very accommodating. The Solarium is probably one of the most budget-friendly event venues inside the perimeter.

The Solarium staff was awesome when it came to letting us come visit the venue before the wedding. On the day of they were there and helped with anything that we needed from their end. The place itself is beautiful and so worth the cost of renting the venue. Overall this is a fantastic place to have a wedding (or any event for that matter!), and I cannot recommend them enough.

The Solarium in Decatur, Georgia is a wonderful venue. It is one of the cheapest venues in the area, which was great for us having a $3,000 budget. The employees are super helpful, nice, and very flexible. The venue itself is beautiful, and a really great space. My only suggestion if you use this venue is to put a map on your invitations or website. It is a little hard to find.

The solarium is a great venue. It was the ideal size for my wedding and the fact they allowed me to bring my own caterer and bar/alcohol helped us save a lot of money (also the venue itself is very reasonable compared to others).

The only difficulty was getting in touch with the office staff to get our contract signed, but once we got that out of the way it was a breeze.

The space is beautiful and the office staff couldn't have been more accommodating. There was a minor communication problem - we were asked numerous times who our contact person was. Even after passing along this number many times, we still got a phone call the first morning of our honeymoon with a question about clean-up, saying our number was the only one on file! In the end it was not a problem. Their responsiveness was exceptional - every e-mail or phone message was answered within 48 hours. I absolutely would recommend this venue.

We celebrated our wedding at The Solarium and it was wonderful. I probably emailed the staff there 3-4 times a week in the last month as we approached the big day, and they were always super responsive. If you’re looking for a laid-back yet beautiful venue, this is the right place for you! Thank you to the team for making our wedding such an enjoyable experience!

This was the first venue my husband and I checked out and we loved it immediately! Cindy and Beth were amazingly helpful in answering every little question we had, accommodating the multiple site visits we requested, and helping us coordinate along the way. The friendliness could not be beat and we are so happy that we got to celebrate our wedding here and in one of our favorite neighborhoods (and during the Porchfest music festival). Highly recommend this venue!!

The staff at the Solarium were wonderful. They always were available via phone or email and made sure that we could get into the venue for the vendors to plan the wedding. The price is beyond reasonable and they were very accommodating as far as letting us do whatever we wanted. The venue is beautiful. There was plenty of room to spread out. We used outside for the ceremony, one room for the catering and one room for the dance floor. The location was great. The only problem that I could see being a problem, is the parking. This was not an issue that we really had but I could see it being a problem. I love that they have a bridal suite. There is not a kitchen for the catering to use to cook. All food must be prepped and cooked before getting to the venue. This could be a problem for some caters. They do not have a ventilation system, so there is not room for flexibility with this even if you were to bring in your own equipment. I could not imagine my big day anywhere else.

Beautiful, simple, elegant wedding hall. You can bring in any caterer you'd like, band, linens etc which makes this place very affordable!!!!! Since we live in the area code we also got a 50% off discount. There was enough room for our 90 people guest list. We made use of the lovely patio in the front. The women in the front office were very sweet and were able to bend the rules alittle, since there is a discount if no one books 30 days in advance. Nice little private dressing area for the bride or groom.

Some cons, its a little annoying have the dance floor seperate from the food area. It wasn't awful, its made eating quieter and easier to talk. but we couldn't really here if our wedding singer was trying to get people back on the dance floor. It was a pain to get ahold of the women in the front office since they have limited office hours, but when we did get ahold of them, they were very sweet and hospitable. Also annoying, is that you are only allowed to set up the day of the wedding, so unless you have a wedding planner or family to help, you are forced on your wedding day to go set up the room.

With all that said, DEFINITELY WORTH the price. beautiful, quaint, not pretentious...it was magical...

it's a gorgeous place and the staff couldn't have been more kind.

The Solarium is a simply beautiful venue. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it. It is very affordable and you rent just the space. They let you select whatever caterer you want and you can bring in your own alcohol. This was awesome because it really helped me have a fantastic wedding and stay within my budget. The staff at The Solarium are very nice, however they have odd hours and often take several days to return phone calls. Getting in touch with the staff was extremely frustrating, but they delivered everything that was promised. I would recommend The Solarium. The best thing about it is that you can transform it into whatever you want.

A beautiful location at a great price! As far as the professionalism, we kind of got what we paid for though. They were not great about returning phone calls and emails or answering questions clearly. There was some confusion once we got to the location about our cleaning responsibilities.