Philadelphia venue- 200 people, NOT A BALLROOM!

TRUST (the old Real World house), Abington Art Center, National Museum of American Jewish History. I'll post more if I think of some...

Bump

Maybe try a golf course. Not necessarily a ball room but a lot of times they have large dining rooms.

I am not from Philadelphia, but I looked at multiple golf course venues, and 3 of them has 3 walls of windows over looking the golf course and scenery.

I was in your boat, not wanting a ball room and it feeling all stuffy. So I love the views with the windows.

I know you said you didn't want a ballroom, but you should also consider the Lowes Hotel downtown. I believe its the 33rd floor room, GORGEOUS!

Also, Franklin Institute and Waterworks

Behind the car dealers on essington ave, there is a venue that is a car museum. It can hold a lot of people. They have different spaces and lots of parking. I thought it was pretty cool and different. http://simeonemuseum.org

Kimmel Center does weddings as well - I was at a wedding there last summer.

Beat Street Station in Manayunk

Our venue could do 200 people. Its the College of Physicians and Dan Love (on site caterer) is a pleasure to work with. Our budget is 35k and we're only having 120ish people there. Our catering is high but its very workable and would probably be a lot less if we were doing a buffet rather than a plated dinner.

I've heard of the Car Museum Mrs.C mentioned...very cool venue!

Piecesifadream, you should check the museum out. They have events where people command show off their cars. It's free on those days. I would have chosen it if we didn't decide to go closer to family.

Union League is gorgeous. Philadelphia Academy of Arts, although, it's more of a ballroom. Franklin Institute is expensive, but they offer a discounted rate January, February and March.

Please Touch Museum. I went to a wedding there a few weeks ago. Ceremony and reception. It was beautiful and the food was great! Nice place for something that can be traditional yet a little bit out of the ordinary.

I went to a Christmas Party at the Please Touch Museum, it was awesome! They had cotton candy, hot chocolate bar...so much fun. And everyone loves the carousel!

Please Touch and Franklin Institute are very very expensive. We know people who got married at Please Touch, its about $200 a head minimum for weddings.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I have looked into most of these places, and they don't work in our budget. Our biggest issue is the # of people, which isn't changing.

My next step is to look at country clubs. I'm going to look at Talamore in Ambler. Has anyone been?

The Please Touch Museum was my dream venue. They had a $35,000 food and beverage minimum. I almost cried.

Tala more looks nice! Do not look at Blue Bell country club. It's very outdated. Have you considered NJ? Stockton Seaview Resort in Galloway is stunning! The Boathouse in Pennsauken is also very nice.

The Pyramid Club, and my FAV was the Horticulture Center. IDK what your budget is, but The Horticulture Center is very pricey at about $160 p/p but it's very beautiful and resembles botanical gardens.

I've been to several weddings at Talamore - it is gorgeous, however, while the food wasn't bad by any means it certainly wasn't the best wedding food I've had.

I just cried looking at those figures: 35k?$200 per person?! Waaay out of my league too, but it looked great as a guest.