Essential to a successful wedding day experience is your environment. That selection can pre-determine all other vendors and even dictate the timeline of your day. I can’t express enough how much I enjoy witnessing a couple whose wedding venue fits them perfectly! Even if your search has only narrowed down to Central Ohio wedding venues, I have my top three picks in this area to recommend!
Why You’ll Want to Get Married at These Central Ohio Wedding Venues
It’s always a good sign when after leaving a wedding venue I immediately want to return! This can be due to the experience of working with the couple, an amazing venue team, or the entire experience of capturing a specific location. While I’ve captured many unique wedding venues in Ohio, not every location is my favorite. There are a few key factors that that these modern wedding venue recommendations have in common:
- Venue Owners/Staff: as your Ohio wedding photographer, it’s my role to work closely with both your wedding planner and the venue team. It’s important that the crew puts the couple first and prioritizes what they want accomplished on their day. These teams were all lovely to work with which is unfortunately not always the case!
- Lighting & Options: so much of what makes a venue work is where it is located and the options it offers for bridal portraits, first look locations and spots for other wedding photography ideas. The surrounding city streets, fields or woods provide a setting for the candid photos that preserve the story of your day. These locations had natural lighting and getting-ready spaces which makes for a convenient one-stop-shop on a wedding day.
- Indoor/Outdoor Spaces: not every venue works in every season and that’s OK! It’s just important that you know the options that your venue offers for rain or shine, hot or cold. These venues all provide indoor and outdoor options to accommodate unpredictable Ohio weather and different seasons which is ideal!
The following destinations are Central Ohio wedding venues that have stood out the most to me!
The Legacy on Possum Run – Bellville, Ohio
The Legacy on Possum Run is owned by wonderful people who are very accommodating. They will work with you to ensure that every moment of your day is as you envisioned it. I love the variety that the location offers between the different looks of its ceremony and reception sites.
These spots include a beautiful greenhouse, a rustic wood-paneled and stone-walled room with stunning skylights and indoor waterfall, or their 170-year old barn. Your rental includes two of these spaces and accommodates anything from a micro wedding, to up to 250 guests.
You can book the site up to a year in advance and it has a list of recommended vendors from the area. My goodness, I can’t get over how great a space they have for wedding getting ready photos! The Bridal Suites are well lit, equipped with an ample amount of mirrors, a mini refrigerator, and salon styling chairs.
PRO TIP & FUN FACT
A critical tip for The Legacy is how imperative it is that the wedding photography timeline moves back by at least 30 minutes for sunset. Golden hour will disappear earlier than expected because the venue is nestled in a true valley. When you catch it, spots outside along the property are perfect for couples photos during sunset.
This couples’ wedding day occurred on both the bride and groom’s birthday! I’ll never quite get over how incredibly lovely it was to witness these two celebrating their actual birthdays while getting married with all of their friends and family! The day will always hold multiple significant meanings in their lives!
Westbrook Country Club – Mansfield, Ohio
Out of these Central Ohio wedding venues, Westbrook Country Club is a premium golf course location with the best panoramic views on one of the highest points in Mansfield. It makes for a really wonderful view of the sunset.
The Pavilion is a larger space that can host up to 275 guests and is accessible to club non-members. It has incredible natural light with folding walls opening to the outdoors that make the building almost disappear when the weather is great! The Card Room is only accessible to members or a sponsored member and can host up to 20 guests.
Their top notch catering team also offers elegant dining from appetizers to desserts presented in buffet or plated dish style. It’s such a superb venue with the best food ever!
Harvest Moon Venue – Ashland, Ohio
Harvest Moon is a newer Central Ohio wedding venue addition. It is owned and operated by a young couple who were the first to get married there! They inherited the property and have completely transformed it into a modern barn wedding venue. The luxurious space prides itself in providing couples with the best of both worlds, both the rustic and sophisticated.
Usually, barns are lit with harsh orange lighting to make the tone of your photos appear overly warm. Harvest Moon instead incorporates excellent natural light in its outdoor ceremony space and through the large barn doors of the reception area.
The barn ceiling is also covered completely with stringed lights for after dark. Indoor and outdoor options are available for cocktail hour beneath the barn in the Cocktail Lounge and Patio. There is a seamless transition upstairs into the reception.
The latest couple I captured at this venue had a truly blissful day. Never before had I seen so many happy tears shed at a wedding! There was a great amount of love and joy matched by their celebratory surroundings. It’s places like these Central Ohio wedding venues that always leave me feeling that I’ve got to go back!
Got a better idea of where you want to get married? I want to hear your picks for Central Ohio Wedding Venues!
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