Peabody Essex Museum

HIGHLY recommend this place for a reception - it's amazing in every way!! Thank you so much!

My daughter's wedding was this fall. We had 8 months to plan and after looking at several locations on the North Shore we decided on the PEM. Natalia couldn't have been nicer or easier to work with. The wedding was perfect from the beginning to the end. I didn't have to think of one thing other then having a great time. The PEM is a beautiful large space with awesome artifacts that are so true to our northshore history. Our guests were more then complimentary to the whole affair. Coctails in the Bartlett Gallery and reception in the East India Marine Hall. Both rooms are so unique and beautiful. Can't thank everyone enough for a truly beautiful night.

My Husband and I had our wedding reception in the East India Marine Hall with the cocktail reception in the Atrium. Words can not explain how picture pefect it was. As soon as we saw the hall and atrium on our tour we knew no other place we looked at could ever mesure up and boy were we right! We went home that night and talked about the dates and booked it immediately. Working with Natalia made it all seem too easy. She was so phenomenal to work with, she was so accommodating with everything and took the stress away! When the big day came, walking into both the atrium and East India Marine Hall took my breath away. I had to keep pinching myself that this was real, it just seemed like it was straight from a movie, we got so many comments on how it was the absolute nicest wedding our guests have been to.

We used the Hawthorne Hotel for catering, Lindsay Otis, just like Natalia, took the stress away! She made everything so easy, and was there for all of our questions and requests without any hesitations. When we had our tasting, she was sitting at our table and told us all of our options and all the information we needed to know. The hardest part was deciding on what dishes to offer our guests! You seriously cannot go wrong with ANYTHING they offer! We go so many comments on how incredible the food was, from the hor dourves to the salad to the appetizers and so on, everyone wanted more of everything! The service was beyond impeccable, the staff was so attentive to everyone and knew where each person was who had a food allergy and went over how their meal is going to be cooked and served.

Natalia and Lindsay were there from start to finish, they made our wedding day better than we have imagined it could be. We were shown what a dream wedding was like. I could go on for days about how great everything was, so just know your dream wedding will be in great hands when you choose the Peabody Essex Museum!

The PEM is a great venue. All of our guests were amazed by the space (we had guests from NYC, DC, France, London, etc. and many said they have never seen such an amazing and unique). We had the cocktail hour upstairs in the East India Marine Hall and the reception downstairs in the atrium. We had amber uplighting which made the space amazing. Natalia was a pleasure to work with and the museum was very accommodating. We had the ceremony in a private residence and PEM easily accommodated our plan to have the PEM as our rain back up (luckily we did not need it!).

We were so happy that we chose the PEM for our wedding venue, after looking at 10+ different sites around the Boston area. The PEM is a unique, special, classy place with great history and beautiful architecture. We wanted a wedding venue with character and meaning and we found that in the PEM. Our experience with the PEM was even more special because of the event coordinator, Natalia Laskaris. Natalia was professional, caring, kind, knowledgable and calm throughout our year-long planning process. She responded to our countless emails quickly and always answered our questions, making us feel like we were a top priority. Natalia helped coordinate all of our vendors and communicated with them in the days leading up to our wedding, so everyone was on the same page. She went above and beyond what we were expecting and was an absolute pleasure to deal with. The PEM is lucky to have Natalia!

If you decide to book the Peabody Essex Museum, keep in mind you are hiring all vendors on your own. Your payment to the PEM guarantees you the gallery space, tables and chairs but that's about it. You have to choose from a list of 5 or 6 catering companies and you have NO choice about the alcohol vendor (you have to use the Hawthorne Hotel/Catering). This worked out well for us, because we got to pick and choose the vendors we liked and really were able to plan our wedding with our personal style in...

We recently had our wedding at the Peabody Essex Museum. After struggling to find a venue in Boston (where we live) that wasn't a generic hotel, wasn't hugely overpriced, wasn't too tiny for our big families, and didn't have any other weird deal-breakers, we started to look outside the city and immediately found PEM. We'd visited the museum a few times before and knew how beautiful it was. As soon as we visited to look at it as a potential wedding venue, we knew we'd found our place! It's absolutely gorgeous. Natalia was incredible to work with from start to finish. She was responsive, organized, helpful, positive, and enthusiastic. She always had an answer to my many, many questions! Her staff on the night of the event was wonderful, too. They got every detail right, and we didn't have to think about a thing except enjoying our wedding! I can't recommend PEM more highly!

My husband and I had our wedding reception at the PEM this past May. Our day was perfect in most part because of the PEM and Natalia Laskaris. From the first meeting with Natalia I knew that I wanted to have our reception at the PEM just because she was so nice and easy to work with. Even when we were faced with problems or difficult decisions, Natalia was right there with us, helping us through them. Our guests were so impressed by the space and proffesionalism of the staff. I would definitely recommend the PEM as a wedding venue!

Our wedding at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA was on May 12, 2012 and it was the picture perfect evening. Natalia Laskaris, the wedding coordinator at the PEM is top notch. Everything went off without a hitch and was absolutely beautiful. From the first day I met Natalia I knew my wedding day would be perfect. Not only is one of the nicest wedding coordinators I have ever met she is very organized, easy to contact, quick to respond, and has a love for the PEM which makes each function she hosts special. The entire staff at the museum was so accommodating, professional, and nice. Lindsay Ottis at the Hawthorne hotel and her staff, especially Elena and all the bar and wait staff were impeccable. The meal was delivered fast but with personal service that our guest have never encountered at a wedding. Not to mention that the food from the hors d'oeuvres to the entrees were delicious. Coupling the PEM with the Hawthorne Hotel's food and bar service was a winning combination. Natalia and Lindsay work so well together, you are guaranteed a perfect night! Both vendor's staff work seamlessly together to put on a flawless event at the museum. The setting of the East India Marine Hall is so unique and breathtaking. I can not thank everyone enough that had a hand in making our day perfect! I highly recommend the PEM for a unique and memorable wedding!

Natalia was amazing and the museum was such a beautiful spot. Natalia was able to answer any question we had and help with every last minute issue that popped up. She was wonderful to work with.

If have your wedding/reception at the Peabody Essex Museum you will not be disappointed! The place is unique and beautiful and the staff are excellent to work with. I got married in April of 2012 and 8 months later people are still talking about how beautiful the wedding was and what a great time they had.

The museum has a great list of prefered vendors to choose from for music, catering, florists, photographers, etc. It made it much easier to find quality vendors that work well with the venue and fit a variety of price ranges.

Also, the location was great, especially for my out-of-town guests, or guests that just like to party! There are two hotels just a short walk from the museum so we didn't need to provide a shuttle bus to the hotels. Also, there are lots of things to see in and do. My relatives from out of state enjoyed visiting the witch museums and other historic areas, shopping and eating in the Pickering Wharf area, and the Peabody Essex Museum itself. All just a short walk!

Everyone at the museum, especially my event coordinator, were wonderful to work with. They were patient and helped to guide me through all the decisions that needed to be made and were sure to make sure I was thinking of all the details I might have otherwise overlooked.
The museum, itself, was beautiful and an amazing space for both the ceremony and the reception. I could not recommend the entire experience enough.

We loved working with the PEM staff and having our cocktail hour and reception there. Our guests were amazed at how unique and beautiful the venue was for a wedding. They are first and foremost a museum so there were some restrictions and guidelines and they also had an event in the atrium that day so we were not able to have our ceremony in the same location, which was a bummer, but overall it was a great experience. We will be able to visit for many years to come with incredible memories of our amazing party!

My husband and I had our wedding this past September at the PEM. I was searching for a unique, elegant, and breathtaking venue. The PEM was everything and more! Our ceremony was in the Atrium, cocktail hour in the Bartlett Gallery, and reception in the East India Marine Hall. All of our guests said that our wedding was THE BEST and would never forget the experience of having dinner and dancing in such a beautiful setting. One of the best parts of my experience with the museum was Natalia Laskaris, she is the best vendor that I encountered. You can tell that she truly loves what she does and is so calm that she can have such a soothing effect on nervous brides and grooms. She is extremely knowledgeable about what the museum can offer and goes out of her way to accommodate every request no matter how big or small. She replied promptly to every call or email and had no problem meeting us in person when he stopped by the museum to scope things out during the planning process. We had a family friend as the Officiant who was not well versed on how the ceremony should flow, however Natalia had no issue with stepping right in and running the rehearsal when her help was needed without ever over stepping her boundaries. She really helped make our wedding the most important night of our lives and I would never dream on changing a thing.

I couldn't say enough wonderful things about the Peabody-Essex Museum and Natalia. The museum is such a unique and beautiful location for a wedding. Natalia and her team were fantastic through the planning phase and on the day of. When the location of our ceremony had to be changed several months before the wedding (due to unforseen construction), Natalia bent over backwards to ensure that our new ceremony venue was perfect. My husband and I and our friends and family could not have had a better time! Everyone is still talking about what a wonderful wedding it was! I highly recommend the PEM!

We had a wonderful experience hosting our wedding, cocktail reception, and dinner reception at the Peabody Essex Museum. Natalia was amazingly helpful to work with, and the space was gorgeous. We received many positive comments from our guests about how much they loved all aspects of our venue choice.

We found Peabody Essex Museum based on a suggestion from a friend, and also from various lists of unusual wedding venues in the Boston area. We were quickly fascinated by this venue which promptly became one of our top two venue choices. After meeting with the wedding coordinator Natalia who gave us a grand tour of the museum and the Phillips Library across the street (where we ended up having our ceremony) we realized that this venue would be perfect for us. All throughout the wedding planning process Natalia was very responsive and helpful. On the day of the wedding everything ran extremely smoothly. Natalia and her staff were amazing at making sure everything was happening without our interference and on-time. We were very impressed at how they were able to deal with the unexpected mishaps. For example, at some point during the set-up of the reception (which we had at the East India Marine Hall) it turned out that the tripod for our photo-booth camera never made it to the museum. After the staff found out that we had no clue where the tripod was they told us not to worry --- sure enough when we
got to the reception hall we saw that the camera was set up on the improvised stand made of boxes covered with a tablecloth! We had a great time at our wedding and heard a lot of guests commenting on how great of a venue we had. It was particularly nice to have the reception and wedding venues across the street from each other. The cocktail hour option is also especially convenient as it works equally well indoors or outdoors depending on the weather, taking the weather stress out of the equation. Our guests also enjoyed getting to walk through some of the museum on the way from the ceremony to the cocktail hour. Our photographers loved the space behind the library for photos prior to the ceremony. The only down-side to the venue is a restricted alcohol vendor and the limited number of catering options, but we had a wonderful experience with Capers Catering for food and they coordinated seamlessly with the museum staff.

If you are looking for an unusual and cool wedding venue in a Boston area, check out Peabody Essex Museum and you might have to look no further.

We had our ceremony at the Phillip's Library. The coordinator we met with was very frank about what we would be getting and gave us all the information we needed when we got there--which was really helpful to make our venue decisions. Whenever I had questions, the coordinator was quick to get back to us and always answered everything we wanted to know. When the day got closer, our coordinator emailed me a few times to make sure we were all set and had everything organized. At the rehearsal, she was nothing but professional, but friendly as well and kept everyone at ease. She called our vendors to confirm information and that they knew how to get there and where to set up what we had asked for. The venue was beautiful and when I went to the rehearsal, I looked around and remembered all the reasons why we chose it as our venue for our ceremony. The library was set up beautifully (it is a functioning research library during the day) as an entrance to the hall. The exhibits and the seating was organized and lovely, while not distracting.

We had our ceremony at the Phillip's Library and enjoyed every moment of it!

The best place to have your wedding! Natalia was very attentive, professional and pretty much awesome from beginning to end. Only reason our wedding went perfectly was because of Natalia and many thanks to her and the museum.

We had our reception in the Atrium at PEM. It is so beautiful! All of my guests told me how great it was because it is such a different place. If you're not the guilded ballroom type, this is a must see.

Natalia is the BEST to work with. She is calm and kind and truly so easy to deal with. It was a wonderful experience!

Natalia was the best. She put us extremely at ease, and was always very responsiveness and helpful. The venue was GORGEOUS.

My husband and I chose to get married in the Philips Library on the PEM campus. Nathalia was great about helping us find good spots for photography, along with planning all the other details of our ceremony. There is one picture where I'm starting to walk down the aisle and there's Nathalia, having just fluffed my train, smiling and ducking back behind the doors. She was with me from start to finish, planning all the intricacies that go into a wedding ceremony. It was a truly lovely day and Nathalia, along with the location, played a huge role in that.

Excellent and beautiful venue. We got tons of compliments on how elegant our wedding was.

What a spectacular venue. From the friendly staff to the great food to the amazing energy and sites in the museum. I must say this has been one of my favorite places to perform at.

Wonderful location and great staff!

What a fantastic venue for a wedding or function. There isn't another place quite like it. The exhibits are always excellent, the staff is wonderful, and of course Salem is an internationally known place.