The Athenaeum

Excellent place to shoot, very picturesque and everyone was great to work with!

The most beautiful place to have a reception in Souther California. Plus, their food is amazing, their service impeccable, and they are a pleasure to work with.

After having searched the ballrooms and fine hotels of Los Angeles, we chose the Athenaeum because it feels so personal and warm and inviting. Plus its architecture is phenomenal and the textures and patterns of the rooms are so perfect for pictures!

I just had my wedding at the Athenaeum and everything was WONDERFUL. All I heard from the guests was how beautiful the venue was and how great the food was. I really wanted to have an outdoor wedding and reception, and the Athenaeum really was perfect. Nellie is such a pleasure to work with and really helped to make our day exactly what we wanted it to be. I highly recommend this venue.

I was married at the Athenaeum in June 2006 and give it an A+ for ambiance/food and A- for service.

We grudgingly made an appointment here because it was at the very top end of our budget and are so glad we did! We fell in love with the Athenaeum the first time we saw it. It fit our main criteria--outdoor ceremony space and reception area full of ambiance. Added bonus is that our parents loved it too. Phew! We knew that booking the Ath would stretch our budget, but we made do by skimping on decorations (which I think turned out fine because the courtyard is so pretty by itself.)

For the first year, we were in contact with Allison, who we thought was a bit distant and not that helpful. A month before our wedding, we were switched over to Nellie and are SO thankful! She was awesome--very knowledgeable, friendly, helpful at pointing out where we could save $, and great at responding to our emails (a huge plus for us since we were planning from SF).

The food was, for the most part, good. We had 4 passed hor d'ourves that were absolutely delicious and presently beautifully (esp the lobster medallion in a spoon!) Our passed signature drink was the sangria, which my friends said wasn't very good. For dinner, we had the citrus & avocado salad, beef tenderloin with a cabernet sauce, halibut with port vanilla bean sauce, and a chocolate fountain. I heard several people say (not to me, to other guests, so I know it's not just a fake compliment) that the steak was one of the best they've had, and couldn't believe it was wedding food. Unbelievably nice staff that kept our sweetheart table stocked with food. The one thing that bothered me was that the steaks didn't come with truffle butter, which we had at our tasting and was printed on our menu.

The other problem we had was caused by a photo permit, which we didn't get but is apparently needed in order to take pics past the Athenaeum lawn. Nellie had asked us if we wanted one, but our photographer told us we didn't need it (she shot at the Ath before and never had to get one.) Then, during our photo shoot, we were stopped by a mean security guard! He wouldn't let us continue with the photos until we produced the $200 permit---ugh! Later, Nellie was very apologetic and didn't point fingers at all. She and the photographer worked things out but other Athenaeum brides should get a permit in order to avoid what happened to us.

We were married on the steps, had the cocktail hour indoors and the reception in the main courtyard. We got a TON of compliments on the venue, and still do now even though it's been three months after the wedding!

I highly recommend the Athenaeum for any bride. :)

recommended!

when: due to our daytime wedding, we held lunch+cocktails indoors. we didn't want our guests to bake in the sun. our buffet was setup on the east patio.

why: available, close by (on campus), and pretty, in a quintessential 30's sort of academic way ;)

food: for cocktail hour (12-1pm) we passed mini-muffins, sangria, and fizzy strawberry lemonades, and did three stations: brie normandy, fruit, and coffee (we knew we'd want coffee!!). guests esp liked the brie. for lunch, we served the hale buffet. excellent quality food and plenty of it.

setup: nellie + staff helped setup the placecards, favors, bathroom baskets, guestbook, cake cutting set, and table numbers. we used their little fleur de lis holders for the menus and table numbers. i dropped everything off the thurs before, and nellie took care of everything. such a relief!

service: nellie is very responsive to emails/phone calls, and friendly in person. the staff at the ath are pretty good. it's a faculty club, after all!

price: for 76 guests (including three 7 yr olds), open bar w/ call brands, it came out to $122 per person, including tax + house charge.

less stellar:
-when we first booked the ath, allison said that we would have the run of the place till 4 pm. then it turned out that they needed to begin setup of the west patio for a night event. we didn't need the space but the inner bridezilla would have liked the view...

-my groom forgot to tell anyone about the cake stand or cake pillars that needed to go back to the bakery. i actually chatted with nellie a bit while the cake was being dismantled, but, somehow neither of us thought about the cake stand & etc. we got the stand back, but the pillars had been thrown out.

-we were constrained by our church availability and enjoyed our daytime reception, but the west patio at night is where the ath really shines.

sidenote: my in-laws all stayed at the ath and everyone loved it. the rooms are cozy. the dining room serves a tasty breakfast.

Excellent venue!