City venue guide

The 10 best wedding venues in Washington, D.C.

Washington's wedding map divides between the embassy-district mansions north of Dupont Circle and the converted industrial buildings east and south of downtown. Anderson House and Meridian House sit about a mile apart along the embassy belt, renting Gilded Age and John Russell Pope interiors respectively, while the Josephine Butler Parks Center holds a 40-room Renaissance Revival house above Meridian Hill Park. On the water, District Winery turns a working Navy Yard winery into a 200-guest reception room. Downtown the choices run formal — the marble Great Hall at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, rooms inside the Beaux-Arts terminal through Events at Union Station, or the rooftop at Riggs above the old bank vault.

Researched and last reviewed 2026-08-17. We have no commercial relationship with any venue listed.

Washington, D.C., District of Columbia — where couples marry — Washington, D.C. · Photo: Ralf Roletschek ( talk ) - Infos über Fahrräder auf fahrradmonteur.de Wikis in der Ausbildung · CC BY-SA 3.0

No. IAnderson House

No. I

Anderson House

Gilded Age mansionEmbassy Row, Dupont CircleUp to 130 for ceremony, dinner and dancing

Larz and Isabel Anderson built this Embassy Row house between 1902 and 1905 as a machine for entertaining. Isabel gave it to the Society of the Cincinnati after Larz died; the Society opened it as a museum in 1939 and has occupied it ever since, and the National Historic Landmark designation followed in 1996. Rentals cover the first and second floors — the ballroom and its marble staircase, a dining room that ranks among the most elaborate in the city, the walled garden with its reflecting pool. Museum docents stay on through the evening to talk guests through the collection, so the house works as part of the night rather than as a backdrop. Two blocks from Dupont Circle Metro, on a nine-hour vendor window, with fundraising events barred by the house rules.

1905 landmark with a walled garden

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No. IIMeridian House

No. II

Meridian House

Neoclassical mansion and gardensCrescent Place, Meridian HillUp to 150 in the drawing room and library combined

John Russell Pope, later the architect of the Jefferson Memorial, built this Louis XVI-style house in 1920, and its two acres of walled garden are why most couples pick it over a ballroom. Forty linden trees imported from Europe when the house went up shade a pebbled courtyard with a marble fountain, and the canopy is there from mid-May through October; the West Garden, in bloom from late April, is where ceremonies go. Indoors, the drawing room and library open into one another for 150, the mirror-panelled Gallery keeps guests circulating, and an antique dining table original to the property seats 30. The Loggia, an oval sunroom, opens through French doors onto the gardens when the weather cooperates.

Linden grove behind two acres of wall

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No. IIIJosephine Butler Parks Center

No. III

Josephine Butler Parks Center

Historic embassy mansionMeridian Hill, 16th Street NW40 rooms across 18,000 sq ft; capacity quoted per event

Eighteen thousand square feet of Renaissance Revival mansion by George Oakley Totten Jr., developed by Mary Foote Henderson and used in turn as the Hungarian and Brazilian embassies before the nonprofit Washington Parks & People restored it. Forty rooms survive, and the second-floor ballroom — by the house's own account one of the largest in any DC mansion — looks out over the treeline of Meridian Hill Park. Gardens, terraces and kitchens are included in the rental rather than charged as extras, and the money funds the organisation's park work. Guest numbers are quoted per event rather than published, so settle that early if the list is long.

Former embassy above Meridian Hill Park

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No. IVDistrict Winery

No. IV

District Winery

Urban wineryNavy Yard, Anacostia riverfrontUp to 200

Grapes arrive at Navy Yard and the wine is made in the building — there is a production facility to tour and a tasting room alongside the event floor, which no other city reception room in Washington can claim. Floor-to-ceiling glass wraps the main space and opens onto the Anacostia waterfront, with a rooftop above it, a private dining room for smaller counts, and a staircase most couples end up using for the entrance. Tables, chairs, bars, china, glassware, linen napkins and printed menus come with the room, an event manager handles the outside vendors, and dinner is served family style off a seasonal menu. Two hundred is the ceiling.

Working winery on the Anacostia

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No. VThe LINE DC

No. V

The LINE DC

Converted church hotelAdams MorganUp to 850 across the former church; 596 in the Banneker Ball

A 1912 neoclassical church in Adams Morgan, converted into a hotel that kept the shell — vaulted ceilings ringed with stained glass, stone and marble floors, coffered ceilings in the foyer. The sanctuary is carved into rooms that recombine as the guest list demands: No Goodbyes at 5,000 square feet, the Banneker Ballroom at 4,020, the Mezzanine at 3,800 under the glass, or roughly 25,000 square feet and 850 guests taken together. Vela, the rooftop, handles 225 on its own, and the Monument View Suite covers a ceremony of about 60 for couples not trying to fill a church. Adams Morgan makes the after-party a walk rather than a shuttle.

Stained glass over a 1912 sanctuary

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Riggs Washington DC — wedding venue in Washington, D.C., District of Columbia

Photo: Boucher, Jack E. Related names: Kennedy, Jackie; Harrimans, Averell; Riggs, Romulus; Riley, Joshua; Goodwin, M G; Scranton, William; Harriman, Pamela; Fowler, L · Public domain

No. VI

Riggs Washington DC

Hotel in a former bankPenn QuarterRooftop: up to 120 for a reception; Riggs Suite up to 25

The old Riggs National Bank building — the Bank of Presidents, as the hotel still calls it — reopened with the original vault turned into a basement bar. Weddings run on the rooftop, where 2,500 square feet indoors sits behind sliding glass partitions that fold back onto a 1,500-square-foot wraparound terrace, and the hotel caps a reception up there at 120. The Riggs Suite, once the bank's boardroom, has a table for 12, a wet bar and two interconnecting bedrooms, which covers a rehearsal dinner or the getting-ready hours for a party of 25. Everyone else takes a room downstairs.

Rooftop over the bank of presidents

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No. VIINational Museum of Women in the Arts

No. VII

National Museum of Women in the Arts

MuseumNew York Avenue, downtownUp to 250 seated

The building went up in 1908 as a Masonic temple and has housed the museum since 1987, which accounts for the scale of the interior: a marble Great Hall with grand staircases, a mezzanine running above it, and chandeliers hung the length of the room. Dinner and dancing take the hall at up to 250, the mezzanine absorbs the overflow, and the third-floor gallery is bookable for the cocktail hour so guests spend part of the night among the collection. Black tie lands here without much decorating on top.

Marble hall in a 1908 Masonic temple

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No. VIIIDumbarton House

No. VIII

Dumbarton House

Federal house and gardenGeorgetown200 across house and grounds; 80 seated at rounds in the Bel

Georgetown's Federal-period option, built around 1800 and now headquarters of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Fiske Kimball, the architectural historian, laid out the north garden in 1932 — just under a quarter of an acre of crape myrtle and tulip poplar, good for 200 at a ceremony but impossible to tent. All seated dining has to happen in the Belle Vue Room, which takes 80 at round tables, 70 once a band is in the room, or 140 standing; anything larger means tenting the courtyard through the house's required tent vendor. Then read the constraints, because they decide the night: weekend rentals only begin after 1pm, no more than 75 people may be inside the museum rooms at once, and music stops at 8.30pm outdoors and 10pm everywhere.

Walled north garden off a Federal house

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Events at Union Station — wedding venue in Washington, D.C., District of Columbia

Photo: Jack Boucher · Public domain

No. IX

Events at Union Station

Landmark rail terminalCapitol Hill, Massachusetts Avenue NEColumbus Club: 180 seated, 291 standing; Main Hall 2,200 sea

Weddings inside the Beaux-Arts terminal are run by its events arm, which rents rooms most commuters walk past without noticing. The Columbus Club is the practical pick — tall arched windows, 180 at dinner, 291 for a cocktail reception, 329 theatre-style if the ceremony wants rows. For something on a civic scale the Main Hall itself can be taken over under the barrel vault, at 2,200 seated or 3,472 standing. The transport problem that dogs most Washington venues solves itself here: guests arrive by Metro or Amtrak and walk in off the concourse.

Rooms inside a working rail terminal

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No. XLong View Gallery

No. X

Long View Gallery

Converted warehouse galleryShaw, by the convention center25 to 400 guests

White walls instead of gilding: 8,500 square feet of divisible warehouse beside the Washington Convention Center, with 15-foot ceilings, a catering kitchen of its own, and two 9-by-11-foot glass doors that open onto a green space off historic Blagden Alley. Because the room divides, a 25-person dinner and a 400-person party both sit in it without looking wrong. It trades as a commercial gallery the rest of the time, so the art on the walls changes between bookings — worth asking what will be hanging on your date.

Glass doors onto a Blagden Alley garden

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Tell us where you’re marrying in Washington, D.C., District of Columbiaand we’ll build the invitation around it — the venue’s own colours, an illustration of the building if you want one, your map and timings already in place. One link for every guest, with live RSVPs.

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Planning a wedding in Washington, D.C.

The licence comes from the Marriage Bureau at DC Superior Court, and the District's officiant rules are unusually loose: a civil celebrant, a friend registered as a temporary officiant for a fee capped at $25, or the two of you can solemnise the marriage, and the officiant has ten days to return the licence to the Clerk's Office. Ceremonies on federal parkland are far more restricted than couples expect — the National Park Service permits weddings at only two National Mall sites, the George Mason Memorial (100 guests, one hour including setup and cleanup, and no equipment, sound system or live musicians at all) and the DC War Memorial (200 guests, two hours, chairs and an arch and battery-powered sound allowed). Neither has electricity, receptions and alcohol are prohibited, and nothing may be fixed to structures or planting. Historic houses run early curfews on top of that: Dumbarton House stops amplified outdoor music at 8.30pm and all music at 10pm, and only opens for weekend rentals after 1pm, so the late portion of the night usually moves to a bar.

When to marry — Late April into June and mid-September through October are the working windows: the humidity that makes July and August unpleasant has lifted, and Meridian House's West Garden is in bloom from late April to mid-October, with the canopy over its linden grove filling in from mid-May.
What it costs — Anderson House is the one historic house that publishes its tariff, and it sets the ceiling for the mansion tier: $18,000 for a peak-season Saturday evening, $17,000 for a peak Friday or an off-season Saturday, and $16,000 for off-season Friday and Sunday nights, with $2,000 to $3,000 knocked off for parties under 50 or events without dancing and alcohol. Dumbarton House quotes from a brochure rather than a public price list and discounts the off season. Catering is the line that outgrows the venue fee either way, so get a per-head number from a caterer before you commit to a room.

Once the venue is settled, the next thing most couples deal with is telling everyone. A digital wedding invitation carries the address, a map, your timings and a live RSVP on one link — which matters more than usual when guests are travelling to Washington, D.C. and need directions, and plenty of notice.

Questions

Marrying in Washington, D.C.: your questions.

How much does a Washington, D.C. wedding venue actually cost?

Anderson House publishes the clearest benchmark for the mansion tier: $18,000 for a peak-season Saturday evening, $17,000 for a peak Friday or an off-season Saturday, and $16,000 for off-season Friday and Sunday nights, with $3,000 off a Saturday or $2,000 off other nights when the party is under 50 guests or skips dancing and alcohol. Peak season there means April to June, August to October, and December. Dumbarton House prices by brochure rather than publicly and discounts the off season, and hotel and museum rooms are quoted per event. Catering is normally the bigger line than the room, so build the budget from a caterer's per-head quote outward.

Can we hold the ceremony on the National Mall or at a monument?

Only with a National Park Service special use permit, and only at two approved sites. The George Mason Memorial takes up to 100 guests for one hour including setup and cleanup, and has to stay bare — no equipment, no sound system, no live musicians. The DC War Memorial takes up to 200 guests for two hours and does allow chairs, a 4-by-4-foot table, a wedding arch, a battery-powered generator, battery-operated sound and up to two acoustic musicians. Neither site has electricity. Receptions and alcohol are prohibited, nothing may be attached to structures or plants, open flames are out, and petals, rice and confetti may not be dropped. Contact the Division of Permits Management before you plan around it.

What do couples from outside the US need to marry legally in Washington, D.C.?

You apply to the Marriage Bureau at DC Superior Court and the ceremony has to take place inside the District, performed by someone the court recognises. The District's list is unusually broad — clergy, a judge, a registered civil celebrant, a friend approved as a temporary officiant for a fee capped at $25, or the two of you solemnising it yourselves — and the officiant must return the signed licence to the Clerk's Office within ten days. A DC wedding is a full civil marriage in US law, so there is no separate civil step to complete inside the District; whether your home country recognises it is a separate matter, and several require you to register the certificate or repeat a civil ceremony at home, so check with your own consulate before you sign a venue contract.

When should we book, and which weekends are worth avoiding?

Peak Saturdays run May, June, September and October, and the mansion venues — Meridian House, Anderson House, Dumbarton House — are single-event houses, so each booked Saturday removes the date entirely. A year or so ahead is a reasonable target for those months. The cherry blossom weeks in late March and early April fill hotels and clog traffic around the Tidal Basin and downtown, which affects guest travel more than the wedding itself. Also plan around the curfews: Anderson House runs its evenings 6 to 11pm and Dumbarton House cuts music at 10pm, so a late night means budgeting for an after-party somewhere with a later licence.

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Marrying in Washington, D.C.?

Want an invitation designed for your venue?

Make ours for Washington, D.C. See the designs

The 10 best wedding venues in Washington, D.C.

Researched and last reviewed 2026-08-17. We have no commercial relationship with any venue listed.

Want an invitation designed for your venue?

Planning a wedding in Washington, D.C.

When to marry — Late April into June and mid-September through October are the working windows: the humidity that makes July and August unpleasant has lifted, and Meridian House's West Garden is in bloom from late April to mid-October, with the canopy over its linden grove filling in from mid-May.

What it costs — Anderson House is the one historic house that publishes its tariff, and it sets the ceiling for the mansion tier: $18,000 for a peak-season Saturday evening, $17,000 for a peak Friday or an off-season Saturday, and $16,000 for off-season Friday and Sunday nights, with $2,000 to $3,000 knocked off for parties under 50 or events without dancing and alcohol. Dumbarton House quotes from a brochure rather than a public price list and discounts the off season. Catering is the line that outgrows the venue fee either way, so get a per-head number from a caterer before you commit to a room.

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