The Green Center
If home is where the heart is, then the Green Center in University City is the perfect place to host the celebration of your new love. While the Green Center (8025 Blackberry, 314-725-8314, thegreencenter.org) primarily functions as an outdoor education center, it also offers the opportunity for intimate and individual weddings, inside and out.
The 70-year-old house is full of personality. From the etched stone fireplace to the crystal light fixtures, almost all the house’s features have been preserved and maintained through the help of local volunteers. The Green Center has fused the old with the new by using features of this vintage house in modern ways. The breakfast room, for example, often serves as a disc jockey booth and the antique kitchen has been equipped with modern equipment to aid caterers.
The house can hold up to 70 guests seated, but wedding parties are invited to use tents and tables to sprawl out into the gardens and to take advantage of the natural beauty local volunteers have worked so hard to preserve. The front of the house, surrounded by native St. Louis plants and flowers, makes a perfect photo opportunity as well as a beautiful entrance for the guests.
Other than the work of local artists hanging on the wall, facility manager Dana Barhard says the Green Center has intentionally left the walls bare to allow wedding parties to set their own style. From catering to decorating, all decisions are left up to those planning the special day. The Green Center has no in-house caterer, but will give catering recommendations.
If the individuality of this venue isn’t enough, Barhard noted that it’s not only a wedding at the Green Center, but a wedding with a cause.
“People get the feeling that their wedding is supporting something good in the community,” Barhard says.
Third Degree Glass Factory
Third Degree Glass Factory (5200 Delmar, 314-367-4527, www.stlglass.com) is the perfect venue to heat up your wedding reception. The combination art studio and party venue is the perfect combination for couples who, according to owner Jim McKelvey, “are looking for something unique and low-cost.”
After all, no other venue in St. Louis allows the bride and groom to express their love for one another while expressing their artistic side. At Third Degree, both the couple and the guests have a chance to try their hand at glassblowing. Trained instructors give guests all the instruction they need to create their own, glass-blown masterpiece.
The owners never intended to turn the studio into a reception site, but started considering the idea when approached by event planners and glassblowing students asking to use the studio for parties.
The studio setting gives the venue a laid-back and welcoming appeal, and the spacious, open studio is the perfect place to mingle. The adjoining room can fit up to 250 people seated at tables. Guests can easily flow from the dining room to the studio and within minutes can move from making a toast to toasting some glass.
While the dress might be formal, the atmosphere at Third Degree Glass Factory is anything but. According to McKelvey, Third Degree Glass is about friendliness and fun, not formality.
“Guests love the friendly atmosphere. If you spill something on the floor, we don’t care,” he says.
In an effort to stay low-cost, the reception site doesn’t have exclusive catering, which lets the wedding party decide how they would like to handle food. Parties can reserve Third Degree Glass Factory as few as four to six weeks in advance, but the studio does take reservations up to two years ahead of time. Spots will start filling up as Third Degree Glass completes its renovations, including a new 100-space parking lot and more windows into the party site.
The Thaxton
When you step into the Thaxton (1009 Olive, 314-621-3737), you don’t just step into another wedding reception venue—you step into a whole different era. The etched-glass door opens to an Art Deco world contained within the recently renovated 1908 building. The bright, cubistic murals, original 1920s artwork, intricate glass etchings and lavishly decorated ceiling make the Thaxton seem a little less like St. Louis and a little more like The Great Gatsby.
“Everyone comes in saying they want something new, something different,” says Mary Pitliangas of Antique Architectural Décor, the design firm responsible for the Thaxton’s artistic ambience. “Well, that’s us. We’re something different.”
The Thaxton, which had its grand opening last September, offers couples an unforgettable venue for an unforgettable reception. Part of the Thaxton’s charm is in its attention to detail. No spot, no matter how miniscule, has gone unadorned. Even the bathrooms received some serious attention. Hand-painted and tiled signs of playing cards point guests toward the rooms for “Queens” and “Kings.” Enter either bathroom and you’ll find it decorated all the way to the ceiling, which is painted to look like a blue sky.
From the faux-finished lamps to the neon-lit glass, most of the pieces throughout the Thaxton were either created or detailed by Mike Pitliangas, Mary’s husband and the designer of the building.
Along with its unique décor, the Thaxton offers a unique seating arrangement—two floors on which to seat your guests. This offers more mixing and mingling opportunities and, as Mary noted jokingly, a chance to separate feuding family members.
While some find the different décor and seating arrangements startling, Mary believes it allows brides and grooms to think outside of the typical reception sites.
“We don’t think everyone has to do the same thing,” Mary says. “You’re not stuck with the same old white linens and 10 people at each table.”
The Thaxton holds 250 seated or 350 in a cocktail party setting. Parties can choose from one of four recommended caterers or bring in one of their own preference.
