Photography by Carmen Troesser
If you’ve been there, you’ll understand: Planning a smaller wedding can be even more difficult than scripting a 200-person gala—mainly because your options are fewer. So think outside the Tiffany box. When the club is too pricey, the ballroom too grand, and the farm just too far away, consider something unusual—but memorable—like the four venues that follow.
Seven Gables Inn
Surrounded on all sides by the picturesque boutique hotel, the European courtyard at the Seven Gables Inn offers maximum privacy (and wind protection) for a wedding ceremony, reception, or dinner. Several interior dining rooms, plus a bistro and bar, offer flexibility, while the inn’s 32 rooms provide respite after the revelry. For a group of 50 to 100, there is no more compact or charming locale in town. 26 N. Meramec, 314-863-8400, sevengablesinn.com.
Table Three
Let’s just say your private patio is outfitted with upholstered sofas and chairs, a fireplace and a bar, pod heaters, a water element, wrought iron, abundant landscaping… Would you even consider going anywhere else? That may have been the thought process when owner Beth Williams designed the elevated stone patio at Table Three in Wildwood. If the scenery must change, retire indoors to the equally well-appointed event room, where you can drink, dine, and determine which of the spaces is more refined. 16765 Main, Wildwood, 636-458-4333, table-three.com.
The Market at The Cheshire
One of the more unusual bridal settings in town may also rank as the most idyllic: Consider the recent farm-to-market reception at The Market at The Cheshire (pictured above). After the knot was tied in an upstairs room, guests descended into the cozy confines of The Market to enjoy an array of local cheeses and cured meats, specialty wines and beverages, and an assortment of chef Rex Hale’s “street food from around the world.” Attendees sidled up to the wood-burning stone fireplace or to tables arranged outdoors, set up across the patio, eventually meandering back indoors to assemble their own take-home berry baskets of homemade pickles, jams, hot sauces, and even a ketchup made by the groom. The wedding program, detailing the full array of participants and provisions, resembled a Trader Joe’s circular. Part of it included a coupon that read, “Buy none, get one free.” 7036 Clayton, 314-932-7840, market-stl.com.
Scape
Just as hidden as the patio at the Seven Gables Inn is the larger and more versatile rear patio at Scape, an elegant backdrop for chef Eric Kelly’s culinary masterpieces, from an opulent, coursed dinner to a down-home pig roast. If skies threaten, the patio can be fully or partially tented. Since on-site changes of scene are now the rage, Scape complies by providing event rooms across two levels. Conduct the nuptials in an upstairs area, overlooking the Maryland Plaza fountain, followed immediately by cocktails and appetizers on the ivy-lined patio, then adjourn to the Wine Room, a most appropriate locale for a celebratory dinner, indeed. 48 Maryland Plaza, 314-361-7227, scapestl.com.
