Carnegie Museum of Art & Natural History - Oakland

and structure in Pittsburgh near the university campus where we first met. The Hall of Sculpture is immaculate. Lindsay and Mark, representing coordination and catering, respectively, were beyond helpful. We met with them in person and later had a virtual meeting with Lindsay - she was flexible and accommodating to us as we live in Connecticut. The wedding day itself everything went perfectly. Our guests raved about the beauty of the museum and the food. Lindsay and team kept us on time and she checked in with us multiple times throughout the night. We highly recommend the venue to any couple or for any event - it was truly a dream.

ocktail hour. The venue is absolutely stunning. Our contact, Lindsay, was incredible and went above and beyond expectations. She was incredibly responsive and helpful. She always answered our questions so quickly, and cared about even the smallest details. She really put us at ease from our first meeting because she's just so on top of everything; we knew there was nothing to worry about. She made the planning process so easy and stress free. She was also great during the wedding weekend. Friday "drop off" of our things went so easily, and everything went great on Saturday. She even gave some suggestions for good photo spots in the museum. I always felt attended to. She even surprised us by bringing us our signature drinks to the Founders Room during cocktail hour. There was so much attention to detail that I really appreciated. The museum has in house catering, through Culinaire. The food was SO GOOD. The tasting went really well, and the day-of food did not disappoint. Sometimes I think large scale catering food can be a bit sub par, but the food is all prepared on site and was seriously good. Our guests said the same thing. Overall, the day was absolutely perfect thanks to the museum staff's hard work.

ir own but once they are lit and decorated, it was breathtaking. If you are also looking at a wedding date around the holidays, I do recommend going with the Hall of Sculpture over the Hall of Architecture for your ceremony, as the Hall of Architecture has tons of Christmas trees in it (it's great for pictures, just was glad our ceremony wasn't in that room). Lindsay and her team on the event planning side are a joy to work with. They were all on-top of all aspects of our event and truly made our wedding all the more special with their attention to detail and coordination. The whole team truly made us feel so special - one of my favorite memories was seeing Lindsay standing in the hallway with two glasses of champagne waiting while my husband and I were walking out of our ceremony. In addition to Lindsay and her team - the lighting team at the museum were fantastic to work with. They had great ideas about what lighting to add for our ceremony and had wonderful suggestions for different lighting options at our reception in the Music Hall Foyer. Definitely recommend going with a colored lighting change for dancing, it was a ton of fun to mix things up! Finally, Cassandra and the Culinaire team are great to work with. I did not know what to expect going into our meal tasting (which took place about 6 months prior to the wedding), but they had a full plated meal for each of our meal selections and then an individual plate with a bite of each dish for my parents, fiance, and I so we could see what the meal would look like and also have our own portion to try. The cake tasting was also super fun - they had a few different types of cakes with bowls of icing and filling so we could try as many combinations as we wanted. Cassandra was wonderful to work with and was very helpful with any dietary restrictions we asked her about. I cannot say enough great things about the Museum and the entire staff. Truly made our wedding feel effortless.

he type of couple we were. For a while we’d joked about wouldn’t it be fun to get married in front of the dinosaurs, and when we found out that was really an option we were over the moon! Then finding out it was actually one of the more affordable options vs other places we were seeing, we were over the moon again! The museum staff was top notch and communicative from start to finish. We dealt with a few different people, but it never felt like we were being handed off, it felt like we were working with a strong team of pro’s and that feeling carried through all the way till the end when we boarded the shuttle to say good night for the evening. They made what should have been an insanely stressful time feel like a breeze helping to cover all the little details and coordinating. The fact they have a built in catering service made life infinitely more easy as well, and wow did they deliver. We’ve had people messaging all throughout the week raving about how good all the food was and that it was easily the best meal they’d ever had at a wedding. The venue itself was lovely with a view overlooking millions of years of history as we began to write a fresh page in our personal history. And after getting married in front of the dinosaurs we had our reception in the North American Wildlife Hall. At first glance it seems like a bit of an odd place, but we knew right away in wanting something different it was perfect. Sure enough it came together in the best possible way on the day of the wedding. That unique setup and extremely interesting location had our guest beaming with excitement all night and we’d heard many times over it was “the most fun wedding I’ve ever been too!” from numerous guests! If you’re looking for an amazing venue that coincidentally also takes a huge part of the stress out of your planning, go with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Genuinely, they were wonderful!

The team at the museum is exceptional. They went above and beyond to make our day perfect. We couldn’t list all of the small and big things they did before, during, and after our big day to make sure it was perfect. Lindsay, the event coordinator at the museum, is a rock star. She was so responsive and helpful leading up to the big day, and the day-of she was a savior. She took all of the stress and worries off of us and our family so we could enjoy that day fully. Lindsay, we can’t thank you enough!! We can’t recommend the museum and their team enough. The venue was beautiful, the food was amazing, and the staff there are exceptional.

e Music Hall is incredible, and our guests were wowed by the space! More importantly, the staff members at the museum were outstanding. Barbie made the booking process easy. Lindsay was a dream to have on our team during the planning process and as a day-of coordinator. We never had to worry about any details, because we knew she would take care of everything! Cassie and her team also provided fantastic meals and service to our guests. The food and desserts were absolutely delicious. The catering team got little details right, like serving entire tables at once so no one is waiting for food! Our guests said that this service made them feel like royalty. We would highly recommend the Music Hall Foyer and the Carnegie Museum team for anyone booking a wedding in Pittsburgh!

as a highlight of the day. Also, Lindsay, our event coordinator, was SO incredibly responsive and helpful, both leading up to wedding day and on the day itself. She helped the day run smoothly and truly cared about delivering our vision in all its detail. We will forever cherish our night at the museum wedding!

nding on date availability. If you are looking for a venue that speaks for itself, this room is absolutely stunning. Our event coordinator, Lindsay, was fantastic. She was responsive and attentive to our event even though the museum has multiple events (wedding and non-wedding) each weekend throughout the year. Even though they only have the in-house caterer for food/drink options, our catering coordinator, Cassie, was also incredible. Both she and Lindsey are true professionals who really paid attention to all the details of our wedding. Everything went smoothly and we got so many compliments on the venue itself as well as the food.

horough, professional, personable, and fun. They welcomed us to the venue for many meetings and check-ins, and always answered our calls, emails, and lists of ongoing questions. I felt as if they cared deeply about our event and our family's experience at the venue. I will also appreciate and respect this team so much. I am so grateful to have had the privilege to celebrate our wedding here!

king in person. Dallas was kind, communicative, and accommodating throughout the year of planning. Our wedding day itself went SO seamlessly, I couldn't believe it! Thank you for making our wedding day a dream come true – we will forever cherish our memories!

d in the Hall of Sculptures, which is a bright and magnificent room of the museum. The reception took place in the Music Foyer. This room is breathtaking and truly a ballroom from a fairy tale. I would recommend this venue to anyone who is having their wedding in Pittsburgh, PA.

g. The Carnegie staff was extremely supportive, flexible, and helpful as we had to navigate postponing our original wedding date and rescheduling for a new date due to the pandemic. Our coordinator, Dallas Trescher, was absolutely outstanding throughout our entire wedding planning process from beginning to end, particularly in helping us to plan and execute not 1 but 2 weddings as a result of our needing to cancel our original date. Throughout the entire 18 month process, she was organized, flexible, responsive, and communicative, all while keeping an upbeat, positive attitude and keeping our doubts and nerves in check. She also took great care of all our vendors, and made sure they had what they need to get their jobs done, respectively. On the day of the wedding, she and her team were extremely helpful in all regards, and also highly attentive to anything we needed, which we super appreciated. We would highly recommend the Carnegie as a venue for your wedding!

g went smoothly and the staff took care of everything. The flow of the space is worked out, it makes sense and it makes the guest experience smooth and seamless. We had about 100 people and it felt nice in the space the way they recommended laying it out. Highly recommend this location! However, we did run into a few things during the planning that could have been better. The sales person we originally spoke to ended up leaving a few months after we booked and it took a while to hear from the new person. Then nobody we interacted with during planning was there the day of our wedding. Rion was our day of person and he was great! There were no hiccups that night but it would have been better to have someone we knew already. Catering was great! I think the value of the packages is well worth the money! The tasting was phenomenal but the food on the actual wedding was good (not great). Everyone knows the food at weddings is usually just OK, but the portions are large and the service is excellent so all our guests were happy and full! Our cake was delicious and beautiful! Make sure you ask for some food or cake wrapped up to go for the bride and groom, I wish we did because we only got a few bites of cake.

away by how beautiful the foyer was! I planned the entire wedding myself from California, where I now live, and their staff honestly made it so easy and enjoyable to plan! I worked with Tori, Nicki, and Rion, all of whom were wonderful!! They did great job communicating as a team so that whoever I was meeting with or whoever was there the night of the wedding knew exactly what was going on. They were very responsive and professional throughout the entire process. They helped to coordinate our meetings so that we could get as much done whenever I was in Pittsburgh. Now that the wedding is over, everyone has been asking if there were any big hiccups during the day, as most weddings have, but honestly we had none!! Everything ran so smoothly and went exactly as planned! Rion was also so helpful at the end of the night with loading up our things in the car. We were so happy with everything and cannot recommend them more!

or a venue and is considering Carnegie is how highly my husband and I recommend this place. It was the best decision we made for our wedding. All of the people we worked with were amazing, so fun, SO down to earth, talented, professional, and they worked with our budget in ways I never imagined they would. The kindness us and our families received by Nicole with events, and Cassie in Catering from the start was exceptional. The part that may be a surprise to couples looking and what we've bragged about is how flexible and reasonable they were with helping us plan a wedding that fit our vision, budget, and made it easy on us planning from out of state. These people are the best and they deserve recognition for running an impressive operation in one of Pittsburgh's most beautiful spaces, and doing so with professionalism, empathy, skill, class, and an attitude to consistently exceed expectations.

rved, invites sent out, etc. When she called to make payment to the museum the person there could not find her reservation - when she looked more closely at that date in their books she saw that my friends name and reservation had been WHITED OUT and another couple had been been given the date! There had been absolutely no contact from the museum to my friend about this, they'd just wiped her date off the books, given it to someone else and forgotten about her! The organizers at the museum have just said "nothing we can do" and my friend's wedding plans are now ruined. She is too upset to write this review herself, but I think the behavior of the museum is absolutely disgraceful and people should be warned. Go somewhere else and save yourself the worry, and potential for disappointment and heartbreak.

aff is so so so kind. I heard all night and every day since from EVERYONE that it was the most gorgeous wedding venue they had ever been too. I loved every second of the night! The balcony is amazing. I didn’t really have any decorations at all (spent a lot of money on the flowers) and the room was still stunning!! Would definitely recommend.

guided us throughout the planning process, Cassie at Cullinaire (catering) who made planning the food & drink such a pleasant and stress-free process, and to Lydia at the museum who was our day-of coordinator. First off, what a gem the Carnegie is! Our daughter and son-in-law live in Pittsburgh and found out about it through a friend when they were researching places for their reception. So many of our wedding guests commented on the elegance of the venue. A few said it was the most elegant wedding they had ever attended! The Music Hall foyer is a stunningly beautiful space that is obviously maintained with a great deal of care and love. Out-of-town guests and even natives of the area said they really enjoyed the chance to explore the museum for free between the end of the wedding (held elsewhere) and the start of the cocktail hour. The Carnegie staff: I can’t think of a more down-to-earth, knowledgeable and truly professional coordinator than Nicki. We were immediately put at ease at our very first meeting with her. MOB and FOB are from out of state and we knew we were in very good hands from day 1 when we met Nicki. Our day-of coordinator Lydia was amazing. Everything was set up and went as planned—thanks to Nicki, Cassie and Lydia there was nothing for MOB and FOB to do but enjoy the evening! Cullinaire's catering and service staff: Food was very good (in particular, delicious hors d'oeuvres and the guests who had the steak entrée—which was the majority of the guests—said it was really good.) The food and bar staff were exceptional. The dinner service was flawlessly coordinated: perfect number of servers for both food and bar. Everyone was attentive and friendly. To say everyone on the Carnegie event staff and at Cullinaire exceeded our expectations is an understatement. It was such an important day in our families’ lives. They made it so memorable, fun and special.

extra lighting which made the room jaw dropping!! My original wedding planner left the Museum during the planning process. But Nicki jumped right in and the transition was seamless. Cassie was awesome! She was always helpful and it was great to see her on my wedding day too!

ed with Nicki throughout our entire planning process. She was so helpful and very responsive for any and all questions. While she was not able to be there for our actual wedding, we were in great hands with Lydia and Chris. They made everything completely perfect for us. Other brides have mentioned it in their reviews, but there really is nothing like having your first dance on the Music Hall Foyer floor while your guests are on the balcony. There's something so special about it. All our guests could not stop commenting on how gorgeous the spaces were and how unique that was. The catering staff was wonderful. Our food was great and everyone was pleased with their meals. They were extremely accomodating for any dietary restrictions. Also, all the bartenders they used were amazing and interacted with all our guests. The pastry chef is phenomenal. Our cake was delicious and we were told it was the best wedding cake people had ever had. I cannot say enough good things about our experience with Carnegie and highly recommend them to anyone looking for a venue.

extravagant!) place to get married. Tori did an amazing job coordinating our vendors and making sure that everything ran smoothly both before and during the wedding. She was very responsive and was very patient with our many questions and our many requests to visit our beautiful venue. The catering manager, Cassie, also was very responsive and was willing to work around our schedules and requests for the tastings. Everyone said that the food was delicious. I could not have asked for a better venue or better people running my wedding. I would recommend them 100%.

took photos. I also loved having the everyone watch our first dance from the upper level. The Founder's Room was great to get ready in. My bridal party loved that. The staff was very responsive and polite. I am very delighted with our choice.

ne. Once these details were ironed out, planning went well. Eileen is the true expert here when it comes to weddings, and I couldn't imagine a better planner than her. She and the team brought our vision to life, and it was more than we could have ever imagined! There is nothing more special that having your first dance in the foyer while everyone is on the balcony. They were accommodating to our requests, especially our multiple favors and extra finishes we wanted. Cassie (catering manager), the chef and the pastry chef were amazing. At our tasting the chef and the pastry chef sat down with us to make sure our dish was exactly the way we wanted. We even had mini pies in addition to our cake that were AMAZING. Cassie even was there the night of and came out of her way multiple times to make sure we were happy -- and the staff always made sure my champagne glass was full -- literally they would go out of their way to come find me. Plus, this venue does not up charge for different color linens and chiavari chairs, which is really hard to find. The founders room was perfect when we got to the venue after taking our pictures to refuel. They made sure they had enough appetizers and drinks for our wedding party and parents. We truly had the best wedding reception ever!

ate!!! it took forever to sort out because they never responded. also, WATCH OUT they tried taxing our gratuity!!! um, that's illegal!! then when we called them out about it, they "played dumb" and lastly, they tried charging us for more parking tickets than actual guests we had at our wedding!! nice try! food was okay at best, at the tasting you only get to pick a few options so essentially even if you don't like it, you don't get to try anything else so you just kind of have to go with it. our bridal party got no apps or beverages before our grand entrance because we were told we weren't allowed to go upstairs, yet we paid for them all (20) to have appetizers in our bill. nottttt worth it!! go somewhere else.

ounding Pittsburgh area (or can make it there) and want a spectacular, unforgettable wedding, contact them now and save your time looking elsewhere. The venue is absolutely breathtaking, the staff are so communicative, responsible, knowledgeable, and experienced: it was such a pleasure working with them and we got everything accomplished with their help in no time (yes that is a significant run-on sentence to show how much they are worth having your wedding/other event at the Carnegie Museum). To name drop all of the lovely folks at the Carnegie whom we could not have made our wedding day been better if we did it all again: Eileen Twigger (the head master of the venue planning), Mark Balach and Cassie (Cassandra) Norrid (Catering- the food was absolutely delicious, we had everyone at the reception raving about the food), Nicole Straub (day of mastermind who was there every second of the reception (beforehand and all throughout cleanup ). So let’s back up and discuss the fact that neither myself or my lovely spouse are from the Pittsburgh area, I am from NYC and she is from Atlanta (including our respective families/friends). So when we decided to have the reception in Pittsburgh, we knew we had to bring everyone to the best place in the Pittsburgh area and looked no further after we found the Carnegie Museum. What a treat! It is beyond any WOW factor that we could have imagined, and our family and friends verbatim mentioned our wedding reception was unlike any they had been part of ever in their lives (and we go to a lot of weddings). Eileen was our first point of contact who seamlessly provided us with all of the necessary information, catering contacts, etc. Let’s just say this is not their first rodeo and they know exactly how to get everything accomplished in an efficient and timely manner. After booking the date, everything flowed very seamlessly- from the taste testing, event planning, timeline, and all the other event planning requirements. The catering was beyond phenomenal, (the cake is included in the bundled package) and Cassie- thank you, because our wedding cake was perfection. Thank you to Maria who made an IDENTICAL cake to a picture that my wife found on Pinterest. It was a beautiful 5-layered white and gold cake. It looked perfect and tasted delicious!! We showed her one photo, and poof- like a magician/fairy God mother, exactly as we had hoped for and even better. Mark as Director of Catering has an excellent taste for food (pun intended) and was an absolute pleasure to work/plan with. Nicole is also such a sweetheart, and stayed way past due to make sure everything went by without a hitch and did so with such elegance. The bottom line is, if you want an unforgettable day/night/wedding/event for you and your family/friends, look no further, stop reading this- and contact the Carnegie Museum. Even from the photos we have already seen (besides the excellent service, value, and venue itself), the venue is beyond stunning. Just go ahead and contact them to save yourself time looking elsewhere, it’s worth it and many times more.

inside but the staff was extremely professional, organized and easy to work with. Laura, the event coordinator, kept me organized from day one and went above and beyond to make sure that our wedding was perfect! They were truly amazing and I would recommend it to anyone!!!

he evening was ordered to perfection. I was originally going to hire a wedding planner but all of my interactions during the planning stage were so positive I decided to trust the venue. I am SO glad I did. They took care of everything from coordination to our vendors, the set-up and run of show. The setting is SO beyond gorgeous you don't have to do much to it, in terms of decor. The food was AMAZING, we are STILL getting compliments. I wouldn't change a thing about our wedding at Carnegie Music Hall. I wish we could do it all over again!

rk", and the Music Hall Foyer really delivered. A cavernous room of marble and gilded crown molding - it really doesn't get more breathtaking than that. We had a lot of out-of-town guests, and they were all blown away by what Pittsburgh had to offer. Besides the beauty of the space itself, the food and waitstaff were top-notch. Culinaire has taken over all catering services for the Carnegie Museums, and the food was phenomenal. The choices were more contemporary than the previous caterer, and everything was absolutely delicious. The staff was attentive and kind, and met every request with a smile. One bartender in particular made my husband and I his personal duty - I was dancing with an empty glass in hand, and the bartender made his way to me with a fresh drink and took my old one away. He did this for my husband as well, and it really added that something special to our big day. I have heard nothing but great reviews from our family and friends about the venue, food, and service. Our only regret is that it didn't last longer!

process leaving us with someone brand new the day of the wedding that missed many of the details we had spoken about throughout the planning process with the other planners that were no longer there or out on leave. Still an amazing venue!

py tears over how breathtakingly beautiful everything looked. The whole day went without a hitch and everyone we worked with was so attentive to our needs and helpful throughout the whole planning process. We had absolutely no problems at all, even when we made changes or additions close to the wedding day. We could not have asked for a better place to have our wedding reception and we could not have asked for a better staff to work with! It was our dream wedding!

d we had the time of our life!

g staff. You can not underestimate the importance of having an organized and well-coordiated team handling your wedding day details. Allison, Laura, and staff helped ensure that every aspect of our wedding would turn out to be as beautiful as planned and they did not disappoint. Everyone had so much fun at our wedding, and we received so many complements on the venue as well as the servers and staff. We could not have imagined a more beautiful day and I would highly recommend the Carnegie Music Hall Foyer to any bride.

ils and back and forth conversations with us, and he did everything perfectly, while being very kind and happy the whole time. The venue itself is beautiful. The renovations that have been done recently have made the place beautiful. We offered tours during our reception, which everyone who went on thought was the best thing they had done during a wedding reception. Furthermore, we used their theatre room for our ceremony, and utilized their ability to show movies and sound in the theatre, and everything worked out perfectly. I highly recommend using this as your venue! We had the perfect and most magical time.

It was truly amazing to see how they brought our dream wedding to life. We chose pin-point lighting on each table and an oval table for the bridal party. Cocktails were held upstairs and Eric and I were introduced down below. Our guests surrounded us from the balcony as we had our first dance. This was the most-talked about moment at our wedding. Eileen Twigger and Liza Reed were awesome to work with! The food was delicious and the team at Parkhurst - Bill Jones and Allison Hines - are fabulous! Alice made the MOST beautiful cake I have ever seen! There are no words to describe what a phenomenal job they did for Eric and I. We are forever grateful!

touch with, and offers great suggestions. The day of the wedding everything went so smoothly- I didn't have to worry about a thing! We got so many compliments on how beautiful everything was. We had quite a few out of town guests and they just thought the venue was absolutely stunning and like nothing they had ever seen before! Food, service, everything was top notch! Thank you so much to Liza, Bill, and Allison! You all did a fantastic job!

guests!

that good, but we were dancing the night away.

tion to detail and providing me with exceptional service. I felt like that were my personal wedding planners and they made the entire process extremely easy and fun. It was a flawless event and I owe it all the the event planners and coordinators at the Carnegie Museum

accommodated my requests. At this venue you don't need a wedding planner... the staff are there ALL NIGHT to make your event run smoothly, and to enjoy it with you! They helped me with difficult decisions. I can't say enough about the wonderful people I worked with. And then I have to say something about the venue itself... when you have your wedding here, the event space speaks for itself. We had the most beautiful backdrop for the most special day of our lives! The food was spectacular... particularly the cake! The museum caterers (Parkhurst) do a wonderful job, and will work with you to make your vision come to life! We had 2 tastings just to get everything right, and dinner was perfect. We STILL get comments from our guests... I would have my wedding here over again in a second...