North Hall at Eastern Market

We had our wedding reception at Eastern Market (North Hall) on April 18^th, 2015 and it was a smashing success. They were one of the most affordable and flexible venues in the district, and the event was everything we hoped it would be. The staff were attentive and easy to work with, and they worked seamlessly with our other vendors. It was a night to remember, and I would highly recommend having your next big event here!

We rented the North Hall for our wedding in May 2015. You can definitely not beat the price for the size of the venue. We had 138 guests total and there was plenty of room. After having some trouble getting the manager to respond (she was laid off between me putting my request in and finally getting a hold of someone who could help!), it was pretty smooth sailing. I worked with Nicole Aiken, who was on detail from elsewhere in the government, for most of my planning time, and she and Trini Nsabimana along with Barry Margeson helped me out for the last month or so.
There were a few moments of stress related to the event but that was mostly because we didn’t have a planner and well I’m not a planner myself! It ended up being reeaaaally warm in the hall when we arrived after the ceremony and it never really cooled down. There was a building tech on site, so he was able to turn the A/​C cooler and dim the lights for us. That was great because I hadn’t really thought about real-​time adjustments ahead of time.
As a blank canvas, you can really make the hall as fancy or simple as you like. We strung Christmas lights across the space and Nicole was so helpful to get us a diagram with the dimensions of the hall so we could calculate how many feet of lights we needed.
I would highly recommend this venue if you’re interested in having a 100+ person wedding at a reasonable price. The neighborhood definitely gives your guests the DC experience.

We rented this venue for an engagement + farewell party for about 100 people, and it was one of the best decisions we ever made. Here’s why:
1) Very reasonably priced for DC ($ 4300) and they money goes back into the govt, and hopefully back into more public goods and services.
2) Nicole Aiken was our POC and she was very responsive and helpful, sharing pictures, vendor information, and other procedural details that made planning this event very easy.
3) The venue is HUGE! We had lounge furniture, heavy hors d’oeuvres, open bar, cocktail tables, a band and dance floor, and a photo booth. Lots of different designs and layouts to play with, including draping and uplighting options. Plus, your caterer has enough room to operate, with access to water and plenty of outlets.
4) It’s very publicly accessible, and we all headed to Boxcar for the after-​party.
5) We wanted to throw our party in something that felt like DC to us, and this was it. North Hall has some great history and an old feel, so if that’s what you’re looking for, you can’t beat this place!