Venue Search #8: On the Marsh Restaurant in Kennebunk, ME

There is a problem with visiting venues that you do not have pricing information on, and that problem is that you might just fall in love with a venue that is far outside of your price range.  Of course, at the end of the afternoon last Saturday when we had just left the worst venue of our visits that day (Ocean Woods Resort), all Katelyn and I wanted was to visit a venue that we could potentially see ourselves having a wedding at.

We fell in love with On the Marsh Restaurant in Kennebunk, Maine.  It is far outside our price range.

So let's get that pricing information out of the way first and foremost: based on 2009 pricing, exclusive use of On the Marsh Restaurant requires a minimum food purchase of $10,000.  Given the reputation of the kitchen and the overall awesome factor of the venue, this is certainly a price they can ask for from their renters, but that minimum cost is at the high end of our wedding budget.  As much as we would like to dream, this isn't a real likely possibility.

But, since I'm giving it a whole blog post (I had decided to do the spotlight entry before finding out the price yesterday), let's go through what Katelyn and I thought about the venue.

While it doesn't have a pretty oceanfront view or have particularly great fall foliage (though it does have nice color), what On the Marsh does have is a great location just outside downtown Kennebunkport.  Kennebunkport, as anyone who's ever been there knows, is a very busy and very rich town on the ocean in southern Maine.  By being located just outside that hustle and bustle in Kennebunk, the restaurant offers a breath of fresh air and a relaxing setting.  The exterior of the building is fine and perfectly serviceable for a wedding ceremony, but the real awesome factor comes from the interior being just as interesting.

The main part of the restaurant was originally the barn area of a farmhouse built in the early 1800's.  The living spaces of the farmhouse have been turned into the kitchen and the office space.  Able to accomodate nearly 200 people inside on the second floor, On the Marsh is the first venue we've looked at that has a very legitimate interior ceremony option in the event of rain or cold weather on the date of the wedding.  The owner of the restaurant is also an interior designer, so the restaurant is done up very professionally and this saves a potential wedding party the trouble of having to decorate the venue themselves.

It is really quite difficult to think of any problems presented by this venue, and that's part of the price tag, assuredly.  You can't really get away with charging the minimum number that On the Marsh charges unless you are able to live up to that price tag.  With the kitchen earning numerous awards and the venue being the recipient of some commendations as well, it would certainly be hard to argue that your money wasn't being put towards a spectacular venue.

If Katelyn and I had known the price beforehand, we probably never would've stopped in to see this venue.  However, it did give us the opportunity to see a very cool venue with outdoor and indoor ceremony options, which we'd thought might not be possible given our previous venue visits.  There is a 0.01% chance of this venue being the host of our October 2010 wedding (unless Katelyn or I manage to win the lottery/find amazing employment opportunities), but isn't it nice to dream?

More information and photographs of On the Marsh Restaurant can be found at the venue's website, http://www.onthemarsh.com/.  On the Marsh Restaurant is located about forty minutes from Portland, an hour and ten minutes from Lewiston, and two hours and forty-five minutes from Bangor.