The Nashville venues that film best give you soft light at ceremony time, a quiet spot where your vows can be heard, and short walks between the places your day happens. Below are the ones couples ask me about most and the ones we film at most, with one thing to plan for at each.
On a planning call for a surprise proposal at Cheekwood, I told the couple I wasn’t worried about running out of shots there. There are so many spots: places where you walk, places where you sit, places where you lean on something. I look for the same thing at every venue, lots of different places to be, close together.
Cheekwood is one we know firsthand. The notes on the others come from how each kind of space films: its light, its sound, and the distances between the places your day happens. If your venue isn’t here, ask me about it when we talk.
Four things to check when you tour a venue
- Where the sun will be at your ceremony time. Trees and garden walls soften harsh sun, and an open lawn looks beautiful when the ceremony is timed to softer light.
- Where your vows will be heard. Open air carries voices away and stone bounces them around, so vows and toasts need their own microphones either way.
- How far apart everything is. If you get ready, get married and celebrate a few steps apart, more of your day ends up in the film, because less of it is spent in a car.
- The rain plan. With a covered pavilion or an indoor hall nearby, rain only moves you next door and the plan stays the same.
Gardens and historic estates
Cheekwood Estate, Nashville
Botanical gardens around a 1930s Georgian mansion. Walking between the garden rooms makes a scene of its own, and something different is blooming every month, so the colors in your film depend on your date. We’ve filmed a wedding here in Massey Hall, and that surprise proposal at the overlook under the wisteria.
Plan for: no drone. Last I checked, Cheekwood doesn’t allow them, so the wide shots come from the ground and the garden paths.
The Cordelle, Nashville
An 1850s house with a walled garden a few minutes from Broadway. The walls keep the garden in soft shade at ceremony time, and getting ready, the vows and the dancing all happen a few steps apart.
Plan for: the string lights, which look best about thirty minutes after sunset. Save a portrait lap for them.
Belle Meade Plantation, Nashville
A Greek Revival mansion on Harding Pike with wide lawns and very old trees, and receptions usually in the carriage house and stable. It’s a big property.
Plan for: walking time between spaces, and lawn portraits in the softest light of the day.
CJ’s Off the Square, Franklin
A small garden venue just off Franklin’s square, with a garden ceremony and a covered pavilion for the reception, a short walk apart. Guests sit close, so their faces end up in the ceremony shots.
Plan for: a five-minute portrait walk to Main Street for the brick.
Big views and open land
Graystone Quarry, Franklin
A venue built into a retired limestone quarry, with rock walls, water, and a scale you don’t find anywhere else around Nashville. The rock looks the same in every season.
Plan for: sound. Stone bounces it, so the vows get microphones close in, and any drone flying happens before guests arrive, never during your ceremony.
The Estate at Cherokee Dock, Lebanon
A white-columned estate on Old Hickory Lake, with lawn ceremonies facing the water. The sun sets over the lake.
Plan for: your date’s exact sunset time, and the breeze off the water. It can carry voices away, so plan on microphones for the vows.
Homestead Manor, Thompson’s Station
An early-1800s manor with open farmland about half an hour south of Nashville. October is its best month, when the fields go gold.
Plan for: the last hour of sun over the fields. If dinner has to move ten minutes to catch it, it’s worth it.
Indoors, whatever the weather
The Bell Tower, Nashville
A restored 1870s church with high ceilings, arched windows and a mezzanine that wraps the room. It looks the same in January as in June, which helps winter weddings, when outdoor venues lose their light by five.
Plan for: the mezzanine. It gives high, quiet angles on your first dance with the whole room in frame.
Marathon Music Works, Nashville
An 1880s factory floor in Marathon Village, now an event hall with exposed brick, steel trusses and room for a big guest list. It works best for receptions.
Plan for: uplighting. Talk it through with your DJ or planner so the brick reads warm on camera and doesn’t turn orange.
The Bridge Building, Nashville
Glass walls and rooftop terraces at the foot of the pedestrian bridge, across the river from downtown. The skyline stays in frame most of the day.
Plan for: the twenty minutes after sunset. Hold a portrait slot for it, and if you’re wearing a veil, plan for wind on the rooftop.
Where we film most often
These are the rooms we keep coming back to. If yours is one of them, we already know where the light falls and how long the walks take.
- The View at the Fountains, Murfreesboro. Close to home, and a venue we’ve filmed many times.
- Gaylord Opryland Resort, Nashville. Glass atriums full of indoor gardens, so portraits stay green in any weather.
- Union Station Hotel, Nashville. The old train station’s lobby looks rich and antique from the inside, with a stained-glass ceiling overhead.
- The Omni, downtown Nashville, a few blocks from Broadway for a city portrait walk.
- Marriott Cool Springs, Franklin, and All Star Event Center, Nashville, two reception rooms we know well.
- The White Dove Barn, Beechgrove, and Oaklands Mansion, Murfreesboro, for couples who want the countryside or a historic house.
How to choose between them
Start with how you want the day to feel, then check it against the light. The gardens and estates suit a day spent in one place, since everything is close. For scale, look at the quarry, the lake and the farmland. If you’re already checking the forecast every day, the indoor rooms are the safe pick.
If you book with us, we go through your venue together on the planning call before the wedding: where the light will be, how long the walks take, and when to step away for portraits. Every venue has its own filming guide on our venues page, and if you’re getting married outside the city, here are the areas we serve.
Save this for the week you tour venues, and send it to the person touring them with you.
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