The Defoor Centre

I attended a wedding at the Defoor Centre and had a great time. The Defoor Centre is located in West Midtown (Westside) and is both an event space and an arts center/​museum. The wedding was on the smaller side with just over 100 guests. The venue was the perfect size for the occasion.
The building was originally built in the 1800s so it has some history behind it. There are several different open rooms and spaces which can be used for a variety of purposes. At the wedding I attended, there was an entryway/​greeting area where a guestbook was signed. It led to the wedding ceremony room, which was intimate and beautiful.
The wedding ceremony room was decorated with many candles and billowy white curtains. The layout was simple and elegant. The ceiling had a neat design. There’s an elevated stage which made it easy for all guests to see the bride and groom. I’ve been to a lot of weddings and this is one of the few I can remember where the bride and groom were wed on a stage, and this wasn’t «just» some hotel ballroom/​conference room stage. This was a nice looking stage with semicircular steps.
The A/​V system worked well and temperature and lighting were ideal. The ceremony and reception both took place at the Defoor Centre so that was convenient. The cocktail portion took place in a separate room that had a bar. A photo booth by ShutterBooth was on-​hand in this room. A bigger, adjacent room was also used as part of the cocktail portion. This room had a disco ball hanging from the ceiling, so it probably is used as a dance room at other functions. This room had a good mix of natural and artificial lighting. All rooms had various pieces of local art on the walls which kept things interesting.
The reception was held in the same room as the wedding ceremony. A self-​serve buffet, presumably catered by the Defoor Centre, was set up along with a multitude of tables. The table settings were exquisite. A photo slideshow was shown on the stage throughout the dinner reception and dancing afterwards.
The dinner buffet consisted mostly of American foods such as fresh-​sliced roast beef, chicken tenders, macaroni and cheese, and collard greens. Since this was a Korean wedding, there were Korean treats like dduk (rice cakes) too. In addition, there was a vegetable, cheese, and fruit station and custom food orders made for those guests with allergies or certain dietary restrictions. The food was good. My favorite was the roast beef (with plenty of horseradish sauce). The servers were attentive and friendly.
I’m not sure who the DJ/​MC was, but I thought he did a good job.
There were a few mishaps, however. We never received wedding programs so we didn’t know the order of events, the names of the various family members, bridal party, and others in the wedding procession. The wedding program also had the official hashtag for the evening. Since guests weren’t aware of the hashtag, this meant that potentially many photos were not taken nor never made it to Instagram, Twitter, etc. when they otherwise would have been if the hashtag had been known. Very disappointing.
The wedding cake was never handed out. I happened to stumble upon a table with a few plates left on my way back from the restroom. I heard from several other guests that they didn’t get to try any cake at all. Finally, the DJ said the bar would close at 10:30pm. The bar ended up closing at 9:30pm, so the bartender had to keep turning guests away who thought the bar was still open. Miscommunication.
At the end of the night, we saw the newlyweds off by lining the exit on either side outside with sparklers in hand. The sparkler send-​off was pretty.
There was plenty of free on-​site parking next to the venue. This was nice, especially considering it’s an intown event space.

Nice event center. Spacious and the staff is nice. Attended the Atlanta Underground Market and had a good time. Would recommend this place for a variety of parties and gatherings.

Ok, so I went to an open house to check the place out and the food was great! The staff was very friendly and it was spacious. Did I mention that the bar was open, even the bartender was knowledgable about the place and what it had to offer. Honestly, love the space but I was expecting a little more after seeing pictures online. If I was to have an event, I would definately keep them in mind.

I gotta say that this was an interesting place to hold a baby shower!
The good stuff: the catering was top notch, the bar was staffed and while the beer selection was limited the employees were friendly. The room the baby shower was in was large and open and was a great setting.
The only negative about Defoor Centre would be the parking — very limited with a tiny lot and if two events are going on at the same time (baby shower and yoga class) it can be difficult to navigate.