We found Venue 1902 through an event post on Facebook, and it was only the second venue we toured in person -- we booked it within 24 hours. They had a great incentive at the time, and we immediately fell in love with the space. From the first tour, the team was amazing. Adriana showed us around and was incredibly kind, welcoming, and helpful. Aleshia assisted with finalizing our booking and was just as wonderful. We met with Adriana in person two more times before the wedding and also communicated frequently via email -- responses were always prompt and thorough, which made the planning process feel organized. Venue 1902 provides a curated list of recommended vendors (with catering to be selected from their approved options--plus with BYO alcohol option too) and hosts vendor events throughout the year (plus twice a year exclusively for couples who have already secured a date). These were a valuable part of planning -- we found our phenomenal vendors: caterer, hair/makeup artist, photographer, and photobooth company through these. The team was transparent about what their day-of coordination service includes versus what would require an additional decor placement fee, which we appreciated. They also offer a wide range of decorations, with a price list provided after booking. We were open about our budget throughout the entire process, and we never felt judged or pressured to spend more. A month before the wedding, they set up an online planning tool that helps organize the guest list/seating chart/general layouts and allows you to access/edit at home after, making it easy to visualize the wedding day setup. Small tip: If you plan to have hair and makeup services at the venue, coordinate with your artists early to determine what time you'll need venue access. You might be surprised at how long it takes to complete hair and makeup! Between our booking and our wedding, Venue 1902 implemented a day-of coordination partnership with the company Just Marry!. Initially, this change made me (bride) a bit nervous, but those concerns were put to rest. While our full experience with Just Marry! deserves its own separate review, I cannot say enough positive things about Emylie, who was absolutely incredible and played a huge role in ensuring our wedding day ran smoothly. Venue 1902 truly has thought of everything. It's an all-in-one venue with spacious bride and groom getting-ready suites (filled with natural lighting), lots of clean bathrooms, and beautiful outdoor ceremony (with the option to move indoors due to weather at no extra cost)/indoor+outdoor cocktail hour/indoor reception spaces. With so many unique spots for photos, the venue looks beautiful no matter the angle--and equally striking in color or black and white. There is ample parking plus valet service and elevator access to the reception area on wedding day (available for guests who NEED it). They even lock the bridal suite during the wedding to ensure personal belongings are secure. Brunch provided during wedding day was delicious and substantial. Thoughtful touches like mailing a letter and tote bag for the bride months before the wedding as well as giving us a bottle of champagne during the wedding rehearsal made us feel cared for. A little heads up for future brides planning to wear a long veil--mine got caught on the flooring of the outdoor ceremony aisle, which was totally fine; I just wasn't ready meheheheh! Overall, Venue 1902 is absolutely stunning, professionally run, and exceeded our expectations in every way. We highly recommend it to any couple looking for a beautiful, seamless, and well-thought-out wedding venue. (All wedding photos by Ashley Krug Photography ) read more

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What a beautiful location for a special event. The building is an old schoolhouse that has been converted. I attended a wedding here and it was perfect. I like that they have multiple choices for the ceremony location. We were outside in the courtyard/garden area. It was beautiful. Cocktail hour was done downstairs in one of the rooms and foyer. Loved the natural light that came in through the huge windows. It didn't feel cramped at all! The reception was upstairs and this is the only reason I knocked off 1 star. I didn't see where there was an elevator to get to the second level. This would obviously be an issue for anyone that has issues with stairs or someone that was wheelchair bound. The upstairs reception area was beautiful! It's a big open space and makes for a nice place to decorate. I will definitely keep this place in mind for any future events. read more

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I was a bridesmaid at a wedding over the weekend and I cannot rave more about this venue. I told my husband we needed to get re-married because I loved it that much. It clearly is an old building, but it has been preserved so well! Unfortunately rain kept the ceremony from being outside but everything was so beautiful inside as well. The bridal suite is extremely spacious and has a bathroom inside as well as just outside of the room. Parallel to the bridal suite on the other side of the building is the grooms suit. There are also extra rooms for each party. I was literally obsessed with the antique-industrial look of the groomsmen hangout room. read more

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As any couple would, you check out all of the wedding venues to ensure you pick the right one. When we went to went to Venue 1902, we knew it was for us. From the moment we walked in, they were so kind and welcoming. What made them stand out to us was the fact that they had a preferred vender list, they schedule monthly meetings to go over design, venders and any other questions you have. They also have the option of renting a lot of items to help eliminate the need to bring or purchase the items, which for us, was very helpful! They also offer a website for you to use at any time, which allows you to setup your ceremony, cocktail hour and reception to assist with a visual on what it will look like. I am a visual person, so being able to move the tables and chairs on the site to help organize the layout for the big day, was a HUGE help for me! You're also able to schedule as many visits as you need for those who need to be there in person to fully plan their big day! We truly enjoyed this experience with them and would 100% recommend them for your big day! read more

5 Stars because can we talk about this event space tho? It's a turn of the century schoolhouse. Turned event venue. With original touches everywhere. *drool emoji* This spot is a 'grammer's DREAM. Beautiful original wood floors, white, sunny event spaces with great architectural details remaining from 1902, white walls and exposed brick, and a freaking bell tower. I know. But besides the beautiful spaces, this makes a really great venue (particularly for weddings). It has a full bridal and groom suite with bathrooms, mirrors, and plenty of space to hang with your besties. It has an upstairs auditorium with a stage-- perfect for elevated nuptials. And it has more picture-worthy spots than your photographer will know what to do with. Logistically, Lisa and Kim are pros at handling the event planning with you. They use an online system to sign the contract, plan the layout, and handle correspondence. It's a perfect one-stop shop with all of your agreements and planning so that anyone on the team can immediately know where you're at with vendors or planning in general. I was impressed by their level of service, communication, and event their additional event staff- who had no problem re-arranging things to help the event flow. One thing to note is that valet is a certainty for this venue as it is situated right in front of a small park. This makes for exquisite photo ops, but not a ton of parking options int he residential neighborhood. Overall, I look forward to continuing to work with this stunning, and entirely unique venue in the future. It was truly a pleasure to work with Kim and Lisa! read more

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Aleshia and her team made every effort for our wedding day to be what dreams are made of. My husband and I are forever grateful to the Venue 1902 staff for going above and beyond in every way to give us the wedding of our dreams without any of the stress! From the very beginning, communication was easy and reliable. Hurricane Ian hit two weeks before we said "I Do" and they immediately assured me all was okay for the venue and would not impact anything. On the day-of, we were introduced to the full team that would be assisting with coordinating and valet service; every single person had a smile on their face and no request was too big. If you are planning your wedding, look no further than Venue 1902. You and your guests will love the welcoming and charming atmosphere. The venue served as the most gorgeous backdrop for our photos and I cannot rave about them enough. All of there vendors are thoroughly vetted and lived up to our standards tenfold. *Uncommon Catering is quite the dynamic duo, resulting in "oohs" and "ahhhs" as people went up for seconds/thirds. Thank you Venue 1902 for everything. 20/10 recommend! read more

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Our daughters wedding was held at Historic Venue 1902. It was beyond our hopes and wishes. The team at the venue was there to answer questions and on the big day to keep all of us focus. The vows and cocktail hour were outside and the reception . Took place upstairs. The history and originality of the venue added to such a special day. read more

Historic Venue 1902 - Daughter & dad and vows - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Sanford, Florida

There are little gems in this world. Blink and you'll miss them. Blink twice and you might catch them, but be sure to make a reservation just in case. Venue 1902 is a converted schoolhouse perfect for weddings (they are already booking Fall 2020) and corporate events, located in the historic district of Sanford. I walked in utterly transfixed - by the tranquility, by the lighting, by the attention to detail and the absolute charm throughout. It is not possible you will be disappointed by your wedding there. There today for a Yelpie Award event, I immediately toured the bride and groom suites and kept thinking two words - elegant simplicity. Venue 1902 is about as lovely as it gets. The delightful Aleshia will take good care of you, your party, and your (bound to be) beautiful experience. read more

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Wow! What a great way to write my first review of the week! This venue was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful! So "aesthetically pleasing" and something I'm sure your friends/guests would love to be surrounded by! The place used to be an old school house and remodeled into several other things during its course and is now a full venue! Beautiful location, wonderful people helping run the place as well! Highly recommend you go check it out! Looks great for weddings, dinners, get together and so on! read more

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This venue creeped me out at first glance, I immediately thought this place of a haunted school house. This venue actually has a lot of beauty to it, it has it's history and when you walk inside, you'll want this building for a huge gathering. There are two dressing rooms both set up uniquely, there is a room that still has the classroom setting, and huge room on the second floor with a stage! My visits to this building have been for the Yelpie awards, but this building is definitely set up for weddings! There are plenty of photo ops available inside and outside of the building. If you're planning a wedding or any event, check out this venue, you'll love it! read more

I attended a wedding here on Monday. I am amazed at the transformation of this historical Sanford school house. The old carpets were torn up to reveal the original hardwood flooring which has been restored and redone. They created a separate room for both the bride and groom to get ready in. There were multiple bathrooms to access both upstairs and downstairs and they've also been updated and are beautiful. I love that they still kept the classroom there. It's great for a photo op to pretend you were a teacher back in the 1900s. The upstairs has been redone and they added beautiful chandeliers that bring an ambiance to the main event space. Downstairs at the entrance it was decorated for Christmas and was very inviting. They have a kitchen so you can have your catering business work right there. They also have bars that you can stock as well. The wedding was beautiful. Kudos to having complimentary valet since parking doesn't exist. I will definitely recommend this venue to people who I know. Loved it! Gorgeous!!!! read more

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I came here on a Saturday morning for a Yelp event and absolutely loved this venue. The staff was amazing and gave a tour of the entire place and gave the history of this beautiful building. It looked small from the outside but once I was inside it was amazingly beautiful and humungous inside. They serve for weddings or any other special occasion like quinceaneras or sweet 16s. The decor inside would match perfectly for a rustic, outdoorsy feel with the wooden floors and solid white walls. It's a beautiful place to get married with so many photo ops available inside and outside. read more

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Beautifully renovated schoolhouse...perfect for weddings and special occasions. read more

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What a lovely venue our CM, Andi, chose to host the YELPIES award. It's a spacious and historic building located in a quiet, peaceful and verdant green space. Driving up, I gave my car keys to the valet service and from then on, just really enjoyed being a guest in such a beautiful building. There are 3 rooms downstairs as well as the restrooms and then there are two stairways leading up to a massive space on the second floor. The area up top is basically a huge room with a stage as well as a separated cute nook which at the Yelp Awards was used for our photo booth. Great set up too, with the food offerings that hugged the room perimeters and then our tables were located in the center. I think we must have been around 150 people but the space didn't feel crowded at all. The restrooms too never got super busy or had a line. Highly recommend checking this place out if you are looking for an event space in the Orlando or Sanford area. Yelp 6/ 2018 read more

If we didn't have the YELPIES here, I would have never know about this establishment! What a gorgeous building. The ladies were very helpful in giving us a tour of the place. The old schoolhouse was set up as the perfect wedding venue. There were "hidden" rooms set up for the bride and groom to prepare for their big day. The large hall upstairs held all of us, there is also a big room downstairs. It might not be good for handicap, but I'm sure they can accommodate somehow. I love the brick structure. It goes well with the downtown feel. I would recommend this venue for special occasions and gatherings. read more

You have to see this place ! They have done a fantastic job renovating the building to make it the perfect event venue Staff is friendly and very helpful I highly recommend Venue 1902 for your wedding or special event read more

We were so over-the-moon thrilled to find Venue 1902! There is truly no place quite like this one-of-a-kind gem, both in its charm and in all that the incredibly kind team has to offer couples. Our wedding day there was wonderful, joyful and completely seamless for us, our family, our guests and all of our vendors. Just as importantly, our entire experience from our initial emails and visit through follow-up, post-wedding was so positive thanks to the outstanding team. All in all, Venue 1902 simply shines, and our special day wouldn't have been possible had we not booked here! We knew within minutes of meeting Aleshia and starting our tour that there was something super special about this place. And it was much more than the stunning historic building that both my husband and I separately fell in love with while researching venues. It was more than the relief that every room was so thoughtfully composed (a full room with tons of space for the groomsmen to get ready!? Most other venues we visited put the guys in literal closets!), that this one location could easily and conveniently host every part of the day, AND that every area had so much character and charm about it that it gave us fantastic direction in decor. What really wowed us was our conversation with Aleshia. After visiting three other venues prior to Venue 1902, she was the first and only person we met with who asked us about OUR STORY, not just our guest count, budget, desired date, etc. We instantly felt so seen and known and cared for; Aleshia and the rest of the team were truly invested in our engagement, marriage and love story, and that reflected in everything that was done to help us plan for our wedding day. Even as we danced around dates before booking, Aleshia was so patient, present, encouraging and helpful. She answered question after question for us as we conferred with our family until we booked our date! And once we booked at Venue 1902, the greatest weight was lifted, and everything else truly came together. Choosing from the list of suggested vendors, and with the awesome advice of Aleshia and team, we found the rest of our vendors with ease. And I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say that literally every vendor we met with and mentioned our venue would absolutely rave about Venue 1902 and the team there as some of their favorite partners. The Venue 1902 team has a well-earned outstanding reputation, and they always made us feel like a priority, always responded to our messages and went above and beyond to help us along the way! We truly had fun planning thanks to the Venue 1902 team. The monthly open houses were a blessing to be able to visit and scope out the spaces, get to know the whole team and introduce a few of our dear friends to the space, too. By the time of our final consultation a few weeks out from our wedding, it felt like we were going to see and catch up with friends of ours on the team! When it came to our wedding day, we were able to really enjoy every moment of it and not worry about deliveries or decor or timelines. Our day-of coordinator was Venue 1902's Katie, who is so kind and a total rockstar! She worked brilliantly with a personal friend of ours, who focused on some of our DIY pieces and personal touches, while Katie and the Venue 1902 team had everything from catering to furniture rentals to DJ set-up and more covered. Katie and the rest of the Venue 1902 team were all cool as cucumbers and so encouraging to us the entire day. This allowed us to be so present in the day, and we're so lucky to have the best memories of the most wonderful, lovely day. It was honestly so much better than I'd ever imagined it could be, and Venue 1902 was such an essential part of that. When my husband and I were just about to make our sparkler exit (which Venue 1902's team also made so safe and easy and special), we had a moment to walk back through the venue one last time together (we did a last dance with just the two of us and rang the bell in the principal's office as our guests assembled for the send off--which I can't recommend enough!). And we so clearly remembered and commented on all of the things that we had seen in the space many months before and fallen in love with right away, from the vintage pieces in the lobby to the sweet classroom. This beautiful building, full of its own history and stories already, was now part of our story. Venue 1902 is one of the most memorable parts of our wedding day for the gorgeous backdrop it provided to every part of the day, the comfort of having the whole day in one convenient place, the character of a historic, classic and charming school, the bright and beautiful canvas it was for all of our photos, and, of course, the fantastic team who created magic for us. *photos by: Brooke + Jacob Photo & Film Co. read more

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From the moment we first toured Venue 1902, we knew we had found the perfect place to celebrate our wedding!! The Venue is a gorgeous historic building with beautiful space both outside, and inside (upstairs and downstairs).   The staff were incredibly welcoming and throughout the months leading up to the wedding, they were always quick to respond back to any questions or concerns we had. The Bride's room and Groom's room are perfect for the bridal parties to spend time together and get ready for the big day. There was plenty of space, as well as thoughtful amenities in both rooms for our bridal party and family. Logistically, it was fantastic to be able to get ready, do photos, and have both the ceremony and reception all at one location! The Day-Of coordinator did an incredible job with directing setup and decorations. Planning a wedding in the setting of a pandemic was undoubtedly stressful, however the staff provided excellent COVID-19 precautions (cleaning, providing hand sanitizer, holding doors open) and provided additional measures including extra seats/tables and increased space between, and providing masks to guests who did not bring their own. We would highly recommend Venue 1902 to anyone planning a wedding (or other event!)!! read more

I think I got it right this time, my apologies for my original post on the wrong Yelpie event. What a well put together event. Love the old school house venue. We were greeted downstairs by Andi's warm smile, grabbed my name badge and strolling around the bottom floor of the venue. High ceilings, white walls, blackboards in the class rooms, I'm freak'n out! Memories are coming back to me of play grounds, four square and tetherball. The bell is ringing, gotta head upstairs for the festivities. Upstairs is one large room with music playing, uncomplicated renditions of a little country, some pop and some old school mellow rock on a fiddle and guitar. Which way to go? Food to the left and to the right, these are my decisions for the day (I'm golden) I choose left and find miniature ice cream cones and hit chocolate with gourmet marshmallows. I pick hot chocolate and a fireball marshmallow and head for the chicken and biscuits with a drizzle of sweet chili sauce and fried goat cheese. Where to sit, people you know or pick a spot to make new friends, I choose new. I find a spot over to the right and sit while I finish my hot chocolatey goodness and nibble on my yummy goodness of chicken, cheese and perfectly baked biscuit. And now onto deviled eggs topped with prosciutto (hah, eggs and bacon, lol) and a perfect serving of pulled pork hash. What great flavors in these delectable little brunch bites. Ah and the perfect way to wash it all down is with a mimosa. Just in time to hear the history on the school house and my hands are now free to clap for all you awesome Yelpers out there given the scoop on all your favorite and not so favorite places. Thank you all for your help in deciding my future meals, services and everything in between. First Yelp event of the year, if this is how it's starting off I can hardly wait to see what's coming up. Great job! read more

Venue 1902 was an amazing experience for our Prom. I cannot say enough wonderful things about the beautiful rooms with chandeliers and the warmth of the entire place. The staff couldn't do enough for us to make it a special night for our high school students. Due to their kindness our students had a night to remember and we cannot thank the staff of Venue 1902 enough for their support of our school. I highly recommend this place for any special occasions and it truly is a very special place. We thank you for a special evening as your staff and building was truly beautiful and special. Pam T. Pace Brantley School read more

Attended the special Sanford Historical Society meeting there. The owner had done a wonderful adaptive renovation to the very historic building! I love that they incorporated so many of the class room elements into the spaces, like some of the historic chalkboards. The staff were all very friendly and accommodating! We look forward to attending some very special events here in the future!!! read more

Beautiful Venue, personal,professional staff. Our daughter's wedding day was perfect!

I will never spend my money in this place. It was pretty, but the owner is horrible to work with. She delayed my event twice, both times set 3 weeks after the original date. If you value your time and event, DO NOT WASTE your time with this place. read more

Toured this cute, eclectic venue today. Amazed by their hospitality and beautiful restoration of this unique venue. Competitive pricing and awesome staff. read more

This awesome brick building is REAL Florida! Was built as a school in 1902, has been run as a museum for the past twenty years. We went to Sanford for dinner and drove by to take a look because our niece is getting married there in December. Renovations are ongoing, but WOW. Go take a look it also has a beautiful park across the street, and historic homes all around it. read more