Newport venue guide
Updated
Newport is the Rhode Island wedding most people picture: Gilded Age mansions on Bellevue Avenue, a lighthouse lawn on Goat Island, and a sailcloth tent among the boats downtown. Across the Mount Hope Bridge, Bristol has old estates and gardens right on the water. Up the bay toward Warwick, Cranston, and Providence, the venues are mostly country clubs with ballrooms, and they cost a lot less.
We've gathered details on 12 venues in Newport and around Narragansett Bay. Pick a starting point and Sage will rank them for your day, with cost estimates wherever the venue publishes its prices.
What should you budget?
Use − and + to reprice every figure below.
$24k
Typical estimate
The median cost for Newport & Narragansett Bay venues that include their own catering.
$16k–$47k
Typical range
A wide range. The country clubs up the bay sit near the low end, and the Newport mansions and harbor resorts near the top.
These are our estimates, not quotes from the venues. They include service charges and tax when a venue lists them. Your date, guest count, bar, and rentals will all change the final total. Hotel rooms for your guests aren't included.
Every filled dot is one Newport & Narragansett Bay venue that can host 100 guests, shaded by its own estimate on the same scale as the Rhode Islandguide's map; grey ones don't publish a venue-with-catering price. Outlined dots are venues in neighbouring regions.
Narrow it down
See which Newport & Narragansett Bay venues fit your guest count and budget, and why
Guests
By budget and guest count
How many Newport & Narragansett Bay venues come in under common budgets for the venue and food, at the guest counts couples plan for most. Each row counts the venues that can host that many guests and publish a full price for the venue and the food, so the list gets shorter as it grows.
| Guests | Typical venue and food | Under $15,000 | Under $25,000 | Under $35,000 | Under $50,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 guests | $16k | 4 of 8 | 6 of 8 | 6 of 8 | 7 of 8 |
| 100 guests | $24k | 1 of 7 | 4 of 7 | 5 of 7 | 6 of 7 |
| 150 guests | $35k | 0 of 6 | 1 of 6 | 3 of 6 | 4 of 6 |
| 200 guests | $34k | 0 of 5 | 1 of 5 | 3 of 5 | 4 of 5 |
Our estimates for the venue and food, including service charges and tax where the venue lists them, on a Saturday in peak season. Not quotes. A typical figure is shown only where at least five venues publish a price. On their cheapest published date, usually a weekday or a winter month, 1 more venue comes in under $15,000 for 100 guests.
How venues price weddings
Pick one to see what its price contains, what it leaves for you to buy, and what it typically comes to.
You pay for the space and their kitchen
Venues publish their price in two ways: as a site fee plus a per-guest menu price, or as a bundled package (venue + food).
$24k
typical for venues with catering
$16k–$47k
where 80% of these 7 venues land
And then you still buy
don’t want to worry about sourcing a caterer or any outside catering fees.
What you’d still need to find out
Whether drinks are inside the menu price or billed separately, and what the service charge and tax add at the end.
One bay, two budgets. A mansion in Newport and a club in Cranston are half an hour apart and can be far apart on price. The mansions usually rent you the house and grounds and send you to a caterer they approve. The clubs price the day per guest, with the food, bar, and staff in one package. Most venues here hand you someone to run the day, and few have rooms, so plan on a hotel block for your guests either way.
Of the venues that say either way. The rest cater in house or send you to their list.
See venues that allow your catererTypical service charges, admin fees, and tax, compared with 22% across Rhode Island.
Compare full estimates, fees includedRight on the property, compared with 33% across Rhode Island. Mostly the harbor resorts.
See venues with rooms on siteWhat kind of place
A Gilded Age house in Newport, or an estate and garden on the water in Bristol, usually yours alone for the day. Ask which caterers you can use, what time the event has to end, and what the rules are on candles, tents, and décor.
5 of 12 venues here
Find venues like theseA resort on Goat Island or in Middletown, with a ballroom, a lawn by the water, and rooms upstairs. The least to organize. Ask how many rooms you have to hold and what the summer rates are.
2 of 12 venues here
Find venues like theseA club ballroom in Warwick, Cranston, Lincoln, or North Kingstown, often with a garden or bay view for the ceremony. Priced per guest with most of the day included. Ask what the package covers and what gets added at the end.
3 of 12 venues here
Find venues like theseThe same wedding costs different amounts at a barn and at a hotel — and so does the shape of the bill. One way to look at it, for 100 guests.
The whole bill — the room, the meal, and the fees on top.
Venues behind each figure in brackets. A venue can be more than one kind of place, so it may appear in more than one row.
What changes the shortlist here
At a mansion or an estate, the food usually comes from a caterer the venue approves, and that caterer's price is most of your budget. Get a quote from them before you fall for the house, not after.
See how each venue handles foodNewport hotels fill fast on summer and fall weekends, and prices go up with them. If your venue has no rooms, hold a block nearby as soon as you have a date, and think about how guests will get to the venue and back.
See venues with rooms on site33% of the venues here list things you have to provide or pay for, like a damage deposit, a licensed planner, or security staff. None of that is in the price, so ask for the list before you sign.
See each venue's rulesof venues that say either way (5 here)
at least, of all venues (12 here)
at least, of all venues (12 here)
at least, of all venues (12 here)
a planner, insurance, security or similar, of all venues (12 here)
What affects the cost of your wedding
Wedding venue pricing is seasonal. 6 of the 12 Newport & Narragansett Bay venues we track charge differently depending on the day, and 6 charge differently depending on the month. Every figure below compares a venue with itself, so it says what moving your date does — whatever kind of venue you pick, and whatever the size of your wedding.
Day of the week
Months you’d consider
Peak months are selected to start. Tap any month to compare.
Saturday, peak season
The most expensive date most venues sell, and the date almost every published price assumes. Choose a different day or month to see what typically comes off.
What gets added at the end
Every pricing model carries them. At the 7 Newport & Narragansett Bay venues that publish their fees, the middle result is 21%, with most landing between 19% and 33%.
Administrative fee5 venues
21%
Charged instead of, or alongside, a service charge — and usually taxed as well.
Sales tax6 venues
8%
Set by the state, and charged on the service charge too at most venues.
Dots are sized by how many venues charge that rate. The gold line is the median rate, and every fee has its own scale: read the spread within a row, not across them.
Places worth a closer look
These include harbor resorts, a waterfront tent in Newport, a seaside estate in Bristol, and country clubs up the bay. Open a venue to see its pricing, capacity, spaces, vendor rules, and other planning details.
Warwick · Up to 200 guests
You can bring your own caterer or use theirs
$15–25k · Venue Fee + Catering
See pricing and policies
Middletown · Up to 350 guests
Guests can stay on site
Catering Est.
See pricing and policies
Newport · Up to 250 guests
Helps you plan the whole wedding
Catering Est.
See pricing and policies
Bristol · Up to 285 guests
Guests can stay on site
$25–35k · Venue Fee + Catering
See pricing and policies
Cranston · Up to 325 guests
Includes a day-of coordinator
Under $15k · Venue Fee + Catering
See pricing and policies
Newport · Up to 220 guests
Guests can stay on site
Catering Est.
See pricing and policies
Describe your guest count, your budget, and anything you can’t compromise on. See a ranked list of venues, with why each one fits, trade-offs, and what to double-check.
Sage the Date reads each venue's own published details, including pricing, catering and alcohol rules, music curfews, rain plans, whether you get the whole property, and how many guests each space holds. Every estimate uses your guest count. When a venue doesn't say, we tell you instead of guessing.
Before you book
Sage reads each venue's own published pricing and policies, puts different kinds of quotes on the same footing, and estimates the cost for 100 guests. If a venue doesn't say something, we treat it as a question to ask, not a no. Venues can't pay to appear or to rank higher here.
