General Questions

Please refer to our Pricing page for details on pricing. https://www.agoragrand.com/pricing/
Please refer to our Available Dates pages for details on available dates. https://www.agoragrand.com/available-dates/
We support weddings from as small as the couple only, up to 450 guests. Our average wedding is about 150 guests. We do suggest that for sit down dinners, to keep the guest list at or below 250.
All weddings have parking, use of catering prep kitchen, custom lighting, dance floor, canopy and decorating system (we have limited options for sheers and decor, but our decorating system makes it very easy to adjust for YOUR specific wedding decor without getting on a ladder!), tables and seating for 200, our sound system, and use of items from our lending library included in the price. We also provide a custom day of timeline that will be reviewed with your selected Day of Coordinator AND a 3D layout of your reception hall and ceremony arrangement when they are taking place at the Agora Grand. Our pricing page provides more details regarding the facility and lodging use dependent on time of year and day of the week that you are getting married.
The venue fee only includes the venue - not the bar options. All weddings are required to have event insurance. We will provide exactly what options are required. You can expect the cost of this insurance to be anywhere from $75 to $300 (pricing is not under our control so it may vary beyond our range listed). We do not provide linens for tables. We do not provide glasses, dishes or silverware other than glassware from the bar for drinks purchased through the Agora Grand. We also do not provide the Day of Coordinator, but you are required to have one. We can provide this service for an additional fee that is greatly discounted from the average going rate.
We are open from April 1st through mid November for weddings. We can accommodate elopements year round.
Once we both know that our venue will be a good fit for your wedding vision and budget, your date is NOT reserved until we have a signed contract AND the initial retainer payment.
We typically split our payments into 3 equal payments. The first one is the initial retainer fee for the date to be held. You can pay this whenever you want to actually reserve the date because we don't reserve the date for you until it is paid. The second payment is due six months before the wedding date. The final payment is due two weeks before the wedding with your final headcount. If you retain our venue when your wedding is 6 months away or sooner, we will require half down as your initial retainer with the other half due two weeks before the wedding with your final headcount.
Your date will remain available until we have a signed contract and the initial retainer. However, if you are still looking at other venues, you can place a "soft hold" on your date. For a $250 non-refundable fee, we will provide "right of first refusal" for 30 days. This means that if another wedding wants to book your date, we will notify you via email. You will have 72 hours from the timestamp on the email to sign the contract and submit the initial retainer. If you do, then we will credit the $250 fee to your first payment. If you do not sign the contract and submit payment within 72 hours, you will forfeit the $250 and the other event will be allowed to book the date.
A prime season Saturday wedding may be out of your budget, but you can look at moving to a different month or different day to be better aligned with your price range. For example, if getting married in October is important to you, but the cost of a Saturday wedding is out of reach for you, think about a Sunday wedding in October. If the month is not important, move it to a Saturday in the summer to better fit your budget. There are often options, you just need to be flexible. We have also worked with many couples to put them on a monthly payment plan. This enables them to pay month by month and avoid the need to come up with multiple lump sums. It helps couples with budgeting to get the wedding they dream of without needing to come up with several thousand dollars for an initial retainer and avoids large payments later just when other vendors are also expecting final payment.
We only offer all-inclusive elopements. We can provide full-service planning and day of coordination. We provide choices to fit your budget and vision without giving you a cookie cutter wedding. We will work closely with you to determine your style and wishes while we do the busy work of negotiating the contracts and details with the vendors. By working closely with our preferred vendors or with new vendors that want to earn a spot on our list, we can often get the best deals for our clients and we never profit from those savings as you will still contract with and pay the vendor directly under our orchestration. Nothing will be done without your approval, and then you leave the execution of the magic up to us!
You do not need to use our preferred vendors, except for the caterer. We do require that you use one of our preferred caterers unless you get approval from us to use another LICENSED caterer. Other than that, you are free to use any other vendors that you like, however, we feel that all of the vendors on our list are excellent, familiar with our venue, and ethical. Our preferred vendors earn their spot on our list by their ethics and prior experience with us and they do not compensate us to be on our list.
Comparing venue costs is tricky because the comparison is rarely “apples-to-apples”. At the Agora Grand, the price we quote you, is the price you pay for the venue. There are no hidden fees. Our venue can also SAVE you money when you look at the big picture. Transportation between the ceremony and the reception is an expense that can be eliminated. Décor can be simple with basic linens and centerpieces as the beauty of the building can be decoration enough. Tables, chairs, sound system, dance floor, custom lighting, catering prep kitchen – all included with your venue fee. We even have a lending library of décor that previous events have contributed to that you can use for inspiration or even borrow free of charge to use for your wedding. We do not charge your caterer or DJ to use our equipment, so no additional charge should be passed on to you by those vendors. This alone can save several hundred dollars that the vendor otherwise might have charged you, so that they can pay the venue. When you use us to plan your wedding, we reach into our network of preferred vendors to fit your vision and budget. Nobody knows the Agora Grand better than us, and this helps with efficiency as well as making the impossible happen. We learn from every event so that we provide continuous improvement.

Food & Beverage Questions

We do not cater. We do have a network of caterers that we can recommend and we provide the catering prep kitchen for them to utilize at no additional fee.
We will provide a professional bar staff, and all bar glassware and cleanup as well.
We have the liquor license, and as such we are required by law to handle all alcohol purchases and serving.
For Prime Saturday weddings, you MUST select an open bar option. All other weddings have the option to select a cash bar. We do charge a service fee per guest for cash bars. Weddings with cash bars are not allowed to have self-service beverages other than water on tables, and a coffee/tea bar supplied by the caterer or us. All other beverages must be purchased at the bar.
We have a wonderful Open bar option that "dry" wedding guests will love! We offer a "Mocktail" option. THIS option will thrill your guests. We also provide standard soda & juice options, or for a service fee, you can supply your own non-alcoholic drinks and we will provide no bar services.
Yes! Your open bar will enable guests to drink beer, wine, or non-alcoholic drinks at no charge OR they can purchase a mixed drink.

Decorating & Planning Questions

The Agora Grand is both a beautifully ornate building and wonderfully adaptable to magical transformations. Some couples prefer not to distract from its aura and decorate very little, while others completely transform the space into another world. It really is up to you.
Due to our licensing and insurance, we do not allow open flames except for the use of a unity candle set during your ceremony only. All other candles must be flameless LED lighting. We do not even allow unlit candles for decoration as they are often lit by guests unaware of our policy on open flames. We do not allow helium balloons due to our high ceilings and fire detection system. Any balloons used must be blown up by machine. Please do not nail or tack anything into our building walls and only use of removable tape that will not damage our paint and walls is allowed. Any other “nonstandard” décor, such as fog machines, or live flower petals, etc, must be cleared through us as to not violate safety and for the protection of our building and maintenance concerns. While glitter is allowed, it is also a cleaning nightmare. We require that you get approval from us on how glitter will be used BEFORE you use it. We can provide some helpful direction that will mean that your wedding’s glitter will not be showing up a year after your wedding.
This is determined by your signed contract. This matters so much, that it has to be repeated. Your access to the building is determined by your signed contract. Keep in mind that we may have an event the day before your wedding, so if you have not contracted to decorate the day before, you won't be able to decorate until the day of your wedding. Period. You wouldn't want another couple decorating in the middle of your wedding. Our Prime Saturday weddings actually enable you to start decorating Thursday afternoon and all day Friday in the contract. Our summer Saturday weddings must either book the Friday before to decorate or be able to complete all decorating Saturday morning.
We manage the venue, not your wedding. However, we do provide coordination or planning services for an additional fee. We also require all weddings to have a Day of Coordinator. It can be a trusted friend or a professional that you hired, but we need someone to be the point of contact for the day and to keep the schedule moving smoothly. We offer a day of coordination package or basic full-service planning and day of coordination package. If you are planning a destination wedding to Maine, we offer the basic full service planning and coordination, AND will work with you to set up transportation from airports and train stations, hotel accommodations, group activities on non-wedding days, and will even coordinate guest arrival SWAG bags and schedules. There are multiple advantages of utilizing our planning and coordination services. First and foremost, we know the venue so we know what has and has not worked well in the past as well as limitations the venue may have. Secondly, we also know what our venue charges vendors to utilize our facilities (we charge them nothing) so we can make sure that your vendor contract doesn’t include this fee that they are pocketing at your expense. Finally, when you stick to our preferred vendor list, planning time can be reduced (meaning less stress on you to make decisions) based on our familiarity with one another from our professional relationships.

Accommodations & Other questions

The Inn at the Agora is a beautiful boutique hotel just next door, created from the circa-1850 Kelsey Hall Mansion. The inn’s exclusive wedding package is included in the venue fee for Prime Saturday weddings for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. All other weddings can rent the Inn for an additional fee and is dependent on availability. The Inn at the Agora Wedding Package – from one to three nights o Exclusive use of the historic and highly rated inn o Seven rooms sleep up to sixteen guests o Exclusive use of all common areas, including our beautiful front porch, exquisite parlor, game room, and backyard courtyard with fire pit o Ideal place for the bride and her bridal party to get ready for the wedding (groom would use the balcony lounge for him and his groomsmen to get ready) o Perfect place for wedding party or parents and grandparents to stay for the wedding. We find the wedding parties that rent the inn appreciate having a place that they can feel at home in AND to be right next door to the venue makes it a perfect option. We can also provide information on local hotels that will provide room blocks for you if more guest accommodations are needed. If we are your planner, we will take care of setting the room blocks up for you.
For those of you that have the facility on Friday for a Saturday wedding, you can schedule your rehearsal for Friday when it is convenient for you. If you do not have this luxury of renting the venue for more than the day of the wedding, we will do our best to get you in for rehearsal before your ceremony, as this is important to getting things worked out BEFORE the wedding; however, you will need to be flexible with us and attend one of our monthly Booked Couple Open Houses.
We love pets! Generally, we welcome furry friends with open arms. We do require that your pet is properly vaccinated, that a designated person not part of the wedding party, is responsible for your pet at all times, and that you take responsibility for any mess or damage caused by your pet. Because many pets get a little over stimulated around a lot of people (especially ones that they may not be familiar with), we suggest that you bring your pet into the venue only for their part of the wedding. For example, the pet participates in the wedding ceremony and then the designated person takes the pet offsite. Pets are not allowed in the reception. We can help you find a great pet sitter to take care of your pet for the rest of your day to give everyone a positive experience.
At the Agora Grand, we do not have customers – we have relationships. We are in the wedding business because we love weddings, we love our clients, and we love the Agora Grand and the Inn at the Agora. Frankly, we just love love. All love is welcomed, celebrated and embraced at the Agora Grand. Once you book with us, you’ll join the Agora Grand family. We are passionate about making sure that your wedding is what you've envisioned and take pride in giving couple weddings that exceed their expectations. We aren't part of some corporate chain. We are a small business and can make things happen that others cannot. No two weddings are the same. No two couples are the same. And no two couples have the same vision for their weddings. Everyone gets to create their own unique wedding story with us.
If we still haven't answered all of your questions, just ask!