YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Weddings in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys have gotten smaller over the past few years, but the number of events staged at banquet and event centers is increasing.
Among the local venues that host wedding receptions, corporate and nonprofit events and private parties are The Corinthian Banquet Hall and Event Center in Sharon, Pa., and Stambaugh Auditorium and DeYor Performing Arts Center in Youngstown, The Lake Club in Poland, National Packard Museum in Warren and Waypoint 4180 in Canfield.
“Every year there’s a change in trends, so to speak,” says Dani Dier, chief business officer at Stambaugh Auditorium and DeYor Performing Arts Center. “Some years you have outdoor events. Some years you have the really big over-the-top fancy events. Some years you have just classic weddings and events.”
A recent trend at the some event centers is outdoor barn-style weddings outdoors.
“But we are starting to see that trend go back to wanting your traditional, indoor, classical, over-the-top types of weddings,” Dier says.
Busy Year
Jenny Pratt, director of sales, and Jordan Wethli, event coordinator at Waypoint, say their event center is seeing its busiest year.
“When we started, it was right before Covid,” Pratt says. “So, we were just getting started. And then Covid happened. But I’d say in the last two years, everything started coming back. This year alone, we’ve seen an increase in corporate events, small, big. A lot of corporate events are putting extra funds into their conferences.”
Waypoint also is seeing a lot of companies booking events, including golf outings. Its golf simulator is something visitors enjoy. And Waypoint has seen the most weddings to date this year with attendance ranging from 150 to 555 guests, according to Pratt.
The venue is also seeing more weddings of people from different cultures. So far this year, Waypoint has hosted five Arabic weddings. They’ve been large too, exposing the event center to more people.
Smaller Weddings
Christopher Sammartino, The Lake Club’s chief operating officer, says weddings have gotten smaller the last few years.
“I think the sweet spot is 250 to 350 people, which is perfect for our venue,” he says. With corporate and nonprofit events as well as private gatherings, the Lake Club hosts events year-round.
An outdoor patio with a heated floor and ceiling also allows outdoor events in the fall and early winter.
Unique Atmospheres
Mary Ann Porinchak, executive director of the National Packard Museum, and Barb Mascio, guest services coordinator, say the museum sees a lot of use for small and large events ranging from corporate meetings and nonprofit fundraisers to private parties and weddings.
“We’re getting ready for a 240-person wedding reception that’s going to be in the Great Hall,” Porinchak says. “But we’ve had a couple of our weddings here this year that made use of our gazebo in the back.”
The Packard cars provide a nice backdrop for wedding photos as well as entertaining guests as they stroll through the building. That’s something that sets the museum apart from other venues.
Mascio says whenever she gives a tour of the museum, she first thanks the patrons as those fees help support the nonprofit. She’s also sure to tell them that the space is available for weddings and other gatherings.
“We’re pretty good about making sure people know that that opportunity is there,” Mascio says.
Events at the museum often lead to an attendee planning an event there too, Porinchak adds. The museum also has a relationship with the Best Western in downtown Warren where many of those attending Packard events stay.
The hotel also shares history with the museum.
“That’s where WD Packard used to have all his breakfasts, and where he met his second wife,” she says
A courtyard at the Corinthian provides an ideal spot for gatherings in addition to space inside. Co-owner John Bianco developed it to meet the wishes of those wanting to incorporate outdoor spaces into their events.
A working trolley bus offers an unusual background for wedding photographs.
The Corinthian, opened in 2002, is housed in a historic former Masonic lodge in downtown Sharon. The three-story structure was built in 1909.
“I already saw the trends moving toward outdoors with barn weddings and such,” says Bianco, who owns The Corinthian with his wife and sister. “And I figured a lot of people like the urban feel. A lot of people like historical buildings like this. I saw the importance of having indoor/outdoor space whether I did a ceremony outside or whether I did a cocktail party.”
Bianco renovated the building but maintained its historic character. He added a bar on the first floor and a mezzanine.
A bridal suite on the top floor allows bridal parties to get ready before the ceremony. Outside, a balcony overlooks the courtyard with a steel staircase allowing access.
“But we built the bar to make it look like it was part of the building” and that it’s always been part of the structure, Bianco says.
Themes
Whether a couple selects Stambaugh Auditorium or DeYor Performing Arts Center for their big day depends on their vision, Dier says.
“Stambaugh is your very classic, very clean lines, whereas DeYor, we could offer that very ornate art deco,” she says.
DeYor, for example, is perfect for a Great Gatsby-themed event.
“When couples come here specifically for weddings, it’s very easy to talk through what their ideas are,” Dier says.
Stambaugh offers both ballroom space on its first floor and Christman Hall upstairs.
And many couples go big. Dier points to a recent wedding reception at Stambaugh with a Harry Potter theme.
“We’ve done Gothic-themed weddings. Instead of your traditional whites, they’re using deep purples, maroons, utilizing more like the darker colored candelabras instead of bright silvers — more of those tarnished types of things,” Dier says.
Stambaugh and DeYor provide what she calls a wedding coordination team rather than a single person.
“We will help as much or as little as they need,” Dier says. “… We’ll do our research to help as much as possible and give those ideas. When it comes to weddings, a lot of the time, they’re coming in with those ideas.”
At Waypoint, a recent wedding reception boasted a Lord of the Rings theme and the couple brought in a company to transform the venue.
“It didn’t look like Waypoint anymore,” Pratt says.
Personalization
Sometimes though, Waypoint’s Wethli helps a bride realize her vision. She recalls sitting down with one bride who said she wanted to inject her own personality into the wedding. Wethli deduced she was artistic from talking to her.
“She wrote her notes in colorful pens and all of that,” Wethli says. “That’s the first thing that I noticed about her. She always had colorful pens. She wrote each line in a different color. And she just liked to have that artistic flair in everything that she does.”
Some of the woman’s supporters, though, were pushing back on her ideas of nontraditional colors for the wedding.
“And I looked at her, and I said, ‘Is this what you would want out of your wedding if nobody else was involved?’ And she said, ‘Yes, absolutely.’”
The wedding featured a nontraditional color scheme.
Last October, Packard played host to a Halloween-themed wedding with everyone in costume.
“They all had a great time,” Porinchak says. “Their cake was black. I’ve never seen that before.”
But Mascio at Packard points to a pre-bar mitzvah event staged outside of the museum as even more unusual.
“They did a Cirque du Soleil thing,” she says. “They had this huge circus tent in our courtyard.”
It featured high-wire acts, flamethrowers and acrobats tumbling down ribbons suspended from the top of the tent.
Bianco at The Corinthian has seen some nontraditional events too. The venue lends itself well to Gatsby-themed weddings. But it also was the site of a union that featured decor based on steampunk, a retrofuturistic science fiction genre.
He estimates the center hosts roughly 20 events each year with things slowing during the winter months. With the layout of the center, sometimes more than one event is going on simultaneously.
“I can have one group up there on the third floor, and then somebody else down in that fireplace bar lounge area for smaller parties,” Bianco says.
Special Touches
He says The Corinthian’s years in business sets it apart from some other venues.
“I would have to say our experience over 22 years has gotten us a reputation with the team of people that I have who do an excellent job,” Bianco says.
“We can help brides from the beginning stages of not knowing what to do and help guide them and walk them through the process of planning their wedding out,” Bianco says. “A good event manager helps to plan the wedding for the bride so that she doesn’t need to get a wedding planner. We help walk them through in terms of layout, table seating, where to place different memory tables and different things that they may wish to include with their wedding.”
That may include items she wants that aren’t part of a traditional wedding, Bianco says.
Stambaugh and DeYor stage several area high school commencements each year as well as Youngstown State University Dana School of Music performances, Dier says.
The television show, “Dance Moms,” was filmed at Stambaugh three times.
Safarek, marketing and membership manager at The Lake Club, says the club hosts more than 300 events per year. The club offers smaller rooms like its wine room as well as smaller outdoor spaces like its bocce court to meet those types of gatherings. Larger parties like the recent 100th anniversary of the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley are staged in the main building.
Sammartino says The Lake Club gets positive feedback from those who choose the club, and he credits the staff for that.
Executive chef Michael Strollo creates dishes to meet the needs of customers and features like an Auntie Anne’s truck, a portable pizza oven and a shuttle to ferry guests between area hotels and the club add special touches. The club also recently updated its video and audio equipment to meet the needs of those using the space.
The event coordinators work to make each activity special, Sammartino says. “Everyone from the dishwasher to those who help people take things to their cars,” he says.
Safarek, who got married at The Lake Club in 2016, before he started working there, agrees.
“They thought of things we never would have thought about,” he says.
Pictured at top: Jenny Pratt and Jordan Wethli, director of sales and event coordinator, respectively, at Waypoint 4180, stand outside of the Canfield event center on a walkway that overlooks the golf course.