Understory, which is located on the top floor of Open Air, a repurposed elementary school tucked away on Neil Avenue in Clintonville, has long been one of my favorite venues in the city, and many couples who have discovered this no-longer-hidden gem just north of campus would agree. The spaces in the venue are industrial but polished, with dark iron window frames that bathe the exposed brick walls and gorgeous wooden floors in natural light. The terrace allows for outdoor ceremonies and cocktail hours during the warmer months, or for an indoor/outdoor flow during reception. The tile floors and lockers in the hallway between the main reception space (The Fieldhouse) and the cocktail hour space (the West Classroom) are a reminder of the history of the building and its past life as a school.

Photos throughout this post come from Michele & Andrew’s wedding photographed by Phan Photo Co, Lauren & Ian’s wedding (which I did not work, but I did attend as a guest!) photographed by Madilyn Rusin Photo, and my own iPhone photos of the empty space. You can always right-click an image to view it in a new window if you’d like to see it a little larger.

With all the housekeeping out of the way, let’s dive in - read on for everything you need to know about booking your wedding at this beloved, historic space in Clintonville.

Getting There

Understory is most easily accessed by traveling south on High Street towards the intersection of Dodridge and taking the right onto North Street before you reach Hounddog’s - as North Street curves around the corner, it becomes Neil, and you can follow it until you reach the parking lot for Understory on your right.

Since the same building houses Understory (which actually encompasses the event venue itself, plus The Commons and The Lounge, two other Wolf’s Ridge-owned and operated bar/restaurant spaces), Emmett’s Cafe, and a few other businesses, the small shared parking lot can fill up quickly. If you’re visiting on a weekday for a tour or meeting, you may find yourself parking on one of the nearby side streets, but on weekend evenings there is always valet parking available. Valet is provided by the building, so should a couple choose to take advantage of it, they can either let guests self-pay at $5 per car or have the attendant tally how many cars have been parked in the wedding group and settle the tab at the end of the night.

If you are concerned about guests being able to find the event space on the second floor, don’t be - Understory always provides plenty of signage to direct your guest traffic flow and help them smoothly navigate the facility.

Space Rental

Understory’s reception-only wedding package consists of a flat room rental fee for eight total hours onsite (4:oo PM - 6:00 PM for setup; 6:00 PM - 11:00 PM for the event itself, and 11:00 PM - 12:00 AM for teardown and load-out) and a food & beverage minimum spend. If you choose to host your ceremony onsite at Understory as well, the option to do so is available for an additional room setup fee (which also includes an additional hour of setup time). Additional hours of setup time can be added a la carte for $100 per hour.

The official max capacity of the space is 100 guests, but weddings will feel most comfortable in the 60 - 80 guest range. Having 100 guests in the Fieldhouse allows for a DJ, but does not allow space for a sweetheart table (the couple would be seated at one of the larger rounds with their guests instead). For reference, Michele & Andrew had 75.

If you want to be able to spend the whole day onsite, there is an option to add on a morning space rental and get ready in either the Lounge or the West Classroom. There is no food & beverage minimum if you choose to rent the morning, so you can either have Understory cater brunch, or you can bring your own food in for while you get ready. One important detail to note if you do decide to rent the space for the morning of your wedding is that due to food preparation taking place in different areas around the building, hot hair tools and hair spray are not permitted to be used, but makeup is fine.

Should you choose to host your rehearsal dinner at another space owned and operated by Wolf’s Ridge, you can at a discounted rate - couples with weddings booked at Understory will receive a 50% discount on their rehearsal dinner room rental fee at Wolf’s Ridge’s Hickory Room.

If you’re interested in an experience for your wedding that is a bit more exclusive, full-building buyouts are also available for a larger investment.

Food & Beverage

Understory is owned by Wolf’s Ridge brewing and offers in-house catering and bar service for weddings and other events, which simplifies the vendor search and allows the couple to rest assured that their caterer will know their way around their venue with no issues. The beers are a Columbus favorite and the cocktails are imaginative and delicious, and the couple can always re-name a cocktail or two to match a signature drink theme (or work with the beverage team to dream up something of their own!)

Due to the layout of the space, Understory does not offer multiple catering packages, because the space is not conducive to a plated dinner. Each wedding contract will be charged the food & beverage minimum that applies to the appropriate day of the week and time of year, and the final invoice on food is paid once guest count has been finalized and numbers have been submitted to the kitchen. The bar can be set up as a cash bar, a hosted bar with a limit that will switch to cash once the limit is reached, hosted beer & wine with cash liquor, or fully open - any type of open bar will be charged based on consumption at the end of the event. Most events will have no problem reaching their F&B minimum, but if the minimum is not reached, the client will owe the difference on top of their final totals for food and beverage.

Complimentary food tastings for wedding clients typically take place in the lounge at Understory and consist of a chef-set menu including two appetizers, a salad, two entrees, two sides, and a dessert. Custom tastings can be requested for $50 if you prefer to taste what you actually plan to serve rather than doing the chef-designed tasting that gives you a sense of the quality of the food.

Tables, Chairs, and Decor

Understory has ten 6’ round tables in their inventory plus several 6’ rectangular tables and two 8’ rectangular tables, plus one 48” round table that can be used as a sweetheart table or cake table. Their two included chair styles are white padded chairs for indoors and wooden folding chairs for outdoor ceremonies. Their exclusive linen partner provides white, ivory, or black table linens at no additional cost, and a variety of colors are available for your cloth napkins. If you prefer to rent your own linens, you can, but the venue team prefers that they be dropped off the night before the wedding so that they can get them set on the tables first thing in the morning. There is no setup or teardown labor for wedding clients to do when it comes to the tables and chairs - the Understory team will create your floor plans and set them up for you!

There are vases and floating candles available for rent should you choose to include floating candles in your centerpiece designs, and they can also provide a cake stand and cake knife for your wedding cake, but the client would need to provide any additional needed decor (easels, a card box, table numbers, etc.).

One important note about hosting your wedding at Understory is that storage space for personal items and containers from decor is extremely limited - the lockers in the hallway between the Fieldhouse and the West Classroom are available for bridal party to store any belongings, but if you have large boxes or bins from your decor load-in, it may be best to plan to store these items in a car during the event.

If you choose to have a sendoff at the end of your reception, sparklers are permitted as long as nothing is ignited inside the building. Mess-free options such as ribbon streamers, glow sticks, or bubbles (outdoors only) are also permitted, but glitter and confetti are never allowed.

Ceremonies and Rehearsals

Times for ceremony rehearsals are confirmed a month prior to the wedding, but they will almost always take place sometime the day prior. Due to there being many events happening onsite in the mornings and in the evenings, clients should expect that they will not be able to drop off any wedding decor and leave it overnight at the rehearsal - plan instead to have someone drop everything off at the beginning of your access time on wedding day.

The most common event flow in the summer and fall months when the weather is mild is a ceremony on the terrace, cocktail hour in the West Classroom, and reception in the Fieldhouse. Photos on the terrace are also always amazing - late afternoon/early evening provides the perfect soft, glowy light that is every photographer’s dream! In case of inclement weather with outdoor ceremonies, rain plans should ideally be determined by about a week prior to the event, but with a minimum of 48 hours’ notice. The venue team will work with the couple in case of unforeseen weather conditions. If a couple chooses from the beginning to host their ceremony indoors, they can either have a California style ceremony (guests seated at their reception tables with a few rows of chairs for immediate family), or the Fieldhouse can be fully set with ceremony rows, but the Understory team recommends having reception tables mostly set around the perimeter of the room to ease the room flip as much as possible. However, in case of a last-minute move indoors, a California-style ceremony is the only option.

Feeling inspired?

I hope these details and photos have gotten you as excited about hosting your wedding at Understory as I am about the space, the location, the amazing food & drink, and all the other amazing assets the venue has to offer. If you’d like more detail on a wedding I have worked at Understory, be sure to check out the blog post all about Michele and Andrew’s day, and stay tuned - more Understory wedding goodness will be coming your way this summer!

As a parting thought, I’ll share with you some ways that the two photographers featured here have taken advantage of all the amazing spaces throughout the building. As you can see, the possibilities are endless!