Embrace Everlasting Love with Nature. Discover Your Dream Waterfront Wedding at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Weddings

Celebrate Nature and Elegance with an Indoor Outdoor Wedding Experience at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Celebrate your love at Chesapeake Bay Foundation surrounded by beautiful nature, both indoors and outdoors. Experience the peacefulness of the Bay while enjoying modern amenities. We understand the allure of celebrating love in the stunning outdoors while ensuring that you and your guests are content. Our spacious deck, is elegantly tented to guarantee the comfort of you and your guests, rain or shine. After your beach ceremony, your event moves seamlessly into a climate-controlled dining room connected to the outdoor deck. Here, guests can enjoy the comfort of the indoors while still being surrounded by the breathtaking waterfront views. Our unique wedding venue combines the best of both worlds, giving you an unforgettable celebration in a captivating setting.

  • Private Beach

    You will be in awe of the natural beauty and scenery surrounding our private beach! As a picture-perfect backdrop for your ceremony or cocktail hour, our private beach is sure to wow your guests.

  • Wedding Suite

    Our wedding suite is the ideal place to put on your finishing touches before heading out to your ceremony. With the best views in the house and a private deck overlooking the beach, relax in your final moments before “I do”!

  • Lawn and Grounds

    Our spacious lawn is a great location to host cocktail hour to immerse your guests in our natural beauty. Our 31 acre property allows for endless photo opportunities.

  • Lobby

    Our spacious two-story lobby is the perfect place to set the tone for your special day! Welcome your guests in style with a breathtaking view of our waterfront

  • Tented Deck

    Our 2,400-square-foot tented deck provides the best atmosphere to dance the night away, sip on some bubbly, or have your guests enjoy dinner with the most spectacular Bay views! You will love our white A-frame tents, ceiling fans, and string lights throughout the space.

  • Canvasback Dining Room

    With 1,600-square feet of sweeping waterfront views, our Canvasback Room is sure to set the stage for a memorable meal. The room is adjacent to our tented deck and allows you to catch the sunset over Blackwalnut Creek while enjoying dinner, toasts, and cake cutting with your new spouse!

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What people are saying

“We truly are not exaggerating when we say that CBF was the venue of our dreams! When we set out on our venue search, we had a couple of criteria on our must-have list: (1) a setting that would be beautiful, majestic, and unforgettable; (2) convenient and comfortable on-site facilities for our guests; (3) a venue fee that wasn’t going to cost an arm and a leg; (4) somewhere that wasn’t just a “wedding venue,” but rather was part of some broader mission/cause; and (5) a location that was meaningful to us and our family. We still can’t quite believe how lucky we were to find all of these and more in CBF. For views, you can’t beat the gorgeous natural surroundings or the stunning wood beams/architecture. However, we never felt more affirmed in our decision to choose CBF than in the week leading up to our wedding. Just days before we were supposed to get married, we learned that Tropical Storm Ophelia was scheduled to hit Annapolis—thereby putting CBF in the flood zone—exactly on the day of our wedding. But with Shannon’s support and the work of our wonderful vendors, the team seamlessly turned what was supposed to be an outdoor beach wedding to a covered wedding on the deck seemingly overnight. And even with 50 mile per hour winds and sometimes sideways rain, our wedding could not have been more beautiful or joyful—which was in no small part due to CBF’s flexibility, kindness, and willingness to roll with the punches. If you’re at all on the fence about CBF as your wedding venue, don’t be. Come rain, shine, or even a hurricane, I promise you won’t regret it!”

- Sarah and Aiden 2023 Couple

“I cannot say enough about CBF! We had our wedding here in July 2023. Ceremony on the beach, cocktail hour on the lawn, reception and dancing on the deck. It was perfect. Shannon at CBF is a dream to work with - an excellent communicator, flexible, experienced. For what you get, for the value for money for the DC-Baltimore area, the fact that the venue COMES WITH A TENT included, this is the best (and believe me, we looked). Also the vendors they work with are amazing. And, as a bonus, you are supporting an incredible organization that is protecting the bay and surrounding shoreline. Our guests were blown away. Our photographer loved it because the gorgeous outdoor backdrop made all photos easy. Cannot say enough good things. Thank you, CBF!”

— Perrie + Tim 2023 Couple

The CBF Philip Merrill Environmental Center was our dream venue with stunning views of the Chesapeake, an expansive tented deck reception, and an honorable commitment to sustainable practices. We could not be more impressed with the staff as well as the venue itself. The preferred vendors were amazing and helped make our wedding day run smoothly, the use of the 31 acres of grounds resulted in some incredible pictures, and the use of both the indoor/outdoor components of the venue made our late October wedding day an all-around success. I would highly recommend the CBF venue to anyone looking to have an incredible wedding day on the Chesapeake Bay!

-Karlie and Andrew 2022 Couple

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