Location: 317 W. Chatham Street, Cary, NC 27511 Capacity: Up to 200 guests (cocktail style); 160 seated Type: Historic House Venue Website: matthewshousecary.com
The Matthews House is a Greek Revival house in downtown Cary, built in 1915 by the Matthews family. For decades it was a private residence and, at times, home to a florist, a dressmaker, and a salon. New owners in the early 2000s began hosting weddings there, adding the Grand Ballroom and a commercial kitchen as the business grew. The house changed hands again in 2016, and since 2017 Southern Harvest Catering has been the on-site caterer.
Couples use the whole property across a wedding day: the house for getting ready and quieter moments, the garden or the ballroom for the ceremony, and the ballroom or the patio for dinner and dancing.
The Grand Ballroom
The Grand Ballroom is the room added onto the original house, and it is where plated dinners and dancing happen for the largest weddings the property hosts. It opens onto the garden and the patio, so a reception can spill outside for cocktails.
The Garden and Grounds
The grounds include a garden with a fountain, a landscaped arbor, a lawn used for yard games, and a patio strung with lights. Ceremonies are held here, in the ballroom, or inside the house itself, depending on the size of the wedding and the weather.
The House
The house itself holds 2 separate suites where wedding parties get ready before the ceremony, and one of them, the Bridal Suite, can also be booked for an overnight stay. The house also hosts smaller, more private ceremonies.
What We Design Here
The Grand Ballroom and the original 1915 rooms ask two different things of the same wedding, and the proportions of rooms built for entertaining set the scale for both. The ballroom takes larger, more architectural arrangements at scale with the room; the smaller rooms in the house call for work sized to a mantel or a side table instead.
Outdoors, the garden already has a fountain and an arbor as its focal points, so ceremony florals can stay modest and let those fixed pieces lead. Across the property the light shifts from the open lawn and patio to the shaded interior of the house, so we choose colors that hold in both.
Practical
The Matthews House is in downtown Cary. On-site parking is available, and guests who leave a car overnight after an event are asked to collect it by 10 a.m. the next day. Events run until 11 p.m., per the Town of Cary noise ordinance. Additional lodging is worth confirming with the venue when you book.
Hidden Door Floral Studio is a Raleigh wedding florist designing for weddings across Raleigh, the Triangle and North Carolina, and happy to travel beyond. To talk about your wedding at The Matthews House, schedule a consultation.
Need flowers there today? See same-day flower delivery in Cary.