Check out Riffraff in Providence. It’s a bookstore/bar so at the very least it’s a comfortable place to hang out alone, grab a drink and read a book. They also have a coffee tea menu if you are staying away from alcohol.

USPS has been replacing all of the blue mailboxes with boxes that only allow you to slide letters and flat mail in through a slot with teeth. This is to prevent “phishing”, where thieves literally send string down the opening with sticky glue or gum on the end to fish out all the mail. (Happened way more than people realize.) These boxes appear to be welded shut but actually have a slit for an opening at the top. Thieves across the country have responded by straight up robbing letter carriers for their keys though so not sure that plan worked out successfully. If the boxes are painted green they are not mailboxes at all, simply storage boxes for letter carriers on foot. (Pawtucket and Lincoln have many of these)

Our wedding in 2018 at the Roger William Botanical Garden cost around $23,000. $13,000 alone was for the catering for 160 guests. The rest went towards the location, photographer, a DJ, cake from Sin Bakery, and other odds and ends that came up.

Our wedding ceremony was in the Rose Maze Garden, Cocktail Hour was in the Conservatory Room, and the Reception was in the Mediterranean Room. Someone else mentioned a 110 person max- I don't remember ever hearing that in 2018 so it could be a somewhat recent change. We started off planning for 200 and only later whittled it down to a solid 160.

The only mistake we made was in underestimating the seating. We set up activity areas around the garden (Sign in book with armchairs, an old school video game station, a photo station, etc) and anticipated people would mill about during the reception rather than sit down and not get up as the space in beautiful. This was not the case, and with only about 100 seats a handful of guests left early apparently feeling left out. I would definitely have added a few more tables in retrospect- but I'm not beating myself up about it. It was advertised as a cocktail style wedding and we were more interested in providing a fun experience over a stuffy sit down meal. We didn't feel cramped as others have mentioned and the dance floor was more than adequate.

We used the Catering Gourmet and they supplied us with all of the tables, seating and silverware as part of the service. They were very helpful and we were impressed by the tasting. We met with a few other caterers from the list we were provided by the Botanical Garden and one of the options we crossed off after two meetings when the owner tried to shoot our ideas down and direct us in how we needed to set the room up- which was a major turn off. Catering Gourmet tried to accommodate all of our specific and weird ideas and I don't have any regrets using them. We had a wood grilled pizza station and a fajita/taco bar along with hors d'ouvres.

You could definitely do it cheaper, but $25,000 is probably a good average cost for 150 people. Obviously, the more things you can do yourself within that framework the more money you can save, and you could certainly figure out ways to do it cheaper. And if you want to spend more for a proper steak dinner I'm sure you could also make the price skyrocket.

Anyway, congratulations and good luck- it's a fantastic location and will definitely make for some good memories for everyone involved!

This is 100% accurate. The decor is horrible, the usual clientele are pretty crass, the hibachi loud on the weekends,and the service can be spotty. The sushi chef’s are amazing.

Most people go for the hibachi, but Mount Fuji low-key makes some of the best sushi in Providence.