Wedding DJ at The Rickhouse- Durham in Durham, NC

The Space

Built in 1938 as the Brame Warehouse, this building served as an R.J. Reynolds tobacco prizery, storing tobacco bought at market before it shipped on to Winston-Salem, a role it held until 1963. Discover Durham lists it as one of only two prizeries left standing in the city, which makes The Rickhouse one of the more genuinely historic industrial spaces still hosting weddings in downtown Durham.

The renovation kept exposed brick and restored wood throughout rather than covering the building’s working past, and Liberty and Plenty, a locally owned and female-owned distillery producing gin, whiskey, rum, and vodka, moved into an adjacent space within the building in 2022. The venue sits in downtown Durham’s Central Park district, with a balcony that looks directly out over the historic Durham Athletic Park, the original home of the Durham Bulls.

Capacity & Layout

The Grand Room seats up to 400 indoors and holds up to 500 for a standing event, across roughly 4,500 square feet of total meeting area, which puts this venue comfortably in mid-to-large wedding territory. Ceremony and reception can both run in the same room, so a couple is not paying for or coordinating a second space.

A seamless 42 by 34 foot dance floor is built into the main room specifically for the turn from a seated dinner into dancing, and a private dressing suite with full-length mirrors and counter space handles hair and makeup before the ceremony. The partially covered balcony over Durham Athletic Park gives a distinct outdoor layout option for cocktail hour or photos, separate from the main indoor hall, so ceremony, cocktails, dinner, and dancing can each get their own moment on the same footprint without a full room reset in between.

Amenities

Every rental includes seating and tables for up to 200 people from the venue’s own inventory, twenty-five 60-inch rounds, twenty 8-foot tables, ten 6-foot tables, ten cocktail tables, and three 10-foot farm tables, along with 200 chairs, which meaningfully cuts down what a couple needs to rent separately. Two bars are provided with professional bartenders available.

The room comes equipped with real audio-video infrastructure: a projector and screen, HDMI and RGB connections, Apple TV, XLR inputs, and wireless microphones, useful for a slideshow, a livestream for family who cannot travel, or speeches that need amplification beyond what a DJ system alone provides. An 8 by 8 foot magnetic chalkboard is also available for seating charts or a welcome sign, one more piece of furnishing a couple does not need to source separately.

Location & Getting There

The Rickhouse sits in downtown Durham, with nearby parking at the Durham ID Parking Deck and the Durham Centre Parking Garage, including wheelchair-accessible spaces, and Raleigh-Durham International Airport within easy reach for guests flying in. We have worked a wedding here, and the balcony view over the ballpark is a genuine draw for Durham Bulls fans in the wedding party.

Because the main hall pairs exposed brick and restored wood, both hard, reflective surfaces, with a partially covered balcony extension outside, a DJ setup has to account for a live-sounding indoor room that opens directly onto an outdoor space rather than staying fully sealed off.