Wedding DJ at Wake Forest Community House in Wake Forest, NC

The Space

The Wake Forest Community House opened in June 1942, built between 1938 and 1942 as a Works Progress Administration project on land donated by Dr. Solomon Pace Holding and his wife, Eva Dunn Holding. The WPA covered 73 percent of the $68,000 construction cost, with the town covering the rest, and the building has been in continuous public and private use ever since it opened its doors.

It is listed as a contributing resource in the Wake Forest National Register Historic District, and the hardwood floors and walls were renovated in 2012, so the interior a couple sees today combines the original 1940s structure with a more recent refresh. The building sits on 5 acres next to Holding Park, which includes a playground, picnic tables, grills, a basketball court, and an aquatic center.

Capacity & Layout

The single large meeting room seats 250 people when set up without tables, or 144 when tables are in place, and that gap between the two numbers is worth planning around early: a couple wanting a seated dinner for their full guest list should count on the lower figure, while a ceremony held theater style in the same room can hold considerably more people in the same footprint.

The building is one open meeting room rather than several separate spaces, so a couple is planning a single floor plan that has to accommodate ceremony, dinner, and dancing in some combination, often by resetting the room between parts of the day. ADA compliant layout options for both presentation and banquet setups give some flexibility in how that single room gets arranged.

Amenities

The rental includes 27 aluminum folding six foot tables, about 170 chairs, and a wood podium, along with a kitchen equipped with a microwave, refrigerator, and sink for a caterer or for food brought in directly. That included furniture is a real number worth building a budget around, since it removes most or all of the rental furniture line from the planning entirely.

Alcoholic beverages are prohibited on the property, which is a firm planning constraint rather than a preference, so any couple considering the space needs to build their reception around that rule from the start. Rentals run Friday, Saturday, and Sunday only, in half day blocks from 8am to 3pm or 5pm to midnight, or as a full day from 8am to midnight.

Location & Getting There

The Community House sits in downtown Wake Forest, inside the town’s National Register Historic District, with Holding Park directly adjacent for guests who arrive early or want a place for kids to burn off energy between the ceremony and the reception. Parking is a smaller consideration here: a gravel lot sits across the street, supplemented by some on-street parking nearby.

That parking setup is worth planning transportation around for a larger guest list, since the lot is not large enough to be the only option available. Inside, the single hardwood floored meeting room, renovated in 2012, is an open rectangular space with no separate rooms to isolate sound, so a DJ system there is filling one continuous room rather than working around walls or dividers.