Purslane at the Prospect Park Boathouse
Guest capacity
Up to 150 seated guests
About this venue
This Beaux Arts style building built in 1905 overlooks the scenic Lullwater and Lullwater Bridge offering a breathtaking natural setting and stately backdrop for your special occasion.
Our event spaces
The Prospect Park Boathouse
This Beaux Arts style building built in 1905 overlooks the scenic Lullwater and Lullwater Bridge offering a breathtaking natural setting.
Generally used for reception, can accommodate rain plan.
Guest capacity
50-150 Seated
50-225 Standing
Ideal for
Wedding ceremony, Wedding reception, Rehearsal dinner, Wedding shower, Welcome party, Cocktail hour
Guests often feel this space is
“Surprised and delighted”
Included in this room:
-All necessary rentals -Food & beverage -Outdoor space -Second Level
Room cost
Included in total venue pricing
The Prospect Park Boathouse
This Beaux Arts style building built in 1905 overlooks the scenic Lullwater and Lullwater Bridge offering a breathtaking natural setting.
Generally used for reception, can accommodate rain plan.
Guest capacity
50-150 Seated
50-225 Standing
Ideal for
Wedding ceremony, Wedding reception, Rehearsal dinner, Wedding shower, Welcome party, Cocktail hour
Guests often feel this space is
“Surprised and delighted”
Included in this room:
-All necessary rentals -Food & beverage -Outdoor space -Second Level
Room cost
Included in total venue pricing
Available services that can be provided by Purslane at the Prospect Park Boathouse
Services & amenities
- Bar services
- Catering services
- Clean up
- Dance floor
- Dressing room / Bridal Suite
- Event rentals
- Event staff
- Liability insurance
- On-site accommodations
- Pet friendly
- Service staff
- Set up
- Wheelchair accessible
- Wifi
Transportation & access
- Self parking - free
- Wheelchair accessible
Rentals
- Barware
- China
- Flatware
- Glassware
- Linens
- Standard Chairs
Reviews
Write a review4.0 out of 5
5 reviews
Beautiful venue, but a bit inflexible
Our wedding at Purslane at The Boathouse was an unforgettable experience, and I would absolutely choose it again. The venue itself is breathtaking—the architecture and beautiful tiles created a stunning backdrop for our ceremony and reception. Even with our rain plan, it made the day feel incredibly intimate and even magical. We loved the feeling of hosting a wedding in our "backyard," with the picturesque lake and park setting. The day of servers were extremely kind and attentive, especially to our table and our VIP guests. They made sure we were well taken care of, always offering food and drinks without us needing to ask. However, there are a few things future couples should be aware of. At our first tasting, the staff didn’t know what they were serving us and had to check multiple times. Thankfully, they allowed us to have a second tasting, and this time there were menus, so it went much more smoothly. One of the biggest challenges all future couples should be aware of is their strictness with parking and delivery passes. You only get four delivery and four parking passes for vendors, VIP guests, and yourself, and they do not budge on this—even for guests with disabilities. This was difficult to manage, especially for our elderly grandmother and for family members picking up or dropping off items. Another important thing to note is the timeline. You’re only allowed access to the Boathouse two hours before the event starts, and most days there are other events going on earlier in the day. For example, the morning of our wedding, there was a bird-watching event until 3 pm, and we couldn’t get inside until 2 hours before our 5 pm wedding. Also, if guests arrive early, they won’t be let inside, even if it’s raining. Another heads-up, rehearsals are only allowed during public hours, and we weren’t allowed inside, which made it harder for our VIPs to visualize the walk down the aisle, especially with a rain plan. There were also a few minor issues during the event itself. The bar accidentally closed an hour early, which was frustrating because we had paid for the full time. This was fixed relatively quickly but many guests were turned away too soon. Some of the food at our wedding was different from what we had at our tasting in July: For example, the brown butter gnocchi I fell in love with at the tasting was served with a completely different, thicker squash sauce on the wedding day, and the mussels were missing from the seared halibut. Neither of these were communicated ahead of time. I understand it’s farm to table and dependent on what is available, but it would’ve been nice to know about these changes ahead of time. Additionally, in the beginning of the night, the custom cocktails had the wrong proportions of alcohol. Luckily my brother and sister in law were able to sort it out with the bartenders who were great about it. We could also hear some back-of-house noises during our ceremony since we were inside due to rain, including a timer that went off twice during the officiant’s reading. Lastly, if you’re planning to do the Hora, you will need to rent 2 chairs. The chairs at the Boathouse are folding chairs and not safe to lift in the air. Despite these challenges, the beauty and ambiance of the venue truly made our wedding day magical. These are just some things to keep in mind while planning. All in all, we loved every moment of our wedding at Purslane at The Boathouse and would choose the venue all over again.
Our Dream Venue!
The Prospect Park Boathouse was our absolute dream venue and the perfect setting for our big day! We had been torn between having a wedding more in nature or more in the city, and the Boathouse was the perfect blend between the two. Although the food wasn't our top priority, it ended up being a highlight of the day (especially the bacon wrapped dates). Throughout planning, Elena was very communicative and quick to respond to any email or question we had. Many of our guests commented on how elegant and classic New York the Boathouse was as a venue, and that's exactly what made us fall in love with it in the first place. We're also very excited that they recently opened a cafe out of the Boathouse during the day as well so that we can go back and relive our special day over and over again. A big thank you to Elena and the rest of the Purslane team for making our special day absolutely perfect!
Perfect Wedding Venue!
We had a beautiful wedding at the Prospect Park boathouse on 5/23/24! Everything went smoothly, thanks to the prep calls with Elena and the Purslane team. The setup of the venue was stunning, everyone raved about the food and the cocktails were so so good. We had the time of our lives - I’ll never forget the swans making a guest appearance too. Highly recommend for a seamless and fabulous wedding day!
They're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat
My wife and I wish we had gladder tidings to bring to this review. It brings us no joy to write this when we ought to be basking in newlywed bliss. Instead, we're exhausted from the stress and heartbreak that characterized our Purslane experience. We fell in love with the Boathouse the moment we laid eyes on it. We knew that this was where we needed to get married. The only caveat was that the Boathouse has an exclusive caterer, which is—you guessed it. Though we wanted to explore other options to find the right team for us, our hands were tied. Things started off well enough. Our initial contact was a delightful person named Kendall, whose gentle manner turned into palpable excitement as we described our vision for the Big Day. She loved the idea, told us it could easily be pulled off, and gave us a solid quote. We scheduled our tasting for July, when Purslane's Fall menu would be available. Which is when things started to go south. Kendall, we were told had been fired, and filling her place were Mathew (her immediate superior) and Elena, her replacement. First impressions were not great: both had an oleagenous, self-satisfied manner, and the latter even admitted to never trying the food. The fare was corporate event at best: subpar sliders and cold pasta dishes. Conspicuously absent was anything that we had discussed with Kendall. Panicked, we immediately sent emails to the new team, desperately trying to communicate what we needed for our event to succeed. In response, Purslane—almost punitively—doubled our quote with minimal explanation (roughly now the size of a mortgage down payment), accompanied by a gradual winnowing of expectations by the new team, who seemed to seethe with resentment that we had the audacity to say we didn't like what we were served. Imagine that your wedding is two months away. You nailed down all your other vendors months ago, but you still don't have a contract for the actual food. Imagine as you watch the catering team you got shotgun-married to drag their feet with every snide, dismissive response—even on simple requests like, "can I get the link to my contract on Tripleseat?"—as you watch the price tag steadily inflate like a helium balloon. How's your pulse? At that point, we kept telling ourselves we just needed the food to be good. Nothing else mattered. Finally, a month out, we had a do-over tasting, which admittedly was good (though we could have done without Mathew & Elena false obsequiousness). We breathed a light sigh of relief. If this was what the guests would experience, we'd be okay. Cue a series of backcharges that Purslane would impose us without explanation. We were charged for linens which didn't reflect anything that we had put in the floor plan with our planner (which was available to Purslane for months, per their request). We were forced to pay more when it became clear that they had neglected to look at our planner's timeline (also readily available for months). The night before our wedding, we were still embroiled in an email thread about the absurdity of it all. And finally, the actual execution at our wedding was not what we expected. The ingredients were there, but none of the heart. Mathew and Elena were kind enough not to show their faces. Despite the incompetence of Purslane's management, the kitchen staff and servers were INCREDIBLE. We experienced nothing but expert service and outstanding energy from them. They deserve better. You deserve better too.
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