My First Eichelberger Pavilion Wedding

Eichelberger Pavilion

My first ever Eichelberger Pavilion at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio, took place in the first half of 2025. I photographed a fun couple who hired me in 2024 for their 2025 wedding.

They did a fantastic job with me at their Dayton Grotto Gardens engagement session. Being very into each other in terms of posing and attitude made my job so incredibly easy. I knew that from their engagement session, they were going to be great at the wedding. Often, I get couples that simply act like friends, which is fine. The couple did a great job with their engagement session. We had lots of fun, and I knew that their wedding was going to be good.

I had been looking forward to their wedding day for months and months. Finally, their wedding came around at the Eichelberger Pavilion. I walked in to the pavilion, and it was beautifully set up for the wedding. The tables were set up on the lower level with the ceremony location set up at the eastern end of the room. It provided plenty of space for guests and plenty of options for me to photograph. The space was huge for the number of guests they had, but it worked out well since they could have a giant dance floor. They had places for people to go off and talk by themselves, etc.

They held cocktail hour upstairs on the balcony, which is standard for that wedding venue. Cocktail hour is really nice because it gives people time to chill out and congregate after the wedding, just prior to the reception. When cocktail hour takes place, you can look down on the reception area to see what it looks like. It kind of gives you a preview and gets you excited.

Once the wedding had begun, they all walked in for a beautiful ceremony. It was beautiful. You could hear everyone, which was very nice. It was awesome! At the majority of my weddings, you can’t hear the ceremony very well, which kind of stinks for the guests. The remaining pictures were afterwards.

Earlier, we did a first look just outside the main building on the north side patio. The first look went really well. I love arranging first looks! Sometimes people have ideas sometimes they don’t. This couple did not, so I suggested a place that had good lighting. I was able to capture several great pictures of this special moment. They were excited to see each other. They loved on each other for a couple minutes and then we proceeded with the formal pictures.

Golf Cart Access

We got on the golf cart provided by the pavilion and walked around well. Riding around to various parts of Carillon Historical Park, we took photos in front of structures that I thought would look great. We did some in front of old buildings and some in the transportation center. Then, I had the idea to put them in the covered bridge, which sits on a hill on the south side of the park. It’s a place that I always try to take my wedding couple because I love the darkness of the covered bridge. The brightness at the north end of the end of the covered bridge contrasts nicely with architecture on the inside. There is an arch that goes from the north side to the south side and provides a nice natural frame for the couple.

We made our way to the bridge overlooking the transportation center, and I had done weddings on this bridge before on one of the hottest days of my entire life. Everyone was melting, that day but today, it was just the three of us on a beautiful day. After that, we made our way back to the pavilion, had the wedding, had cocktail hour, had reception.

The reception was great. There was tons of fun with a lot of the guests dancing. This alwys makes the evening better for the couple and for me. I was able to capture several dancing photos and numerous people talking to each other. I like to capture everything that was is on and everyone having fun.

So Much Space

My suggestions for the pavilion would be to only book this place if you have a lot of guests because when you have a few tables in this giant facility, it can look empty. This couple had just the right amount of guests and their wedding was great. I have seen before, where people book giant venues for 50 to 75 people, and it can look odd, and like something is missing. So, pick this place if you are having hundreds of guests.

The most unique caterer in town services Carillon, Bernstein’s Fine Catering. As I have said many times, they have the most artistic and unique offerings of any caterer in Dayton or Cincinnati.

The sepearate cocktail hour area is always nice to have. At the pavilion, the groom’s room (partner 1 room) was just a storage room on the ground floor. It was nothing specials but was big enough for the guys. The bride’s room (partner 2 room) is upstairs, and was huge. It features a kitchenette, a bathroom, mirrors, and tons and tons of space for the wedding party to get ready. Both were adequate but were not the most asthetically pleasing in the area.

Always important, the air conditioning is sufficient! Of course, the historic buildings don’t have any air conditioning. So if you’re going to do outside photos and photos in the old school house, etc, be prepared to be hot on hot days. All in all, Carillon is a really nice place to get married. It is a good place for a reception. People will have a lot of fun and it’s very unique.