Welcome to Cvent’s Richmond event planning guide – a city guide for Richmond meeting planning and event planning professionals. Richmond's famed historical attractions, paired with its exciting, metropolitan flavor, bring more than five million tourists to Virginia's capital each year. Richmond features a flawless blend of small-town hospitality with the sophistication of an urban locale, an appealing combination to meeting participants and tourists alike.
In the city itself, the Greater Richmond Convention Center hosts more than 400 events each year in its modern, 700,000-square-foot facility that spans more than five city blocks. Amenities include a full-service business center, award-winning in-house catering and full-service audio-visual and telecommunications services. The center is also a short distance to more than 50 quality hotels, including the Jefferson Hotel, a National Historic Landmark and one of the 23 hotels in North America to have been awarded both the Mobil 5-Star and AAA 5-Diamond ratings.
Venturing outside the city? Richmond is extremely day trip-friendly, located only 100 miles northwest of tourist hotspot Virginia Beach and 50 miles northwest of historic Williamsburg. The James River Cellars Winery, located just 10 miles north of Richmond, hosts numerous festivals and wine tasting events, including Fridays on the Patio, an outdoor wine tasting and winery tour with live music, held the last Friday of every month. The charming Woodland Vineyard, located just 20 miles from Richmond, is a family-run winery that houses an outdoor patio among the trees, the perfect backdrop for enjoying a glass of its best vintage and great conversation.
Richmond is home to various unique venues that not only accommodate groups of any size, but also provide a breathtaking backdrop to any meeting or event. For smaller scale Richmond event planning, the city's Edgar Allen Poe Museum features a private garden for receptions of up to 125 guests. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' regal Marble Hall, nestled in the West Wing galleries, gives up to 1,500 guests immediate access to its superior collections, including the largest collection of Fabergé eggs outside of Russia. The eight private dining rooms at Lemaire, located in the famed Jefferson Hotel, are an elegant venue for dinners and receptions of up to 158 guests.
Continuously updating and renovating its options has been a priority in Richmond, as the city has been part of a downtown revitalization program for the past several years. Canal Walk, a 1.25-mile-long path with markers and information on Richmond's famous people and events, boasts canal cruises, restaurants, shops and venues for outdoor concerts. Visitors can also enjoy Richmond's scenery through Richmond's James River Parks System, featuring bike and hiking trails along the banks of the river; its mountain biking trails are considered to be among the best in the country.
The Richmond event planning community stays busy working with a number of organizations within the city; Richmond serves as headquarters to such companies as Brink's, Circuit City, Genworth Financial, LandAmerica Financial and CarMax, Inc. Also a locale of higher learning, Richmond is home to the University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia Union University.
