Thompson Island Outward Bound

Our wedding experience on Thompson Island was better than I ever could have imagined from start to finish. We wouldn’t change a thing!
The setting is beautiful– the natural beauty of the island and views of the city make decorating a breeze. We barely added a thing but you have the ability to decorate and add as much ambiance as you like.
Denise, the coordinator, was unbelievable. She is SO good at her job and has the ability to pay careful attention to detail with a laid back attitude that helped us feel 100% relaxed and confident while planning and on the actual day.
The food is incredible. All of our guests are still raving about it! We did the island combo with tender grilled chicken, meat and MASSIVE lobster tails soaked in butter. Even the pie was delicious– one guest even took an entire pie for the ride home!
About half of our guests were from out of state so this was a perfect Boston experience– so much better than having them fly into town to spend time in a generic banquet hall. Even most of our local guests had never heard of the island or been out there. They were all impressed with the boat ride and we felt good spending money on an incredible experience for all of our guests.
We opted to have a bonfire after the wedding with our wedding party and close friends. This option allowed us to prolong the best day of our lives and spend time with the people who mattered most. We all slept in the dorms on the island, which are clean and comfortable. I would definitely recommend this!
A few of our guests had walkers and/​or trouble walking. The island was totally handicap-​friendly and staff were attentive to our guests that needed extra help getting on and off the boat and to and from the bathroom. Again, we didn’t have to worry about a thing.
Thompson Island is also reasonably priced for a Boston venue. We pretty much knew we wanted this venue at any price, but if you shop around you’ll find that most other locations charge much more… especially for such a stellar location and unique experience.
I would recommend this venue to any couple– whether you want a simple, rustic wedding or a fancy affair, Denise and the team at Thompson Island can make your dreams come true!

I went there as a young girl with my school and my mother also went there for a corporate event. The place in heaven and the memories bring a tear to my eye there is no better team building, beautiful and productive experience!!!

My fiancé and I were supposed to meet the event coordinator but she wasn’t on the ferry (which is where and when we were supposed to meet) or even at the island when we got there.
Logan (who was great) explained that she was running late and gave us the grand tour. The island is beautiful with mulitple locations to have a beautiful event or wedding. Logan did the best he could, but we had many more questions and was told the event coordinator would meet us at the dock in Boston to answer any questions. When we got back we didn’t know what the coordinator looked like. She apparently blew by us as we got off the ferry. We had to go back on and ask the crew we sailed back with where the coordinator was and we waited while they got her for us. You could tell she was annoyed she even had to deal with us. Maybe she was having a bad day but that’s not how you should treat people in general, let alone potential customers.
We even tried to call her a few times when we got to the port but it went straight to voicemail. The venue was beautiful but we can’t work with a coordinator like that. I won’t mention her name as I am not a spiteful person but you couldn’t pay us to have our wedding there with that coordinator.

Our company outing was held on Thompson Island on Saturday. It did not hurt that the weather was utter perfection, but that term could also describe everything about our day, including the ferry, venue, food (lobster tails were huge!), drinks, hospitality, activities, tranquil setting and price. Steph made putting the event together easy as can be. We’ve not duplicated an event location in my 14 years of organizing summer/​winter outings for this crowd. Until now. We plan to return to the Thompson Island Outward Bound venue again next summer!

We had our wedding on Thompson Island and it was the most amazing weekend ever! Previous reviews have detailed all the reasons why this is a great location. I will just reiterate that the biggest reason this place is perfect is the staff. We have never worked with a more amazing group of people (and my mom is in retail so customer service is extremely important). We took over that island with a wedding of 250 and 150 of them stayed overnight in the dorms. We ate delicious food, danced to a great band and stayed up way past our bedtime. I love it there and would recommend it to anyone who loves the out of doors. THANK YOU DENISE!

If you are going to spend money on a wedding, why not have it go to a great cause like Thompson Island’s Outward Bound program? Not only do you get to feel good about supporting an important organization, you get to have probably the most memorable and beautiful wedding you and your guests will ever experience.
My partner and I chose Thompson Island over some other fun, non-​profit sites (Boston Aquarium, Boston Science Museum, Boston Public Library, Franklin Park Zoo, etc.). It turned out to be the most affordable (along with the Aquarium), but I am not sure any of the other venues could have provided entire package of breath-​taking views, sunset, beautiful setting for our ceremony (our theme was «the tree of life» and we got married under two of Thompson Island’s spectacular old-​growth trees), casual but classy reception (we did the Lobster/​Clam bake which was fantastic), and, simply put, FUN!
Jim was very helpful throughout the entire planning process and Denise was great to work with both for the rehearsal dinner and the wedding itself. They were fine with us pretty much doing whatever we wanted to help us create the atmosphere we were looking for. We hired the island DJ, Phil, who was also fantastic and flexible.
Things to think about:
1. We ended up having a beautiful weekend for the rehearsal dinner and wedding. If you like the outdoors and are looking for something a little more casual than the black-​tie and gown event, I don’t think you could find a better place than Thompson Island. Obviously, you take a risk with the weather. We lucked out. If it had been over cast or raining, I am sure we would have still had fun, but it would have been different for sure.
2. The boat ride over to the island ended up being a great pre-​cursor to the event. People really enjoyed all being together and arriving at the island at the same time — it set a great mood for the event.
3. We held our rehearsal dinner on the island outside of one of the old brick homes, part of a campus that has been there since the 1800’s. We ended up renting the home for the night and eight of us stayed there over night and enjoyed hanging out around a fire pit, drinking wine and reminiscing.
4. Thompson Island catered both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. The food was great and they were very flexible on the menu (we are vegetarian — they allowed us to put our own menu together for our rehearsal dinner and bring our own wine from VA).
5. You can pay extra to use China, but we chose to go with the paper products (you can use their normal flatware with the paper products at no extra charge). Most of their products are corn-​based and biodegradable. Hopefully, they will go completely green in the near future.
6. The DJ helped us get the sound system (mic and speaker) set up for the wedding ceremony, which was great. He also brought an electric keyboard for us to use.
7. If you are doing your ceremony and reception on the island, you might want to give it a little extra time (we planned a 3:00 pm departure from Boston and 8:00 pm departure from the island at sunset). Honestly, we were having such a good time that we didn’t realize 8:00 pm had rolled around and we had to abruptly end the festivities and get on the boat. If we had done traditional cake cutting, dances, etc., we wouldn’t have had enough time (also, we lost about 20 minutes because of a late guest holding up the boat as well).
It was truly a great day — you can’t help but be relaxed out there.
Enjoy!

Sheer perfection for our Boston Beach Wedding! Thompson Island is the Best Kept Secret in Boston — an absolutely amazing place to have your wedding reception or event!!! Believe me, I visited everywhere from Cape Ann to Cape Cod. Many in my party have worked in meeting planning at exclusive hotels & resorts all over the world, but this private island is really an extraordinary & sparkling treasure, hidden just 15 minutes from the waterfront. This was the most serene and gorgeous setting: the food and staff were utterly fantastic (really large & fresh lobsters for everyone!), the venue was incomparable and truly special. No other island in Boston Harbor has the effervescent atmosphere and shimmering ambiance that Thompson Island does. We’ve been there and seen those. Meh…
My guests came from everywhere and they are still talking about how magical our wedding reception was at this unique setting, and how they are so happy that they made the flights to Boston. Most of all, we managed to surprise even those who have lived in the Boston area for generations (but none had ever been here) by this adventurous reception; they were blown away by the exceptional and singular beauty of this place and the whole experience of it. Thompson Island has lush, old growth trees and many other special gems that the other island venues do not have: a beautiful campus to stroll which feels like an olde New England village, a dedicated, seasoned and professional special event staff and miles of private beach & coastline.
I cannot describe accurately just how exciting, glamorous, charming, captivating and sublimely enchanting our wedding reception was thanks to the Thompson Island staff and Boston Harbor Cruises. We have glorious memories and photos, but I don’t think anyone who was there will ever forget this amazing day & evening!
«Party with a conscience» is their event motto & it feels good too — your event supports their worthy youth center through their Outward Bound programs!

I visited Thompson Island for the first time for our company summer outing this summer. We left out of Long Wharf, a busy departure point for many ferries behind the Aquarium. One of the nicest parts of the trip is the ferry out and back, we had a very nice view of the city skyline, South Boston, the airport and all of the Harbor Islands. Thompson Island has a large pier to load and unload and it’s a short walk up a dusty path, past the Outward Bound dorms to the ball fields, gymnasium and event facilities. There are nice parts of the island like long sandbars, shallow tide pools, rocky beaches, inland swamps, wooded paths, quiet fields, and mature tree stands. This place could really be a gem if they spent some time cleaning up the garbage along the beaches. The shoreline was littered with a large amount of trash that appeared to have been both dropped there and washed ashore. If they spent some time cleaning up the island this could be a five star rating.

Outward Bound is a great program, but Thompson Island also hosts weddings. We had ours out there in July, and it was absolutely perfect! Jim and Denise made sure everything was taken care of. The food was delicious. There were no issues with getting the cake to the island. The guests had lots of fun playing lawn games. It was a great time! If you’re looking for a low-​key wedding, definitely look into them.

I took part in an Outward Bound program on Thompson Island in Boston Harbor as a teen. I would highly recommend this to teens & parents of young people as an great chance to grow as a person and gain confidence. Even though I was only there for a couple of weeks this sticks out as one of my best memories during high school!

Ha! I didn’t know Thompson Island was on Unilocal.Awesome. Yeah, I totally started here when I did Outward Bound too. (Then I moved to Hurricane Island in Maine. At least I think that’s what it was.) Outward Bound is awesome. It’s a good way to see what your kids are made of; if they die out in the woods, they were probably lame anyway. If they don’t die in the woods, they’re almost sure to smell really bad when they get back.