Historic Downtown Chicago Venues - Looking for Feedback

triplea325

Hi Everyone: 

We are just beginning the venue search and are looking for historic, non-hotel venues in downtown Chicago. I have visits scheduled for later this week/weekend at the following locations: 

Chicago Cultural Center

Harold Washington Library

Murphy Auditorium

The Rookery

Next 2 if none of those work will be Newberry Library and Germania Place. We anticipate about 200 guests and plan to do ceremony and reception in the same place, on a Saturday sometime between April-October 2012. If anyone cares to reflect on their experiences with any of the above (cost, logistics, service, etc.), or would suggest alternatives that meet the criteria, I would very much appreciate it!  I've been searching the boards but haven't come up with much on my own yet. 

slthomas611

We are having our wedding reception at the Chicago Cultural Center, I think it is the most gorgeous place in downtown Chicago. It is a little pricey but I think it is worth it. When my fiance' and I were comparing it to other venues in the area, the total came out to be very near some of the other places which I thought were cheaper. They also have the biggest Tiffany dome in the world. Maybe I am a little biased but I think you cannot beat the cultural center. Let us know what you think!!

KatWAG

I am getting married in may at Harold Washington and think its perfect. Plus you can bring in your own booze which helps to off set some on the other costs. However I am worried about the library being in the loop. So I might have to get a party bus to take guests back to the hotels after the party is over.

I looked at Newberry Library and first, its booke every saturday until mid Oct 2012 (except April 7 which is the saturday before easter) and second holding 200 people there would be really really tight.

I didnt like germania place. It can easily hold 200 people. But their pricing is really weird. First, you cant pick a cater, cake, etc It is all built into the cost per head. What if the cake/ food sucks? You pay per head which I thought made it really hard to customize my wedding. I also have some older people who would struggle with stairs and there are a TON of stairs.

What about Salvage one? River East Art Center? The Shedd? Adler?

AshleyK2011

I looked at basically the same list of places that you are looking at and ending up selecting the Newberry Library.

Here are my thoughts:
I obviously loved the Newberry, which is why we selected it.  The rental price isn't bad and we liked the flexibility to basically do whatever we wanted in terms of vendors.  Plus we are allowed to bring in our own liquor, which keeps costs down significantly.  Karen, the contact there, is very helpful and quick to respond via email.  We are at 180 people (19 tables) and I think that's probably a good number for the Newberry - any more might be pushing it. I also really liked that they have nice chairs included in the rental price...that saves you so much money right there! 

I love the Cultural Center and the Harold Washington Library.  I think the reason we didn't end up picking the Cultural Center was because the rental cost was pretty high.  I was concerned about the location with Harold Washington Library and there being nowhere for people to park really except garages (or the lucky few who manage to find street parking). 

I think the Rookery might be a little tight for 200 or so people, but I actually never ended up making it there because no one ever got back to me when I called to go look at the space.  

FWIW at all of these venues you may be running into issues finding a date in that range...things book up really quickly in Chicago and these are all popular venues.  When we booked the Newberry in February 2010, we got one of the last available dates for 2011.  I know a lot of other places didn't have nearly the availabilty I was expecting considering we were booking our wedding so far out.   

triplea325

Thanks so much for the feedback so far. Of the 4 above, the only with extremely limited avialability was the Cultural Center - one date left in Sept and a few holds in April. HWL actually has June 23 open - we saw it today and loved it, so I'm inclined to go with it after we check out CCC tomorrow and Murphy Saturday. We also visited the Rookery, which was gorgeous, but I'm afraid with our invite number already creeping above 250, it's just not going to be an option. 

Looove Salvage One but I'm on a board that throws a fundraiser there every summer so it feels slightly less special. It's also a bit far out of the way for this crowd. The rest might be under consideration.. 

slthomas611

I also really liked Murphy. I loved the stained glass and the look of the space. Let us know how it goes and what you decide!!