Notre Dame Reception venues?

cookiesunshine

I am getting married at the Basilica at University of Notre Dame, but don't live in Indiana to visit reception venues.  Help!?!  All I've been doing is googling over and over for ideas, but nothing is really jumping out at me as my dream location.  Has anyone gotten married/attended a beautiful wedding reception in the South Bend area?  Are there any river/waterfront venues?  Also, I'm not into the big conference room look (I'm estimating about 100 guests).  Ideally I could find a lovely bed and breakfast, garden (open to the idea of a tent), winery, or fine restaurant.  Tippecanoe seems nice online, but perhaps a little antiquated?  I would truly appreciate any help.  I'm very open to suggestions...Thank you!

topchef33

There is an area in the Century Center that has a lot of windows....I think it's by the water too.

ndirish07

Hi and congrats!

I had a Basilica wedding in July of 2010 and loved everything about it! I have a friend getting married there in April and have LOVED helping her figure things out too, so I have lots of random knowledge to pass on...

South Bend actually puts out two wedding magazines that I found really helpful to look at online while planning from a distance.  Here are the links:

http://www.weddingday-online.com/

http://www.theweddingmag.com/pages/directory/

Our reception was in the Atrium at the South Bend Marriott...it was a bigger wedding, but we loved the high ceilings open air look it had. 

Off the top of my head, reception places in the area that sound like what you are thinking of are:
--Tippecanoe, like you said, sounds like it would be the nicest thing in the area with the feel you are going for. They can do a tent out back--a friend did that and it was very nice!
--The Beiger Mansion
http://www.beigermansion.com/
--The Carriage House Inn and Gardens--I've only seen whats online, but it looks like it might have the feeling you are going for
http://www.carriagehousedining.com/pgs/home.html
--Riverside Terrace
http://www.theriversideterrace.com/

Other venues that I know of:
--Century Center (right downtown, on the water)
--Morris Performing Arts Center
--The Blue Heron at Blackthorn
--Morris Country Club
--South Bend Country Club
--The Landing
--The Waterford (hotel)
--The Summit Club (top floor of a building downtown south bend, overlooks the river)
---Windsor Park
--Hilton Garden Inn
--Gillepsie Center
--There are lots of on-campus reception options too--The Morris Inn does a tented reception area called Irish Gardens that a friend had their reception in and it was very nice!


 In my bio at the bottom of my post I recently put in vendor reviews for South Bend things (but also had vendors local to my home). I also can give you a link to our photos if you want to see how the Atrium looked!

Hope those help!  Enjoy all the planning and fun!

cookiesunshine

Thank you so much for the tips!  This helps so much... I'd love to see your photos, the Atrium sounds lovely.