Help finding a medium sized wedding venue in the Twin Cities (St. Paul: real estate, receptions)

[trav0042]

Hi all, my fiance and I are looking for a restaurant, bar, or lounge in the Twin Cities area that can accomodate 80 to 90 people for a ceremony and reception. We would like our budget to stay between 6-8k, and are not interested in some of the more traditional venues in the area. So far we have liked Hell's Kitchen (although we would prefer not to be in a basement, and the decor isn't exactly our style) because of its relaxed atmosphere and delicious food. We also took a look at Aster Cafe, which was wonderful, although it might be a little bit too small for our group. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[golfgal]

I'm assuming you want a private party room type setting? Do you want the ability to have it catered on-site or do you have a caterer you want to use? What is more of your decor style?

[trav0042]

Hi, thanks for the response. Yes, some sort of private room within a restaurant or bar would be great. We would like to avoid "event spaces", or just a big open room with tables brought in. Ideally it would be a room with a couple different types of seating, and an actual bar. A space (either indoor or outdoor) attached or near by for a ceremony would be great as well. We would prefer to have it catered on-site, to keep things as simple as possible. I think the most important thing to us is a relaxed atmosphere. A view would be preferable, but not necessary.

[golfgal]

Many of the bed and breakfasts in Stillwater host Weddings/Receptions. The Old Courthouse in Stillwater is another place to look into. It's more of a "venue" but it's not that big and the space is beautiful. The library in Stillwater also hosts weddings and the patio area overlooks the St. Croix. The Art Reach House across from the library hosts events too. It was a family home converted into an art Gallery and is a nice space, not huge, but big enough for what you want. The yard is reasonable for outdoor use too. Their space use fee is VERY reasonable--probably $100 for what you want and then you would need to bring in a caterer. ArtReach St. Croix. That might really work well for what it sounds like you want.

We were just at a wedding at the Concord Exchange building in South St. Paul..again, beautiful place, smaller area and would be a good size for what you are looking at.

Forpaughs in St. Paul is an option as well. Beautiful Victorian home converted into a restaurant right in Rice Park.

Many restaurants have rooms. Not sure how you feel about Buca but those would be options. Most restaurants do have some kind of a party room that can host a wedding your size. Some of the smaller ones will even close down if you have enough people.

[wamer27]

My wife and I just got married Sept 7th at Jax Cafe in NE Mpls in the back patio which is just awesome, we then had the reception at the smaller of the two rooms they have. We had 90 people attend and the room has its own bar. The food was great, many, I mean many people all said it was the best wedding food they've ever had! I paid exactly $4k total for the food (dinner and appetizers) with tax, tip and using patio for the ceremony ($300). We chose to have a pay bar because I don't feel like going broke paying for everyone's drinks. The room didn't have a dance floor which we didn't care about, so I rented a party trolley to take everyone on a pub crawl, which is what NE is known for. The room we used didn't have a room fee, it had a minimum people where you had to have at least 70 or 80 people and max if 100. The price was only reflected on what foods you chose and we had 3 different options for everyone to pick from.

[Kayekaye]

We just went to a wedding reception at Kozlaks in Shoreview. It was very nice.

[katmu]

Kozlaks and Jax are owned by the same family. I really like Jax so that was the 1st place I thought of.

I think Red Stag Supper Club and Cafe Lurcat also do wedding receptions. The Lexington might be another option in St. Paul.

[northsub]

Originally Posted by Kayekaye

We just went to a wedding reception at Kozlaks in Shoreview. It was very nice.

Kozlak's current location will be torn down relatively soon. It looks like they can stay open until at least April, and they are looking for a new location.

Kozlak's on the hunt for new home (Updated) - Your local online newspaper: News

[Kayekaye]

Yeah I saw that. I guess it's a prime piece of real estate and they can make more money selling the land. It hasn't been all that busy the last few years.

[DannyBanany]

I went to a wedding in the Minnesota History Museum once. It was beautiful and probably about that 80-100 people size. Museums usually give good rates too.