St. Louis Wedding Locale

January 28, 2007 3:43 PM

St Louis Wedding Locations: My fiancee and I are planning on getting married next spring (2008) in the St. Louis area. Neither of us is very religious, so we're looking for recommendations for ceremony locations that are not in a church. Of course, there's

Details:

- It should be an indoor location, as spring in STL is still pretty cold.

- We tentatively have about 100-150 guests, but if you know of smaller locations, let us know anyway - we're flexible on that number

- Our budget is reasonable, so we're willing to entertain all kinds of options, from all-inclusive deals to places that we'll have to decorate ourself

Thanks for your help!

posted by chrisamiller to Grab Bag (18 answers total)

I don't live in St. Louis, nor have I ever been there, but I recently saw some pictures of The City Museum. It looks pretty darn cool. If I was having a wedding in St. Louis, that's where I would at least visit or inquire about.
posted by yellowbkpk at 3:48 PM on January 28, 2007

Best answer: I just attended a wedding at the Jewel Box in Forest Park. It was very nice. I don't know what the maximum capacity is as far as guests go but I don't think that 100-150 would be overstepping it.

Plus you have the added bonus of having a wedding indoors surrounded by all the best of the outdoors.
posted by delosic at 3:49 PM on January 28, 2007

We had our reception at the Mahler Ballroom, in the Central West End. It's an understated, pretty old building.

We wanted to do the City Museum in a bad way, but it is really expensive and (at least in 2001) you had to use their caterers, who were also really expensive.

The Zoo has a couple of locations where they have events, too.
posted by AgentRocket at 4:02 PM on January 28, 2007

We were married in mid-April at the Missouri Botanical Garden. It was beautiful as all of the flowering trees and tulips and pansies were in bloom. We chose to get married outdoors in the Japanese Garden, however, they do offer one indoor location (I think, it's been 9 years) or you can choose to get married in the Rose Garden as well. The gardens are stunning - definitely in the top 5 in the world.

I also attended a wedding at the City Museum and it was nice, though the setting was a little industrial (it's an old factory) but it was definitely quirky and unusual.

How about the wineries along Highway 94 just west of St. Louis? Stone Hill does weddings. So does Mt. Pleasant, I believe. Very tranquil, romantic area. Hermann Hill has a wedding chapel as well, though I don't know if it's big enough for 150 people.
posted by Ostara at 4:18 PM on January 28, 2007

Back in another life I lived a block or two from the Chase Park Plaza in the Central West End. There were weddings there all the time.

I'd guess this would be on the higher end of the expense spectrum. Amazingly none of my friends actually got married when I lived there, but my law school did occasionally have some functions at the Chase Park, and it seemed nice enough, with great views of the City.
posted by saladpants at 4:34 PM on January 28, 2007

Another plug for the City Museum, where my wife and I had our reception (in the Vault Room) when we married in Sept. 07. We has the ceremony outdoors in Tower Grove Park, and had the annexed part of the Vault Room slated as our bad-weather backup.
posted by drinkspiller at 5:52 PM on January 28, 2007

I went to a wedding at the Chase, it was nice, because the reception followed the ceremony in the same ballroom. the guests had appetizers and cocktails in a lounge area while they switched the furniture for the reception. It was probably pretty damn expensive, but I imagine they have varying packages. That hotel is beautiful, and it has that whole "historic St. Louis" thing going for it.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 6:00 PM on January 28, 2007

The St. Louis Artist's Guild is just lovely! There are also several interesting art galleries that could work. I've heard Mad Art Gallery is a great place to hold an event.
posted by rglass at 6:19 PM on January 28, 2007

Any chance you know someone at Wash U.? DiscourseMarker and I got married at the Whittemore House and it turned out to be an ideal location. We did both the ceremony and the reception there, and even though it was late October, it was nice enough weather to take some pictures out in the park-like back yard. It's Wash U.'s private club, however, so you have to get sponsored by someone who's a member.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:38 PM on January 28, 2007

Heh. Yeah, along those lines, my first thought was Washington University's Graham Chapel—but unfortunately, that's only an option for alums.
posted by limeonaire at 7:06 PM on January 28, 2007

Back in the early nineties I was a wedding/party DJ in STL, so I've made the rounds of most of the banquet halls (Orldando Garneds, Royal Orleans, Yacovelli's, etc...). They're all fine but a bit generic, and I was almost always there for the reception, I don't know if any of them do weddings as well. The Whittemore House was perfect for us, but I don't think it would accommodate the number of people you are looking at. Our officiant was from the The Ethical Society of St. Louis, which worked very well for us as nonreligious people. Apparently they also host weddings there, and it was a nice-looking place from what I remember. Another really interesting indoor location is the Sheldon Concert Hall, they have several rooms to choose from, the ballroom is beautiful, and of course the concert hall is one of the most acoustically perfect places in the world. On the fun/quirky side, you could get married under the "stars" at the St. Louis Science Center's Planetarium.
posted by DiscourseMarker at 7:35 PM on January 28, 2007

The wedding Green eyed monster is speaking of was actually at the Coronado, but knowing the bride and groom, it was likely really fuckin' expensive. A cousin of mine had a reception at the Living World (downstairs) at the Zoo. Very nice.
posted by notsnot at 8:00 PM on January 28, 2007

My friends got married in Forest Park - but it was a very quick, low-key wedding, so that may not be what you want. But there reception was great - they used the ballroom at the Schlafly brewery downtown. Great food, great beer, good times.
posted by RobotAdam at 9:01 PM on January 28, 2007

My cousin's wedding reception was on the stage (with cocktails in the lobby first) of the Fox theater in downtown St Louis, which was quite fun and snazzy. The theater had seen better days, but the decor is still quite opulent (the usual Arabian nights theme of Fox theaters) in an old Hollywood sorta way.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 9:22 PM on January 28, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks for all the answers so far - these look like some great leads to check out! If you have any more suggestions, keep them coming!
posted by chrisamiller at 10:27 PM on January 28, 2007

I had a friend who got married in one of the indoor buildings at the zoo (I forget which one, but it was one of the ones that doesn't house animals and therefore didn't smell!). It was really cute and lots of fun.
posted by echo0720 at 6:59 AM on January 29, 2007

i've heard that lucas school house (www.lucasevents.com) would be open to weddings & such.
posted by oh really at 9:01 AM on January 29, 2007

There's the Butterfly House run by the Missouri Botantical Gardens out in Chesterfield in Faust Park if you don't wanna do the Jewel Box and don't mind the suburbs.
posted by sachinag at 9:38 AM on January 29, 2007