We had the BEST experience at the Pottawattamie Arts and Culture Center (PACE). We held our wedding reception in the Iowa West Venue on the first floor of the building and it was s...o great. The space was big enough for 225 people, and it was very comfortable. We never felt squished or like there was too much space that we needed to fill. Parking was super easy for all of our guests and it was easy to get to from Omaha.
We had the option to either bring outside catered food in at a fee, or have it be provided from one of the Kitchen Council caterers at no costs. We didn't feel as if the options to choose from at Kitchen Council would be good for our wedding, so we brought in Howard's Charro restaurant in Omaha. What was great was the staff helped set up the food after it was delivered, they packed it up for us at the end of the night, and then kept it overnight for us to pick up the next day.
Our alcohol order was perfect for our event. We were able to break down the packages and only pay for the beer kegs and a number of bottles of wine, rather than spending the full package. It was so nice to have it be custom to what we wanted.
Lastly, the staff was PHENOMENAL to work with. Bitsy, the Events Director, was so easy-going and made me feel at ease with everything. She was great with answering all of our questions and helping make our reception vision come to life. The staff the night of the event was also great. They were super helpful in cleaning up guests' plates and also wiping off the dance floor when sloppy dancers would spill their drink!
I think our only "issue" with the place, which ended up being OK, was that we were told there was going to be a dance showcase that was happening during the day in the theater of the building and nothing would happen during the evening and our reception. That ended up not being the truth as the showcase was at night as well. It ended up not being that big of a deal, but it was a surprise when we arrived that night to see other people there as well that weren't with our event.
I am an Events Coordinator as my day job, and I LOVED PACE. I know what goes into having a great event space and PACE nails it from all aspects. We got so many nice comments from our guests about the reception and the space and we give all that credit to PACE and the staff. We highly recommend this space to anyone!