The Dawson

n the most beautiful sunset during our cocktail hour. AND the food couldn’t be better. This place is amazing and the staff was so attentive and detail oriented.

tail was handled to our liking. He is is clearly very experienced. With everything that goes into planning a wedding, it's incredibly easy for important elements to be overlooked (especially because we chose not to use a wedding planner). Jimmy made sure that everything that we may need or want was discussed and considered - including some details that we never would have thought of on our own. Some aspects of our wedding were unconventional, but he was able to work everything in seamlessly. Jimmy is part of the reason why we ultimately chose to have our wedding at The Dawson to begin with. He is an excellent communicator, and made us feel confident that he would guide us through a process that we found intimidating. He is also detail-oriented, and knows what suggestions to make in order for your wedding to go smoothly. He also helped to clarify next steps throughout the process by breaking things down into simple decisions we had to make, rather than leaving us unguided. He's also extremely kind, responsive, and fun to work with! He always made us feel like 100% of his focus was on us and our wedding, even though I'm sure he must have been involved in planning tons of other weddings at the same time! Jimmy knows how to best leverage what The Dawson has to offer. Our wedding night made use of different parts of the space at different points throughout the evening, both inside and outside, upstairs and downstairs. In the end, it all flowed together incredibly smoothly, and we didn't have any awkward transitions between different parts of the evening. On the day of, he is incredibly organized, and helps to coordinate everything seamlessly. He updates you regularly on next steps, who has to be where, and what is happening when. On our wedding day, it initially seemed like it would rain, which would have thrown off our plans to have our ceremony outdoors. He had a contingency plan ready, and re-arranged the patio area so that the ceremony could happen with a roof over our heads. Luckily, the rain passed, and just as quickly, he was able to set everything back to how we'd originally hoped it would be. Knowing that he had a backup plan for any issue that might arise was incredibly reassuring, and allowed us to focus on ourselves, knowing that we wouldn't be the ones scrambling to address whatever situation arose. He also made sure that everyone was in the right place at the right time - from the numerous vendors we hired, to family and members of the wedding party who needed to be reminded of their cues during the ceremony. The Dawson is also SO beautiful and unique, and the food and drinks are amazing (as was our tasting!). So many people commented that it was the best food they had ever had a wedding. The staff were so helpful & friendly. And the venue offers indoor/outdoor space, upstairs/downstairs space, quiet areas, a room you can use to change/store wedding party stuff/etc., and a beautiful dance floor. All in all, we have only good things to say about The Dawson & Jimmy. We are SO HAPPY we had our wedding here! Jimmy helped us realize everything we wanted in our wedding day, & made an anxiety-provoking process fun & manageable. We can't recommend Jimmy & The Dawson highly enough!

r and guest service were all topnotch. Jimmy, our event manager, deserves a special shoutout. He made sure our every request was heard and accounted for. Additionally, his support on the day of the event was absolutely critical. He went above and beyond to ensure everything went smoothly. If you're debating the different options, we recommend the split venue. You won't regret it. We were on the fence but are happy we went with that package. That said, the whole place is gorgeous so you can't go wrong. We will always remember our special day at The Dawson. If you choose them, we are sure you will feel the same.

s. Risa, the leader of the event staff, flawlessly executed all food, drink, and venue flip. Frances, one of our servers, was so sweet and efficient as well as the 3 other gentlemen on staff! I couldn’t have asked for a better experience, THANK YOU TEAM DAWSON!

rience a total breeze (even through a covid postponement). I think the world of their entire team. The food, the drinks, the service—everything was so outstanding and we have gotten the most compliments from our guests. And the venue itself is just the most beautiful place with so many different spaces, which made for incredible photos. Have your wedding at The Dawson. It’s amazing.

smooth from my initial inquiry all the way through to my big day. We received so many compliment from our guests about how beautiful the venue was, how amazing the food and deserts were, and how great the staff was! The staff that day would pop in on my husband and i to make sure we had a chance to eat, drink, and enjoy the day before it was over! i can't say enough great things about this place and i would highly recommend to anyone to choose here for your next event!

of the way. I would highly recommend The Dawson to anyone looking for a fun, vibrant, city wedding. Our guests are still raving about the food at the Dawson and how accommodating the staff was. I could not be happier with our decision to get married at The Dawson.

nice and we were able to use it even though it was a bit chilly due to the heaters.

translate into a lot more stress. Out of all of our vendors, Dawson was one of the least stressful experiences! Michele, the event coordinator, made everything so easy and fun!! Every single time we wanted to stop by to talk to Michele or just see the venue, there was complimentary champagne waiting for us! Michele was so accommodating to our schedule and helped us with every decision making it seam so easy and carefree. Choosing a reasonably priced venue in downtown Chicago is not the easiest task especially if you want outstanding service, craft cocktails on demand and delicious food! Our motivating reason for picking Dawson was the fact that they were the only restaurant (we looked at least at 15 other restaurants in south loop & river north) that would not kick us out after set 5 or 6 hours. Since our ceremony was at a church and we didn’t want too much time pass in between church and reception, we wanted to start cocktail hour at 4pm. Of course, Dawson was accommodating to our request. And they let us know that we can stay until past 12am. With craziness and fun that wedding day brings, we forgot to pick up so many things including some equipment DJ forgot. We did not have to worry that anything was left behind and were able to stop by 2 days later to pick up our things. Thank you to Michele and all other staff that made our special day perfect!! PS. cake was outstanding!! I showed Michele picture from pinterest of what I wanted and the pastry chef made the cake look even better than the picture, plus it was the best tasting wedding cake I've ever had!!