The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

tual physical space What was not ok: -Communication: Delayed email responses, unorganized contracts, required a lot of work on my end to make sure everything was correct. They were friendly about making the changes, but it was pretty unprofessional. Also, the day of someone I had never spoken to called to let me know we had to move the venue (rain). For ~10 minutes I was confused & eventually I learned of the news by asking, “are you trying to tell me the wedding is being moved indoors? That’s fine, but can you just tell me? I need to get back to getting ready.” What was terrible: -The set-up crew: the rooms were not set up anything like we planned, most of our decorations were not put out or were "lost" (including the ones that were hand made by my MIL). For example, we had a “ring warming ceremony” that included a sign being put out prior to the ceremony so guests could know to “bless” our rings. This was super important to me, but the set-up crew LOST THE SIGN and ended up putting an empty easel next to the rings. It makes my head hurt thinking about how much money we wasted on decorations that weren’t used/were lost. Also, just to be clear, we dropped the décor off the day before with written documentation of where each item was supposed to go. -The security: we were told our guests could have a private gallery viewing which we included this on our invitations and the program (both reviewed by the museum), but security kept telling our guests to that stopping to view the art was not allowed. Security also kept bringing guests to my dressing room. FIVE people I kinda sorta knew came to “say hi” before the ceremony because “security told me to come here.” -Their response: I alerted the AIC to all of these concerns the day after the wedding via email. I noted that I just wanted to let them know what happened, asking only that they mail my mother in law an apology letter (she was distraught over all of her handmade decorations being lost and unused). Our coordinator (NOT Cheyanne, Cheyanne was great!!!) replied kind of aggressively, noting that they never agreed to any of the things that I complained about. I was so confused by this, and thinking maybe they had forgetten, sent screen shots of all of the agreements they had made and broken. This made them even more combative, so I dropped the issue because it didn’t seem worth it to argue with them. Unfortunately, my mother in law never received an apology. While I have really fond memories of my wedding, if I could change one thing, it would be to get married elsewhere! This venue is gorgeous, but it is NOT worth it.

ed the food and everyone had a great time. My only complaint would be that they served a different vegetarian option than the one we had picked.

ic shots that we wanted, she charged us a very reasonable price, and she worked hard to make sure she captured all of the special memories with us on our big day. She was very professional and creative. We love Raquel Martinez's photography!

food was amazing. We had challenges when we faced bad weather that would move our event inside completely and it seemed that Bon Appetit did not know how to implement the "back-up plan." So much so that our other vendors (florist and DJ) stepped in to ensure the day was a success. Also, The Art Institute wouldn't allow our Priest to enter the facility, they told him there was no wedding that day. He almost gave up and left but was eventually allowed in and our ceremony started late. (It was very stressful as the bride the day of our wedding standing and waiting to begin, wondering how we would proceed without the Priest.)

ng with several coordinators at the School which led to some miscommunication but nothing that wasn't manageable. I would suggest having someone go over each part of the contract with you as there were some parts that we interpreted differently and ended up having to pay more for security then expected. However, all of the people we worked with were very patient with our questions. We had someone from the School run sound during our ceremony, and even though we hadn't talked with them prior to the wedding, timing was perfect. The acoustics of the venue were fantastic! Everyone was able to hear during the ceremony and the space was excellent for our live band. So many of our guests said this was the most beautiful venue they have attended a wedding at.

re Catering, so you don't have a choice in caterers (interesting to note that the event person at SAIC is married to the person who owns the catering company). Pros - The event person Celia is the best! She was so helpful and answered my MANY emails/questions. She was amazing. - The space is breathtaking. There is a beautiful staircase in the middle of the room that was just perfect for a wedding. We got a lot of compliments from our guests on how pretty the room was. - You handle liquor through the venue (not the caterer). They were extremely flexible with our choices and threw in a free champagne toast. Cons - The air conditioning is just not powerful enough. When you have 200 people in a space dancing and sweating, it is bound to get hot, but it was ridiculous. I understand that it is an old space, but they need to seriously upgrade the air. - They ran out of a lot of the alcohol by 11pm. If it's an open bar and I am paying you a ton of money, I would expect it to be well stocked the entire duration of the event. I am so glad we chose this venue for our big day!

ough I would not recommend many more than 200. The open space allowed for wonderful accoustics for the band and a non-claustrophobic feel. A wonderful "Chicago" location. Really a steal compared to other venues of this size. The only reason for the non 5-star rating is that speed of communication was somewhat slow and the security personnel was not extremely friendly.

most of the view of Millennium Park, a change in our contact person, and some miscommunications) but on the day of everything came together beautifully. Our guests loved the venue, and so did we.

m wedding with the amazing skyline of Chicago. Breathtaking views, AMAZING food and friendly staff. Whitney is over events and she made everything effortless, for me and all my vendors.

gorgeous spiral staircase huge terrazo dance floor and spacious 'opera booth' style balcony. The acoustics were also excellent- perfect for band. They were flexible with details such as reception time and choice of drink package (which we were required to order through the venue not the caterer);The air conditioning was not working and the room was extremely HOT! We never found out if it was a malfunction or a permanent problem with the building's air conditioning. It was awful! Also the event staff is difficult to get a hold of at times.