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Venue
Reviews -
Minnesota Wedding Mansions
These Minneapolis and St. Paul
sites
are all
gorgeous mansions that are available to rent for both wedding
ceremonies and wedding receptions. The wedding sites reviewed are as
follows:
Minneapolis mansions:
- Newly re-opened -
Van
Dusen Mansion
- Semple
Mansion/Grand Palladian Ballroom
- Gale
Mansion
- Blaisdell
Manor
- Harrington
Mansion/Zuhrah Shrine Center
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St. Paul mansions:
- St.
Paul College Club
- Summit Manor
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1900 LaSalle, Minneapolis, MN 55403 - (612) 253-0255.

Looking almost like a castle, the Richardson Romanesque Van
Dusen Mansion is one of the most
beautiful sites
for weddings in Minneapolis. |

This elegant room on the main floor of the Van Dusen
Mansion is sometimes used for the receiving line after
the
wedding ceremony. |

Top picture - Van Dusen Mansion on left, carriage house on right.
Bottom picture - The courtyard between the two buildings (perfect for outdoor weddings) |

Interior of the Van Dusen Mansion's carriage house. Used for wedding
ceremonies or small receptions (or great for dancing!) |

One of the 3 upstairs overnight suites you can rent for the night after your wedding, or you may use it as a posh dressing room.
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The Van Dusen annex (Event Center) is used for large wedding
ceremonies, and for large receptions. |
The Van Dusen Mansion
was closed for a couple years, but has now been remodeled and is once again open for weddings. The intricate
woodwork and warm light of the chandeliers creates a cozy
feel, even though the
adjoining reception hall is quite large. The Van Dusen
Mansion
has
several small rooms for congregating or for small
wedding ceremonies, the large reception hall next door, a carriage
house in back for small weddings, plus an outdoor
courtyard. Located
right next to downtown Minneapolis, the Van Dusen Mansion is
close to
the Uptown neighborhood, as well. Mintahoe provides the catering.
Great place for a
rehearsal
dinner: The award-winning Rudolph's Ribs,
about four blocks away, which offers private dining.
Closest hotel: The 4-star Hyatt Regency is about six blocks
away.
Rental fees and capacity (for a Saturday afternoon/evening):
Mansion, both floors - $2,000. Seated - 75, cocktail reception - 150. Event Center - $3,000. Seated - 200, cocktail reception - 200. Carriage House - $2,000. Ceremony - 100, cocktail reception - 150. Courtyard - $500. Ceremony - 150. Overnight suites - $325, must be rented with an event space.
Phone Number: 612-253-0255, ask for Lisa Brenna.
100 West Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55404 - (612) 290-4448.

The award-winning Semple Mansion is located
just south of downtown Minneapolis. |

The stunning Grand
Palladium Ballroom at the Semple
Mansion.
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The lobby of the Semple Mansion and the
grand staircase, which leads up to the Grand Palladium Ballroom. |

The head table is usually placed by this marvelous stained glass, the
centerpiece of the ballroom. The stained glass
is in-between the
two entrances, which are at the top of the
grand staircase. |
Semple Mansion (the Grand Palladian Ballroom)
is right
next to downtown Minneapolis, close to the Uptown neighborhood. The
mansion is also
known by its largest and most famous room: the Grand Palladium
Ballroom, which is the only original ballroom left in Minneapolis.
Built in the style of the Second Renaissance Revival, the Semple
Mansion has a classy old-world feel to it. The
breathtaking lobby has a large, three-tiered Swarovski crystal
chandelier encompassing 36 candle-shaped crystals. The amazing Grand
Palladium
Ballroom is on the third floor. Most wedding reception halls are rather
plain, because the reception hall is a latter-day addition to
the mansion. The Semple
Mansion is different from other Minneapolis and
St. Paul mansions because its ballroom is period, too. Rather than the
dark woodwork of most of the mansion rooms, the ballroom has large
white columns with gold leaf and a Renaissance-style painted, curved
ceiling. The terrace off the ballroom has a beautiful view of downtown
Minneapolis. Built-in seating around the edge of the ballroom provides
fun and cozy places for guests to sit.
You can use your own caterer at Semple
Mansion, which can bring down costs,
and unlike
any other mansion in Minneapolis, they allow you to bring your own
liquor.
Great place for a
rehearsal
dinner: The award-winning Rudolph's Ribs,
about three blocks away, which offers private
dining.
Closest hotel: The 3.5-star downtown Minneapolis Convention
Center's Millennium Hotel is six blocks
away.
Capacity: 250 guests
Location: 100
West Franklin Ave., Minneapolis
Site Rental: $4,400 for a Saturday
Phone Number: 612-290-4448 (Ask for Katherine Hendrickson. She is very
friendly
and easy to work with - you'll love her!)
2115 Stevens Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55404 - (612) 870-1662.

When wedding ceremonies are held outside at the Gale
Mansion,
the wedding is usually set up on this south-side porch (with the
one-story columns on the right side). Guests are seated in
rows of chairs facing the mansion. |

This is the main room set up for a wedding reception inside the Gale
Mansion. If the wedding is indoors, it is usually held
here, with the bride and groom standing in front of that far window. |

Here is the bride's dressing room at the Gale Mansion. The
groom and his
attendants get a more masculine room. |

The Gale Mansion
faces the beautiful Washburn Fair Oaks Park, where kids can
run and play (if supervised). |
The Gale Mansion,
which hosts both indoor and outdoor weddings, is located close to
downtown
Minneapolis. Built in the style of the Italian Renaissance Revival, the
mansion - a favorite spot for Minnesota weddings - overlooks the
beautiful Fair Oaks Park and the Minneapolis
Institute of Arts (a fun and convenient place for guests to
visit). Gale
Mansion has many indoor rooms for
congregating, all
of which have hardwood floors, Oriental carpets, and fireplaces (eight
fireplaces in all). Upstairs there are changing rooms for men
and
women, which are designed to look like living
rooms. The
Gale Mansion
is smaller than other wedding reception sites listed
on this page, but the location (right next to
downtown Minneapolis) makes it ideal.
Great place for a
rehearsal
dinner: The award-winning Rudolph's Ribs,
about a mile away, which offers private dining.
Closest hotel: The 3.5-star downtown Minneapolis Convention
Center's Millennium Hotel is six blocks
away.
Location: 2115 Stevens Ave., Minneapolis
Capacity: 120 guests for an indoor ceremony; 220
guests for an outdoor ceremony
Site Rental Fee: $1,700. They
provide the catering, and the food minimum varies depending on the time
of year.
Phone Number: 612-870-1662 (Ask for Angela.)
New: More notes on the Gale Mansion
2322 Blaisdell Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55404 - (612)
874-0880.
Blaisdell Manor
is a warm and inviting
Georgian mansion. Three Sons
Kitchen provides the catering,
and Blaisdell
accommodates anywhere from 10 to 400 guests (the largest mansion in
the Twin Cities), with many options for in-between-sized weddings.
Blaisdell
Manor hosts both indoor and outdoor weddings (although the
outdoor site can only accommodate about 35 to 50 standing guests). If
you
choose the Minneapolis
Sculpture Garden for your wedding ceremony, you
can then just walk the 1-1/2 blocks to Blaisdell Manor for
your
wedding reception.
Great place for a rehearsal
dinner: Buca di Beppo, a
wonderful Italian restaurant that can accommodate large
groups of people, is about a mile away. All their dinners are
all served
family-style.
Closest hotel: The 3.5-star downtown Minneapolis Convention
Center's Millennium Hotel is about a
half-mile away.
Capacity: 10 to 400 guests
Location: 2322 Blaisdell Ave.,
Minneapolis
Site Rental Fee: Room
rental fee for a Saturday is $2,000, plus a $350 ceremony fee
and
other,variable fees, such as bar set-up, cleaning, security guard, and
servers. Aaron at Blaisdell
asked me to point
out that like all site rentals, Blaisdell's
fee does not include food
for the reception ($6500 is the Saturday/holiday food/beverage minimum,
plus 18% service charge and 7.775% sales tax). Details can be found at
this link (a PDF document).
Phone Number: 612-874-0880.
2540 Park Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55404 - (612) 871-3555.

The main staircase - weddings are usually held up by the landing in
front of
the window. |

The exterior of thebeautiful Georgian Harrington Mansion,
which is located right next to the Zuhrah Shrine Center. |

This main staircase leads up to the main window (you can't see it in
this picture, but it would be to your left). The stairway
continues to
the second floor, which has a balcony overlooking the landing. |

One of the huge reception rooms in the Harrington Mansion,
which can accommodate the largest of
weddings. |

After the wedding ceremony, you can have the reception in any of the
rooms in the reception hall next door. |
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The Harrington Mansion at the
Zuhrah
Shrine
Center can be rented for your
wedding ceremony, and then you can have the reception at the
Zuhrah Center next door, which has four ballrooms for you to choose
from. This incredible Minneapolis mansion
has
carved wood, ornate brass fittings, and elaborate
chandeliers. When you
enter the Harrington
Mansion through the large main door you'll see the main
staircase - the
wedding ceremony may be held on that upper landing. The
stairway then
splits and continues up on two sides, converging again on the second
floor, which has an indoor balcony. Guests can stand on
either the
first floor or on the second-floor balcony to view the wedding
ceremony.
Great place for a rehearsal
dinner: The Harrington
Mansion and Zuhrah Shrine Center
can accommodate your rehearsal dinner in one of several
rooms. The Mansion’s library seats up to 40 people,
and the gorgeous patio will
accommodate 45 seated guests. If you’re looking for a larger
room,
the
Oasis Bar in the Event Center will seat up to 60 people in a more
casual setting that includes a full-service bar, two pool tables,
dartboards,
and six flat-screen TVs.
Closest hotel: The
3.5-star downtown Minneapolis Convention
Center's Millennium Hotel is about a
half-mile away.
Capacity: 135 to 500 guests
Location: 2540 Park Ave., Minneapolis
Site Rental Fee: $425 for wedding ceremonies in the Harrington Mansion;
$350 (weekdays) to $1,295 for receptions in the Zuhrah
Shrine
Center
Phone Number: 612-871-3555 (Ask for Amy
Heimer.)
990 Summit Avenue, St Paul, MN 55105 - (651) 227-4477

The Georgian Revival St. Paul College Club is
on historic Summit Avenue, which has the longest stretch of Victorian
mansions in the
world. |

Most indoor wedding ceremonies are held in this main room in front of
the fireplace. Receptions are held in the neighboring ballroom. |

The reception hall of the St.
Paul College Club is much larger than it appears in this
photo. It can be set up
ahead of
time because the wedding is usually held in another room (or outdoors). |
The St. Paul College Club
is one of the few sites that offers an outdoor
wedding ceremony location as well as an indoor one. This is a
small shot of the
beautiful backyard. |
The St.
Paul College Club offers a very reasonable price for
such a large, gorgeous mansion. It's one of my favorite wedding spots
in town. The club is
located next to the Governor’s Mansion on prestigious Summit
Avenue. The St. Paul
College Club has a lovely
and spacious
living room with soft light (perfect for photographs). They have
several rooms for congregating and mingling and many fireplaces
throughout, which can be lit for wedding guests to
enjoy. There
is also an adjoining reception hall, pictured above (on the
left). Two rooms upstairs are specifically designated for the
bride and groom (to the right, here), providing ideal private locations
for
wedding preparations
and photo opportunities. The club offers both indoor and
outdoor
weddings, which makes this venue very versatile. Their
lovely garden blooms throughout the spring and summer, adding to
the enchantment of outdoor ceremonies here.
The
St. Paul
College Club charges about $1,000 to rent the site for
weddings - one of the most reasonable prices for these large,
grand Minnesota wedding sites. The club includes
table
linens, linen napkins, and rose centerpieces for every one of your
guests’ tables. Their personal French chef caters all of their
weddings, lending variety to their menu
choices. Their staff is very professional, experienced, and friendly -
they ensure
that your guests’ needs are always taken care of. You can bring your
own liquor for the bar, which is amazing and basically unheard of at
reception halls - stocking the bar on your own can save you thousands
of dollars at your reception.
The
St. Paul
College Club is on Summit Avenue, a block from the
parallel-running Grand
Avenue, which has many great restaurants for a rehearsal
dinner, including the Lexington
restaurant (old-school American). Or you could venture downtown to Meritage (a
French Brasserie), which is located on St. Peter street.
Closest
hotels: The 2.5-star Best Western
Kelly Inn and the 5-star Helmsley Saint Paul Hotel are each about a
mile-and-a-half away.
Capacity: 220 guests
Location: 990 Summit Avenue, St. Paul
Site Rental Fee: $1,000
Phone Number: 651-227-4477 (Ask for Janice,
the event manager.)
275 Summit Avenue, St Paul, MN 55102 - (651) 647-3496.

Summit Manor is perfect
for smaller weddings. Most other sites will not accommodate
30 to 100
guests very well. |

Outdoor weddings at the Summit Manor are
held on this front lawn, with the bride and groom standing on the
porch, and the
guests seated on rows of chairs in the yard. The processional
comes
up this
walkway. |

Wedding ceremonies at Summit
Manor are often held indoors, too. |

The bride usually gets ready upstairs, then comes down this grand
staircase for the processional. |
Summit
Manor (Summit Mansion)
on beautiful Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota, is one of the
smaller mansions in town, making it perfect
for more
intimate weddings. There are very few sites that are good for
30 to 100
guests, which makes Summit
Manor even more special. I am very fond
of this this little gem. You can have your wedding outside on
the beautiful grounds or inside in
the big room in front of a fireplace. The stairway pictured
above (to the right) works well
for the bride's grand entrance.
Summit Manor asks
that visitors call the manager directly at
651-228-9111 to inquire about rental fees.
Capacity: 30 to 100 guests
Location: 275 Summit Ave., St. Paul
Phone Number: 651-228-9111
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