Wedding venues that allow outside food/alcohol?

This is sort of Eating Out in Chicagoland-related, because it's being driven (as you will see) by love of Noon-o-Kebab.

Just got engaged last night! Many, many things are up in the air right now (particularly my brain), and we haven't even remotely decided on a date yet, but it may end up being as soon as Labor Day weekend. Neither of us wants a long, drawn-out engagement, neither of us wants a huge, fancy, elaborate wedding, and I would love to get married on my grandparents' anniversary. Plus, my family is Jewish, and so even though I am totally nonobservant, a holiday weekend would be nice because it would allow us to do it on a Sunday - Jewish weddings aren't normally held on Saturdays because you can't sign contracts on the Sabbath - and still leave time for out-of-towners to get home.

So we want to keep things simple, and we love the food at Noon-o-Kebab, plus my fiance and his family all grew up in the Middle East. They do catering, and the prices look reasonable, but what venues will allow bringing in outside food? I'm less set on being able to bring in outside alcohol, but that would be a great way to keep costs down too. I should mention that we live in Evanston, so somewhere near there would be great, or barring that, pretty much anywhere on the North Side or near north suburbs. But I'm willing to consider almost anything, within reason, as long as there is space for, oh, 80 - 100 people and room to dance.

My friends just had a beautiful wedding at maxim's:

http://www.maximschicago.org/

Their wedding was catered by Ann Sather, drinks provided by Binny's. Binny's also has a great policy that any unopened liquor bottles can be returned without charge.

Simple, elegant, art-decoish room with enough space for a party of your size. I absolutely recommend it.

floorplan:

The Dank Haus on Western just north of Lawrence.

I'm in the midst of planning my own wedding. We're doing it at Prairie Productions in the West Loop. We're bringing in our own food and alcohol. Other places I looked at that allowed outside food: Mars Gallery, and I think West Loop Studio allowed outside food. There are also places that will allow outside caterers for a fee. Ravenswood Billboard Factory would allow an outside caterer for 10% extra.

2 options:

SPACE in Evanston (shared entrance with Union on Chicago and Dempster):

http://www.evanstonspace.com/parties.html

(Don't know if they restrict outside food)

The Highland Park Community House is a really great option (been to several weddings there - including one with a swing band performing on the stage - felt like a 1940's USO) but it may be a little farther than you want to go:

http://www.highlandparkcommunityhouse.org/ballroom.asp

The Community House definitely allows you to bring outside food/drinks.

What about the Dawes house owned by the Evanston History Center (northwestern u)? I don't know if they allow outside caterers or if you are limited to a list of "approved" caterers like the Chicago Park District rentals. I know you can rent the outside veranda and patio, as well as inside rooms. It is a really cool venue right on the lake, but unfortunately (according to the website), they limit guests to 50.

http://evanstonhistorycenter.org/rentals

Second Maxim's. My sister had her wedding there as well and it is a beautiful room and everything was catered in.

Maybe I'm not recalling it correctly, but isn't Maxim's basically the basement of a Gold Coast hi-rise?

Irish American Heritage Center

I had my wedding here in 2003.

http://irish-american.org/

Mazel tov, Eva Luna!

My brother and sister-in-law got married at the Women's Club of Evanston, http://www.wcofe.org/index.php, some years ago, and it was lovely. The space rental includes china, tables, etc., but they do have a limited number of approved caterers that they will allow. In my small experience of major event planning, I find that restriction is pretty common.

A second for Prairie Productions, friends of mine held a large cocktail party there, & I know they brought in their own outside favorite caterer/bar/dj etc. etc., & its a fab space.

I've also been to a reception at the Douglas Dawson gallery, http://www.douglasdawson.com/rental.html - they have a "preferred list" of approved caterers, but I know my hosts brought in the firm they specifically wanted which wasn't on the list. Very different atmosphere to Prairie, but also a lot of fun.

My sister in law is Jewish and she had a beautiful Sunday wedding at Cafe Brauer at the Lincoln Park Zoo. It's not in the zoo, proper, but on the lagoon by the paddle boats...very beautiful. She had everything catered.

JeanneBean wrote:My sister in law is Jewish and she had a beautiful Sunday wedding at Cafe Brauer at the Lincoln Park Zoo. It's not in the zoo, proper, but on the lagoon by the paddle boats...very beautiful. She had everything catered.

The Chicago Park District has some absolutley beautiful spaces available for rent (Berger Mansion on the lakefront in Edgewater, would be a good choice).
http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/inde ... f/spf/home

Unfortunately, the City requires that you use only "official" vendors for everything from catering to chair rental (even florists). They also require off-duty Chicago cops for security and liability insurance if alcohol is served. Although Cafe Brauer actually belongs to the zoo, they have similar requirements.
http://www.cafebrauer.com/cafe_brauer/e ... ndors.html

edit: On further investigation, I found out that Cafe Brauer will allow unregistered vendors with approval of the manager, if the request is made 60 days in advance, and the vendor supplies required license and insurance documentation. Liquor must be bought directly from Cafe Brauer. As somebody mentioned above, these sorts of requirements are probably pretty common.

Congrats!

My wife and I got married at The Grove in Glenview and it was great. A really beautiful, tranquil outdoor setting, plus ample space inside an air-conditioned house. Outside catering and liquor is the only option there.

http://www.glenviewparks.org/The-Grove/The-Grove.htm

Suitably, this week's Timeout has an article on DIY weddings, including a suggestion for a South Loop location where you can bring in your own caterer & alcohol, as well as other cost saving tips.

http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/fea ... iy-wedding

New Leaf has a stunning modern exposed brick and steel rental space w/ a beatiful patio garden located on Wells in Old Town.

It may be a little far north, but we picked Byron Colby Barn in Grayslake for our wedding next year. You can bring in an outside caterer (we're going with Smoque), as long as they're licensed and bring your own alcohol as well. It's really affordable and it's a great, unique venue. They've been really easy to work with so far.

http://www.prairiecrossing.com/pc/site/barn_index.php

The grove is very nice if the # of people is <100

the Kenilworth Club
http://www.kenilworthclub.org/
is a nice room (had my wedding 2.0 there)
it's sure is close to you...

We're doing our wedding at Stan Mansion in Logan Square. Outside food and drinks are allowed. It's a nice space, definitely worth checking out. We're getting Turkish food from Turquoise and Chinese food from Sun Wah.

http://stanmansion.com/

Thanks, guys, and please keep the info coming! I will have to check on these when it's not 2 a.m., and I've been averaging more than 4 hours of sleep a night (yay insomnia). Although part of the reason I want to be able to bring in outside food is because of Noon-o-Kebab (and their catering manager told me she will send a list of places they have catered before), part of it is because I don't want to spend piles of money, and so far I am shocked at the cost of venue rental. If you know what any of the spaces cost, even if it was a few years ago, could you please post so I have some idea of what's going to be in my ballpark?

IDK if Noon-O-Kebab is on the Chicago Park District list that d4v3 mentioned above, but we had our wedding at Berger Park, and IIRC (this is fifteen years ago now) the venue rental was almost nothing, like $50 per hour. We bypassed the florists by renting plants, which really showcased the Prairie style architecture - I think they provided tables and chairs, we had everything else brought in. They limited us to 50 guests, which turned out to be a blessing (nothing like being able to say "sorry, the venue is restricting us to a very intimate wedding - I can't invite your cousin's sister's uncle.")

Congratulations, Eva Luna! Planning a wedding may sometimes be stressful, but I can say from happy experience that marriage is a very good thing.

Places I know of, not neccesarily vouch for, in the city. Michelles Ballroom Belmont and Elston and Stan Mansion on Kedzie and Fullerton both are lower priced. Also in Lincolnwood the VFW hall. And if you have a little space in a yard you can always do a tent. What part of the City or what suburbs are you looking at?

A few years back Mrs. As and I rented out Garfield Park Conservatory for the evening of our wedding. You must select one from the list of approved caterers - like Cafe Brauer. Ours was willing to look the other way when we bought our own booze (and if you buy at Sam's, first sign up for the Sam's Card - then it is 10% off of the first purchase. Even if the first purchase was $2,500.)

We also went to a nice wedding at South Shore Country Club - er South Shore Cultural Center. It i also a park district venue with the same rules.

A lot of the venues that are owned by the City of Chicago allow you to choose any caterer and bring in your own alcohol. The hitch is the booze has to be served by a vendor/caterer with a liquor license, which I am guessing Noon-O-Kabab does not have.

We had our wedding last year at the Chicago Cultural Center (owned by the city) and used Greg Christian catering, who also served our alcohol. I looked briefly at Maxim's and it seemed really cool but was a little too small for us. It's also owned (or maybe just run) by the city so the same loose restrictions apply.

If you want more "planning a wedding in the city" info, PM me. I have tons but it would probably bore about 99% of viewers out there. My one piece of advice: prepare yourself for sticker shock. Oh, and visit http://www.indiebride.com. This particular thread was helpful: http://kvetch.indiebride.com/index.php? ... 1452fdd38a

Best of luck!

and so far I am shocked at the cost of venue rental.

If you are shocked by that, just wait until you look at table, chair, linen, etc. rental. Unfortunately at most of the venues in the city you have to bring in EVERYTHING including cooking/reheating equipment which will significantly add to your costs (including up to $400 in delivery charges for venues like A New Leaf that require you to have all rentals picked up immediately after your event). If you want to save $, look for venues that have a kitchen, tables, chairs, and anything else. Some of the places mentioned do including the Grove (in Glenview), the Women's Club of Evanston, and Swedish American Museum.

Redfield Estate @ The Grove
1421 Milwaukee Ave
Glenview, IL 60025
(847) 298-0095
Contact: Carol Dilorenzo
Carol.Dilorenzo@glenviewparks.org

Woman's Club of Evanston
1702 Chicago Ave.
Evanston, IL 60201
Contact: Carol Short
847-475-3800
wcofe@sbcglobal.net

Swedish American Museum
5211 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL
773-728-8111

It may seem frivolous and costly, but you may want to hire an event planner (at least for day of) to help coordinate food, rentals, set up, etc. Please PM me if you have questions or need suggestions.

We also went to a nice wedding at South Shore Country Club - er South Shore Cultural Center. It i also a park district venue with the same rules.

Me too. Forgot about that location. Caterers were also brought in from outside (Furama IIRC) to serve a Chinese wedding banquet & serve alcohol & soft drinks the couple provided. One of the bakeries in Chinatown did the cake, which I'm told was substantially less expensive than other more mainstream options.

So far I've gotten a reply from the Highland Park Community House, which looks promising - expensive, but beautiful (when I saw the photos I remembered I'd attended a wedding there maybe 15 years ago), you can bring in any caterer and your own booze, and tables and chairs are included. It's also a couple of blocks from Metra, which would be handy for people with no cars or people coming from out of town who don't want to have to rent a car. I've got e-mails in to a few other places, too (Michelle's Ballroom, the Irish-American Heritage Center, and the Glencoe Community House). I really want to see just how multicultural we can make this - so far it's the wedding of an Ashkenazi agnostic and a WASP atheist son of 150 years of Christian missionaries in the Middle East and India, who met while co-authoring a blog on the Middle East and Islam, and we plan to have Persian food, Balkan music, a few horas, maybe some Motown, and I'm thinking of ordering my dress online from Thailand.

What other layers of insanity can we add? I think I have to top my sister's shotgun East Coast Jewish/Iowa Baptist wedding.

elakin wrote:Congrats!

My wife and I got married at The Grove in Glenview and it was great. A really beautiful, tranquil outdoor setting, plus ample space inside an air-conditioned house. Outside catering and liquor is the only option there.

http://www.glenviewparks.org/The-Grove/The-Grove.htm

Want to second this, I was just at the estate mansion at the Grove checking it out for a funder/silent auction and it is lovely! I know they have an approved list, but they may have some flexibility.

rhinopias wrote:New Leaf has a stunning modern exposed brick and steel rental space w/ a beatiful patio garden located on Wells in Old Town.

Agreed, though if you don't have a ton of advance notice you won't get that space. Also, from reports I've heard from friends who have worked with them, they can be a real pain to work with.

FYI- most gallery spaces will let you rent out their spaces for private events.

Hi,

I have rented the Highland Park Community House at reasonable not-for-profit fees. It has a ballroom that holds maybe 200 and a lovely parlor that holds 60 with tables and chairs. I had an event that crept up to 70, we put one table in the adjoining foyer that worked well. I have used Chuck's Southern Comfort Cafe as well as Gerri's High Tea as caterers at this venue.

A friend went to an impromptu small wedding in the spring. Her contribution was to organize the wedding cake. I advised her to avoid the word "wedding" in her order. Just tell them you want a fancy cake for a special occasion. She mentioned this advice to a bakery, who hesitated then affirmed they do upcharge for weddings.

Regards,