Attended an Indian wedding and reception beautiful venue just right for a 100 guests . The bathrooms were clean and the green space is amazing. Loved the facility read more

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This venue space is absolutely beautiful. I went for a private catering event and I got to check out the grounds. One of the things I liked most is theirs plenty of parking space. Living in the city you're always thinking about parking. Also the grounds/greenery is beautiful. They had the outdoor set up for a wedding space and it look gorgeous (make sure to check out my pics I took). Once inside we got to see the different setups you can have and they transformed the room next door into a dance hall/drink bar/candy bar. If you keep on going it leads you out to the terrace. This place is picture perfect and I think it would be a great place to host an event. read more

Columbus Park Refectory - Beautiful! - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I chose Columbus Park Refectory as my wedding venue solely from pictures I had seen online. The venue looked gorgeous and the price was quite reasonable for the area. Initially, I was not thrilled with the organization and communication I had with the venue, but when I called back a couple weeks before the wedding, I was extremely happy to hear there was a new manager, Meryl, who was pleasant, cheerful, reassuring, and wonderful to work with. Our final walk through was our first time actually seeing the venue (as we live in Germany) and I was so impressed with the organization and helpfulness Meryl offered in finalizing our plans for the big day. When the day of our event came, everything went really smoothly, the staff was great, and I was very pleased. Our guests went on and on about how gorgeous the venue was and it was perfect for our wedding. read more

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This is a stunning venue and possibly the most fairytale-like space for a wedding in Chicago. We considered it for our own wedding because of it's beauty; however, we ran into some obstacles that ultimately outweighed its loveliness. Initially, the problem was centered around communication. It seemed a mountainous task to get someone on the phone to discuss the venue and schedule a walk-through. When I did speak to someone I was treated brusquely and dismissed from the phone with haste. Eventually I emailed the park district who had a manager/director call me from her personal cell phone number. Only then did I have a useful conversation and schedule a time for a tour. We had fabulous rapport with our tour guide. He was thorough in explaining weddings at Columbus Park Refectory, the requirements, and fees. We loved it! Unfortunately, nobody followed up with us after our visit. We started exploring the caterers for Columbus Park Refectory and that's when we realized that there is a lot involved. The caterer works as your event planner for your special event. They provide everything from chairs to linens to food to staff and that's where the price swells. We were extremely concerned about working with the Columbus Park Refectory because of our communication challenges and their inflexible list of approved vendors. I was worried about juggling so many vendors. It seemed nearly impossible to have the caliber of wedding we wanted and stay within our budget at the Columbus Park Refectory. read more

We had a great wedding at Columbus Park Refectory. The space is absolutely beautiful. The grounds are really lovely and we had so many compliments from our guests. The staff was very helpful and everything went off perfectly. The only reason I did not rate this a 5 was because it proved quite difficult during the planning of the wedding to get ahold of staff at the refectory. When I had questions leading up to the wedding day, I hesitated calling because staff was often quite short with me in answering questions. Otherwise, I would highly recommend this as a venue for anyone's wedding or celebration! read more

CPR is the most gorgeous, affordable wedding venue in Chicago. Incomparable green space and a beautiful historic building that is lovingly cared for by Meryl and her amazing team. Meryl did EVERYTHING she possibly could to make our wedding day perfect. Four weeks to the day we found out that the Chicago Park District decided our wedding weekend was the perfect time to do some major construction on the front of the building. We kind of freaked out -- but it's a public park, and this kind of thing is in the contract's fine print. We really thought our photos would suck and hated the idea of our guests driving up to a construction site. Meryl worked some magic to put up HUGE pipe and drape curtain outside of the gorgeous floor to ceiling windows to hide the construction, and had these monster 10 foot planters of beautiful greenery dragged in front of the curtains -- FOR FREE! She was a lifesaver. Once inside, no one even noticed. And we were too happy to care. Day of, things could not have gone more smoothly. Meryl and her staff, including security, made our guests feel welcome and tracked me down at least five times because I kept leaving my phone in random places. I'm confused by reviews that expect to get 4 star hotel-level coordination at a city park venue. Yes, having a coordinator helps a lot, and is necessary if you don't want to put lots of friends and family to work (we hired Andria at Chicago Vintage Weddings and she was fantastic!). It can be frustrating that CPD makes you go with their preferred vendors for catering and some other services, but the plus side to that is your caterer will be intimately familiar with the space and that will help things run more smoothly. We hired Food For Thought -- AMAZING in every way!! Columbus Park refectory is so special, and it truly was our dream venue. Thank you Meryl and team! read more

We had our wedding ceremony on the Terrence and it was lovely. Our guest were stunned by the beauty and simplicity of the venue. I am so happy we had our wedding here. read more

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I was just at this venue and it is absolutely gorgeous....I was there for a wedding. The dining area was nice and dancing area was nice as well. The outside balcony was great with a view of the lake. The ONLY reason this did not get 5 stars from me, was due to the staff. I mean, they were the rudest staff on the planet. No customer service. One of the staff members even swore at a guest. The guest asked for some water and her reply was..."who the F&^Ck do you think i am?, go ask the caterer" They had ghetto security walking all around the venue in between guests...i didnt like the taste of that. To me, weddings are high end memorable events, with people most likely dressed up and nice atmosphere - not with security cops walkiing around....just saying! read more

It is very difficult to rate this venue because my wedding was absolutely perfect and beautiful and went just as planned. HOWEVER, it took a ton of hard work and planning on my husband and I's part to make it that way. If you want to have a wedding here, you NEED to have a coordinator. You cannot trust that the staff there will help with anything, and catering is always a guessing game. There are a lot of fees involved in getting married with CPD, and you have a limited catering selection. Our guests loved the venue, and I'd say it's one of the most beautiful place to get married in Chicago, especially on a nice day. Our guests are still commenting on the beauty of the day. If this place had a better manager in charge that could communicate and show up for meetings, I'd give it a million star review. read more

I work at a flower shop and the bride chose this venue for her reception. I would never recommend this place for anything. The woman in charge at the refectory was unaccommodating to not only me, but the caterer and the wedding planner. She would not allow any of us to enter into the building to set up the wedding until moments before the wedding was to start. It is a beautiful place, but so not worth the fear and aggravation. read more

I used the Columbus Park Refectory for our wedding. We knew it was the "place" when we walked into it. It is clean, gorgeous and the staff is very very helpful. The entire experience was wonderful... and all of our guests mentioned they wanted to plan events at that location after our wedding. read more

Ideal Wedding Venue! When my wife and I got married in 2012 we wanted a venue that was classy, romantic and special. As soon as we visited Columbus Park Refectory we knew we had hit gold. The Refectory is a beautiful classic piece of old Chicago architecture. Our ceremony in the outdoor pavilion was wonderful, with a beautiful view of the lagoon. And the reception was inside - dinner in the large hall flanked by beautiful French doors and dancing in the ballroom. The whole location was as classy as they come - photos help capture how special the Refectory is, but when you're there you really see what a great venue it is. And to top it off, the on-site staff were wonderful and really helped make the day special. We cannot recommend the Refectory highly enough! read more

We were married at Columbus Park Refectory this August and I can wholeheartedly say that it was the greatest day of my life and that my absolute favorite part of the entire event was this beautiful venue. We were able to have our ceremony, pictures, and reception all in one location. Every aspect of the building and the grounds of the park are stunningly beautiful. Merril is excellent to work with and the price to rent the entire building was completely reasonable for how much you're getting. Tables and chairs are included. Parking is free and plentiful. There are three outdoor terraces, one which is covered where we had our ceremony. There is an indoor dining hall and an indoor dance hall. Please note that when you rent Columbus Park Refectory for your event you are only getting the building and not a planner, catering, linens, etc. I feel that a lot of the negative reviews on here are because these things were not included. The Park District will provide you with a preferred vendor list and Merril is an excellent resource for seeking out recommendations. The event time only runs until 10:00 so I paid roughly $400 for an extra hour. The City of Chicago also requires that you purchase liquor liability insurance which I paid under $300 for. The only negative experience working with CPR was that the city planned construction on the building which ran longer than expected. Because of this we were unable to use the entire front of the building which is a beautiful setting that we were looking forward to using for pictures and for our sparkler send off. Regardless of this, we had the most beautiful, amazing wedding. I cannot even count the amount of compliments we received on the venue alone. Again, CPR was, without a doubt, my favorite aspect of my favorite day. read more

We held our wedding and reception here on June 21, 2013.. It was raining earlier that day but right before we were about to start the set up, the sun came out and it turned out Beautiful! The pavilion looked wonderful with the trees and grass as it's background. The Reception hall turned out to be the perfect size for our 180+ guess that braved the rain to celebrate with my wife and I. We only had 3 months to plan our wedding and we were so blessed to find that this venue was available for our date. We want to send a GIANT Thank You to Columbus Park Refectory, (M & R) "You know who you are", and the rest of the staff for helping to make Our Day, a Very Special One! God Bless! read more

Columbus Park Refectory - The Pavilion. Our Day was Amazing! Thank You Guys at Columbus Park Refectory! - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Dealing with the Chicago Park District can be difficult, (a lot of paperwork, a little wait on response to emails), but I would not have had my wedding reception anywhere else! Merrill was incredibly professional and obviously loves the space and wants to host events that are both fun and show off the refectory. She met with us personally for close to three hours at the boathouse, and I appreciated her energy and the pride she takes in the space. She was there during the event and her smile and enthusiasm helped get the party started! The staff there are equally personable and fun; I really enjoyed chatting with them and they did everything to make our night perfect! The space was perfect for our reception; we had dinner in the covered pavilion (with a nice breeze on a hot day) and the dancing was inside with the air conditioning. People who didn't feel like dancing or were looking for conversation were able to occupy the terraces and everyone enjoyed the views! I couldn't have asked for better photographs or memories! read more