Columbus Park Refectory

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!