Wisconsin Club. It’s beautiful and I have no doubt receptions there are also beautiful, but for some reason, it just wasn’t for us. I think it was the size. The ballroom at the Wisconsin Club is just so big, and we were worried that we wouldn’t have enough guests to fill it.

The Wisconsin Club ballroom. Very nice.

We also checked out the Eisner Museum of Advertising and Design, which is a newer museum housed in an old warehouse. Guests could walk around and check out the exhibits during the cocktail hour. And it would have been a distinctly Milwaukee location. We could have had a modern-y, loft-y feel wedding. Only, we thought this venue might be too small for the number of guests we wanted to invite.

These exhibits could be cleared and reception tables set up at the Eisner Museum.

The Lakefront Brewery would have been a good location, especially because Mr. CC is an avid homebrewer, and loves to try new microbrews. It had a great terrace on the river, but didn’t really have the formal vibe that I was going for. Still, they have a Friday night fish fry and polka band. So even if the brewery is a little off the beaten path, it could make for a great rehearsal dinner locale if you don’t mind sharing it with a hundred of your fellow Wisconsinites.

The view from the porch of the Lakefront Brewery.

The Villa was amazing, and if it held more than 80 people or allowed dancing, I would have booked it then and there. But! If I had booked it, we wouldn’t have been able to invite our entire families, much less our friends. Also, I NEED DANCING.

The view from The Villa. Fantastic!

Another venue we peaked in on was the Women’s Club. It had a great downtown location and historic feel. We would have had to move tables to dance, and I wanted to avoid that because I like to go to a wedding and have a “home base” where you can keep your purse and whatnot, or sit down and sip water (and/or martinis) between the Macarena and the Electric Slide.

The Ballroom in the Women’s Club.

And then, finally, we checked out The Grain Exchange Room. AND IT WAS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED. Historic? check. (This room was used to trade grain in the late 1800s/early 1900s). Unusual? check. Distinctly Milwaukee? check. Large enough to fit all of our guests, but not so big that we barely fill the room. So we booked this perfect room, which didn’t have many openings, on the spot.

The Grain Exchange Room circa 1910. From http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=2051.

Three months after we booked the Grain Exchange Room, we found out that it had been sold! Fortunately, the new owners have upheld our contract, and have been really fantastic to work with! They also remodeled the entire venue in May, updating everything from the bar to the bathrooms, while keeping the historic charm and integrity of the venue in tact. I love it, and couldn’t be happier with our decision! Want to see pictures? You don’t have a choice!

The Grain Exchange Room is up the steps and inside those beautiful big wooden doors.

EEK! Isn’t it FANTASTIC?

Heading up to the balcony. All of the bars are on wheels, so we can put them wherever we want in the room!

View from the balcony.

Details!

More details!

The bathrooms are absolutely beautiful now! They were just disgusting before the remodel…

At the end of the night, we’ll exit out these big wooden doors as husband and wife!