Bellin B.
Google
If I could give 10 stars to The Conservatory and Anthony I would. I went into the wedding planning process knowing that I wanted an affordable venue in a great location, and that is exactly what we got with The Conservatory. Starting off with Anthony... I never planned to spend the money on a coordinator. I thought it was pretty extra and figured I could do it on my own. I quickly realized that hiring him would be 100% worth it, and IT WAS. If you book at The Conservatory, you can hire Anthony as a day of coordinator for an extremely discounted price. Except he didn't just help me the day of, he put tons of time and effort into planning my wedding for AN ENTIRE YEAR. He is so full of knowledge and expertise, has 25 years of experience in the industry, and is one to always keep it real with you. He has a strong personality and will tell you how it is, and that is exactly what you need in a wedding coordinator!!! I will forever recommend him to those planning weddings, because I truly could not have done it without him.
Now onto the venue... Here's a list of the best parts:
-Extremely affordable (1/4 of the cost of others in DSM)
-Can hold a lot of people (our guest list was 250)
-Prime location (1 block from AC Marriot, The Republic, and all the East Village bars)
-Comes with tables, linens, chivalry chairs, lighting, chandeliers, drapes, cocktail tables, guest book/card box tables, dessert tables, easels for signs, etc. This saved us a TON and required very little decorating on our end
-We were able to set up on a Tuesday before our Saturday wedding and didn't have to tear down until the Monday after the wedding. This is pretty much unheard of with most venues
-We were able to hire any caterer and also made/brought our own cocktail hour snacks
-No windows. This made for the perfect atmosphere!! We had a summer wedding, so it stays light until 9PM or later. Our dancefloor was packed full from 6:00pm until the wedding was over at 11:00pm. People feel weird dancing in the broad daylight when its super bright, but we didn't have this problem! Many people said it was the most fun they've had at a wedding and the longest time they've actually spent on the dancefloor!
Overall, we could not have asked for a better experience. If you don't book with The Conservatory, at least consider hiring Anthony as your coordinator! I think he cared a lot more about making the day perfect than I did, which is amazing!! I could not recommend more.