Bottom Lounge

was. A few highlights for us were the chalk wall and ability to hire a chalk artist to create art customized for us, exposed brick walls and twinkle lights, the food (way better than any wedding food we’ve had before), and affordability for such a fantastic space!!

e are all super sweet and so helpful throughout the wedding process and the day of. The food was also super yummy and the drinks were great! We loved being able to get married at a concert venue we love and couldn't recommend it enough!

enue that is affordably priced. The space is a gorgeous city loft space, and does not require much decor as the space is stunning. Natalie M. is the best part of the Bottom Lounge. She is an expert in weddings and wedding decor and will help you have the best day. Natalie managed our decor and did an incredible job - everything looked perfect. She also managed our timeline once we were in the space, vendors, our bridal party and a full staff who kept our night on time and stress free. Many of our guests told us that it was the best wedding they had ever been to and a lot of that had to do with the venue. The food was incredible, the bar was managed well (no lines) and Natalie works hard to make it an amazing day and keep it within your budget. We cannot recommend the Bottom Lounge enough!

venue. With the fun vibes of the bar and music venue on the main level, and the actual private (and surprisingly quiet!) wedding space upstairs, it was exactly the mix we were hoping for. The venue space itself did feel smaller than anticipated when we first toured the space, which was a concern as we had a 200-person guest list; however, it fit this number perfectly! The outdoor rooftop area was absolutely wonderful for our cocktail hour, and really was great during the reception for people who wanted a break from the dancing! One of the best things about Bottom Lounge is that pricing was clear from the outset. We knew exactly what we were getting for our money, and we were pleasantly surprised by how affordable it was. With delicious food and beverage (including beers on tap) included in the package, it was one less thing for us to worry about throughout planning. It was also so great having the dedicated and responsive planner Natalie Meletsis, who was so familiar with the space and who gave us great insight based on her experiences with prior weddings. Overall, if you want a cool, unique wedding venue that embodies Chicago’s charm, we could not recommend Bottom Lounge enough. It truly was everything we hoped for in a venue!

person that is there every step of the way. From setting a date, to planning, to ensuring everything went perfect on our big day, she was there to help. We could not have asked for a better wedding day!

o big line ever formed at the bar. The patio was also key, as we had a nice day in October that allowed us to utilize the outdoor patio for guests to take a breather. Natalie, the event coordinator, has been executing weddings there for over 14 years, and her experience shows. She knows how to run the show to a tee, and we were very grateful to have her in charge of everything so we could just enjoy the day. Natalie went above and beyond to help decorate the space and make sure everything looked perfect. We had some unique DIY stuff, and she was super flexible with all our requests. Definitely the most laid-back event planner I've ever met! On the day of, we love the way Natalie built time into the schedule for us to take a moment to ourselves -- which is key when the wedding seems to go by so quickly! I can't recommend this venue enough!!

step of the way during the planning. The food was excellent, the room looked gorgeous, and the entire staff was so helpful and efficient. I would highly recommend this venue!

s in communication with us the WHOLE entire time. I was a DIY bride( yupppp) with some vendor usage and when I say I SCREAMED when I saw how absolutely gorgeous the venue looked and how Natalie and her team made it all come together. If I had pictures I would place them here but we haven’t gotten them back yet . We were SO BWYOND HAPPY!

y. Natalie is also there for your entire wedding to make sure everything goes smoothly and maintains the timeline. The rest of the staff was also so amazing… so kind and great at what they do! Food was delicious! Bottom lounge has an awesome sound system which ended up saving us some money since our DJ didn’t have to bring as much equipment! Plus, the space is great and includes the outdoor deck area! You won’t regret having your wedding at bottom lounge!!!

ave had a better experience. The staff from bartenders to servers and other support staff are all so kind and beyond helpful. Natalie is the site’s event coordinator and also does off site coordination. She is THE BEST - it’s almost hard to fully describe how organized, helpful, and fun she is to work with. She made planning, getting ready, and the day of run so smoothly - our family and friends were so impressed and obsessed with her (and so are we). Food was great, space looked amazing, and we really had the best day thanks to Natalie and the Bottom Lounge team. We wish we could do it all over again!

t the bill perfectly. It's also very reasonably priced for the city and comes with a lot included. Most importantly, Natalie is the absolute BEST. She knows the space like the back of her hand and was so helpful in helping us craft our dream wedding. Our guests loved the space and we were in awe of how beautiful and cool our ceremony and reception were, and the experience of working with Natalie and her team had us feeling confident and taken care of from our first call to picking up stuff the day after. Highly recommend! - Maggie & James, 10/1/21

e show from before you decide to book until the day you pick up the decor. She works tirelessly to make your day as perfect as possible whether you're an 'I don't care' couple, or a 'it needs to be very particular' couple. The venue in the upstairs of Bottom Lounge is beautiful all by itself, just throw a couple of linens on the tables if you want and it is ready to go or you can bring in a u-haul of decorations like I did (sorry Natalie, you beautiful angel-soul). It really is such a versatile spot for couples. The prices are actually some of the lowest we saw in Chicago (per plate, open bar, and venue fee). The venue also has the best staff and it is truly and well-oiled-machine. Natalie coordinates your day and her staff are so on point and jive so well. I mean, this is my first (and hopefully only) wedding, and I couldn't imagine anything anywhere else running so smoothly and with care to every single detail. The other vendors love coming to the venue as well. Even picking up our items a couple days later, everything was repackaged and ready to go. If you're into the industrial-open brick-city train-graffiti thing - this place is a must see!

f the space...SUPER rare. She took our vision for our wedding and kicked it up a notch. The space is a perfect balance of rustic and urban, exactly what we wanted! We were a COVID wedding that had to be canceled, and then rescheduled for a year later (our choice to do a year later!) Bottom Lounge and Natalie were the most supportive and understanding through this entire process, stay in contact with us the entire time and provided reassurances. The price of this place also can't be ignored, you are getting all the big ticket items in house (catering, Natalie to help with coordination, tables/chairs, alcohol) it's ridiculous to me that all these other places upcharge so much for this stuff because they can or you have to individually contract for all those items! We even had our good friend bake a cake for us that Natalie was OK with us bringing in. We also had a bottle of champagne that had been gifted to us that we asked if we could have at our sweat heart table and they were totally cool with that. They really want to make this your wedding, and it was the most enjoyable experience planning (which says a lot considering our COVID situation. This really could have been a disaster but it was flawless) Bottom Lounge is also perfectly located in the West Loop. After our rehearsal the night before, we all walked over the City Winery for dinner, it was so easy and Bottom Lounge let our rehearsal guests utilize their parking lot for the dinner, which was immensely helpful!! Bottom Lounge is an amazing place to get married!

planning process, completely stress free. It was absolutely amazing and I almost wish I could get married again just so I could use this venue again. Highly highly recommend!

us the whole year through all of our planning! All of her vendor recommendations were 5 stars , along with the venue itself! The food was great with many different choices from traditional to eclectic! We were blown away during our first look of the space by how perfect they put everything together! I could’t have dreamt it any more perfectly! Natalie would be amazing to have plan your wedding or next big event at Bottom Lounge!

If you are on the fence about this venue, do not pass it up!

akes care of everything day-of, by the way!) to make our vision come to life was seamless and stress-free. The space itself is already full of character and beautifully decorated, we just needed to bring a few details to make it feel like “our” wedding and no one else’s. The food was delicious - so many of our friends were surprised that BL even served food because we’re usually just there for shows. And the staff was awesome. They took such great care of our guests with dietary needs and preferences. Highly recommend.

le process so easy and stress free. She was so organized and helpful. We had several meetings with her planning our day and left each one so impressed because she consistently went way above and beyond what we expected of her. She provided numerous vendor recommendations, after researching and meeting with several vendors for each item we ended up using her florist, make up, valet and cake recommendations and all were fantastic. She also had a some supplies she lent to us such as table number holders, cake stand, cake server and some decorations. I was blown away when I saw the venue on our wedding day, Natalie, her team and our florist did such an amazing job of setting up and decorating. We received so many compliments. Everyone really enjoyed the patio, we lucked out the weather was nice so we were able to use it all night. The service was also fantastic. Servers passed out signature drinks as guests arrived and the bar staff was amazing. We had 190 guests and both our families & friends are big drinkers but a lot of people commented on how they never had to wait at the bar for a drink. Everything went so smoothly on our wedding day and turned out perfect. I could not recommend the Bottom Lounge more.

the city. And Natalie the event manager is amazing. I didn't have a coordinator and I emailed her with questions, ideas, changes to seating, and she was so easy to work with. My husband was in awe when he saw how the venue transformed. All of our guest couldn't stop talking about how they loved the feel of the venue, and the patio was a huge hit. The day of went so smooth and stress free! I would reccomend Bottom Lounge to anyone looking for a fun memorable wedding!

g helpful timeline tips and vendor suggestions, easy communication and amazing day-of coordination. I felt no need to even look into a planner or day-of coordinator based on how much my husband and I trusted her. Our day was fun, personal and entirely stress-free. We were lucky enough to get married on a nice day, and held our ceremony outdoors and enjoy the patio for the rest of the night, which is a huge perk. The upstairs reception space is intimate without being cramped. I would highly recommend BL for any couple looking for a great deal on a great space and an easy planning process in the city. I wouldn't recommend BL for anyone who is dying to hire an outside caterer (all food is done in-house) or anyone who wants a cookie-cutter, high-stress, super boring wedding.

d genuine person, in comparison to the typical fake and inflated wedding responses we had received from most reception venues we had spoken to. For once, I felt like I was talking to a real human rather than an automated email. Natalie was extremely helpful and responsive from the very beginning. She is so on it in every aspect of the wedding. She is a one-woman show and hit the nail right on the head with everything we wanted and envisioned on our big day. We held our ceremony downstairs in the music venue and our reception upstairs. My husband and I wanted to provide and do a lot of the decorating of the ceremony stage from building a lighting display to providing a lot of candles. It was hard for us to put into words exactly how we wanted Natalie and her staff to set it up, so we just dropped it off the week of the wedding and hoped for the best (although we had confidence in Natalie from the beginning). We were MORE than impressed by the way it was all put together and set up! It was better than we had even envisioned and they were able to transform the spot into something we didn't know was possible! Natalie was also extremely accommodating with lending any additional supplies she already had to help us out which I had never heard of any vendor doing before. Natalie also provided us with tons of referrals and even though we did some exploring on our own, we ended up coming back to Natalie's recommendations and used her recommended DJ, Florist AND makeup artist in which every single one of them turned out to be amazing and better than any I had personally seen with any wedding. She was so on it from the moment we arrived on our big day to making sure we kept up with our timeline, getting everyone together, and in general, making sure the day flowed as it should have. I honestly couldn't have imagined doing MOST of my wedding planning without the help of her and we cannot provide enough thank yous to her and the amazing staff that helped put our day together! <3

t Bottom Lounge sets up several meetings spaced out before the big day to go over the timeline and make all the venue decisions. They even set up an awesome private tasting with me, my husband, and both our parents with apps, salads, wines, and deserts - we had a blast! On the day of, things went very smoothly. The food was absolutely DELICIOUS and all of our guests commented how much they loved it and how great the service was. The venue offers a really cool, urban space that I think could adapt to any type of vibe you are going for. The rooftop patio is a huge bonus as well where a ton of our guests enjoyed hanging out on. Lastly, Bottom Lounge is very affordable for a city wedding. I looked at many venues and could not beat this price. We had such a blast and owe it to Natalie and Bottom Lounge!