$1,200 starting price
300+ guest capacity
This venue can host 300+ guests
About this vendor
The Century Center Wedding: Your Vision, Our Team- Your Amazing Wedding!
Riverfront, full-service flexible event venues in the heart of vibrant, revitalized downtown South Bend- Century Center the perfect location for your amazing wedding! Whether local, regional, or Notre Dame or St. Mary’s destination wedding, our spacious venues and outdoor facilities accommodate groups of 50 to 700 or more. Our dedicated, expert team will guide you through the planning process and ensure every detail is fulfilled, including exceptional, creative cuisine by SAVOR, our in-house caterer.
Our Venues:
Island Park: A breath-taking 11-acre riverfront park. Envision exchanging vows outdoors under our permanent pavilion with the river falls as your backdrop, then cocktails and hors d’oeuvres surrounded by the St. Joseph River. Always included is a back-up location in the event of rain.
The Great Hall: Industrial Chic or Traditional & Romantic? Vintage Charm or Modern & Sophisticated? This airy atrium-like setting transforms with each couple’s vision. The Grand Staircase is unquestionably the most dramatic first entrance as husband and wife around. Great Hall’s 38-foot soaring windows overlook the spectacular River Lights while romantic twinkle lights warm the room from above. An absolutely stunning reception venue for groups 150 to 700.
Discovery Ballroom: Elegant marble foyer, neutral tones and custom lighting give our traditional ballroom enormous flexibility to create your perfect wedding. Discovery has private outdoor terrace and 17-foot glass South entrance perfect for cocktails. Discovery can be divided into two ballrooms for separate ceremony and reception venues.
Every Century Center Wedding includes all tables, chairs, a dance floor, staging, all glassware, china, flatware, banquet equipment, lap-length linens, and room set up and tear down. Each wedding includes a private tasting, a beautifully appointed day-of private suite for the bridal party and dedicated Managers, Banquet Captains and staff to ensure you and your guests enjoy delightful, attentive service.
Our team is well-versed in many different wedding types to ensure your traditions are understood and executed beautifully. We specialize in Indian weddings, welcome everyone and look forward to celebrating your love!
We are connected to the DoubleTree Hotel by sky bridge, directly across the street from The Marriott Courtyard Hotel, and three blocks from Aloft. South Bend has an International Airport and Century Center is less than three miles from The Basilica and Notre Dame Campus and 80 miles from Chicago.
Amenities + details
Ceremony Area
Covered Outdoors Space
Dressing Room
Handicap Accessible
Indoor Event Space
Liability Insurance
On-Site Accommodations
Outdoor Event Space
Reception Area
Wireless Internet
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Religious Ceremony
Guest Capacity
- 300+
Settings
- Ballroom
- Beach
- Waterfront
- Garden
- Historic Venue
- Industrial & Warehouse
Venue Service Offerings
- Bar & Drinks
- Destination Weddings
- Destination Wedding Planning
- Food & Catering
- Planning
- Destination Wedding Planning
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.
4.5
out of 5.010 reviews
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We had a complicated multi-cultural wedding at Century Center with a good deal of religious and allergy issues regarding food. I could not be more pleased with how the Century Center staff, especially Tom and the chef, responded to the challenges. The 3-hour initial service and lunch was supposed to be outside but was threatened by rain and so Tom directed the back-up plan inside one of the upper ballrooms. The afternoon shorter Christian ceremony was set-up outside on the island since the rain had ceased mid-day. So they provided three set-up spaces instead of the two originally planned! Our reception and dinner were in the Great Hall and everyone complimented the all-vegetarian menu (including our non-vegetarians). It was a very long day for their staff (over 12 hours) and they were professional and reliable. I would gladly trust them with any other event.
We fell in love with the Century Center after seeing the enormous windows that overlooked the river and the grand staircase down into the Great Hall. The venue was everything we had hoped for and was the perfect size for the number of guests that we had (190). The staff took care of everything for us, which was amazing, and the food was honestly the best wedding food I've ever had (and I'm not just bragging since it was my wedding food, it really was a quality meal)! And the island was THE PERFECT place for our cocktail hour. It was beautiful, and all of our guests raved about it. We had a wonderful time working with Jennifer Hoke, who was attentive and made sure everything that could be prepared for was. She and Kate Lawton also worked with us to create a more tailored wedding package that would work with our budget and creative vision. We did have some issues in communication initially right after we booked (the management team was in the middle of a team change and were understaffed for a few months), but once Jennifer came into the role, we had a very easy time getting in contact and getting everything coordinated with them.
Kate at the Century Center really made our vision come to life. The food was delicious and the staff was very professional. We had an amazing evening! The only negative would be that our final invoice ended up being more expensive then we originally planned so make sure if you get anything extra to get it all quoted out as you go.
We held our wedding reception at South Bend's Century Center. At the time we were planning our reception, the Century Center was taken over by new management. Things started off pretty rough for us having to deal with several people and their replacements. They were also severely under-staffed which made arranging times for things tough. We were finally set up with Kate who handled everything famously! She was truly wonderful to work with, got our reception planned, set up and coordinated during the reception without fail! Very thankful for her service.
The one problem we had was half our cake was missing; most of our guests didn't get cake. Kate was cutting our cake and sliced her hand (blood everywhere). She had to go to the ER & our cake was basically trashed. The staff made desserts though for the remainder of the guests. The staff & Kate were truly wonderful. We had a really beautiful reception at the Century Center thanks to Kate & her staff.
The Century Center was where we had our June wedding reception. It held sentimental value to my fiance and I and they did not disappoint. Our guests had a fabulous time and food was great! The setup turned out amazing and the staff really let us customize exactly what we envisioned. Awesome experience!
I started working with Jennifer about a year in advance to our wedding, but the real planning started 6-8 months in advance. Jennifer and, later on, Ariel were both amazing. They took my theme, my ideas, my wedding and really helped me to run with it. They were extremely flexible when my numbers were quite a bit lower than we had initially expected. Ariel was able to make a diagram which showed exactly where my DJ, photobooth, breakfast buffet tables and Cornhole boards would be placed. Jennifer was in charge of the food, the bar, etc. Both were present on the wedding day and greeted us as soon as we got there and even took our drinks to our table so we didn't have to walk down the main staircase carrying them!
The entire day was as I have been envisioning it from day 1. Even the wait staff and the bartender were extremely polite and everyone had a big smile on their faces! I would absolutely recommend the Century Center to anyone looking to book a major event and/or wedding!
Our reception was held in the Great Hall and I couldn't have picked a more perfect location. There is an island outside that is available to use as well. The location is conveniently connected to the Double Tree Hotel. The staff is very friendly. They were very accommodating to our requests and needs. We live out of state and I was very thankful to their follow up. It made planning from a far very easy! The venue is very clean, there is plenty of parking, if you can dream it, I am pretty sure they could do it. There were so many areas for our photos, they were just amazing. The price was perfect. You do have to use their caterers, but they are fabulous! We received so many compliments on our food! I couldn't have picked a better location! We love them!
My event manager, Kim, was extremely helpful throughout my entire planning process. When the room layout wasn't correct the night before the wedding she immediately began correcting it and made sure I was happy with the results. I was planning my wedding from out of town and she was also very easy to communicate with via email and accomodating to when I was in town and could meet with her.
All of the people I worked with (3) were very friendly, professional, and helpful. They met with us several times to make sure we got everything right and corresponded with me through email and over the phone really well. I am not from or live in South Bend, so I thought it was going to be more difficult. The Great Hall was beautiful for my event and we were even able to take pictures outside not their island and got some great pictures by the river and statue. I was very pleased with the food and waiting service as well. My only complaint is that the dance floor seemed dirty, but I didn't care that night until I looked at my feet (I had to take my shoes off) and they were pretty much black. Great venue and good food. I would highly recommend it.
I used the Century Center for both my ceremony and reception because I liked the idea of guests not having to drive in between these events. We rented the white water room for the ceremony and the great hall for the reception. I really like the great hall with the giant staircase, hanging lights, and the large open windows overlooking the water. I thought this setting was gorgeous and great for pictures because I was able to have the water and lights in the background. My ceremony was very simple and plain but my pictures still turned out gorgeous despite not spending a lot of extra money decorating this room. They supplied us with a black backdrop which helped to add some elegance to the room.
Overall, I had good service while working with the century center staff as well as Centerplate. Centerplate is the Century Center's own catering service which you are required to use. Please be aware that you are also required to spend a minimum of $7000 on food and beverage (this may have increased since my wedding). The majority of my planning was done through email and I had very few problems.
We did have one issue with my only vegetarian guest being served a non-vegetarian meal but staff I had worked with in the planning process were actively assisting throughout my reception and it was easily corrected.
Overall my husband and I were very satisfied with both the ceremony and the reception. My guests agreed that it was a very pretty setting and also enjoyed its proximity to the downtown area and the Double Tree Hilton Hotel where they stayed. My wedding party benefited from using the sky-walk between the two buildings as well.
Contact
120 S Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, SOUTH BEND, IN
Century Center Convention Center
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