Charleston Event Center

positively amazing. She made the whole experience so pleasant and so wonderful. My sister and I owned a catering company for 28 years, and I tell you what, we’ve never ran into a wedding coordinator that was so wonderful. 

run seamlessly!

great about recommending vendors as well as providing decor. The venue is beautiful and we received many compliments on how gorgeous it is. Overall, we're very happy that we chose to have our wedding here, and would recommend to anyone looking for a venue!

for any question thrown their way! The venue itself is a hidden gem in the Twin Cities area. It's so easy to get to but still feels private while on-site! The pond as a backdrop for a ceremony and the beautiful brick mansion is something so unique to this area! Truly a breath of fresh air!

exceptional, and we wholeheartedly give them a five-star recommendation. One of the standout features of the Charleston is their incredible staff. Every team member we encountered was not only professional but also genuinely friendly and accommodating. They consistently went above and beyond to ensure that our events ran smoothly, always ready to assist with any requests or adjustments needed. We wholeheartedly recommend Charleston Event Center for anyone looking for a venue that delivers on all fronts. Whether you’re planning a corporate event, wedding, or celebration, you can trust that your experience will be nothing short of wonderful. Thank you, to the whole team, for making each of our events so memorable—we look forward to working together again soon!

de area for a ceremony. The outside is next to a picturesque pond and has an outdoor stairway for a grand entrance by the Bride. There is plenty of free parking for the guests right next to the building. The staff is excellent - knowledgeable, helpful competent and organized. I have performed weddings at over 200 locations in the Metro Area and I know great staff when I see them. The facility has very nice “get ready rooms” for the Bride and Groom and the wedding party. I highly recommend the Charleston to any couple looking for a top-of-the-line venue for a ceremony and reception.

ed up being gorgeous for a fall wedding! The intimacy of this location was one of the main reasons we chose it, along with the many amenities that come with it! We chose to work with Julia for venue coordination and we are so thrilled that we did! Julia helped us from beginning to end, navigating the smallest details to ensure we had the perfect day! She made the process feel so smooth, easy, and stress free and when the day of our wedding arrived, she went above and beyond to ensure we had a beautiful day. My husband and I were able to just be fully present and enjoy our day to the fullest without having to worry about the details or coordinating everything else. We received so many compliments from our guests about the venue - specifically how beautiful it was and how it made them feel as though they had entered their own world, despite being in the heart of White Bear! We can't stop talking and reminiscing about our wedding day and we can't thank Julia or Sydney enough for making it so special.

all my girlfriends and I to hang out and get ready- plenty of room! The outdoor and indoor spaces were practical and lovely for the ceremony, social hour, and the dinner/reception. Julia and Sydney were so helpful leading up to the day and the day of. Having decor and other amenities for us to use was an added bonus. We received many compliments on the venue, loving the atmosphere and surprised it existed just off a well known intersection! Thank you to the Charleston and to the staff, for helping our day run smoothly and being a memorable setting for our wedding!

every moment of our wedding!

, thorough and attentive and all around a pleasure to work with. 10/10 would recommend.

edding coordinator. It is a beautiful venue and had everything we needed for a wonderful day! Highly recommend to anyone! Plus, Julia is probably the sweetest venue coordinator you could ever work with!

e process. We ended up having to move ceremony indoors due to weather and the team was fantastic about making it work. The venue itself is beautiful and we especially loved the getting ready rooms. Awesome venue and team to work with!

with throughout the entire process. She was flexible with our meeting times (as we are not from the Twin Cities area) and super responsive via email no matter how small the question was. During our day, guests commented how pleasant she was if any questions came up. Julia and the Charleston staff took a tremendous amount of stress off myself and our families by being so helpful. What set this venue apart was the ability to use a lot of their amenities (bridal suites, decor, yard games) and the beautiful outdoor areas where we could take our pictures. Our favorite part of the venue was the veranda where we had our first dance. The guests also enjoyed cocktail hour out there, and those that didn't enjoy dancing were able to spend time out there after dinner. The trees made us feel like we were out of the cities entirely. The recommended vendors we used (Donatelli's, Complete Beverage) were also great to work with. We appreciate Julia and the entire Charleston Event Center staff for making our day perfect!

emely helpful in allowing us to stay on task and not feel like we were forgetting something. Julia, Sarah, and Kate were always just an email away with any questions, and that also was greatly appreciated. They took one of the most stressful parts of planning a wedding and turned it into one of the easiest for us. Everything was so beautifully coordinated and flawlessly executed. There was never any doubt in our minds that everything was under control and that allowed us all to relax and fully enjoy the day. CEC was the perfect blend of indoor/outdoor options for this wedding! The pond, dock, and boat allowed for some of the most beautiful pictures that truly captured us as a couple. We also greatly appreciate your flexibility to accommodate our many unique requests. We received SO many compliments from our guests about the venue and the many unique things it offered. Between the yard games, s’more station, and beautiful indoor and outdoor setup, it was the perfect way to encourage mingling among our guests and people from several different facets of our lives all became quick friends. We also really appreciated the uncomplicated billing process and everything that was included in the price. Other venues offered some of the services that we received at the CEC, but everything was an extra charge. We steered clear of places like that because we didn’t want to be unprepared for all the hassle and nickel-and-diming that would be on the final bill. At the Charleston, we received many more extras than any other place offered, and there were no surprises. We would highly recommend the Charleston Event Center to anyone!

to make any changes we asked for, and the venue itself was so gorgeous we didn't need extra decor! As part of our package, they provided two planning sessions that were essential in why our day was so smooth and helped us plan and think of things we hadn't considered yet! They also provided so many votives, charges, tables, chairs, outside lights, and signage!! We've been getting nothing but compliments on our day and the Charleston was a huge part of it! Absolutely cannot recommend the team and the venue enough! The price was also fantastic and the location was perfect for all of our extended family to travel to!

the venue was - noting how perfect it was for a wedding. They especially enjoyed the parlor for social hour. For a winter wedding where everything was indoors, ~100 people fit well in the parlor. We had to postpone our wedding and Julia and her team were nothing but understanding throughout the whole process. While we had originally planned for a summer wedding, the snowy veranda and festive parlor decorations made it a magical winter wedding. The CEC has a large list of decor that you can use for your wedding, which was super helpful as we didn’t have to try to find as many things on our own. The bridal suite that they have onsite was absolutely amazing. There was ample space and huge mirrors for getting ready. It was wonderful to be able to have hair come onsite for us as it saved a lot of time. It was also great to be able to add on an additional 2 hours in the morning to decorate and get ready. Highly recommend doing this as we never felt rushed or stressed out due to time. Overall, Julia and everyone on her team that we worked with throughout both of our planning processes were wonderful. They communicated well with the other vendors and made the day seem flawless from my point of view. We will definitely be keeping the CEC on our radar for any future events that we might have and highly recommend them for anyone looking for a cozy, unique venue!

side and outside, was beautiful, and we got many compliments from our friends and family. The venue has many locations for great photos. We loved the option to be able to have the ceremony indoors or outdoor. The bridal suite to get ready was beautiful and spacious, and provided great lighting for hair and makeup, and getting ready photos. We could not have chosen a more perfect venue for our wedding.

ication and helping. I would 100% recommend this place to anybody getting married!

we got a response. Once we got things going, the communication was better. Sarah (our lead day of coordinator) was awesome and so sweet! She checked in frequently, helped us plan and made us feel comfortable! The scenery of this venue is absolutely stunning! I would highly recommend this venue!

and our guests could not believe how beautiful the venue was! Classic and timeless and fit our boho vibes perfectly!!

is absolutely beautiful, and their preferred vendors are the perfect choice for a wedding!

y affordable and reasonable with timing, vendors, and our individual requests. Julia was incredible to work with as our month-of planner, and I was so impressed by her communication. She went above and beyond during the planning process to communicate with us, our vendors, and create our timeline. We were not able to hold our ceremony outside due to rain, and the day was still perfect and went so smoothly. I had no stress on my wedding day, and I attribute that to the amazing coordination of the staff at this venue!

ing and understanding of our situation and Julia and her team handled everything with grace and ease. She was very quick to respond in all the tedious questions I had, and was very transparent about what was included in the wedding package. We specifically wanted a venue that had lots of parking, was close to the Twin cities, and had a big enough space where we could have an outdoor ceremony and an indoor reception. It was also nice to know that the venue had a backup plan B incase of rain during the ceremony. All of our guests had a wonderful time, and there were a number of different spaces (outdoor lawn, ballroom, beautiful bridal suite, parlor, pond) that we were able to utilize and capture beautiful pictures all in one building. Both the outdoor and indoor space is elegantly decorated, functional, very well maintained, and hardly needs extra decor to make it feel event -ready. We truly can’t thank Julia and her team enough for making our wedding a dream come true! We highly recommend the Charleston Event center for any special event you have, no matter the season.

feel welcome. Every interaction has been great!

e postponing our wedding. We had to, unfortunately, move our wedding date due to the shutdown 4 months prior to our initial date. We called multiple times to discuss specifics and how to navigate the process with no return call. We ended up calling the owner, who then had the new event coordinator reach out to us. She told us that there was no record of us in their system, no record of us paying, no record of our solidified date either. We got things squared away FINALLY and we thought it was going to be smooth sailing moving forwards. It was not. On the morning of the wedding day, there was an ice storm. The owner would not let us enter the venue because he was afraid we were going to 'hold him liable if someone got hurt'. We were supposed to have access to the venue at 8am, and did not end up getting in until 8:30am. When we signed the contracts initially, we were told that we could set up the week prior to the wedding provided that there was no meetings scheduled in the same area. So this half hour ended up making things a bit tight on the timeline and there was no change to the conditions when we finally talked him into letting us in. At the rehearsal, the event coordinator was telling the officiant how to run the ceremony. There was quite a bit of head butting between her and our officiant. The pastor we used to marry us has been in our lives for many years and knows us and how we wanted things done. It was far outside her place to explain to him how to coordinate the ceremony as far as how the rings should be grabbed, how the bride interacts with her father, etc. The venue itself is extremely gorgeous and great for pictures. It has plenty of room for guests and has a good setup for the ceremony ballroom flipping into the reception. However, the lack of a great coordinator was deeply felt as we led up to our day, and even on our day as well.

at bridal suite that was nice to have conveniently located for touching up hair or dress bustling throughout the dancing. I had hoped for an outdoor ceremony but unfortunately it ended up being colder than tolerable and even was the first snow of the season. They put together a lovely setup inside (note* the arch cannot come inside which I didn't know until the morning of). I loved how the dancefloor was near the french doors so during the dancing portion, it was nice to step out on the patio to cool off. Our guests got some lovely photos on the patio that evening that even ended up on a Christmas card or two. The staff was absolutely fantastic with everything especially on the day-of. They took my table decor plans and executed them better than I imagined. My jaw literally dropped when I walked into the reception for dinner - it was beautiful. I loved that they also have decor options available to use for free. It was nice not having to worry about some smaller pieces like tealight holders or vases. We did have a few issues with emails not being responded to in the last two months and having to call to get responses. Wasn't a huge deal and didn't effect anything, just something to note if you're more of an email person ,like me. Otherwise, planning was great with Julia and she was such a cheerful and upbeat person to work with. It is so awesome that they provide an in-house planner to assist with bringing your ideas together and organizing it all. Another thing to note, you do have to choose from their list of required caterers and you must use the one bar service company they work with. I didn't mind the caterer because the company I had hoped to have was on their list (highly recommend Donatellis). The bar service thing bothered me initially but once I sat down and figured it all out, their prices were really reasonable and it was nice to not worry about supply, insurance, or bartenders as it was all taken care of. Overall - I definitely recommend this venue and I wish I had some other reason or occasion to host an event here again with dinner and dancing. It was so great!

nderful to work with, and our day-of coordinator Brenna was instrumental to making sure everything flowed incredibly smoothly! Our day was perfect, and the venue was so wonderful to work with, from making sure our long distance planning was smooth to ensuring the details that I never would have thought of were in place. I highly recommend visiting this phenomenal venue!

day of the wedding. It was a dream - Julia was professional, organized and kept us on track with our pre decided timeline. She was willing to work with me on my vision and helped answer all my questions along the way. It rained on our wedding day- but Julia made sure there was a contingency plan in case the ceremony would need to be moved inside. Thank you Julia and Team!

er. We were able to tour virtually and handle most planning from home. It rained on our wedding day and the CEC team expertly flipped the event space from ceremony to reception. They were incredibly accommodating of every request from us and our guests. At the end of the night, a few cards and gifts were accidentally left behind, and Jill drove them to our hotel at 1 AM. She's our hero! Thank you both for making our wedding day spectacular.

ple with whom to work! It was exactly what Maggie wanted. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

ss and on the day of! They checked up on us constantly throughout the day of the wedding and made sure we had everything we needed. I would chose this venue all over again! We had a great experience with nothing bad to say!

We loved the the dock and pond, the patio, the ballroom and cocktail room, and I absolutely fell in love with the enormous bridal suite. We had no issues with Shannon during our initial and 6-month check-in meetings. Then COVID happened, we were supposed to have had our 2-3 month pre planning meeting in April ...reached out several times...nothing. The lack of communication was infuriating to say the least. We got an email asking us about our Plan B date, which we gave, but no other explanation was provided (again emailed her several times to follow up). Then in early June we finally got an email from one of Shannon's other coordinators (Austin) telling us he would be our new day of coordinator. Austin was wonderful and heard all of our frustrations and addressed them as best as he could. One major frustration was that instead of being able to split our Plan A & B dates (ceremony in July and reception in October) with equal hours, we were told that we would only be able to do "3 ceremony hours" on site in July... frustrating because we had chosen this site for it's bridal suite and we wouldn't even be able to use it for the most important part of our wedding. Austin was going to ask Shannon if she would reconsider (or else we were reconsidering getting our money back due to unforseenable events of COVID), but then 1-2 weeks later, we received an email that Charleston was now under new management (this was less than a month from our ceremony date). So now we're panicking about what the new management will look like and if we can use the gold chargers, navy table runners, gold votives, roll out fire pit that we had originally planned it have included for our reception later in the year (spoiler: answer was yes they still had them!). Swiftly after getting that shocking email, Julia and her team contacted us and we had a Zoom call that gave me the biggest sigh of relief - she allowed us to split the 2 days based on the hours we had paid for (and respecting their schedule so they could squeeze in another event if they wanted). Ceremony day in July: super smooth, I was calm, everything came together despite doing an intimate ceremony with family and bridal party only. It was a hot but beautiful day. Reception day in October: Julia helped us plan last-minute things (such as I didn't care how the donuts looked on the table, but she made it look cute and brainstormed with our helpers). She was organized, level-headed, and suggested things when I just had no idea how a table should be set-up. So at the end of it all, both days went smoothly and I can assure you that you will be in excellent hands with Julia and her team. Recap: CEC as a ceremony or reception venue: 5/5 stars. Previous ownership with Shannon: 2/5 stars. New ownership with Julia: 5/5 stars.

every way and made wedding planning super easy. We chose the location because it has everything we needed, nature, updated venue with a.c., free parking, and multiple areas guests could go if they needed a break from the party. I would 100 percent recommend booking. Shannon and the staff felt like family and were super flexible with us using their space and making our vision come to life.

use of the saved decorations they have - which is a huge cost saver. Shannon, the event coordinator was amazing to work with. She was always pleasant and extremely helpful. She would diligently answer all of my many questions and she would make suggestions based off of my husbands and my relationship for things we never would have thought of, but were absolutely needed. The entire experience was a joy and we can't imagine having gone through our wedding at any other venue. There were so many nights that we looked at each other and said we are so lucky to have found the Charleston Event Center.

It was hands down the most perfect day and all of our guests raved about the venue. Check this place out, you will be glad you did!

ge to use and were on top of every little detail. You get a day-of event coordinator included. The bridal suite is also beautiful! I would recommend to anyone!

nning to the end of the reception, Shannon and her staff went above and beyond to make the day a success. One of the big benefits to me was that by the end of the reception, the staff had inconspicuously collected everything I had brought to the venue (framed photos, easels, signs, gift table accessories, the florist's candles, etc.) and had it carefully packed up in a bin for me. They loaded it into my car and I was on my way by 12:15 am. Every other detail was attended to as well. They were exceptional.

I can not express how grateful we both were to find this venue. It was definitely the greatest day of our lives and Shannon made it all happen.

my questions were answered timely and Shannon also helped with working with my vendors! Thank you so much for making our day extra special!

Charleston are the GREATEST! They made sure everything was perfect for our wedding. I worked with Caroline as my event coordinator and she made sure to account for every small detail in the planning process, most of which I hadn’t even thought about! Austin was our evening host and he was on top of everything! He made sure that all of the decorations were taken down and packed up, so I didn’t have to stress about a thing! I would truly recommend the Charleston to anyone and everyone!

e made our day flow smooth and everything went as is. We had many people compliment on how well it went and saying “it was the most well put together and organized wedding.”