Chicago History Museum

The CHM, and Erika, were an absolute dream to work with. They were patient with us, and were able to accommodate all of our crazy, last minute questions. The venue itself is nothing but timeless elegance. I am so so so happy with our choice to have our wedding at the CHM!

Hosting our wedding at the Chicago History Museum was an absolute dream come true. From the very beginning, the experience was seamless, heartfelt, and nothing short of magical. The CHM team was exceptional—professional, attentive, and genuinely committed to making our day unforgettable. A heartfelt and deeply deserved thank you to Erika, who was truly the heart of it all. Her kindness, responsiveness, and unshakable calm turned what could’ve been a stressful process into a joyful one. She anticipated every need, handled every detail with care, and made us feel supported every step of the way. On our wedding day, Erika was our anchor—allowing us to be fully present and soak in every beautiful moment. The venue itself is timeless. With its stunning architecture, historic charm, and breathtaking event spaces, it captured the essence of Chicago in the most elegant way. Our guests are still raving about how extraordinary everything was. We are endlessly grateful to Erika and the entire CHM team for turning our vision into reality. Thank you for making our day not only easy—but truly unforgettable. It was perfect in every way, and we’ll cherish it for a lifetime.

We are incredibly happy that we chose the Chicago History Museum for our wedding. The venue is stunning and full of history. Our photos from inside and around the outside of the venue are fantastic. We also particularly loved doing our first dance on the black-and-white tile floor, and our guests were in awe of the view of the park from the veranda during cocktail hour. The staff at the museum is very helpful and experienced at hosting weddings; they really helped us feel assured that everything would run smoothly, which it did!

Everything about this venue surpassed our expectations. Erika and her team at CHM were accessible, responsive and paid attention to every detail. The beautiful, classic setting was the perfect backdrop for our ceremony, outdoor cocktail hour and reception. They allowed our DJ to bring in pin lighting which changed colors as the evening progressed creating an amazing glow. I remember looking out across the venue when I first arrived and seeing the ceremony set and all the flowers and thinking - this is absolutely perfect and just want I always dreamed of. They do require you to use their bar service and the drinks and service were excellent. All of our guests commented how beautiful the venue was and how elegant the whole evening felt. Pricing for the venue overall was very reasonable but gave the feeling of a VERY expensive and extravagant event. We just could not have been more pleased with the whole experience and are so glad we choose CHM!

Not only is CHM a beautiful venue, but their whole team is top notch. Erika was amazing to work with and extremely accommodating, same goes for Brad. You can’t go wrong having your wedding here!

The wedding venue is immaculate and Lynette, our events coordinator, was an effective communicator through the entire process. We always felt like we were in good hands and she helped coordinate the process of the day. We had contingency plans for rain, we had options for cocktail hour and ceremony locations, and had clear conversations about order of events and logistics through planning phase.

The Chicago History Museum was our dream wedding venue! Our ceremony and cocktail hour were outside on the terrace and the stairs and pillars were the perfect backdrop. The reception flowed seamlessly inside and we couldn’t have been happier with the space. Erika and team were so attentive and easy to work with. They made the whole planning process easy and we felt like we were in good hands the entire day!

Working with the CHM team has been nothing less than amazing. From the minute we saw the venue we knew that it was the right place for our wedding. The space is gorgeous and the team was incredibly supportive during the entire planning process. They went above and beyond providing us with all the information and guidance we needed to plan our wedding, allowing us to feel stress free. We are so happy to have gotten married at the Chicago History Museum.

My husband and I had our absolute dream wedding at the Chicago History Museum! We could not have been happier with our choice to work with the wonderful people at CHM for our wedding day! Erika, Anna and Lynette are an absolute dream team. From our first tour to our big day, they were there every step of the way to help answer questions and put our minds at ease, ensuring that our day would go as smoothly as possible, and it absolutely did. They were all an absolute pleasure to work with, and on top of that, CHM is an absolutely gorgeous venue for a wedding. From the chandelier in the lobby, to the exhibit you can choose to have open during cocktail hour, to the beautiful floors and walls and stained glass in the Morse Genius Chicago Room, the Chicago History Museum offers such a beautiful backdrop for such an important and celebratory day. The bridal suite was a great space to regroup in, in between events, and the grand set of stairs off the back of the museum offered the perfect space for our first look and portraits. Thank you to the team at Chicago History Museum for everything!!

The Chicago History Museum was the perfect venue for our wedding. We worked with Lorelei who was AMAZING, she was so organized and helpful throughout the entire planning process and made things so easy for us. The museum itself was gorgeous on the day of our wedding, the layout is perfect for dinner and dancing no matter what time of year you are getting married. All of our guests also loved that they could view some of the museum exhibits during cocktail hour, and kept complimenting how beautiful the space was. We had such an amazing experience here I would highly recommend this venue to anyone!

Lynette and the team at CHM did an excellent job hosting our wedding! Everyone was so professional, personable, and fully invested in helping make our wedding day so incredible. It was a huge comfort to know that the whole team at CHM was experienced in hosting weddings, and could answer all our questions. From our first visit to the weekend of the wedding, everyone was helpful, competent, and happy to walk us through all the logistics. Additionally, the venue itself is beautiful, and was a perfect space to invite our out of town friends and family to experience Chicago-- over a month later, we're still hearing nice things about the big day. Thank you again, CHM!

Talk about a dream come true! From the moment I stepped foot in the Museum, I knew it was the one. The space is absolutely stunning and we have received a ton of compliments from our wedding guests about how blown away they were by the venue. Lynette and the entire team were great to work with. They made it easy for us to ask questions and stop by if we wanted to see the space in person again during the planning process. Once we had our final venue walk through one month before wedding day I knew we had made the right decision because the entire team was so professional and easy to work with. I loved that there were so many options for where to have the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception. They know what they're doing at CHM and put us at ease which made our wedding day stress free! I 100% would recommend this space to anyone who is looking for an elegant, breath-taking, amazing, versatile venue!

We got married at the Chicago History Museum in August 2023. We have only wonderful things to say about the experience. The venue itself is beautiful but, beyond that, Erika and her team were so wonderful throughout the planning process. She was attentive and responsive to all questions and was flexible in accommodating our vision. We have received so many wonderful messages from family and friends saying how great our wedding was, and we ourselves had the most incredible day. I cannot recommend CHM enough.

We absolutely loved our wedding at the Chicago History Museum in June 2023. It was the perfect location that felt formal but also didn't feel like a typical hotel-ballroom type of wedding. We had our ceremony and cocktail hour outside in the garden and there was enough shade that no one was too hot at all. The gardens and steps were also so lovely, we didn't really need that many florals outside. Our reception was inside and the pictures with the black/white floor as so lovely.

The Chicago History Museum was the PERFECT venue for our wedding. The indoor and outdoor spaces are elegant, beautiful, and downright dreamy. The staff at CHM was wonderful to work with—from booking to event planning to running everything day-of. We received a lot of compliments from guests on our venue choice, and I'm so happy we chose CHM.

CHM was such an amazing venue for our wedding. It was absolutely magical! The Chicago Room, Outdoor Plaza, and Robinson Gallery were gorgeous. CHM also handles the bar and some equipment, which made it easy and, in general, they were very easy to work with. Specifically, Erika at CHM was so helpful! We knew we were in great hands when we started working with her, and especially at the final walkthrough when it was clear she had everything dialed in. As expected, everything went swimmingly the day of. We recommend doing your wedding at CHM and working with her!

We loved our wedding day at the Chicago History Museum -- everything was beautiful! The checkered dancefloor, stained glass portraits, entry room and outdoor patio was all perfect. We had a great experience working with Erika, who shared all important information, was very responsive and very attentive to all our details. It was perfect!

We loved working with Erika and the entire Chicago History Museum team. Our wedding was in early November and their team helped ensure everything was seamless. From the beginning, we knew we were in good hands with how organized and helpful they were. Not to mention the venue is absolutely gorgeous. When we walked inside, we instantly fell in love with it. It was perfect for our fall wedding. You will not regret it if you decide to get married here!

I cannot express how happy my wife, damn that is cool to day, and I are that we had our elopement at the Chicago History Museum. From the first contact with Erika to Anna helping us out on the actual day, it was nothing but a pleasure. Everything feel into place better than we thought it would, and the experience as a whole made our wedding day that much more enjoyable. I would highly recommend the Chicago History Museum!

The Chicago History Museum is an absolutely stunning venue, and is sure to make your wedding memorable and unique. The event space is gorgeous, classic, and elegant. We were able to have the Chicago Crossroads exhibit open for our cocktail hour, which added a special touch to our day. We worked with Erika, and she was so attentive, knowledgable, and a pleasure with work with.

The Chicago History Museum provided such a unique wedding experience which was everything we could have dreamed of and more. The grand background of the building was the perfect backdrop, and the natural beauty and historical touches indoors meant that little additional decor was needed, and anything we did bring in complemented the space perfectly. All in all, it was even more stunning than we could have envisioned. The staff understood from day one what we wanted to achieve for our wedding, and we could not have been happier to have had the opportunity to have our guests explore the museum during our cocktail hour. We loved having a private space for our wedding party to leave their items off the main rooms, and wonderful spots to take photographs both indoors and outside. CHM was a special place to us before we got married, and now will be forevermore.

We got married at CHM this weekend and I could not have asked for a better venue, a better staff, or better coordinators in Erika and Anna. In addition to just being a stunning venue on it’s own- everyone at CHM put in work for over a year to make sure we had a seamless day and everyone who came to our wedding enjoyed themselves. I would choose CHM over and over again.

A truly beautiful venue and the perfect place to have a wedding. We initially wanted to have the ceremony outside, though the rain had other ideas for us, but the inside of the venue is truly stunning. An elegant space that truly matched what we were going for (and that required no work to decorate minus the flowers) and working with the team at the history museum was awesome as well. It was plenty roomy for our guest size (150), and enough space to fit at least 100 more comfortably and the dance floor was plenty spacious as the party got started. You can even open up exhibits for guests to look at during cocktail hour (though we didn't end up doing so). Only thing to note is they have a limited caterer list you can work with there (four total) so if you have your heart set on a particular caterer, that would be the only drawback.

I knew going into looking for a venue that I wanted to do something meaningful and potentially historical. My husband and I love history and museums, and we met in Chicago, so this seemed like a perfect fit! (I will say we looked at almost all other museums in the city as well) Talking to Lorelei from Day 1, she was so friendly and helpful, I felt that throughout the entire process I had a trusted partner. She advised on everything from bar placement to cocktail hour planning. She also has relationships with most of my other vendors, which made everything a breeze on the day of. In addition, I have to say that the actual space itself is breathtaking. It's difficult to tell when you're seeing it with nothing in it, but on the day-of, it truly is incredible. The steps in front were our favorite part, and we were able to get a picture with all of our guests on the steps! We also noticed that our guests tended to use the steps as their photo backdrop, which was perfect because we chose not to do a photo booth. We had one built in! I highly recommend using the Chicago History Museum - not only is it a gorgeous location (with a newly renovated patio) but it means your event is a small piece of their history!

The CHM is an awesome venue for a wedding. We had an outdoor cocktail hour on the newly renovated patio. It is such a beautiful setting. The indoor site for dinner and dancing once filled with tables and flowers is stunning. Lorelei is great to work with. Everything was as ordered. The bar staff was great (CHM provides this service). Highly recommend the CHM as a venue.

We loved this venue! Even with the rain, we were still able to plan a beautiful indoor cocktail ceremony. The CHM staff ensured our day went off without a hitch, and we were so grateful to share a historic part of Chicago with our guests.

We got married on May 14, 2022 at Chicago History Museum! This was the first venue we toured and and immediately fell in the love with the space! Since we were going to have a May wedding, we wanted our venue to have a good "back up" place for ceremony in case it was cold or rainy. The inside ceremony space is as beautiful as the outdoor space. We were lucky and had great weather so we were able to do our ceremony outdoors. We also wanted a venue that was timeless and CHM definitely fits that vibe! The team at CHM is amazing (we worked primarily with Erika and Samantha). They are very knowledgeable and responsive. We received so many compliments from guests on picking such a beautiful place to get married.

Getting married at the Chicago History Museum was a dream come true! Erika was AMAZING to work with! She always went above and beyond to help and was quick to respond throughout the process. For many people, rain on your wedding day would put a damper on the event, but thanks to the incredible set-up at the museum, their "plan B" was beautiful and the staff perfectly executed the transition from the ceremony to the reception. THANK YOU!

The Chicago History Museum brought our dream wedding to life! The team at the venue was incredible to work with, responsive and thoughtful in every regard. Being able to open an exhibit to our guests during cocktail hour made our evening perfect and unique. We couldn't have imagined our reception anywhere else; the space is beautiful and one of a kind.

When it came to finding the perfect wedding venue, we knew the Chicago History Museum was it from the moment we walked in. Even my husband was blown away by the uniqueness of the space and how elegant it felt. But it was Lorelei, the event coordinator that sold us most of all. From our first meeting, we knew she was someone special and would go to the ends of the Earth to make sure we had our perfect wedding. And that she did. Our wedding was originally scheduled for October 2020, but was postponed to June 2021 due to COVID. Even after we moved the date, Lorelei continued to communicate with us throughout the planning process so we felt like we were always top of mind. As the day got closer, she went above and beyond to help us navigate the ever changing COVID regulations, while also making sure we weren't sacrificing the elements of the day that were most important to us. She was always transparent and honest when dealing with pandemic related challenges, so we knew we could trust her to have our best interests in mind. The food and the bar options were key factors for us when picking a venue and CHM did not disappoint! All of the caterers that they work with are top-notch and picking just one was one of the hardest planning decisions we had to make. We ended up going with Food For Thought and couldn't be happier with how the food turned out. The bar packages are handled by CHM, so Lorelei worked with us to ensure we got everything we wanted and was able to accommodate all of our special requests. People still talk about the fact we had Casamigos at our wedding :) We will forever be grateful to Lorelei and her team at CHM for making our wedding day everything we hoped for and more!

Could not recommend CHM more! Their team was extremely helpful and overall wonderful to work with, especially Erika. Super knowledgeable and connected to many other wonderful vendors in the industry in Chicago. The space is absolutely stunning and they went above and beyond to help make our vision a reality. Plus the newly renovated outdoor area is gorgeous. 10/10 would recommend this venue for any size wedding.

We had a New Year's Day wedding at the Chicago History Museum and it was a wonderful experience! The space is lovely with plenty of space, and Lorelei was great to work with. You have the option to have a museum exhibit open during cocktail hour, and the stained glass windows make a beautiful altar. We would absolutely recommend it to anyone considering it for their wedding.

Erika and the CMH team were a pleasure to work with! We rescheduled our wedding in 2020 due to the pandemic and the team was so accommodating. They put all of our worries at ease and made the planning process seamless during a crazy time. The venue is absolutely iconic. We were able to put our own twist on a truly classic institution. The staff and bartenders were amazing during the reception. Our family and friends can't stop raving about how amazing the venue! We'll never forget how much love filled the room and how beautiful the evening turned out!!!

Lorelei and the entire team at CHM are outstanding! I'd dreamed of a wedding at CHM for years and Lorelei turned my dream into a reality! Lorelei's care for her clients truly shines through in all she does. She wants for your wedding day to be exactly as you envision and will work with you to make things perfect. Lorelei is transparent and honest. Her bubbly and friendly personality make her a joy to work with for your special day. The museum's newly renovated plaza is GORGEOUS and the perfect place to host a cocktail hour. On my wedding day, Lorelei and her team made sure that everything went off without a hitch! Thank you Lorelei and CHM!

Everything about this space and experience was perfect. We wanted a church-like vibe for a ceremony (without an actual church) and an elegant (but still fun and not stuffy) reception and it was everything we wanted. The space is so beautiful you truly need minimal decorations and the location and museum gave our wedding a true Chicago feel. I also cannot speak highly enough of how CHM helped us navigate the pandemic. They helped us reschedule our wedding more than once and when it finally happened (July 2021) I was very reassured by the fact that they held us to even higher standards of safety than were required by the city. A huge thank you to Erika and everyone else at CHM who played a role in making our day happen!

We had the most amazing wedding at the Chicago History Museum, from the staff, preferred caterer choices and beautiful spaces inside and out! The venue is timeless and the perfect setting for a Chicago wedding. We were able to enjoy our cocktail hour on the newly renovated pavilion, which our guests raved about all night. Navigating a pandemic wedding is no easy feat, and we could not have done it without the coordinator Erika. She was so responsive, helpful and accommodating to ensure the day was just as we envisioned. I recommend this venue to everyone who is looking for a gorgeous and timeless wedding venue!

We had to change our wedding plans three weeks before our date due to Covid, and the Chicago History Museum was fantastic. Erika was incredibly helpful in getting things planned last minute, and was so accommodating in answering all our questions and working out the last minute details. We used minimal decor for our ceremony, and our photos turned out beautifully as the interior detail and natural light in the space are fantastic!

We held our intimate 20 person wedding ceremony at the Chicago History Muesem in July 2021. Lorelei and Anna were wonderful to work with and helped make the ceremony perfect without any hiccups. The space was absolutely beautiful and exactly what we envisioned. Thank you CHM and the entire staff for making our day extra special.

Chicago History Museum was the perfect venue for our wedding reception. Planning (& rescheduling) a wedding with all the changes in the pandemic was by no means easy, but Lorelei and the rest of the team helped make our June 2021 wedding run as smoothly as possible. While our original 2020 wedding would have ideally included the beautiful outdoor plaza, this summer it was under construction. That will truly be another lovely benefit to this venue once that space is completed. Honestly...after the tears of losing that plaza space with our postponement--it didn't even matter! The cocktail space inside is so elegant. Various relatives loved the opportunity to explore some of the museum exhibits, while others were quite content with the friendly bartenders in the room with the chandelier. At the time of our booking, CHM worked with four preferred catering companies and CHM provided the alcohol/drinks. We met with each catering company and all of them were great options. Paramount was fantastic to work with and our guests all said they loved the food. CHM had friendly bar staff and they worked with us to come up with a package deal. The room for dining and dancing is so elegant and bright. Plenty of space for a band and dance floor. It's nice when the space speaks for itself and you don't need to go crazy decorating other than floral. The CHM team was responsive and kind. Couldn't have asked for a better wedding venue.