About this vendor
Dakota Lodge is a wedding reception venue located in West St. Paul, MN. Enveloped by beautiful nature, this property would be an ideal choice for couples planning a secluded getaway for their big day. Picturesque grounds provide idyllic surroundings while luxurious indoor spaces offer ample room for the wedding party to celebrate and make new memories.
A charming and eye-catching building, Dakota Lodge would be more than suitable for milestone celebrations. Out in the open air, everyone can enjoy special moments in bliss as they drink in the beautiful views. The nearby lake is sure to draw admiring glances as everyone mingles with one another and gets into the party mood. Inside, couples are welcome to make use of this blank canvas event space as it may be decorated appropriately for the fairytale event. Conveniently, Dakota Lodge offers a private escape removed from the hustle and bustle of modern life. However, it is still located not far from St. Paul, meaning that anyone can take a trip to enjoy the beautiful city’s many attractions if they so wish.
For the magical ceremony, space may be set up outside where the happy couple can join together to exchange vows. Beneath a tall tree, the ‘I do’ moment can take place while guests sit on chairs laid out across the green lawn. For the cocktail hour, a terrace by the lake is available where invitees can enjoy beverages in anticipation of the all-important meal. Inside, there is a lounge function area with an eye-catching fireplace where loved ones can gather as conversations take place. In the main banquet hall, up to 160 people can enjoy a sit-down meal, making it suitable for all manner of memorable occasions. Light, bright, and spacious, this room would be ideal for hosting speeches, festivities, and heartfelt toasts.
Amenities + details
Ceremony Area
Handicap Accessible
Indoor Event Space
Liability Insurance
Reception Area
Wireless Internet
Covered Outdoors Space
Dressing Room
On-Site Accommodations
Outdoor Event Space
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Religious Ceremony
- Second Wedding
Settings
- Ballroom
- Park
- Trees
Reviews
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4.7
out of 5.019 reviews
I had my wedding here previously and overall, at was OKAY. The inside space is very beautiful/appealing as well as operational with everything you could need from a getting ready r...
oom, fireplace aesthetic, full kitchen and patio space. Where my frustration comes in is with the improper representation of the outside venue.
When the venue hosted an open house, it was initially in the winter, and they offered books with photos of previous weddings that had been hosted. The photos were amazing and presented very beautiful outdoor spaces that could seat a decent amount of people. It was mentioned to make sure to view the space in the summer as it would only due the photos better justice. That being said....the photos were EXTREMELY outdated. In the essence that I would have chosen a different venue. The photos that were presented showed a space (from 2016) that seated 140 white fold up chairs in a beautiful flat space close to the doors with flat walking space; this had NOW been turned into a bike/walkway. The other space that seats 170 people was shown as a FLAT space with TURF listed as the ground/terrain. Fast forward to summer of 2025 in July 2 months before my wedding; I went to view the space to just check off some boxes and stuff, the photos presented could not have been further off then what I paid for.
The 170-person space was in between 3 huge hills and 2 very large trees which were not mentioned in the book we viewed. The terrain was actually grass and ALOT of mud as we had had a lot of rain recently and was nothing short of a slip and slide area. My biggest frustration is the mentioned above space I was going to use that sold me on the venue was nonexistent and had been turned into a bike path.
When I bought it up to the venue hostess onsite she insisted that the venue had always looked like this (3 huge hills with two trees and flat with no issues) and couldn't understand where I was getting this information from. I had her get the book that was used for their open houses and showed her the difference in photos. Only THAN did she understand my frustration. Overall, the wedding went well but having to completely restructure our seating plan because we have family members that are not very able bodied was STRESSFUL. Updated photos need to be presented at time of purchase and full transparency of worse case scenarios needs to be stated. Also not being able to enter the venue until they "open" even though its a special event is frustrating. If we had been able to drop off the stuff before in the main area it would have helped IMMENSELY. That being said I reserved a space to use for the wedding and have random people walking their dogs and riding their bikes in the background. Could we not have put up "area closed temporarily"?
The last and final thing that truly rubbed me the wrong way was paying for an "off duty" officer who is "volunteering" his time but has to be paid in cash to monitor the venue during the service alcohol and closing of the venue. Per Dakota county regulations any get togethers that have over 50 people and are serving alcohol must provide an off-duty officer at the venue. I am genuinely fine with this and understand the idea. Where I get angry is that this is a separate payment from your venue costs and MUST be cash for again a service that is required by regulation, but volunteered time. It was an EXTRA $617.50 dollars for an officer to be there from 4:30 (when wine and beer were served) until close 11:00 pm.
Dakota Lodge was a great place for our wedding! The recent revitalization of the park it is within made it an aesthetically-pleasing spot for our outdoor ceremony and photos, and t...
he indoor venue was very nice as well. We had about 90-100 guests attend and not once did it ever feel crowded. It was convenient that they had a dance floor included as part of the building design, so we didn't need to worry about renting one to set up ourselves. Lastly, the Dakota County staff was very helpful and very good with communication. The pricing seemed fair as well. I highly recommend this venue for your wedding!
Super amazing to work with- great response time to our questions . We ended up not having our wedding there due to COVID-19. But during that process, they were incredible understan...
ding and helpful in making our decision. We hope to have a large reception there in the later future.
Absolutely amazing venue for our wedding. Beautiful inside and out. Affordable and great staff.
We used Dakota Lodge as a venue for our daughter's post destination wedding celebration luncheon. The building and grounds are beautiful and our guests were impressed. However we ...
had some issues as the building was not open at the promised time. Also, the building facilitator helped when we directly asked questions but did not offer assistance otherwise. We had a wedding video to show and had much difficulty getting it to work as the HDMI connection did not work properly. It took multiple attempts and multiple appeals for help. Finally the facilitator told us that we could try a different VGA connection that we didn't even know was available. We had planned to show the video prior to the start of the luncheon, but had to allow people to start eating while we frantically tried to get the video running. Not quite the way we wanted things to proceed. If you have a video, allow yourself plenty of time to make certain that it will run properly.
We got so many compliments on this beautiful location! Parents appreciated the playground. We loved having the option to leave a vehicle overnight. Can't wait to see our pictures -...
just overall a gorgeous place.
I don't know why this venue is not more popular on The Knot! I had my wedding there this past weekend and it was absolutely phenomenal. My ceremony was outdoors and guests enjoyed ...
being in the shade under the large oak tree, and you can't beat the convenience of then going inside for the reception. They charge the same for Friday/Saturday/Sunday weddings and are SO affordable! Realistically though I would not plan for bigger than 144 people at the venue or it'll be a little squished. The huge windows provide a lot of natural light and the sloped ceilings give it a unique look.
You are allowed to cater your own food and drink at the venue, however if you are serving alcohol, that needs to be provided by a licensed caterer. To have total freedom over food services is wonderful - you can even make your own dinner to serve if you want! We used a caterer but baked our own cupcakes for the wedding, and it saved us a lot of money. There are separate rooms for bride's side and groom's side to get ready in, but bring your own mirrors.
Planning the wedding was flawless from start to finish. The staff at Dakota Lodge were quick to respond to my questions and very professional. The Dakota Lodge staff that were on site during the day of were also friendly and helpful. Book with Dakota Lodge, you won't regret it!
Cannot say enough good things about the Dakota Lodge at Thompson Park. From first email showing interest in booking this venue, email responses were almost immediate, super diligen...
t and friendly staff. Tour was exceptional, any random off the wall question we had, the tour guide answered thoroughly. The on-side coordinators the day of the wedding were also amazing. We had no worries that anything would go wrong for our big day!
This place is great when you're on a budget. Its HUGE and they are very flexible with what you want out of the place. We had our ceremony outside in the park (beautiful scenery) an...
d the reception inside. We were able to set up early, get ready there and have all our vendors arrive there when they were needed. I recommend them to anyone with 160 or less guests!
We had our ceremony and reception at Dakota Lodge. They were easy to work with, affordable and the space was perfect for our group. Deposit refunded quickly. Beautiful backdrop for...
family photos.
This was the perfect reception spot! We were so happy to have found it-- when we went there to tour, we knew it was exactly what we were looking for. It's at a park on a lake and...
it was such a great gem while still being close to the cities. The staff there was also wonderful and they got back to my emails/questions right away!! This alone was such a relief compared to other sites we were looking in to... It would take FOREVER for some of them to get back to us (if they even bothered in the first place-- hey, I guess they didn't want our money...). This place doesn't need much as far as decorations go... but can be spruced up quite nicely if you do decide to be more decorative. We loved this location and we definitely recommend it to others.
Loved this location! Couldn't be more perfect!
My daughter wanted a rustic, casual site for her reception. Dakota Lodge provided a beautiful and relaxing site for the reception. The grounds were beautiful. The lobby area was bi...
g enough for the Irish band, hor d'oeuvres, bar, and wine tasting. The fireplace is beautiful and there was comfortable furniture for guests. We used one of the small conference rooms for a "photo booth." The staff was helpful before the event.
We chose this venue for our wedding for a number of reasons. The location was perfect as it was not a long drive from our church. Also, it held the correct amount of people. Since ...
it is the only event venue in the park other than the park shelter, we had a very private event. Also, there were windows everywhere, which allowed for natural light. Beth was very nice to work with, and very easygoing. The grounds were beautiful, and we did a lot of our photos at the park.
I highly recommend this venue! It would be beautiful to have the ceremony outside here, too!
Dakota Lodge was perfect for my smaller wedding. The location was fabulous. Right on a lake with a playground only feet away, all of our guests loved it! The program services assi...
stant was phenomenal with communication. I had a billion questions and she answered each one almost immediately via email. The price was great too! I highly recommend this venue for your wedding reception!
Everything about this location is and was fantastic. It's beautiful, the staff are very nice, and there's tons of parking!
The Dakota Lodge was a perfect spot for a wedding - especially when you are trying to watch your spending. The cost to rent the Lodge is reasonable, and were able to select any foo...
d/drink vender we would like, which allowed us to keep the cost down.
We had planned to have our ceremony outdoors, but were unable to because of the weather. However, the indoor ceremony was still beautiful and cozy in front of the large fireplace.
We would also like to mention how wonderful Beth Baker was to work with. She was so patient with our MANY email questions and answered immediately. This quick and friendly service was so important through the whole planning process.
So highly recommended! Our July wedding was beautiful and we received so many compliments on our venue. We had the outdoor ceremony and indoor reception. We had the perfect weat...
her, the natural outdoor view was gorgous and the looked beautiful after just a few decorations. Beth Baker was also fabulous to work with!
We got married at Dakota Lodge in West St. Paul. The location was beautiful since it was mostly surrounded by trees and had a lake on the other side. We were lucky to have a mild s...
ummer day, so our ceremony was outside under a large oak tree. If small children come to the wedding, there is a great playground out front by the lake!
The building was great. Very spacious with lots of places to sit and relax if needed. Beth, our contact, worked with us to create a great layout for tables and such. She was very helpful and responded to emails quickly.
Not only was the venue beautiful, it was reasonably priced. We didn't feel like we had to spent our entire budget just to have a great location. Plus, since it's already a great looking location, you don't need to spend much on decor for inside and out!
Contact
1200 Stassen Lane, West Saint Paul, MN
