Des Moines Marriott Downtown

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Holds ceremonies and receptions

4.6

Verified reviews from real couples

we hosted our rehearsal dinner and send off brunch here. They made every step so easy - it felt like any type of event they had done a hundred times before, so they knew exactly what they were doing. Every aspect was perfect!

Michelle W.

5.0

WOW! Is all I can say - Katie and Melinda were simply the best. From picking the venue, to planning, to the tiny day of details we were so amazed with this team. Everything was absolutely incredible and executed so perfectly! Melinda sold us when we toured the venue and from there we knew we were in good hands and never forgot how she made us feel - AMAZING. Katie's attention to detail, advice, and ideas were spot on during our entire planning process. We knew we could trust her with anything and everything! Katie made us feel at ease, relaxed, and taken care of throughout all of the planning and on the wedding day. She coordinated with all of our vendors, executed our ideas, and was amazing!!! The wait staff and bartenders during the reception were also jus great -- The tiny details of filling mine and my husband's glasses with champagne and saving us each the passed appetizers was also very much appreciated - again down to the tiny details of the day we were amazed! The food was also amazing - we had a 400 person wedding, but it all tasted like it was specifically cooked for each one of us. The hotel staff was also great throughout our entire staff. Our rooms were clean, ready for us, and amazing. Jeff, the Head Bell Captain, made getting everyone in the wedding party getting to the church so easy, getting us to sunset photos during the cocktail hour seamless, and getting our stuff to our rooms when we arrived a breeze. Strawberries and chocolate and champagne were waiting in our room on wedding night - the tiny details were perfect! Again, we only can say positive things about the DSM Marriott Downtown - we couldn't have had the wedding we did without them.

Kristen K.

5.0

Rebecca Lorsch

SENIOR CATERING SALES EXECUTIVE

Typically responds within 24h

Host an intimate reception or a grand wedding in our array of elegant event venues. Our wedding planners offer a refreshingly personal approach to the big day that honors your wishes and family traditions. Let us transform every facet of your ceremony and reception from simple to fabulous with our exceptional catering and wedding planning services here in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. Couples can accommodate up to 600 guests in this space. With three ballrooms under one roof, you have your choice of setup and space. Our in-house technology company allows for customized lighting and audio solutions. Host a joyful celebration of your union here in Des Moines in one of our beautiful wedding venues •Accommodate up to 600 guests for a memorable wedding reception in our light-filled Iowa Ballroom •Choose one of our smaller suites as the venue for an intimate wedding ceremony or rehearsal dinner •Allow our certified wedding planners to coordinate all the details of your special day in Des Moines •Simplify wedding planning with customizable menus, special decorations and MarriottRegistry.com •Explore our wedding packages, and make your Des Moines, Iowa, ceremony one that everyone remembers We look forward to speaking with you soon in regards to this most special day. Be sure to check out the gallery for an exclusive 360° Virtual Tour, and experience the breathtaking beauty of Des Moines Marriott Downtown today! Des Moines Marriott Downtown is a wedding venue located in Des Moines, IA.

45+ years in business

Speaks Bosnian, English, Spanish

Large team (21+ members)

Amenities + details

Amenities

Ceremony Area

Handicap Accessible

Indoor Event Space

On-Site Accommodations

Reception Area

Wireless Internet

Ceremony Types

Civil Union

Commitment Ceremony

Elopement

Interfaith Ceremony

Non-Religious Ceremony

Religious Ceremony

Second Wedding

Vow Renewal Ceremony

Settings

Ballroom

Hotel

Restaurant

Venue Service Offerings

Bar & Drinks

Food & Catering

Planning

Service Staff

Transportation

Shuttle Service

Any questions?

Meet the team

Rebecca Lorsch

Senior Catering Sales Executive

Rebecca has been with Marriott for 26 years. From Omaha to Kansas City to Dearborn, MI to Des Moines. She has been on the sales side as well as been on the service side being an Event Manager. She has worked with all types of weddings through her years of experience and loves helping couples celebrate their special day.

4.6

out of 5.0

23 reviews

Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.

Search reviews

Michelle W

4/24/2023

we hosted our rehearsal dinner and send off brunch here. They made every step so easy - it felt like any type of event they had done a hundred times before, so they knew exactly wh...

at they were doing. Every aspect was perfect!

Kristen K

7/27/2022

WOW! Is all I can say - Katie and Melinda were simply the best. From picking the venue, to planning, to the tiny day of details we were so amazed with this team. Everything was ab...

solutely incredible and executed so perfectly! Melinda sold us when we toured the venue and from there we knew we were in good hands and never forgot how she made us feel - AMAZING. Katie's attention to detail, advice, and ideas were spot on during our entire planning process. We knew we could trust her with anything and everything! Katie made us feel at ease, relaxed, and taken care of throughout all of the planning and on the wedding day. She coordinated with all of our vendors, executed our ideas, and was amazing!!! The wait staff and bartenders during the reception were also jus great -- The tiny details of filling mine and my husband's glasses with champagne and saving us each the passed appetizers was also very much appreciated - again down to the tiny details of the day we were amazed! The food was also amazing - we had a 400 person wedding, but it all tasted like it was specifically cooked for each one of us. The hotel staff was also great throughout our entire staff. Our rooms were clean, ready for us, and amazing. Jeff, the Head Bell Captain, made getting everyone in the wedding party getting to the church so easy, getting us to sunset photos during the cocktail hour seamless, and getting our stuff to our rooms when we arrived a breeze. Strawberries and chocolate and champagne were waiting in our room on wedding night - the tiny details were perfect! Again, we only can say positive things about the DSM Marriott Downtown - we couldn't have had the wedding we did without them.

Any questions?

Brittany N

11/19/2018

We had our wedding ceremony, cocktail hour, reception, and Sunday brunch all at the Marriott, and had an awesome experience. The Marriott staff was wonderful, and we loved our Even...

t Planner Jacob Savoie. Many of our guests were from out of town as well, and we received many compliments about their stay. We appreciate Marriott making our wedding so fun and beautiful!

Response from Des Moines Marriott Downtown on 11/20/2018

Thank-you so much for submitting this Brittany! We so appreciate you choosing the DM Marr...

iott as your wedding venue and taking the time to submit a review! Best Wishes to the newly weds!

Andrea W

9/25/2018

We chose the Marriott to provide catering for a sit-down dinner and open bar at our wedding and to host our hotel guests for our wedding weekend. We got married at the World Food P...

rize building downtown which requires a lot of coordination from all. From start to finish the Marriott employees were always professional and courteous. Rebecca Lorsch was our event manager and if you are lucky enough to land her, you will not be disappointed! Rebecca went above and beyond to make sure we had everything we wanted for our wedding day and that all of the details were perfect. Any concerns or questions we had about the Marriott or catering were taken care of in a timely manner. Rebecca worked wonderfully with our wedding planner (Lori Evans of Bliss Events) making the planning process for us very easy. Chef Karen and her team delivered an amazing dining experience. Our food tasting was very informative and gave us a realistic feel for how our plates would appear and what food would be offered. The dinner on our wedding night was just as great as we remembered during the tasting. I still continue to receive compliments from my wedding guests about how great our food was! All of the servers and bartenders that were at our wedding were absolutely amazing! I cannot thank them enough for their hard work and dedication towards making our wedding day a success. They were all so courteous and accommodating. Our guests had a wonderful experience at the Marriott hotel. All rooms were clean and in great condition. There were a few guests who requested early check-in and did not receive it on Friday but the front desk seemed courteous and willing to fix the issues they could. The hotel had at least two weddings staying there for the weekend (including ours with at least 25 rooms per night) plus it was during the Iowa State Fair. The shuttle service was a great addition to help our guests navigate downtown Des Moines. Overall all of the Marriott staff that we encountered were absolutely amazing. They were all so willing to address any questions or concerns in a timely manner and provide a wonderful experience for us and our wedding guests!

Response from Des Moines Marriott Downtown on 10/02/2018

Andrea, It was our honor to play a part in your special day. Wishing you all the best. C...

heers!

Lynn W

7/27/2018

Great place to have a wedding! Beautiful place!

Amanda J

1/27/2018

The Marriott was a pleasure to work with for our cocktail hour and wedding reception. Rebecca is the event coordinator we worked with and she was always responsive to my e-mails a...

nd questions. The food was spectacular and they did a great job with all of the décor. Between my florist and the Marriott, they handled making the place beautiful. I was able to send various decorative items along with a note / picture of how I wanted them used, and they handled everything from there. It was also very affordable considering there is no rental fee and linens and some table settings are included. I would recommend the Marriott to anyone looking for a ballroom reception and not interested in hiring a wedding planner. Rebecca is great to work with and really takes care of it all for you!

Meredith L

11/09/2016

We are supposed to have our wedding brunch at Marriott this upcoming Sunday. It's now Wednesday, and we have zero details figured out. We paid our deposit months ago, and have call...

ed and emailed Marriott multiple times since then, on a near weekly basis. Every time, we get redirected to the same person, despite explaining her unresponsiveness for the past few MONTHS. We finally escalated things by calling the corporate office and by having our coordinator call and email. When the employee did finally call us back, she told us she "never received" our multiple emails or voicemails. At this point, we have only received the answer to one of our questions. I'm left scrambling to figure out details last minute because she refuses to answer our questions in a timely manner. She has not provided us with a seating layout, an invoice for the meals ordered, any answer to our question of whether we need to make place cards (and now it's too late to order them, so I'm left having to make them on my own - GREAT), what drinks will be available, etc. Disappointed is not a strong enough word to describe how I feel with the lack of service we've received. At this point, she has been rude enough to us on the phone that we are afraid to keep asking questions or pushing her for our invoice or other details, since she has clearly demonstrated in the past that she will flat out ignore us if we inconvenience her in any way. This is, of course, not to mention the blatant lying. I expect when I plan an event somewhere, that I will have at least one meeting with the employee planning it, to ensure that everything will be set up how I want and adhere to my vision for the event. I have never once had a meeting with anyone from Marriott, nor is there time to schedule one now. I can say with confidence that this brunch will not be what I want. I am going into this blind, with no details figured out. All I can do at this point is expect to be disappointed.

Jen L

9/14/2016

We were fortunate enough to have our wedding at the Des Moines Marriott Downtown and they took fantastic care of us. From the sales process, through the planning, all the way to th...

e end of the night, they went over and above to make our day special, without any hiccups at all. Rebecca and Maureen were great to work with and kept us completely stress free. We were able to customize our package to fit what we wanted, as well as dropped all items off (chargers, runners, place cards, etc.) and they took are care of EVERYTHING. We never really had to lift a finger! Our day was perfect and we heard so many compliments on the venue, food and service. I HIGHLY recommend using the Marriott for your wedding venue.

Molly M

4/24/2016

We loved working with the Marriott to set up a room block for our wedding. I worked with Jake, and he was so helpful in getting everything in order. He helped us to coordinate a Ma...

rriott shuttle to and from our event, and also created a schedule to hand to guests upon check-in (great idea, and so helpful!). Would definitely recommend the Marriott to anyone looking for a downtown hotel!

Emily C

10/21/2015

I couldn't have been happier with my experience at the Marriott. I worked with Christie, who was so flexible and helpful throughout the process. When we needed to check in early,...

she helped make it happen. When, the day before the wedding, we thought we might need stairs at the ceremony venue, Christie offered to drive them to and from the venue for both the rehearsal and the ceremony. The staff was friendly and attentive, and stayed with us all night. I didn't have to worry about anything.

Kristen S

7/09/2015

I could gush on and on about how wonderful the Marriott was to us. The support we received in planning out event was phenomenal. Rebecca Lorsch was on top of every detail. The day ...

of, the service phenomenal and they made sure everything went off without a hitch. Having your wedding at the Marriott is such good value. Not only do you get a great venue but you have access to wedding planning and a team of incredible workers in the service industry. They set up and tore down our reception and it looked absolutely beautiful. It was such a stress reliever to not have to find family members to clean up after the big party. We just had to pick up our items the next day! The food was great, SUCH big portions of salmon and chicken! Yum! They were also extremely flexible with menus, cake, everything. Honestly, having our wedding reception at the Marriott was the best decision we made out of all of the wedding details. I just can't say enough! So great!

Julie S

1/09/2014

Ask for Abby! She is hostess extraordinaire! The Marriott was a great place for all of our wedding guests, and my new husband and I, to stay before and after the wedding. Th...

ey arranged everything including a suite for all of us to get ready in the morning of the wedding, a suite for our wedding night, a shuttle bus for our wedding party and for guests after the reception was over. They bellmen even helped us store flowers from the reception overnight. All-in-all, a top-notch place to stay and hold an event! The staff was wonderful every step of the way!

Response from Des Moines Marriott Downtown on 01/10/2014

Thank you for taking the time to write a review and telling us about your great experience...

! We love hearing about the different ways our hosts go above and beyond for our guests. Best wishes to you and your husband!

Tricia W

9/11/2013

Great service easy to work with

Kate B

2/13/2013

Obviously the Marriott was a very nice hotel and we used it as our block room venue for our out of town guests. My only concerns are these: first, I went through lots of contact pe...

ople until one finally took change, second - there was a blues festival going on that night and about half of my guests were on "loud" floors - it's a 30+ floor hotel, I kind of hoped they'd be able to move my older relatives to quieter floors. Other than that, the people helping us were very nice - we saved $100 on the honeymoon suite, our guest room block with incredibly reasonably priced, and they even sent us chocolate on our wedding night.

Lindsey P

8/16/2012

The absolute, best choice I made was to have my reception at the Des Moines Marriott Downtown. They were so accommodating and a pleasure to work with. The reception was amazing tha...

nks to them! The also did all the catering and the chef is amazing! The food was delicious.

Morgan K

1/15/2012

I thought the Marriott (I worked closely with Jake) did a great job of hosting all my wedding guests! They had signs to welcome the guests to the hotel and were very helpful throuh...

gout the weekend to assist guests. I wish the caucus would have allowed us to have more rooms at the Marriott because the service was great!

Maggie B

11/02/2011

my experience was good. nice wedding

Heather H

10/21/2011

The reception in the Iowa Room at the Des Moines Marriott Downtown was perfect. When I walked up and opened the door to the reception room, it took my breath away. The room came to...

gether better than I imagined. It was breathtaking from the ceiling drapes to the chair sashes. It seemed like the Marriott even gave us little upgrades here and there that we never expected. The food was to die for. I have had guests tell me that it was the best wedding food they have ever had. (People are still talking about the dauphinoise potatoes and wanting to come back to the Marriott just for those!) The entire staff at the Marriott was amazingly helpful from our event planner to our reception captain and everyone in between including the sales executive, the wait staff, the bar tenders and the bell hops. Everything at the reception came together better than we had imagined. I even remember sitting at the head table to saying to my groom, "This is way more beautiful than I dreamed. Can you believe this is all for us?" I feel like the Marriott created us a $50,000 reception for a fraction of that. Thank Rebecca, Maureen and the staff at the Marriott!

Jennele S

9/18/2011

Great service, food, staff and overall experience. Would definitely recommend and go back again.

Anonymous

8/08/2011

We used the Des Moines Marriott Downtown for our wedding reception and I cannot say enough great things about them! Not only were they incredibly helpful, they were also always ava...

ilable and very responsive. Our reception was exactly what we wanted it to be because they listened and tried to accommodate us as much as they possibly could. Our coordinator was always available to answer questions and always kept us up-to-date on what needed to be done before the day. I would recommend to anyone getting married in Des Moines (or surrounding area). Their level of customer service is unmatched!

kristin w

2/17/2011

Beautiful place to have a reception

Bethany G

10/05/2010

The Marriott downtown was awesome to work with when planning a rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. They had great ideas and provided quality customer service in terms of responding pr...

omptly, being accommodating, etc

Jenna G

8/12/2010

I called and inquired about the possibility of having our reception here - they were very professional, were able to answer all questions I had, and sent me needed information prom...

ptly. We did not use them due to distance from our home town.

Service area & Contact info

700 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, IA

Open map

(515) 245-5514

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Des Moines Marriott Downtown

Rebecca Lorsch

Senior Catering Sales Executive

Typically responds within 24h

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